Heather Pease's Arizona Goulds Turkey Hunt

Posted by Jay Scott

My Good friend Tyler Hall and his girlfriend Heather had a great Gould's turkey season.  Here is her story, "On the afternoon of May 20, 2012 (the very last day I was able to hunt), I shot and killed my first animal; a beautiful Gould’s turkey.   To say the least, my hunt was filled with up’s and down’s including a couple missed shots and a period during my hunt when I felt like maybe I wasn’t cut out for turkey hunting and thought maybe I would rather just watch them strut and gobble instead of killing one.  We hunted off and on since the hunt started at the end of April with lots of gobbling action but my hunt ended up coming down to the wire on the last day I was able to hunt.

Tyler and I had started the morning off very early. We woke up at 3:30 a.m., got dressed, grabbed some coffee, and headed to a place we had nicknamed “Turkey Ridge” to go and find a bird. We had heard several gobblers there the night before, and thought that was the perfect place to go in the morning. We got in the birds right off the roost with two gobblers coming in but staying just out of range of the 20 gauge.  After we had figured that these birds were not coming in, we packed up our gear, and headed back to camp. We ate breakfast, and then took a nap. When we woke up we started to take down our camp and I felt very sad and frustrated that I had not yet shot a turkey. Tyler grabbed a camping chair and asked me to come and sit by him and relax, so I did.

We were sitting there talking about everything that had transpired during my hunt, when I saw it; a giant Gould’s tom walking towards our camp. I couldn’t believe my eyes.  I immediately said to Tyler, “There is a turkey walking right into our camp!” He looked shocked, and then excited. The turkey was walking by about 30 yards from our camp. Tyler got up, quickly snuck to the truck, and pulled the gun out. I began to feel my heart pound, and I got incredibly excited but also felt a little nervous. I couldn’t believe what was happening.  I then snuck up to Tyler, grabbed the gun that he had loaded for me, sat down…aimed…and shot. The turkey immediately went down.   I looked to Tyler for reassurance about what had just happened; his face said it all.

This has been one of the most amazing adventures I have been on in my life. I learned so many things about myself, had an incredible time with Tyler, and was ultimately blessed with what I think is the most beautiful bird on the whole mountain.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me during my hunt. A special thanks to Tyler for being so wonderful and patient with me and “Billy” Jim Vincent who let me borrow his 20 gauge."