LITTLE ROCK — Sometimes it takes teamwork to bag a turkey.
On April 21, Alan Thomas of Russellville bagged a mature gobbler in Pope County that weighed 20 pounds and sported a beard that measured 10 inches. Its spurs were threequarters of an inch long. Thomas was thrilled to kill his first turkey since 2005, but he credited his friend, Alex Kellam of Yellville, with an assist.
Thomas and Kellam got together at 6 a.m.
and went to an area near the Arkansas River containing pines and hardwoods. Several roads crisscrossed the area, creating a checkerboard effect featuring open canopy and dense thickets. Thomas said they started on a ridge that dropped into a creek bottom and ascended another ridge.
"Three or four toms were gobbling to the east," Thomas said. "I figured they were hung up. They tend not to move a whole lot. I wanted to go to the next ridge to another opening. It's about 80 yards long and about 20 yards wide. I set up to take anything coming from the east."
Thomas said they called for an hour, from 7:05 a.m. to 8:05 a.m., but got no response.
Thomas used a Woodhaven Classic aluminum slate call, and Kellam used a diaphragm.
They went all the way to the river and rested, then went back the way they came.
That's when they found some fresh tracks and droppings on one of the roads.
"We were about to head back to my house, but we heard some hens yelping to the east."
They called, and two gobblers responded, one from the south and one from the north.
One was only about 150 yards away. They called again, and he gobbled louder. He was definitely coming. Unfortunately, they had company.
"There was this hen. I named her 'Stupid' because I called her up three straight days," Thomas said. "She was looking for us, yelping and hollering. She slunk off to the south toward that tom, so I said, 'We need to circle around and get in his way.' "
After the hen cleared out, Thomas and Kellam went west and veered in a semicircle through some pine trees. They came to a patch of trees between a clearing and the road and called again. The tom gobbled from about 70 yards at Kellam's call, so they sat down immediately.
With little cover, they were at a substantial disadvantage. Thomas was about to stand up when he noticed a hen milling about in the clearing. She ignored the tom and moved away.
Thomas pivoted backward and belly-crawled to another 20-yard opening. In that position, Thomas and Kellam flanked the tom. If he went sideways in either direction, he was toast.
"I could see him. He was in strut," Thomas said. "He looked right at me and went back into strut."
Thomas crawled to a place with more cover and continued his vigil. Kellam called, and the bird pulled in his feathers and advanced.
"I had my gun up, and I knew he was coming to where one of us was going to have a shot," Thomas said. "We agreed that if either of us had a clear shot, to take it."
The turkey strutted through a tangle of pine saplings and brush. He stuck out his neck to look around and then continued strutting. He stuck his neck out one more time, and Thomas put him down from a distance of 40 steps. The time was 10:15 a.m.
"Three more steps, and Al would have had him," Thomas said. "It took teamwork and patience. Sometimes you have to move, and sometimes you have to be patient. It paid off in both respects."
Sports, Pages 40 on 04/27/2008