Huntress also holds a deer hunting state record
North Carolina has another state-record turkey, and a Kannapolis woman has her second state record.
Tammy Tucker killed a double-bearded gobbler on April 23 in Cabarrus County that will become the state record with the N.C. Bowhunters Association as soon as scorer Joey Thompson’s paperwork is accepted.
Tucker’s bird had beards that measured 11 3/16 and 6 13/16 inches, plus a pair of spurs measuring 1 8/16 inches long. According to the NCBHA’s scoring system — which differs from the National Wild Turkey Federation’s by counting only beard length and spur length and width (at the base) — the bird will scored 21 0/16 inches.
Tucker already owns the NCBHA’s state-record for a whitetail deer in full velvet for the 137-inch trophy she killed in Stanly County in 2012. She killed the big tom with a Hoyt Vicxen bow and a Rage chisel tip at 23 yards after missing her first shot.
“I was hunting with my husband, Bobby, who called this bird and two other toms right to our blind,” Tucker said. “They made their way to us in about 20 minutes. They walked in real quick to his calls and the decoys. All the toms were puffed out in full strut. I released my first arrow, with a clear shot, right over his back. I loaded another arrow quickly, but they moved out of range.
“Bobby started to calm the toms with a few diaphragm chirps and purrs. Finally, they moved a few yards closer, but still not as close as the first shot. We whispered about the range, and I knew I wanted to try again. I told Bobby, ‘I can make this shot.’”
Tucker had to wait a few more seconds before one of the birds moved a few yards closer.
“The tom I had my eye on was 23 yards and angled slightly. I let my arrow go, and this time, it hit the tom,” she said. “He immediately flushed up in the sky, with that arrow still stuck in him.”
The two left their blind, headed to the spot the turkey had disappeared, and Bobby Tucker thickly found it along the edge of a field, still carrying the arrow.
“This was one of my most memorable hunts, and as a newbie to turkey hunting, I am looking forward to going on my next hunt,” Tucker said.
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