Ladies Go for Turkey Slams


Jane Capps and Jean Watson both decided that turkey hunting provided a challenge that they both wanted to meet. Jean decided to try for a Grand Slam (four subspecies of turkeys in the United States – Eastern, Osceola or Florida, Rio Grande, and Merriam) and Jane went for a World Slam (six subspecies of turkeys found in the world – Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande, Merriam, Ocellated, and Gould’s); all in one year and in only their second year of active turkey hunting. The hunting began at home with hunts separately and together in Hale, Marengo, Dallas, Sumter, and Perry counties. We had no success on an Eastern bird before leaving for an Osceola turkey hunt with Ronnie Flint of Flint Cattle Company below Fort Myers, Florida in Lehigh Acres. We arrived on Thursday night after driving all day and started our hunt on Friday morning. Ronnie had set up a blind for us near a potato field where he had seen some birds. We arrived at the blind before daylight and by seven o’clock had killed a double. We called up two jakes, four hens, and three gobblers and were able to shoot together to kill two nice long beards. We headed straight back for Alabama the next day to try for our Eastern wild turkeys.
Jane soon left on her first trip to Mexico seeking an Ocellated wild turkey near the Yucatan Peninsula. She hunted with Manuel Garcia and completed a successful kill of this beautifully colored bird. He is unusual in that he has no beard and does not gobble or come to a call; hunting is accomplished by ambush or roosting.
Success eluded us together on our Eastern birds but we were both able to kill nice turkeys before leaving on our next trip. I killed my Eastern bird while hunting with my husband Byron Watson and friend Marcus Plummer in Perry County near Marion. Jane was successful while hunting with a friend, Joe Glover, in Hale County near Sawyerville.
On April 21 we left for Texas with my husband Byron and Jane’s granddaughters Madeline and Tabitha. We hunted at the FTW Ranch near Barksdale, Texas. Tim and Susan Fallon own this ranch; the food was good and the fellowship was even better. Jean was able to kill her Rio Grande bird here but Jane had to travel to Hondo to hunt with Richard Muenninck of Action Outdoor Adventures to get her Rio. Both were great birds; Byron, Madeline, and Tabitha departed for home.
Jane and I continued on to Blue Creek Ranch near Trinchera, Colorado. Three days before our arrival they had had twenty inches of snow and the meltwater and runoff made for a muddy mess and flood conditions, cold too. Naturally the turkeys had headed for other parts and we had to hunt three ranches before we found birds. We hunted on Abbie Reaves ranch and on Tanky and Joanne Doherty’s ranch in addition to Blue Creek (owned by Geral and Jamie Smith). We stayed in Geral and Jamie’s bunkhouse and had a glorious visit with these two delightful people. Both of us were able to finally kill nice gobblers on the Doherty Ranch. We then drove the north-south length of New Mexico and the east-west width of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi to get home. Tired again but happy!
This completed my Grand Slam; all four birds killed. Jane now has five turkeys for a Royal Slam. We’ve lost lots of sleep but have the satisfaction of knowing we have accomplished a goal; no one could pull that trigger but us. Jane still has one more bird to go on her World Slam; she will hunt again near the middle of May with Manuel Garcia in Mexico near Chihuahua. This is for the Gould’s wild turkey, her final bird of the six birds World Slam. She asks to me remembered in your prayers as she has been handicapped by a torn ligament in her wrist, but still has the determination to complete her goal.