Turkey World Slam: Introspect on a Grand Hunting Accomplishment

In the world of baseball, a grand slam occurs when the bases are loaded and the batter hits a home run. In the world of hunting, a slam means successfully taking all or some the species listed in the record book. The turkey slam requires a hunter to kill all four, five or six of the subspecies, depending on the slam. According to the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Grand Slam includes all four subspecies in the lower 48 (Eastern, Rio Grande, Merriam’s and Osceola). The Royal Slam adds the Gould’s subspecies that inhabits Mexico with smaller populations in Arizona and New Mexico. The most difficult to obtain is the World Slam which includes the Ocellated subspecies found in the Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala.

It was on an Osceola hunt with the late Dr. Lovett Williams at his famous Fisheating Creek camp in south Florida some 30 years ago that I became interested in the World Slam. Lovett is considered to be the top authority on Osceola turkeys, having worked on the Florida Game Commission for more than 20 years and extensively studying the bird. While we hunted, he told me about the Ocellated subspecies and the dearth of information surrounding the turkey. At the time, the bird was chiefly hunted by shooting them on the roost tree since calling hadn’t yet been effective. Lovett later moved to Guatemala where he learned all he could about the bird’s behavior and habits. Calling was one of his chief interests.

This turkey looks and sounds nothing like the other “regular” turkeys. It doesn’t gobble - it “sings.” You have to hear it to understand the vocalization. Its coloration is spectacular. The bird sports a powder-blue neck with orange “warts” on its head. It has no beard. The plumage is incredibly beautiful with a tail that remotely resembles that of a peacock. Its spurs are amazingly long - two inches is not uncommon.

My hunt for the Ocellated turkey was with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I needed it for the World Slam, on the other hand I was profoundly bothered by shooting it on its roost. Here in the U.S. it’s deemed enormously unethical to shoot a roosted turkey and illegal most everywhere. I took some solace in knowing that many of the country’s top turkey hunters had to shoot the roosted Ocellated birds. I often thought of Lovett and his unwavering efforts to produce a viable call.

Closing In

The Yucatan jungle was thick. It was usually necessary to hear the bird singing before sunrise and then making a stalk on the noisy jungle floor. I was filming the hunt for my TV show and the addition of my cameraman with all his heavy gear added to the noise factor.

The first few attempts were unsuccessful. On the third morning my teenage guide hurried into the jungle. I could barely see him in the dark. My cameraman and I followed as best we could and it seemed we were loping along aimlessly. We kept this pace up for at least 20 minutes. The guide must have been traveling by dead reckoning. He’d heard a very distant turkey deep in the jungle the previous afternoon.

Suddenly the guide stopped and in the dim light pointed to a bird on its roost 25 yards away. It was perfect. I shouldered my shotgun, but before I could shoot I had to confirm my cameraman was ready. I looked at him with a thumb up. He whispered, “no, not enough light.” I wasn’t devastated quite yet, but almost. The turkey bobbed about and walked back and forth on the limb. I knew it would pitch down any moment and instantly disappear in the jungle. After an agonizing wait my cameraman whispered the words I always wanted to hear in poor light situations. “I’m on it!”

I fired and the turkey fell to the ground. In those few seconds, despair turned into ecstasy. All negative thoughts about shooting a bird on a roost disappeared. Nowadays, two decades after that hunt, Ocellateds are hunted in fields after guides scout for fresh trails, and, happy news, they also come to calls. Lovett Williams would be proud.

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