Edgecombe bird certified as world-record gobbler

Joe Fuller poses with his potential world-record Edgecombe County gobbler.

Joe Fuller of Willow Springs (Johnston County) downed an Eastern wild turkey April 19 in Edgecombe County that is the highest-scoring gobbler in National Wild Turkey Federation records.

Fuller’s trophy bird, verified during early June by the NWTF and registered at its web site under Turkey Records, was an “atypical” gobbler that had eight beards and scored 195.5 NWTF points. The 23-pound, 8-ounce wild tom sported beards of 9, 8 12/16, 8 4/16, 8 4/16, 9 4/16, 8 4/16, 10 and 11 12/16 inches. It had identical 1 1/4-inch spurs.

An expanded story and more photos will be in the July 2008 issue of North Carolina Sportsman Magazine.

Fuller’s gobbler officially was scored by two NWTF members as required and surpassed the previous world-record gobbler shot April 19, 1989, by John E. Fryatt near Richland, Wisconsin. Fryatt’s bird, which weighed 22 pounds, 4 ounces, also had eight beards and scored 194.0 points.

North Carolina’s previous top turkey was taken May 3, 2007, by Lee Trivette in Cabarrus County. Trivette’s bird, which scored 168.375, sported six beards and also weighed 22-4.

What made Fuller’s accomplishment even more extraordinary was he was calling the bird for another hunter, Russ Zaft of Fuquay Varina.

The two hunters set up an ambush spot near an old food plot on top of a hill bordered on one side by a swamp. They’d seen the turkey a few minutes earlier near the edge of the swamp. Fuller decided to go to the opposite side of the hill and try to call the bird to Zaft. But the bird circled the bottom of the hill and walked past Fuller, offering him a shot at 35 yards.

“I heard a noise, looked up, and there he was, strutting not 50 yards from me,” Fuller said. “He made a bad mistake.”

One shot of Fuller’s Mossberg 935 shotgun, with hand-loaded Nitro Arms 3 1/2-inch shells and No. 4 pellets, put the big tom on the ground.

NWTF members Russell Avery and Justin Imbody of Clayton scored Fuller’s gobbler. An NWTF official said processing of Fuller’s records (scoring and photos) would take six to eight weeks before the turkey would be listed at the NWTF web site, but the NWTF expedited the verification of this gobbler.

About Craig Holt 1382 Articles
Craig Holt of Snow Camp has been an outdoor writer for almost 40 years, working for several newspapers, then serving as managing editor for North Carolina Sportsman and South Carolina Sportsman before becoming a full-time free-lancer in 2009.