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A Pennsylvania woman and her father combined efforts to complete their grand slam of turkeys in the United States.
Samantha Smiley, 19, and her father Christopher, 47, of Falls Creek, Jefferson County, each harvested all four common species of turkeys in the country. It was a multi-year effort that culminated on March 15 in Florida when they each bagged an Osceola gobbler.
The National Wild Turkey Federation reports a grand slam includes the four most common subspecies of wild turkey including the Eastern, Rio Grande, Merriam and Osceola.
His daughter has been interested in turkey hunting since she was a child and harvested her first Pennsylvania gobbler at the age of 6.'
“I was excited, I obviously loved it,” she said about hunting gobblers ever since. She now has harvested 20 gobblers over the past 12 years.
This is the second grand slam for her father after having completed his first one in 2013.
With her dad and grandfather, Bob, each getting a grand slam, it was something she wanted to complete as well. “My dad pushed me and we both got into it together. He completed his second grand slam while I did my first one, so it was cool to have both of those milestones together,” she said.
Their Florida hunt was guided by Tommy Lado, who called to the birds without the use of a physical turkey call. He just used his voice. “He did a good job. He was actually an NWTF grand champion caller,” she said.
To save on travel expenses during their grand slam quest, they drove to each part of the United States where they hunted. They made a trip every other year for the past four years.
In 2021, they drove to Wyoming and were able to get their Merriam birds. “I figured we would get the furthest one, way out west, out of the way,” he said.
“We doubled up in Wyoming together and we doubled up in Kansas for our Rio Grandes,” he said. The Kansas adventure was in 2023.
Some of the hunts they called to the turkeys themselves and other times, they had guides to help.
“Wyoming was semi-guided. They just put us in a spot. The gentleman did stay with us that day just because of the drive. I did most of the calling on that first hunt. He helped a little bit,” he said.
“Our Kansas hunt was semi-guided. The guide drove us around and we saw some birds the night before, I pegged everything in my phone where we could hunt, he showed us the property lines on OnX maps, and he said, ‘Here you go. Let me know how you do.” And that one was pretty much on our own,” he said.
Use a .410 for turkeys: Here's why you should consider a lighter shotgun for turkey hunting
To make the challenge even more difficult, Samantha used a light .410 single-shot shotgun. She uses Tungsten Super Shot (TSS) shells that have a longer range and tighter pattern than lead shells. “I love that gun,” she said. Her dad also uses a single-shot shotgun, but in a 20 gauge.
They were able to call the birds within close distances. “Her Merriam was about 19 yards. Kansas was probably 25 max and her Florida bird was about 21, 22 yards,” the proud father said.
She said Wyoming was more of a challenge because of the time involved. “They flew off the roost and stood in front of us across a fence at least 150 yards out. We watched them for six hours strutting in a field. It was six hours we sat there and watched them. Two were finally dumb enough to come in to our setup,” she said.
Her dad said there were 50 gobblers working in that field for about 100 hens. “They put a show on for us. It didn’t matter what call you had, you weren’t pulling anything off until they were ready to break up,” he said.
“Kansas was the hardest because you didn’t know the area that well and the wind never stops in Kansas,” he said. “We just took our time and the way the wind was howling, we caught some birds out in an opening in the field and the next thing you know I’m calling and they answered,” he said. They were both able to get a bird by 8 a.m. that day.
While the birds were different species, they all responded like the turkeys they are used to hunting in Pennsylvania.
“The turkeys all do the same thing. The Wyoming hunt really illustrated how the turkey morning goes,” he said. “When you have that many birds all congested like that, they all go through a pecking order. The big gobblers fight and they kick out the jakes, they kick out the smaller birds. The hens do the same thing. They kick out the weaker hens, the dominant hens go one way and the dominant gobblers follow them to breed. The mediocre gobblers, the mediocre hens go do their thing, they breed and everybody else gets left out,” he said.
In each of the states, he said the gobblers responded to the calls. “The Kansas birds were great. They hammered the whole way right to the gun barrel. The Florida birds were a little quieter. The gentleman (guide) said because of the cold weather they experienced that far south had everything (breeding pattern) backed up about two weeks. Her bird gobbled three times on the roost and that was it. We never heard him again until we saw him. He came in and he strutted from 150 yards out and never left strut the whole entire time until she pulled the trigger. It was pretty impressive,” he said.
The father is proud of his daughter’s tenacity and patience. In Florida when she completed her grand slam, he said it was an emotional time. “I was pretty pumped.” When they were waiting for the bird to give her an ethical shot, he remembers her saying that she felt her heart was beating out of her chest. I said it’s OK, let it beat out of your chest. I’m glad it is. Mine is too, that’s the whole purpose of turkey hunting,” he said.
He said she’s patient and knows how to read the woods when hunting. “I’m super proud.”
“When she shot that turkey, I had thousands of pounds lifted off my chest. If I get a bird now, great, that will be cool. I’ll have my second slam and I get it with my daughter here. But she just accomplished something that we set out to do,” he said.
His daughter feels blessed for the opportunities she’s experienced. “It’s unreal in a way. I mean there are men and women who don’t even get the chance to go out of state to shoot any turkeys or deer even. It’s just crazy that I even get the opportunity to go out and do anything like that,” she said.
She said hunting has taught her to be appreciative. “Just spending any day with my grandpa and my dad is always fun. Hunting with them is just a great time,” she said.
More: Father's Day: No better place to bond with family than in the outdoors
To help remember the hunts, she’s having mounts made of the four different species. She has a full mount of an Eastern turkey from Pennsylvania gobbling on a limb. Her Wyoming Merriam bird is a chest mount, her Kansas Rio Grande is an alert strut pose, and her Florida bird will be a full strut.
“I like the Florida bird the most. It’s just so iridescent and so pretty. The colors on the chest and the wings, everything is just so pretty. My Merriam I like, too, but I didn’t get the whitest of tips on my bird, but they are still so pretty,” she said.
While turkeys can be served in a variety of ways, the Smileys enjoy eating ground turkey. “We use them for tacos and chili. I made jerky out of them,” he said.
She likes hunting for a variety of game, but turkeys are her favorite animal to pursue.
“I like gobbler season more than deer season by far. It’s because you’re on the ground and with them and you just get to see every part of them. It’s just a cool thing,” she said. “They are more vocal. Even watching a hen cluck through the woods is still a fun time.”
When it comes to spring gobbler hunting, patience pays off. There have been a couple of years where she got her turkey on the last day of Pennsylvania’s season on Memorial Day.
“I even hunted the morning of my prom my junior year,” she said about wanting to turkey hunt every morning she could.
Her father credits the mentored youth turkey season Pennsylvania has for getting her hooked on the sport. “The Game Commission really did a nice thing with letting kids get involved,” he said.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at [email protected] and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Pa. father, daughter hunt to get grand slams in turkey hunting
Continue reading...
Samantha Smiley, 19, and her father Christopher, 47, of Falls Creek, Jefferson County, each harvested all four common species of turkeys in the country. It was a multi-year effort that culminated on March 15 in Florida when they each bagged an Osceola gobbler.
The National Wild Turkey Federation reports a grand slam includes the four most common subspecies of wild turkey including the Eastern, Rio Grande, Merriam and Osceola.
His daughter has been interested in turkey hunting since she was a child and harvested her first Pennsylvania gobbler at the age of 6.'
“I was excited, I obviously loved it,” she said about hunting gobblers ever since. She now has harvested 20 gobblers over the past 12 years.
This is the second grand slam for her father after having completed his first one in 2013.
With her dad and grandfather, Bob, each getting a grand slam, it was something she wanted to complete as well. “My dad pushed me and we both got into it together. He completed his second grand slam while I did my first one, so it was cool to have both of those milestones together,” she said.
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Their Florida hunt was guided by Tommy Lado, who called to the birds without the use of a physical turkey call. He just used his voice. “He did a good job. He was actually an NWTF grand champion caller,” she said.
To save on travel expenses during their grand slam quest, they drove to each part of the United States where they hunted. They made a trip every other year for the past four years.
In 2021, they drove to Wyoming and were able to get their Merriam birds. “I figured we would get the furthest one, way out west, out of the way,” he said.
“We doubled up in Wyoming together and we doubled up in Kansas for our Rio Grandes,” he said. The Kansas adventure was in 2023.
Some of the hunts they called to the turkeys themselves and other times, they had guides to help.
You must be registered for see images attach
“Wyoming was semi-guided. They just put us in a spot. The gentleman did stay with us that day just because of the drive. I did most of the calling on that first hunt. He helped a little bit,” he said.
“Our Kansas hunt was semi-guided. The guide drove us around and we saw some birds the night before, I pegged everything in my phone where we could hunt, he showed us the property lines on OnX maps, and he said, ‘Here you go. Let me know how you do.” And that one was pretty much on our own,” he said.
Use a .410 for turkeys: Here's why you should consider a lighter shotgun for turkey hunting
To make the challenge even more difficult, Samantha used a light .410 single-shot shotgun. She uses Tungsten Super Shot (TSS) shells that have a longer range and tighter pattern than lead shells. “I love that gun,” she said. Her dad also uses a single-shot shotgun, but in a 20 gauge.
They were able to call the birds within close distances. “Her Merriam was about 19 yards. Kansas was probably 25 max and her Florida bird was about 21, 22 yards,” the proud father said.
She said Wyoming was more of a challenge because of the time involved. “They flew off the roost and stood in front of us across a fence at least 150 yards out. We watched them for six hours strutting in a field. It was six hours we sat there and watched them. Two were finally dumb enough to come in to our setup,” she said.
Her dad said there were 50 gobblers working in that field for about 100 hens. “They put a show on for us. It didn’t matter what call you had, you weren’t pulling anything off until they were ready to break up,” he said.
“Kansas was the hardest because you didn’t know the area that well and the wind never stops in Kansas,” he said. “We just took our time and the way the wind was howling, we caught some birds out in an opening in the field and the next thing you know I’m calling and they answered,” he said. They were both able to get a bird by 8 a.m. that day.
You must be registered for see images attach
While the birds were different species, they all responded like the turkeys they are used to hunting in Pennsylvania.
“The turkeys all do the same thing. The Wyoming hunt really illustrated how the turkey morning goes,” he said. “When you have that many birds all congested like that, they all go through a pecking order. The big gobblers fight and they kick out the jakes, they kick out the smaller birds. The hens do the same thing. They kick out the weaker hens, the dominant hens go one way and the dominant gobblers follow them to breed. The mediocre gobblers, the mediocre hens go do their thing, they breed and everybody else gets left out,” he said.
In each of the states, he said the gobblers responded to the calls. “The Kansas birds were great. They hammered the whole way right to the gun barrel. The Florida birds were a little quieter. The gentleman (guide) said because of the cold weather they experienced that far south had everything (breeding pattern) backed up about two weeks. Her bird gobbled three times on the roost and that was it. We never heard him again until we saw him. He came in and he strutted from 150 yards out and never left strut the whole entire time until she pulled the trigger. It was pretty impressive,” he said.
The father is proud of his daughter’s tenacity and patience. In Florida when she completed her grand slam, he said it was an emotional time. “I was pretty pumped.” When they were waiting for the bird to give her an ethical shot, he remembers her saying that she felt her heart was beating out of her chest. I said it’s OK, let it beat out of your chest. I’m glad it is. Mine is too, that’s the whole purpose of turkey hunting,” he said.
He said she’s patient and knows how to read the woods when hunting. “I’m super proud.”
“When she shot that turkey, I had thousands of pounds lifted off my chest. If I get a bird now, great, that will be cool. I’ll have my second slam and I get it with my daughter here. But she just accomplished something that we set out to do,” he said.
His daughter feels blessed for the opportunities she’s experienced. “It’s unreal in a way. I mean there are men and women who don’t even get the chance to go out of state to shoot any turkeys or deer even. It’s just crazy that I even get the opportunity to go out and do anything like that,” she said.
She said hunting has taught her to be appreciative. “Just spending any day with my grandpa and my dad is always fun. Hunting with them is just a great time,” she said.
More: Father's Day: No better place to bond with family than in the outdoors
You must be registered for see images attach
To help remember the hunts, she’s having mounts made of the four different species. She has a full mount of an Eastern turkey from Pennsylvania gobbling on a limb. Her Wyoming Merriam bird is a chest mount, her Kansas Rio Grande is an alert strut pose, and her Florida bird will be a full strut.
“I like the Florida bird the most. It’s just so iridescent and so pretty. The colors on the chest and the wings, everything is just so pretty. My Merriam I like, too, but I didn’t get the whitest of tips on my bird, but they are still so pretty,” she said.
While turkeys can be served in a variety of ways, the Smileys enjoy eating ground turkey. “We use them for tacos and chili. I made jerky out of them,” he said.
She likes hunting for a variety of game, but turkeys are her favorite animal to pursue.
“I like gobbler season more than deer season by far. It’s because you’re on the ground and with them and you just get to see every part of them. It’s just a cool thing,” she said. “They are more vocal. Even watching a hen cluck through the woods is still a fun time.”
When it comes to spring gobbler hunting, patience pays off. There have been a couple of years where she got her turkey on the last day of Pennsylvania’s season on Memorial Day.
“I even hunted the morning of my prom my junior year,” she said about wanting to turkey hunt every morning she could.
Her father credits the mentored youth turkey season Pennsylvania has for getting her hooked on the sport. “The Game Commission really did a nice thing with letting kids get involved,” he said.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at [email protected] and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Pa. father, daughter hunt to get grand slams in turkey hunting
Continue reading...
