Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Book relates tall tale of Wilcox County turkey-calling champion


I especially enjoyed listening to the latest episode of the “Gettin’ Outdoors Podcast,” which is hosted by well-known Wilcox County outdoorsman, James “Big Daddy” Lawler. The latest episode, which was released on March 14, was almost entirely about the start of turkey season and featured special guest David Hawley of the Wild Turkey Report. As I traveled down the road, listening to the podcast on my iPhone, I got to thinking about an unusual Wilcox County turkey story that I read years ago.

In 1981, the University of Alabama Press published a book called “Ghosts and Goosebumps: Ghost Stories, Tall Tales and Superstitions from Alabama” by Jack and Olivia Solomon. Most of the stories in this book were gathered during field investigations made between 1958 and 1962 by Troy State University students enrolled in an introductory folklore course. The book also includes folk tales from the Alabama Slave Narratives gathered in Alabama by field workers in the National Writers’ Project: Folklore Division of the Works Progress Administration.

In a section of the book called “The Tales,” readers will find a story titled “The Turkey Calling Champion,” as told by Bonnie Dean. According to this tall tale, a Wilcox County man won the title of champion Turkey Caller, and, as things go, a somewhat unusual story was told about this outstanding turkey hunter.

A “story is told that this man was out hunting turkey one day, and he was lying down behind a big log, using it for a blind. He started to call at short intervals, and it wasn’t long before a big gobbler started to answer. He could hear the big gobbler as he got closer and closer, but he could not see him because of the log.

“He knew if he raised up to look over the log, the turkey would see him, so he reached through the hole (under the log) and grabbed. The man couldn’t pull the turkey under the log through the hole because the turkey was so big. He didn’t know what to do since he knew he wouldn’t have time to let loose, grab his gun and shoot the turkey, so he finally decided what to do. He let loose the gobbler, picked up his call and called the turkey around to his side of the log and killed him.”

Now I know as well as the rest of you that this tale sounds a little hard to believe, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not true. After all, the man in this story was not your average turkey hunter. He was a champion turkey caller. Of course, if he could call a turkey around a log after grabbing it through a hole, his calling skills were truly extraordinary.

In the end, I’d like to hear from anyone in the reading audience who might be able to shed more light on this tale. Who was Bonnie Dean? Who was the unnamed champion turkey caller in her story? When and exactly where did this turkey calling incident supposedly happen? Also, let me hear from you if you have your own tall tale you’d like to share, especially if it has to do with hunting and fishing.

No comments:

Post a Comment