By By Mike Giles / outdoors writer
May 10, 2002
Longtime outdoorsman Richie Brown of Chunky recently harvested a fine gobbler to take first place in the Wheelin' Sportsmen division of the Big Boss Turkey Contest sponsored by Wayne Bryant of Wayne's Taxidermy and other sponsors. Brown's top entry weighed 17-1/4 pounds, sported a 10-1/2 inch beard and had spurs of 1-1/4 and 1-1/8 inches.
Up until a couple of years ago Brown was an avid outdoorsman who had taken his share of gobblers and bucks. An untimely fall from a climbing tree stand left him a paraplegic with paralysis from the chest down and temporarily sidelined from his favorite outdoor pursuits.
In the last couple of years he has been through approximately nine surgeries on his way to recovery. After missing turkey season last year he rebounded by harvesting five deer of at least eight points or better!
This year he purchased a golf cart, had it camouflaged and started turkey hunting once more. The golf cart is an EZ-GO Workhorse. Hunting out of a golf cart is a huge disadvantage, as any turkey hunter would tell you. However, Brown was up for the task at hand and made the most of a difficult situation. This past season he harvested not one but two boss gobblers that would be trophies in any hunter's book.
On the day that he bagged the winning gobbler, he had been calling to a couple of other birds that were really cranking out the gobbles. He was imitating a flock of at least four hens with a variety of calls. His favorite and old standby caller is a slate, and he was making it talk.
While concentrating on the active gobblers he suddenly spotted the boss bird at about 60 yards. Once the tom approached some 45-50 yards the big bird quickly disappeared for about 15 minutes. Then a lone hen appeared and advanced to within ten yards with the gobbler strutting behind some 40 yards out. One shot from Brown's three inch magnum Remington Wingmaster with a load of number sixes dropped the bird cold!
Unless you have turkey hunted, you could not imagine what a feat it is to harvest a wise old bird, especially from a golf cart. That's almost impossible to accomplish even being able to maneuver on two good legs. To call up an old monarch and take him from a golf cart has to be one of the ultimate hunting experiences.
It's obvious that hunting is one of Brown's passions in life, as he so succinctly put it. In fact, this weekend he's headed to Saskatchewan on a spring bear hunt!