JAKES turkey hunt in Ridgeland

Dennis Axson and Hal Wall with the successful JAKES

The female JAKES and Hal Wall

Most of the youth hunters from the March 17 event

Adam and Rob Wallace from Senoia, Ga.

For the 7th year now, the Board of Directors of the S.C. Chapter of NWTF has put on a youth turkey hunt in the South Lowcountry. Roseland Plantation owner Hal Wall is the event's organizer and the 2012 hunt included 30 youth hunters! The youths fanned out onto different properties on March 17 in hopes of finding a willing tom turkey. With light rain the afternoon before and overnight, the gobbling activity was less than normal, but five youths were able to bring back a Lowcountry longbeard to the hunt camp breakfast at 11 a.m. on the banks of the Coosawhatchie River. Dennis Axson sits on the NWTF state chapter board and serves as the JAKES coordinator for S.C. and said, "This is a great opportunity to let kids experience God's nature, and to give them an alternative from video games and being indoors." The successful youth hunters were D.T. Smith, Adam Wallace, Tristan Sistare, Jed Coltrane and Harrison Wall - Congrats!! D.T. Smith actually shot his first ever turkey while hunting with his Uncle John Treadway and dispatched the gobbler at 20-yards with his single-shot 20-gauge Savage shotgun. When asked how he felt at that moment, Smith said he was speechless. All of the youth participants were smiling after this hunt, and special thanks go to all the landowners who share their hunting grounds.

For more blog entries about the NWTF in the Lowcountry click here.