Snow Can't Stop Young Turkey Hunter
By DAVID RAINER
Twelve-year-old Jake Garner of Centreville had to overcome an unusual obstacle to bag his first wild turkey during Alabama’s special youth hunt on March 8 – snow and more snow.
A late-winter storm moved through the state and dumped white stuff over the northern half of Alabama in the wee hours of March 8.
Only hours earlier, Garner and his mentor, Dale Watts, nearly missed out on a hunt of a lifetime.
 “Neither one thought about the youth hunt until it was almost too late,” Watts said. “It was after 10 o’clock on Friday night when we realized it was the youth turkey hunting weekend. We ran to Wal-Mart and at 10:45, they came over the intercom ‘shoppers you have 15 minutes to make your purchases.’ We grabbed a box of 20-gauge No. 5 shot, a head net and gloves. That 20-gauge was my brother’s, a Mossberg with a full choke.”
The hunters headed for Cahaba River Wildlife Management Area, a 41,500 acre public hunting area near West Blocton where Watts has been hunting since 2002.
“I turkey hunt Cahaba more than I deer hunt,” Watts said. “We ‘place’ hunted that morning. I had killed turkeys there before and I was confident it would be the best place to take him with the weather. The snow had fallen so hard that out through the hardwoods, it was white. We were on the edge of a gas line. I got him pointed in the direction I thought the turkeys would come from.”
Watts knew the turkeys roosted across the gas line. With the snow coming down so hard it was hard to see across the gas line, Watts decided to go ahead and start calling about 30 minutes after daylight.
“After the first call I thought I heard a turkey fly down, but I wasn’t sure,” he said. “I called again, and Jake started saying, ‘Dale, Dale, Dale’ as fast as he could say it. When I turned around, I barely caught a glimpse of a turkey. Then I saw a gobbler running wide open, coming to the call.”
Watts had already coached Jake about being still and making sure the bead of the gun was on the turkey’s neck, as well as the spot the turkeys were likely to come into range. What Watts didn’t realize was there were more turkeys than the one he spotted.
“It turned out there were three gobblers together,” Watts said. “The bigger bird was trying to strut, but every time he tried to strut the other birds would get in front of him and he didn’t like it. I didn’t realize he had seen the other turkeys, and I didn’t know where the heads were going to come up. There was about a 50-yard span where they might pop over this little ridge, but we got lucky and Jake’s gun was pointed right at the turkeys. They were in the gas line at 35 yards.
“I told him to put the bead on him and go ahead and shoot. He said, ‘I can’t see him.’ There was a lot of sedge in the gas line, so I thought he couldn’t see over the grass because he was sitting lower than me. I told him again to shoot when he got the bead on him, and he told me again, ‘I can’t see him.’
Puzzled, Watts slowly turned to look at Jake to try to figure out why he wasn’t picking up the turkeys.
“I glimpsed down at him and the flat rib on the shotgun barrel was covered with snow,” Watts said. “He could see the turkeys, but he couldn’t see his front sight. I had told him how important it was to not move. He was trying to shake the snow off in little movements so the turkeys wouldn’t spot him. The second bird moved straight in front of him and he finally could see enough of the bead to put it on him. And that 20-gauge impressed me. The turkey hit the ground.”
Now the 12-year-old has picked up a new nickname among his schoolmates – turkey slayer.
“I saw all three of them coming down the hill,” Garner said. “I got Dale’s attention finally, but he only saw the one in the back. When he told me to shoot, I looked down the barrel. I was trying to look at the turkeys, but all I saw was snow. I just barely started shaking it and hoped it would fall off. I finally got some of the snow off and I could see the bead a little bit. I pulled the trigger, and Dale jumped up and started running. So I got up and started running, too. It was fun.”
Debbie Garner, Jake’s mother, said her son is definitely hooked on turkey hunting now.
“He’s been bitten by the bug,” Debbie said. “Now he wants to go all the time.”
Although he is a seasoned turkey hunter, Watts said he’s seen nothing like Jake’s hunt.
“It was almost surreal,” Watts said. “We hadn’t been there five minutes. The snow was blowing like you wouldn’t believe. I had no idea he would kill a bird. I just thought it would be about the trip.”
Watts said hunting the Cahaba River WMA isn’t easy to begin with, and a hunt in less than ideal conditions was iffy at best.
“Where I hunt is mostly plantation pines that have been heavily thinned,” he said. “This is in a creek bottom with some hardwoods. It’s really tough terrain. You’ve got to be on the same ridge with the bird or you’re wasting your time. It has unbelievable bluffs, straight up and down. In this instance, we had a hardwood bottom across and we were on a hardwood ridge. A 100 yards in either direction and you’d need a hang glider. You’ve got to get where the turkey can come to you. If he has to cross a creek or a bluff, he’ll wait for you to come to him.”
Despite the snow, Watts and Garner managed to find that magical spot and Jake bagged his first bird, which had a 10 ½-inch beard and ¾-inch spurs.
“I called my brother on our way back and told him what his shotgun had done,” Watts said. “He said that wasn’t his shotgun any more, it was Jake’s shotgun. So Jake got a shotgun out of the deal, too. The only thing wrong with this is now he thinks turkey hunting is easy.”
The youngster wasn’t the only one to benefit greatly from the hunting trip.
“Seeing him get that first turkey, just to see his face, I can’t get that kind of enjoyment anymore,” Watts said. “To watch him was a blessing.”
PHOTO: Jake Garner, 12, proudly displays his first wild turkey, taken at the Cahaba River Wildlife Management Area with mentor Dale Watts.
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