Each year, the National Wild Turkey Federation rewards its top employees with turkey hunts in some of the country’s prime hunting areas.

At the top of their list of favorite destinations is Cheyenne and Oklahoma’s Invitational Wild Turkey Hunt, favored for the abundance of western Oklahoma Rio-Grande turkeys and the hospitality of the host chapter, the Black Kettle Longbeards.

Earlier this month, turkey hunters from Arkansas, Texas, South Carolina and Mississippi made the journey to western Oklahoma in pursuit of gobblers.

The three-day hunt serves as a fundraiser for the Black Kettle Longbeards chapter and funds their numerous conservation efforts, including their nationally acclaimed JAKES (juniors acquiring knowledge, ethics and sportsmanship) program.

Gary Purdy of Enid, regional director for the National Wild Turkey Federation, said this particular hunt has evolved over the past four years into a training ground for novice hunters, especially women new to the sport.

“I know I can take any kind of a rookie hunter, male or female, put them with the knowledgeable people from the chapter and they’re going to have a wonderful experience,” Purdy said.

On opening weekend of Oklahoma’s month-long spring turkey season, I had the pleasure of joining this year’s group as the guest of Chasiti Kirkland, managing editor of the NWTF publications Women in the Outdoors and Wheelin’ Sportsman.

Out hunting guides were Joel Alexander of Buffalo Creek Lodge and Guide Service and taxidermist Nate Quinn.  Both men are life-long residents of the area and their years of running the local roads gave us an advantage in our hunt for the wily Rios.

They told us that when the toms are henned up early in the season, it’s tough to call them in and you have to have them patterned out to know where they’re going.

On the first morning of the hunt, the pre-dawn air was crisp and clear when the guides picked us up at the motel.  Alexander and I headed towards the town of Sweetwater, where he had scouted numerous flocks of birds.

We pulled off the section line road and bounced across a pasture towards the lights of a distant drilling rig.

“The birds are roosting in the trees down along that draw,” he said, pointing across the dash, “and we’ll set up in the opposite tree line.”

We got out of the truck and were instantly greeted by the gobbles of roosting turkeys, reacting to every noise we made.

The early light guided us to a hiding place under the boughs of a cedar tree.  We quickly settled in to wait for the birds to come off their roost.

Soon we began to see groups of approaching birds spread out over the pasture like grazing cattle.  Despite our scratching out the clucks of a lonely hen, the birds refused to come closer.

As the sky brightened, we could only watch as they moved away and disappeared into the adjacent tree line.  Alexander shook his head in bewilderment and suggested that we come back that afternoon and try to catch them going back to their roost.

Later that afternoon, we returned to the same field only to watch a parade of jittery jakes pass just a few feet from our hiding spot.

The Oklahoma winds blew hard the next morning.  Alexander decided to set up in a small clearing where he had seen gobblers pass through on their way to nearby feeding fields.

I picked out a tree to sit against which gave me the best view of incoming birds and we placed a decoy about 20 yards off my left shoulder.

Our timing couldn’t have been more perfect – just as I sat down, I spotted movement in the trees.  A quick soft hen yelp was answered by insistent gobbles and three toms strutted into view.

Pressing my back into the tree, I leveled my gun at the approaching fans and held steady until the trio came into range.  The wind dampened the sound of the gun as the middle bird fell and my guide ran out from his hiding place to congratulate me.

Back at the lodge, my bird tipped the scales at 22 pounds with an 8 ½ inch beard. 

That evening, our group was invited to join the community of Cheyenne for the Longbeard chapter banquet.  The crowd enjoyed an evening of Cajun food and a lively auction of wildlife art and memorabilia.

“It’s actually more than a fundraiser,” said Purdy.  “It’s a celebration of the return of the wild turkey.”