Hunter: Alexa Vaughan
The night before my first turkey hunt I was nervous and excited. That day I had just completed my hunter safety course and went and got my turkey license. I was eleven years old and it was my first hunt ever. I had practiced shooting a few days before and felt confident with my gun, a single-shot, 20-gauge shotgun. My Dad and I went out opening morning April 8th outside Durango in GMU 75. We settled into our blind. My dad was calling in the turkeys and I was holding my gun. We had only been waiting 20 minutes when a lone tom came strutting in. I slowly raised my gun. My hands were shaking so bad that I bumped the barrel on the blind opening. The sudden sound scared the Tom and he began to turn away. I took a deep breath and placed my sight on his head. An ear-splitting boom filled the morning air. We collected the turkey and marked my tag. It was a good day and the meat he provided we ate on Easter.
Hunter: Kailey Guzman
This was the second public land tom that my 11 year-old daughter Kailey Guzman harvested in the last two years. This particular tom came into our call stand in full strut initially at 20 yards on opening morning, but noticed our movement and circled around to 30 yards before she took the one and only shot from her brand new, 20-gauge youth-model shotgun. Her mom Crystal and I were there with a front seat to all the action, allowing for a very special family hunt. We are already looking forward to more hunts like this one in the future.
Thanks for all you do CPW to allow our youth the opportunity to participate in such fun and successful hunts.
Hunter: Tracy Fails
It was the last day of turkey hunting with my husband in the San Isabel National Forest. After passing on a small tom I had seen earlier that morning, I was starting to lose hope on harvesting for the third straight year. Two hours before sunset this big tom crossed my path. I was stoked! Finally, after three long years, I was able to harvest my first big tom! I can’t wait for fall turkey; next time I’ll use my bow.
Hunter: Brian Danforth
After watching and studying the movements and habits of this specific turkey for two months before the start of the 2017 spring turkey season, it still took 22 days of cat-and-mouse tactics to fool this bird. You’ve gotta love archery hunting! It takes a lot of patience and dedication, but the hunt is always satisfying – with or without a harvest.
Tell us your story by sending an e-mail to hunter.testimonials@state.co.us. We are now accepting testimonials about successful small game and waterfowl hunts as well as big game hunts around the state. Please include your name, a general hunt location and the story behind your outing (up to 250 words). Also please include a high-resolution, digital photo (.jpg) with the name of the photographer and any people in the photo.
