2014 Jakes Turkey Hunt in Ridgeland

 C.J. Cleland, Anna Price, Wyatt Melton and Cody Day;
They all found opening day success - Congrats!

Nice 1 and 1/8-inch spur on Anna Price's gobbler

The first Saturday of the month just happened to coincide with opening day for turkey season in the South Carolina Lowcountry and Mr. Hal Wall hosted the 8th Annual Jakes turkey hunt. Using Roseland Plantation in Jasper County as the hunt HQ, a record 50 youth hunters fanned out across the county with their guides in order to hunt turkeys. The temperature was a cool 50-degrees and completely overcast skies kept the woods feeling clammy  - and quiet too! The weather conditions were not very conducive for gobbling, especially considering the high winds of the previous two days. Most hunters did not have an encounter with a wild turkey, while a lucky handful of youth hunters were able to harvest an opening day tom. The sole female hunter to have success was 16-year old Anna Price of Columbia, and she was using a 20-gauge when she killed her first ever turkey with a single shot at 7:50 a.m. after guide Dal Dyches called the bird in. Keep in mind that Anna is legally blind, and still managed to connect on a 30-yard shotgun blast to the head of a Boss Gobbler. Her turkey weighed 19-pounds, had a 10.5-inch beard and 1 and 1/8-inch spurs that I considered to be the trophy of the day. Her younger brother Jay was in the turkey woods too, but he did not get a shot on the jake bird that he saw. Their father Scott Price was very grateful for this opportunity to get in the woods in Ridgeland, adding that they ride right by it when vacationing at Hilton Head. Four other youths were able to tag a bird, and then everyone met back at the hunt camp on the Coosawhatchie River to enjoy a hunt breakfast cooked by a team of volunteers. Hunt stories were swapped and lots of smiles could be found on those who had spent opening day in the turkey woods, regardless of the outcome.

Julian Clark with the Price family

To view past blog entries from the Jakes turkey hunt in Ridgeland click here.

Lee and Austin Pack of Sumter