Advertisement

Call of the Wild: Turkey hunters have their own grand slam

April 22, 2007|ANN R. HARNEY

There is a grand slam in professional tennis and professional golf. In both sports, if a person wins all of the top four tournaments, it is said the person won the grand slam.

Of course in baseball, a grand slam is when there are runners on all three bases and the batter hits a home run and all four players, including the batter, get a run.

In turkey hunting, a grand slam means a hunter has killed at least one of the four subspecies of turkeys indigenous to the United States.

Kentucky hunters have to leave their home state in hopes of bagging three of the four subspecies. The only wild turkey indigenous to Kentucky is the eastern turkey, the most abundant and widespread of all the wild turkey subspecies. The Osceola or Florida turkey is found in Florida, and patience is the key to harvesting this subspecies. It gobbles considerably less than its three cousins and is often hunted in open terrain.

Advertisement

Rio Grande turkeys are famous for lots of gobbling. They are found in western states, including Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Merriam's turkey is a bird of the West, found in differing terrain from prairies to the Rocky Mountains.

Information for this story came from Grand Slam Turkey Hunt.

Central Kentucky News Articles
|
|
|