Terry Drury Says Toxey Called in the First Turkey He Ever Shot
Editor’s Note: Mark and Terry Drury of Drury Outdoors are two of the most-successful TV producers in all of outdoor television. They produce “Bow Madness,” “Dream Season,” “Wildlife Obsession” and “King of the Spring” that air on the Outdoor Channel, and “Natural Born” that airs on the Pursuit Network. They’re brothers, business partners, friends and hunting buddies.
Question: Terry, how did you get into turkey hunting?
Terry Drury: My little brother Mark wanted a cameraman to film him turkey hunting back in 1987 or 1988. Mark and I decided to go turkey hunting in the Ozark Mountains. We really went for the fun of turkey hunting, but we both agreed that we would try to capture it on film just for fun. Mark had been watching Denny Gulvas’s videos. He was one of the first turkey videographers. Denny would call turkeys in but wouldn’t shoot any of them. Denny’s purpose in making videos was to record turkey vocalization. He did a really good job of videoing and getting the audio, so turkey hunters could see and learn the language of the wild turkey. But Mark and I wanted to try and video a wild turkey being harvested. After we got our first video of Mark shooting a turkey, there was no adrenaline rush for us equal to the excitement we felt of being able to shoot a turkey on video. At this time, Mark was a pretty avid turkey caller. We thought it was really neat for Mark to call in the turkey, see and hear the turkey coming in, and then get the video of Mark successfully harvesting the turkey. I’m a deer hunter. I wasn’t a turkey hunter back in those days. However, I got tired of packing the camera around and videoing Mark taking turkeys, and me never having the chance to harvest a bird myself. One day I looked at Mark and said, “You know what. I’d like to shoot one of those turkeys myself.”
The first turkey I ever took was with Toxey Haas, the founder of Mossy Oak. Toxey came to hunt with us in Bloomsdale, Missouri, where our mom and dad live, and where Mark and I grew up. Finally, my turn came to pack the gun, and Mark’s turn came to run the camera. Toxey and I went hunting, and Toxey called in that first turkey for me.
We’ve been involved with Mossy Oak since 1987. In 1988, they began sponsoring our videos. They sent us each a shirt and a pair of pants, so we could say we were sponsored by Mossy Oak. We were both so excited. We really didn’t know a whole lot about the outdoor industry and how to do business in the outdoor industry. I guess the Good Lord was just looking over us, because we’ve been with Mossy Oak ever since we’ve been shooting and producing videos. We couldn’t have found a better business partner or friends to work with, and they’re the most-loyal group of people I’ve ever been around. As we grew with Mossy Oak, we saw that Toxey was in the outdoor business for all the right reasons – to expand the sport of hunting and do what he could to involve more people in the outdoors. I just can’t say enough good things about Mossy Oak and the people there. If you look back at the history of Drury Outdoors, our company started with our relationship with Mossy Oak. As we’ve grown our company, our business, our videos, our CDs and our TV shows, Mossy Oak has been right in the middle of that growth.
As I learned more about turkey hunting and enjoyed it more, I honestly could say that Toxey and my brother Mark were the two people who got me the most fired-up about the sport.
Tomorrow: Terry Drury on Getting Close to Take a Turkey’s Temperature
