FIRST TURKEY

By Sr. Agent Darryl Galloway

On the opening day of turkey season here in Region 7 it was cold. I mean real cold, but we all had some bait documented, so we set out. After having our baiters show up and citing them both for Hunting Turkey Over Bait, Agent Richard Clark and I met with Lt. Bradley Cromp and Sgt. Chuck Strain at the entrance of the L&L Hunting Club located east of Angie, Louisiana in northeast Washington Parish. While discussing the baiting case we just had completed, a van was observed exiting the hunting club. As it approached our trucks, it pulled to it's right and onto the grass. When the driver got out, we all recognized him as Hardy Thomas, a member of the L&L Club and club game warden.

When Hardy got out, we all saw that he was smiling from ear to ear. That's when we noticed a little boy come around from the rear of the van and walk over to Hardy's side. As we all do, I asked Hardy, "Do any good?" and Hardy replied, "You bet." Turning to the little boy, Hardy said, "Go get your turkey and show these men what you've shot." Well, that little boy took off like greased lighting and it wasn't but a minute or so later when he came back packing a turkey that was almost as tall as he was. "I tell you what, I am sure proud of this little feller," said Hardy. "He's my 9-year old nephew, Cory Thomas, and this is his first gobbler," "Let me tell you about our hunt. When we got to our hunting spot, and after getting set up, I began working this gobbler. Around 5:55 a.m. this morning, he moved within about 10 feet of our blind heading for the decoy. All I could hope was that Cory didn't move. As the bird got out in front of us, I whispered to Cory, "Shoot him," but nothing happened. So I whispered again, "Shoot him," and still nothing. I looked out of the corner of my eye and almost laughed aloud when I saw what the hold up was. The barrel of Cory's .20 gauge shotgun was going round and round. The poor little feller was so nervous that he couldn't hold his barrel steady !!! Well, it wasn't long before he steadied it and "BOOM" he shot and that old long beard dropped right there in his tracks. Yes sir, I sure am proud of Cory !" While kneeling down admiring Cory's gobbler, I looked up at him and asked, "What did you think of your hunting trip?" Cory smiled and said, "It was fun, I mean real fun." I asked him how he felt when that bird came within 10 feet of their blind and he said, "Whew !! I thought my heart was about to jump out my chest. All I could hear was my heart beating !! You know what Uncle Hardy, all I need is one more gobbler and I'll be shut out," stated Cory with the confidence of a veteran hunter. When asked what he was going to do if he limited out early in the season and couldn't hunt anymore, he replied, "Well, I guess I'll just go fishing !!"

Cory's gobbler was weighed and it's beard and spurs were measured by Lt. Cromp. Cory's gobbler weighed approximately 18 lbs., had a 9-inch beard, and it's spurs were 7/8 of an inch long. Over all, a bird any turkey hunter would love to harvest. It's good to see a young man like Cory so involved with the outdoors. Not all kids would get up on a cold Saturday morning to go sit in the woods and hunt a turkey, which as most of you know, might and might not come along. It's good to see someone like Hardy Thomas, Cory's Uncle, a man who love's to turkey hunt, spend time with his nephew and give him the opportunity to harvest a fine gobbler.