My 2009 AZ Turkey

I wish I could say that this years Arizona state turkey hunt went smoothly, but I am afraid that I can't this time. Lets just say that it is a good thing I had plenty of ammo! I am not sure how many turkeys that I have shot over the years but the number is somewhere over 20 and it still amazes me how rattled I get when a gobbling turkey gets thrown into the mix. Of all of the trophies that I have taken it still makes me smile how much a strutting turkey makes me do funny things. It is amzing that a 18 pound bird makes my heart bounce out of my chest and forget all of the things that a hunter is supposed to remember from many years of practice and preparation. This bird was called in by Tyler Hall to a mere 10 yards and I shot and missed. Thats right not one BB hit this bird on the first shot. The second shot was not much better then the unthinkable happened. The bird attempted to take flight. He became like many quail that I have pursued over the years. Boom! Down he goes and then I realized that I had an audience! Glenn and Tyler were hooping and hollering and saying look at the feathers, "Its snowing turkey feathers!" Check out the feathers in a tree below. It definitely wasn't one of my finer moments but I was extremely proud of my bird. It was great to spend time with father and son, Glenn and Tyler Hall. Tyler's calling ability is awesome and I was honored to have him coax this bird in for me!

You can see that Tylers Bird wasn't shy about eating!

Yes, you have to climb that hill!

This is some remains of the Wild West Shootout!