TYPICAL TURKEY – ARCHERY RECORD
1. Steve Lallier 52-10/16 2016
My hunting life started 15 years ago when I moved into a farmhouse in Stouffville. For the first few years I began to notice there was a lot of deer around but knew absolutely nothing about hunting the animal so I just sat there and watched them in the fields.
I had grown up in northern Ontario with all kinds of good hunting for moose and bear but never really had a love for it. I was more of an angler, as the fishing in northern Ontario is simply awesome!
Starting to hunt for deer, learning about their behavior and their habitat in southern Ontario was a whole new ball game! For 3 years I hunted by myself and just kept to it. I made all kinds of mistakes and was getting busted left, right, and center! Then I shot my first deer; a non-typical 6 point buck. It was then that I noticed that I had turkeys on the property so I took the course and got my license.
My turkey hunting journey did not come easy. With no knowledge on how to call I found myself learning about turkey hunting by watching YouTube videos and more hunting shows that I can remember. The first two years were especially challenging. I was scaring birds away with my bad calling and just not having the know-how.
I started with the really cheap decoys and let me tell ya, they do not work at catching a Tom’s eye. So I decided to spend some real money on a tom decoy. Well that was a bad choice for me since I still didn’t know anything about turkey hunting. That first year I ate tag soup. The second year was also a tag soup dinner but at least I had the chance to actually shoot a jake…but I missed. It was getting quite dreadful not knowing anybody that could teach me or show me a few things but I kept trying anyway. The third year was when things really looked up for me. I had practiced my calls all winter and done a whole bunch of research on the bird. Early spring came and I set up a few cameras around my deer stand to see if I could locate some turkeys. There were 6 males that I could see on pictures; a group of 5 and a single Tom that kept to himself and seemed to be a loner.
It was a tough start to the season as my girlfriend’s mother passed and I had just started my new job, and had just got my ducklings and chicks for the farm so I was really busy with life and had no time to think about hunting. When things settled down it was the second week of May before I could get some hunting done. For the first few mornings I was able to call them in but they would hang up about 60-80 yards away so I decided I needed a good hen decoy to pull them into range. The new decoy was so good looking that I couldn’t wait to get out with her in the field but couldn’t find the time until the day after May long weekend.
On May 24, I woke up to a buzzing alarm that was 40 minutes late! I scrambled to get my gear about get to the woods. As I running to my blind the daylight was coming fast and as I was about 100 yards from my blind they started sounding off from the roost. I got to my blind and crawled out in the field to set my new decoy for the first time and quickly rushed back to the blind. By this time they were fired up and gobbling like crazy. It was a beautiful morning with clear skies no wind; just perfect for a hunt. It was now 5:35am and I let a few soft yelps. They gobbled right back so I clucked and again they hammered back. Finally, they all came off the roost and landed 200 yards in front of me looking right at my new decoy. I let out a couple yelps but this time a little louder and I heard another gobble, but this gobble came from inside the forest not from the birds that landed in front of me. I looked over and all I could see was a red head poking out of the tall grass about 150 yards out. I let out a yelp and a few purrs and in he comes …he was just trotting along pecking the ground looking at the decoy. I picked up my TenPoint crossbow and sat it on my lap. My heart started to pound out of my chest and a million scenarios were going through my head. I kept telling myself, “This is it, this is gonna be your first turkey and it’s a tom!” I put the sights on him at about 20 yards and just followed him until he came to about 5-6 yards right in between me and the decoy. I squeezed the trigger and saw a poof of feathers fly up in the air along with a cloud of dust. And then I saw him flopping on the ground. I jumped out of the blind, screaming with joy knowing I had shot my first turkey!
He weighed in at 23 lbs with an 11 5/8” beard and 1 1/2 ” &1 3/8″ spurs. A week or so had gone by and I was watching turkey hunting videos and noticed that most of the beards were 7-9″ and the spurs 3/4-1″ so I looked up some records and found F.R.O.W so I called them and they set me up with Joe Willmets. After sending my scoresheet in I got an email saying that my bird was a potential record and had to be panel scored. I drove up to Peterborough and got Keith and Kevin Beasley to panel score it and it scored an amazing 52 10/16. I was over the moon.
I don’t know if it was beginners’ luck or it was the new decoy or just everything was done right that morning but I will never forget that hunt. I want to say thanks to my family first and foremost for supporting me throughout the journey and the adventures, and to the Beasley brothers for their help in making this a memory that I will never forget. Here’s to many more to come.
