Youngster bags heck of a story

LITTLE ROCK — Turkey hunting is an affliction you can catch at any age, but it is incurable when contracted at an early age.

Zachary Garrison, 12, of Sherwood caught the bug in April during the statewide youth turkey hunting season when he killed a 25-pound gobbler in Faulkner County.

The bird sported a 10 1/2 inch beard and 1 1/4-inch spurs. Garrison shot the bird with a 20-gauge shotgun loaded with No. 6 lead shot.

For his achievement, Garrison won the 2012 Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation Youth turkey Hunting Contest. He won an Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation box call, an Arkansas Game and Fish Turkey Governor’s print and a Natgear Game and Fish Foundation ballcap.

Wayne Reed, Garrison’s grandfather, accompanied Garrison on his hunt and submitted his account of the event. The Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation selected his story in a random drawing, and Reed gave us permission to share it.

He wrote that he informed Garrison that turkey hunting “isn’t as easy as it looks on TV.” He set the scene by describing a cool, still, 48-degree morning.

“We exited the truck at 6 a.m. and hadn’t listened for 5 minutes when we heard a gobbler on a ridge close by,” Reed wrote. “We maneuvered to the top of the ridge and set up a hen decoy on an old logging road.”

Not knowing exactly where the bird was, Reed also didn’t know which direction it liked to go when it landed,where its primary strutting area was or if hens roosted nearby. He gambled that the gobbler would cross the logging road, the most open area on the ridge, and see the decoy.

“As with most turkey hunts, trying to second-guess a gobbler seldom works as planned,” Reed continued. “The gobbler had other ideas after hearing us offering a couple of tree yelps. He hit the ground and came straight to us like he was on a string. Of course, we were on the wrong side of the tree. The old thunder chicken came to within 10 feet of our right shoulder in full strut. I was whispering to Zach, ‘Don’t move an eyelash, and although I could hear his heart beating, he held his ground and the gobbler did not detect us, he wandered down the hill and gave us the opportunity for another try.

“After the bird got a safe distance from us, I could hear all the air leave Zach’s body. He whispered, ‘Pops, I thought I was going to pass out. I couldn’t breath, I was so excited.’ ”

They rushed to intercept the bird at the bottom of the ridge, where they placed the decoy just outside a treeline in hopes of luring the bird into a meadow. On the waydown, the gobbler picked up a buddy.

“After giving a few soft calls, the two gobblers turned loose, almost shaking the leaves off the trees,” Reed wrote. “Zach’s eyes got as big as pie plates. He whispered, ‘I’m getting light-headed.’ I told him to hang in there. This will all be over in a few minutes. I’ll have to say, even though I’m 58 years old and have a number of turkeys under my belt, I was beginning to hyperventilate myself.

“By the time the birds broke cover Zach was shaking like silk drawers on a clothes line,” Reed continued. “I slowly put my handon his knee and whispered, ‘Breathe, and shoot when you can see that white head. The little 20-gauge barked out a round, and the lead gobbler hit the ground like a sack of horseshoes.

“We both jumped out of our hide like we had been shot out of a cannon. The hunt was over for today, but it was the beginning of a long life for a 12-year-old to enjoy many more years of what gets us out into the woods when the dogwoods bloom, to just get the opportunity to hear the gobblers and enjoy the cat-and-mouse game with the smartest game animal in the forest.”