Over the years a legend has been born around the campfires of our turkey hunting camp about the gobbler hence known as Ol’ Huey. He got that name because he was considerable bigger then the other birds and when he took to flight he sounded like a helicopter taking off. Ol’ Huey lived on some land owned by the uncle of one of my hunting partners (Rick) and on occasion his Uncle would invite us to hunt this tract of land. Saturday was the opening of the turkey season and there were a number of guys hunting that land. Rick and I were hunting our lease that was some 15 miles away so neither of us was witnessed to what happened. Here is the story of what happened as posted by Rick;
Today was a BAD day for Ol’Huey and a VERY good day for Matt of Faison, NC. Matt shot the biggest, smartest bird I’ve ever hunted this am at 6:45 from my ground pop-up blind in Caswell County. I just talked to Matt’s cousin who verified that Ol’Huey is indeed dead. Matt’s bird measured 5 feet from the tip of his fan to his beak, weighed 24 lbs,, had 2 inch spurs on each leg, and had a beard that was worn off, but still measured slightly over 14 inches long. And he killed Ol’Huey without making a sound . Oh well, an ambush was the only way this king of gobblers would ever be taken anyway. Matt left before I could get there to take pic (and yes, even I would have taken 2 rolls of pictures alone of this one grand OF of a bird!!). A bird like this was a fine opponent and an even better teacher of turkey survival behavior for this OF. I feel honored to have been able to hunt him for the past 6 years. Ol’Huey was at least 8 years old and probably would not have survived too much longer. My sincerest congrats to Matt on taking this grand old gobbler. Ol’Huey, it won’t be the same without you–Rest In Peace in turkey heaven.
If these measurements are accurate, which I think they are not, but more close to guesstamates then this bird would be in contention to be one of the highest ranked and possible a new state record. The shame is that it appears that no one on this hunt had a camera to get any shots of this magnificent bird.
I’ve hunted this farm a number of times over the years and always am grateful for the invite no matter what we are hunting being deer, turkey, waterfowl or small game. I know there is a big bird running this property (or was) How Big? I can’t rightly say other then bigger then your average turkey. To me the difference in size between a good turkey and an excellent turkey are so slight that you can’t tell until you ground check the bird.
The bird I’ve seen on this property seemed to be about a foot or more taller then the other gobblers around him when I’ve seen them feeding in the fields.
I did not see this bird after it was killed either so who knows if it was Ol’ Huey or not. I’ll tell you this if I get an invite to hunt this land again I sure hope the bird I’ve seen in the past is still running about or maybe even some of his offspring.
The death of Ol’ Huey maybe like the death of Elvis who knows if it is real. Elvis sightings happen all the time so maybe O’ Huey somehow faked his death too. I’m sure as often as we gather to swap stories and lies Ol’ Huey will have his place. Who knows maybe this is the turkey season I’ll get Ol’ Huey myself. The legend continues…