Walker, Pugh Among 2026 Turkey Hall of Fame Inductees

By DAVID RAINER, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

The Alabama Turkey Hunters Hall of Fame inducted its third class of renowned turkey hunters recently at the Mobile Convention Center during the World Championship Turkey Calling Contest.

Two of the inductees were able to attend the induction ceremony, Bob Walker of Livingston and Corky Pugh of Montgomery. Three of the turkey hunters were recognized posthumously – Ben Ezelle of Aliceville, Doug Camp of Talladega and Ken Tucker of Brewton.

Camp, who died in 2004, was considered one of the original diehard turkey hunters in the state. He and his pals reportedly hunted the Talladega National Forest in Volkswagens to traverse the forest’s rugged terrain. He is known for starting Camp Callers and created box calls that featured his artwork. They are considered collectors’ items today. Camp also authored a book called Turkey Hunting, Spring and Fall. He was named to the Birmingham News All-State Turkey Hunting Team and was a member of the Mossy Oak Turkey Hunting Dream Team.

Ezelle, who died in 2014, was a former guide at The Roost and Westervelt Lodge in northwest Alabama. He served alongside legendary Ben Rogers Lee as an instructor at the Westervelt Turkey School. Ezelle was a mentor to Hall of Fame member George Mayfield, who passed away earlier this year.

Tucker, who died in 2003, was a prolific producer of outdoors content through his television show The Sportsman’s Showcase. It was one of the few outdoors programs available on the air in the 1980s and enjoyed a long run even after Tucker’s death from a heart attack. He featured Hall of Fame member Eddie Salter often on his show.

Neither Walker nor Pugh had any idea they were under consideration for the Hall until they heard the 2026 inductees revealed on Alan White’s radio program, WNSP Outdoors.

Walker was known as one of the top guides at Bent Creek Lodge near Jachin, where he enjoyed a 32-year career with owners Dr. Johnny Lanier and Leo Allen.

“My son-in-law called me and my wife and told us we needed to be listening to something, and he sent us a link to Alan White’s program,” said Walker, who also served as a judge for the World Championship Turkey Calling contest. “It’s a great honor. I really appreciate that. I don’t feel like I deserve it, but that’s just me.”

Walker was introduced to the turkey hunting obsession by his dad, Bobby Walker, who turned him loose in the woods to learn a great deal about the endeavor on his own.

“Back then, there weren’t that many turkey hunters,” he said. “He would let me tag along with him. He could tell right quick that I wasn’t one to tell how to turkey hunt, that I would have to figure it out for myself. I could yelp on a mouth call. We’d find a turkey, and he’d say, ‘Awright, there you go. Have at it.’ 

“Then I’d screw that up and come back to camp and say, well, he did this or I did that. He would tell me, next time try this. That’s how I learn best anyway. I spooked a pile of them. It took a while to kill one on my own. I think I was 14. That just set a fire under me after that. When you call that first one up, you’re hooked.”

Walker’s father was what modern day hunters would call old school. He was extremely patient and called very little, compared to the run and gun tactics of many hunters these days.

“He would cut a couple of times and then yelp a couple of times, like Jimmy Bedwell (guide at Bent Creek),” Walker said. “He’d look at his watch, and, 15 minutes later, he would do it again. My ribs would end up bruised from him elbowing me, telling me to be still.”

Walker, who was a regular guest on Mossy Oak’s Turkey Thugs TV show, continued to pursue turkeys through his college days, and his skill level had increased significantly.

“I got what I would call pretty decent,” he said. “I wasn’t perfect, but I loved it. Through some friends, I met Johnny and Leo at Bent Creek Lodge, and I was their first turkey guide. When you’re going every day with somebody who is paying money, it makes you think and work a little harder. There are plenty of good turkey hunters who can kill turkeys. I was just blessed to be at the right place at the right time.”

Pugh, the former Director of Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (ADCNR) Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division, retired in 2011 after a 35-year career with the State of Alabama. Like Walker, he had no idea he was under consideration for induction into the Hall.

“I was deeply humbled and felt like I was standing on the shoulders of giants,” Pugh said. “When Doug Max and Alan White broke the news to me that I was being inducted into the Alabama Turkey Hunters Hall of Fame on Alan’s radio show, I was totally blown away. I told them then that I was very undeserving, and I’m not in the same league with most of those folks. It was a real honor, and I’m very humbled.”

Pugh started his turkey hunting career at the ripe old age of 4 when a couple of friends of his parents let him tag along on a hunt in Monroe County.

“Buck Rhodes and Preacher Springer borrowed me from my parents and took me to my Aunt Virgie’s place to turkey hunt,” said Pugh, who has hunted the same tract of land in Tallapoosa County for the last half century. “I’m sure they took me with them to gain access to her land, which is perfectly understandable, and it’s a shame more people don’t do that now. I remember stumbling along in the dark behind them. I was holding onto the back of Mr. Buck’s belt so they wouldn’t lose me in the dark. I remember stopping on a gravelly longleaf pine hillside. One of them owled with his voice, and I remember them saying they heard a turkey gobble. I was too little to know what to even listen for.

“A year later, another one of my parents’ friends, Troy Hall, took me late one afternoon to north Monroe County. We stopped at a deep sandy spot in the road and he showed me gobbler tracks. Then he owled, and a turkey gobbled from the roost. That’s what got me started in turkey hunting, and it’s been a lifelong passion.”

The Hall of Fame labeled Pugh as “The Working Man’s Director,” a title he gladly relishes. 

“I’m proud of that,” said Pugh, who finished a book earlier this year on chasing wild turkeys, titled Turkey Tactics, A Guide to Tactical Turkey Hunting (www.turkeyhuntingtactics.com). “Every hunter is important, whether they’re rich, poor, blue collar or white collar; they’re all important.”

As for the World Championship Turkey Calling Contest, which attracted callers from around the nation, Alabama callers prevailed in numerous categories.

Jared Lowe of Gadsden was crowned the overall World Open Champion. Russell Andrews of Tuscaloosa won the World Gobbling Championship for the second year in a row, and Michael Strawn of Aliceville repeated as the World Championship Friction Calling Champion. 

Kaleb Payton of Kentucky prevailed in the Owling World Championship, while Kenny Weiss Jr. of Mobile and Tyler Presley of Front Royal, Virginia, teamed up to claim the Team Challenge title.

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