Governor's One-Shot Turkey Hunt Resounding Success
By DAVID RAINER
Everyone involved in the Alabama Governor’s One-Shot Turkey Hunt is sold on the event. Of course, the beauty and abundance of the state’s natural resources makes it easy to promote to the invited guests, many of whom are experiencing Alabama for the first time.
Although 24 gobblers were taken during the two-day hunt this week around the Montgomery area, it’s not all about bagging a bird. The impact of the hunt – which brings in industry and business representatives, celebrities and outdoors media – is much more significant.
 “Someone asked how we use it as an economic development tool,” said Governor Bob Riley. “I’ll tell you, this is probably the best economic development tool we have ever had. It allows people to see Alabama in a way that you would never see in a boardroom. Honestly, people come from all over the United States and all over the world. They go out with the landowners’ farms, spend the night with them and get to see the way Alabama really is. It allows us to develop relationships unlike any other way I’ve been able to do. It gets people comfortable with Alabama, letting them see Alabamians the way Alabamians truly are. I don’t think there is any substitute for what we’re doing.
“The success of it is evident in what’s happened in Alabama over the last three or four years. We have more economic development going on in Alabama than we had ever had in our history. I’ll give you an example. We have a huge company from Europe that is looking at Alabama today. The person asked us if he could come and turkey hunt this thing. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it. But when you have heard about this from Montgomery, Alabama to Austria, you understand we are getting the message out. It has been so, so successful.”
Neal Wade, Director of the Alabama Development Office, says the turkey hunt provides a perfect setting for the type of recruitment his office performs.
“We are able to bring prospects in and introduce them to Alabama that is not a business way but a social way,” said Wade, whose agency was voted the top economic development agency in the nation. “And that has produced a lot of fruits and a lot of benefits for Alabama. In economic development, if you wait until somebody announces a project, you’re behind the curve. You’ve got to find out who, in three to five years, is going to have a project. We get them to come down and then when they do have a project you hope you’re in the middle of the project. That’s all you can ask for. It’s a relationship builder.
“And people love the governor’s turkey hunt. They want to keep coming back.”
Wade said Alabama has received much bad publicity in the past and the turkey hunt allows the state to dispel those false impressions.
"The thing is, if we can ever get people into the state, it really does change perceptions,” he said. “I’ve got so many stories about that, but one that comes to mind is Mercedes-Benz. When the plant located in Alabama, to get the Germans to start coming over here, they made them sign a contract that they would stay two years, because they didn’t think they would stay. After about three or four years, they had to make them sign a contract that they would leave after two years. That’s the absolute truth, because once they get over here, people love the state.”
Another way the hunt spreads the message about Alabama is through the media, and several outlets were able to video the action.
One of the hunts included country music star Aaron Tippin and Rob Keck, CEO of the National Wild Turkey Federation, who got to experience the ultimate encounter with one of Alabama’s tough turkeys. After the opening day produced very few results, the second day dawned with great hope, especially after a gobbler sounded off at daylight.
“We were just so glad to hear a gobble,” Tippin said. “The first day was a strange day in the woods. There was no gobbling and the birds weren’t even chirping much. This morning, we started owling and nothing, nothing. I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s going to be just like it was yesterday.’ Rob started calling and nothing. We gathered back up and decided to go where we had seen some turkeys the day before. We went 400 yards and crowed and called and pow, they went off. We learned that where you saw turkeys before is the place to be.
“We set up and started calling. Rob called and the turkey gobbled. We repositioned and then that turkey came all the way down a fence line. Rob called again and, boom, that turkey turned and came right to us. He was moving, too. It was a self defense shot.”
Tippin said he felt the pressure of the gobbler being in his face.
“He strutted about 12 steps out and I was telling the cameraman, ‘Now, now,’” said Tippin, whose bird finished third in the competition. “I was ready to shoot at 20 yards where you know you get a good kill. But boy all the turkey hunters I know say that’s where you miss the shot, when they’re too close. But I got a good shot. Another two inches higher and I would have completely missed him. I’ve never shot a turkey that close. I’ve heard a lot of my friends tell stories, saying ‘Boy, I missed one. He was right in there on me.’ That’s all I could think about was all my pals. John Anderson told me a story about missing one that close, and John is a good shot and good turkey hunter. I was thinking, ‘Boy, John Anderson is going to give me heck.’ But I got lucky and got him.
“This governor’s turkey hunt is great. I got to kill a turkey with my buddy, Rob Keck. I tell you, it was a lot of fun. This is the first turkey I’ve ever killed in Alabama. The Tippins are from Brewton, Alabama, so I need to go and hunt around where my great grandfather used to hunt. But these Alabama turkeys have been hard on us. These are educated turkeys.”
Keck added, “When you hunt these turkeys, it’s hunting graduate school turkeys. This isn’t hunting grade school turkeys like Kansas and Texas.”
Professional bass angler Chad Brauer, who hosts the Academy Outdoors TV show on the Outdoor Channel, said his video crew documented awesome footage of an Alabama gobbler.
“We sat up on birds roosted in some hardwoods, but they never got cranked up,” Brauer said. “Then three behind us about 200-300 yards started gobbling. Between the birds and us was a wide-open pasture. We had a decision to make. Do we move to the side of the field or try to cross it? We decided to stay on the side of the field and try to call them across.
“We sat there and called for about 45 minutes. Then this bird gobbled twice and we could tell he was coming our way. He started coming down a logging road in full sight. He walked down that logging road and then had about 150 yards of pasture to cross. He gobbled about 15 or 20 times while he was coming. I’ve been turkey hunting a long time and I’ve never been able to watch one come in like that. We ended up with a full eight minutes of video on that gobbler. I shot him at 28 yards. It was one of those picture-perfect deals.”
The third time was the charm for NASCAR driver Jeff Green, who is headed for Bristol with stories to tell about the gobble he bagged.
 “We had five or six gobblers gobbling their tails off and then a coyote came through and shut them all up and ruined the hunt,” said Green, who drives the No. 66 Best Buy car. “But this bird, we caught him away from the hens.
“This is my first Alabama bird and the third time I’ve been down here. He put on a heck of a show, gobbling and strutting. It’s a cool deal. Anytime you’re out in the woods, it’s awesome. The governor’s hunt is always a good time. I make new friends every time I come here.”
The overall winner of the hunt comes from the football world. Eddie Gran, Auburn University running backs coach, squeaked by on the slimmest of margins to take the trophy. Gran’s bird scored 64.07 points on the NWTF scoring system to edge Gregg Meunier, who had 64 points even.
“Coach Gran had to be back at practice and couldn’t attend the awards ceremony,” said Conservation Commissioner Barnett Lawley, “but I got him on the phone and told him he had won. You should have heard him hollering. He said he going straight to tell Coach Tub (head coach Tommy Tuberville).”
Lawley, who presented a $50,000 check to Auburn University for the Lynn Boykin Scholarship Fund, said the sixth annual hunt couldn’t have gone much better.
“I think this is the best we’ve had,” Lawley said. “The weather was beautiful. We didn’t kill quite as many birds as we have in the past, but the overall experience was better. The people just seemed to be more relaxed and comfortable. I’ve never heard as many accolades as I did during this hunt.
“Plus, we had CNBC here to video an episode because they thought it was such a novel idea to use our natural resources for industrial development. The thing is, if we get people to the state, Alabama will sell itself.”
TOP PHOTO: Left to right, country music star Aaron Tippin, guide Bobby Gates and Rob Keck of the National Wild Turkey Federation show off Tippin's third-place bird.
BOTTOM PHOTO: NASCAR driver Jeff Green, left, bagged his first gobbler at the Governor's One-Shot Turkey Hunt with the help of Tommy Bass.
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