Bill Cochran

Recent columns

• Thanksgiving Day buck grabs headlines after 40 years of obscurity
• Connecting the dots to locate Virginia's best trophy deer hunting
• Deer day for kids a smashing success
• Virginia elk resoration plan given the go-ahead

• Column archive
• Bill's Mailbag
• Bill's Field Reports
• Trout stocking schedule

With lunchtime closing in on Saturday’s youth turkey hunt day, 14-year-old Alyz Wierciszewski was given a choice. Her guide, Richard Pauley, told her they could call it quits and head back to the cabin or check one more spot that would involve a steep climb.

Alyz had been climbing Botetourt County ridges since before daylight without hearing a peep from a turkey. To be honest, the hunt had been a misadventure from the moment Alyz and her stepfather, Aaron Mason, showed up at Richard’s hunt club cabin Friday afternoon prior to youth day.

Almost a year earlier, when Alyz had expressed an interest in hunting, Aaron had purchased a guided hunt for her that was being offered as a fund raiser by the Botetourt Longbeards Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. She arrived toting a borrowed 20-gauge shotgun.

“Have you ever been hunting,” Richard asked.

“No.”

“Have you ever shot this gun?”

“No.”

“OK, we will shoot your gun,” Richard said.

“We only have one box of 10 shells,” he was told.

At a distance of 28 yards, Richard set up a paper target with a turkey’s head drawn on it. Then he gave Alyz a lesson on shooting and safety and told her to fire.

“I walk up to the target -- nothing,” said Richard.

The same thing happens a second time. And a third time.

Aaron decided to fire the gun to make certain there wasn’t something wrong with it.

“I am starting to count down now and this is going to leave six shells,” said Richard.

Aaron peppered the target with his shot.

Richard told Alyz to take another shot, this time don’t hold the gun so tightly and be sure to squeeze the trigger smoothly -- don’t jerk it.

Three pellets strike the edge of the paper.

With shells and confidence rapidly disappearing, Richard recommends one more shot. He believes Alyz is shooting to the right.

“I want you to hold on the base of the neck of the turkey, then move 6 inches to the left,” said Richard.

This time, Alyz puts six killer pellets into the target. That leaves just four shells for the next day’s hunt.

“OK, that’s good enough,” Richard said, being mum about “this awful feeling” in the pit of his stomach.

The next morning, the wind was howling. “You couldn’t have heard a turkey gobbling 100 yards away,” said Richard. “My heart just sank.”

Several listening points, earned by hard climbs, failed to turn up a turkey, although Richard knew they were there. His son, Michael, had heard plenty during scouting trips.

Then came the mid-day decision: Go back to the cabin or try one more place.

“Let’s go for it,” said Alyz.

When they reached the edge of a field they heard a tom gobble, once, twice, three times.

Richard and Alyz set up at the base of a large poplar tree with Aaron positioned well to their rear. Richard points to a patch of leaves 35 yards to his front and told Alyz not to shoot if the tom is farther out than that.

“Hold to the left and shoot for the head,” said Richard. Then he clucked with his call.

“It wasn’t more than 30 second, here came that thing,” said Richard. “It was so shiny in the sun that it looked like it had oil on its feathers. Beautiful!” Alyz kept muttering, “Oh my God! Oh, my God!” The tom gobbled and kept a steady course toward the hunters.

“He is walking fast and the beard is swinging and his head is red. I mean just perfect. He is 60 yards, 50, 40, past the 35-yard leaf pile” said Richard.

“Let him come; don’t shoot,” Richard advised Alyz. “All of a sudden he sees something he doesn’t like and he is going to the right.”

Richard clucks with his call and tells Alyz “Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!” Later Alyz said he repeated the command five times.

BOOM!

The bird is flopping. Alyz is yelling, “I thought I would miss! I thought I would miss!”

“She just flattened him,” said Richard. “Did you aim to the left?” Richard asked. Alyz couldn’t remember.

“I haven’t been that excited about a turkey for a long time,” said Richard, who has hunted these magnificent birds for 40 years. “If you had told me the night before that this was possible I would have laughed in your face.”

The gobbler weighed 20 pounds, 10 ounces and had a 9-1/4 inch beard.

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” Richard told Alyz. Then he sat down and cried.