Welcome to Wild Turkey Science, a podcast made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow.

I'm Dr. Marcus Lashley, Professor of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Florida.

And I'm Dr. Will Gulsby, Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management at Auburn University.

We're both lifelong hunters and devoted scientists who are passionate about hunting,

managing, and researching wild turkeys.

In this podcast, we'll explore turkey research, speak to the experts in the field, and address the difficult questions related to wild turkey ecology and management.

Our goal is to serve as your connection to wild turkey science.

So today we're going to have a guest that I've known for quite a long time.

John Grouchy actually took your seat when you graduated from grad school up there in the University of Tennessee.

I took over your seat about that same time.

So we didn't quite overlap that much.

I think maybe a semester or so we overlapped in grad school, but I've known you ever since and have always appreciated your knowledge, particularly on habitat management and early succession and those

kinds of topics and have always, you know, appreciated that knowledge and reach out to you

commonly to try to get more of it from you.

So I appreciate you taking some time to come on the show.

You want to tell the audience maybe a little bit about your background and what you do now?

Sure, sure, man. I appreciate it. Yeah, man, I remember I think you started your first field

season when I was leaving. So that was about, and that was probably in like 2007 or so. But

yeah, I actually got my undergraduate degree at Mississippi State in Wildlife Science

and then got a master's degree at University of Tennessee and worked under Craig Harper,

which I'm sure the audience will be familiar with Craig.

But most of my research in the past and most of my work before I really started work for the state agency.

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