It was his first time hunting turkeys on this particular piece of land, and only his third wild turkey hunt ever, but when Jason Daugherty of Desoto, MO, took aim and dropped a gobbler he had called away from the company of four hens, he made history.
“My gobbler was the sixty-sixth biggest atypical gobbler bird ever taken in the State of Missouri based on spur and beard lengths. When the certified weight of the turkey [was factored], he was the number-one gobbler ever taken in the State of Missouri, and he scored as the seventh heaviest Eastern gobbler ever taken in the United States.”
Daugherty’s bird weighed in at 29 pounds, had three beards, and the spurs measured 1 1/4 inches long. The bird’s score was certified by the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Photo by: John E. Phillips
