The Bird Hunters – Turnpike Troubadours

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to get together with three of my closest friends in my hometown for a weekend of hunting. I would rather be in the woods than most places and really feel lucky that I have the opportunity to do so so often. However, as it always goes, the older we get, the harder it becomes to see friends, so this was a particularly special weekend. Getting all of us together, I haven’t laughed that hard in years, got to spend a ton of time doing things that I love, and was also lucky enough to meet a wonderful new addition to the family as well. It was a much-needed break from the day-to-day.

“The Bird Hunters” has always been one of my favorite Turnpike Troubadours songs, and I have certainly always felt connected to it as a semi-avid hunter, but nowadays it seems to mean more to me every time I hear it. Before I delve into things, I do want to point out that I’ve seen multiple articles say this song is about duck hunting. It’s not. The men in the song are upland bird hunting, most likely quail or pheasant, which I think isn’t super important to the overall message of the song, but I digress.

Evan Felker is up there with Isbell for me in terms of songwriting, and I’m kinda shocked this is the first post about Turnpike up to this point. “The Bird Hunters” tells a story about a man returning home to hunt with his best friend and old dog after the end of a relationship (possibly an engagement). The visualization I get from this song is incredible, especially the first three verses, probably due to how much I can relate to the setting.

Well, the covey took wing, shotguns a-singin’
A pointing dog down in the old logging road
Danny got three and looked back a-grinning
I fumbled and I tried to reload

The country was cold with the sun westward sinking
It’s good to be back in this place
With my hands around a Belgian made Browning
My mind on the lines of her face

Well now, Danny’s my buddy, we grew up like family
Hunted this timber before we could drive
And the old English Pointer, he once belonged to me
But I give him up when I moved in ’05

Off with a girl, off to the city
Off on a wing and a chance
Hell, I thought it’d play out just like some story
We fell in love at a rodeo dance

She said, “Go back to Cherokee County
Won’t you crawl back with nothing but a razor and a comb?”
Says, “Babe, if you need me, I’ll be where you found me
Go on to hell, honey, I’m headed home”

Dan says, “Look at ol’ Jim
A dozen Decembers behind him no worse for the wear
And your time spent in Tulsa did not help your shooting
And look at the gray in your hair

How good does it feel? You belong in these hills
It’s best that you let it all end
If you’d have married that girl, you’d have married her family
You dodged a bullet, my friend”

She said, “Go back to Cherokee County
Won’t you crawl back with nothing but a razor and a comb?”
Says, “Babe, if you need me, I’ll be where you found me
Go on to hell, honey, I’m headed home”

Ah, and I was beginning to deal with it ending
The old dog had pointed while part of me died

And a flutter of feathers
Then a shotgun to shoulder
I thought of the Fourth of July
She’ll be home on the Fourth of July
I bet we’ll dance on the Fourth of July

Dan says, “Hell of a shot, looks like you’ve still got it
That’s what we came here to do
Well, it’s light enough still, at the foot of the hill
We could kick up a single or two”

She said, “Go back to Cherokee County
Won’t you crawl back with nothing but a razor and a comb?”
Says, “Babe, if you need me, I’ll be where you found me
Go on to hell, honey, I’m headed home”
Go on to hell, honey, I’m headed home

Of course, this song is about a much deeper subject than just bird hunting. Evan Felker managed to pen one of purest country songs of all time with this one. Heart break, a brotherhood, a dog. What more could you ask for? (Mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting’ drunk is the only acceptable answer here)

My favorite part of this song lyrically is the unspoken understanding between the two about why they’re there. The line ‘Dan says, “Hell of a shot, looks like you’ve still got it, That’s what we came here to do” conveys this perfectly.

I also wanted to mention how much I love the fiddle in this song. Kyle Nix is the guys name and he really leads us through this song faultlessly.

It’s hard to explain the Zen you can receive while hunting, and I don’t think you can ever fully understand until you’ve experienced it yourself. Oftentimes, I feel the most at peace in a deer stand, or really just in the woods in general. It feels like home. As much as I want to wander the world and get lost in faraway places, I know I’ll always have a home in the woods of Troup County.

Link to song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFBDxLYNNVQ

Link to live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOuLjwu2X14