Georgia Girl Fights Cancer, Rolls Three Turkeys

Jordan Grace rolled these three turkeys with one shot on the morning of April 10 while hunting with her older brother Tucker and a family friend Evan Wiggins in Washington County.

Even though an 8-year-old girl from Washington County is in the middle of a fight with cancer, she recently found time to show her 28-year-old brother how things are done when she rolled three turkeys with one shot. Not only has her older brother never checked this accomplishment off his bucket list, he’s never even seen it done before.

“I was so excited,”  said Jordan Grace Cobb, the young hunter who lives on her family farm in Davisboro.

On Dec. 6, 2019, Jordan Grace’s parents, Kevin and Allison Cobb, received a phone call with news that no parent ever wants to hear. The biopsy from a polyp taken from Jordan Grace was malignant. On Dec. 10, they met with an oncologist at Children’s Hospital of Georgia in Augusta, who told them that Jordan Grace had a form of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. She is currently receiving regular radiation and chemotherapy treatments in Augusta.

In spite of this incredible storm in life, Jordan Grace does have some good days. One of those good days, which turned out to be an amazing morning, was on April 10 when she went hunting with her older brother Tucker and Tucker’s friend Evan Wiggins.

Other than a quiet turkey hunt during the state’s youth opener in mid March, Jordan Grace had never been turkey hunting, and she’d never been on any sort of hunt where she was the one putting meat in the family freezer.

“We didn’t think we were going to hear one gobble because it was a little windy,” said Tucker. “But we could hear one gobbling down by the creek, but he was across the clearcut, and it was cracking day, so we couldn’t get to him. We just sat up on the hill, and there were four or five gobbling, but some of them sounded like jakes. We just set up and did a little calling.”

The one big bird that had started gobbling was quick to shut up, but a flock of jakes flew down in a clearcut that was mostly dirt with some foot-tall planted pines.

“I was going to crawl over there and look. They were probably 300 yards from us,” said Tucker. “I crawled up there and got behind a big oak tree, and I could finally see them. We called, and they wouldn’t pay us no attention. I could tell they were going to the right, and I thought we’d just loop around.”

The three camo-clad hunters headed in the direction of where the birds looked to be headed.

“We got to where I thought I could see them again, and I crawled up there, and they were coming our way,” said Tucker. “Then they got in a bottom, and I started calling and nothing, and they gobbled a few more times, but they still weren’t paying me any attention.”

Evan had a Flextone Thunder Chicken decoy with him. The strutting jake decoy will often drive turkeys crazy, or at least make them curious enough to come investigate.

“I told Evan to crawl out there and show them that thing,” said Tucker. “He crawled out there and held it up.”

It’s unsure if it was the calling or the decoy, but one of the jakes came within 50 yards to check things out but then went right back to his flock of brothers. Evan remained in the clearcut holding the decoy.

“We sat there for 10 minutes, and finally I guess they saw the decoy, and I told Evan the birds were coming,” said Tucker. “Me and Jordan Grace were just standing up behind a pine tree. I told her to get on her knees, so she got down, and I got right behind her. I wrapped my left arm around her so I could hold the stock a little bit so it wouldn’t kick so hard. She has a port almost on her shoulder in the top of her chest. I was worried about the gun hitting it.

“Evan said, ‘Here they come. Get ready.’ He laid flat on his belly. I wished I had a video camera. I finally started seeing heads, and Jordan Grace still couldn’t see them.”

As the birds marched into gun range, Jordan Grace finally started seeing those red heads marching right at her, and Tucker pulled the hammer back on her single-shot 20 gauge.

“The came up in a line,” said Tucker. “We weren’t trying to kill three. The middle one separated from them, and I said, ‘You see that middle one? Shoot him.’”

Jordan Grace knew just where to aim. She put the load of 20 gauge pellets right where they needed to be, and she reported to her big brother that she didn’t feel a thing from that shotgun against her shoulder.

“She shot, and I knew he fell,” said Tucker. “Evan hopped up and said, ‘Oh my gosh, there are turkeys everywhere.’ There were three of them flopping. It was crazy.”

The community celebrated Jordan Grace’s success with this Facebook post on April 10: “Y’all, check out what Jordan Grace did this morning!!! You know you’re good when you kill THREE turkeys in ONE shot!!! She was so excited, and we are so proud of her!!! Tucker and Evan were so sweet to take her hunting—she showed ’em how it’s done!! They were just as excited as Jordan Grace! This girl just never ceases to amaze us! Go Jo go!!”

With 20 years of separation between Jordan Grace and Tucker, you could say their brother-sister relationship can at times be like a father-daughter one. Tucker, who has a 14-month-old daughter, said taking his little sister on her first successful turkey hunt was a great forerunner for when his little girl gets old enough to hunt.

“Me and Evan were jumping up and down, you would have thought she killed a world record,” said Tucker. “I’ve killed a heap of turkeys, and me and Evan have hunted together since we could drive, and that beat all our hunting by far. I wouldn’t trade that for nothing.”

You can rest assure that Jordan Grace has been having a time rubbing her success in her big brother’s face.

“I’ve killed a coupe of doubles, but never a triple. She’s still rubbing it in. I hear about it all the time,” said Tucker.

“One of the turkeys had three beards. I told her I’ve killed a couple of double beards but not a triple beard. She was excited, we were all excited.”

Jordan, who is now a hunter for life, told GON that she had her sights set on a deer this fall.

“She’s hooked now,” said Tucker.

Here’s the April 28 medical update from “Jordan Grace’s Journey” Facebook page: “Jordan Grace has finished her first two weeks of radiation, and so far she is doing great! She got to have the last two weeks off from chemotherapy to allow her body time to adjust to radiation. She has just been such a champ. She doesn’t complain about going back and forth to Augusta everyday, and she is so BRAVE while her radiation is being done. Last week her counts dropped to neutropenia, which made us all pretty nervous. But the Lord covered her like He always does, and even when she was at her weakest, He protected her. Her counts are strong now, and she feels so good!! Her radiologist warned that the side effects from radiation would start showing after two weeks, so we ask that you please pray she will continue to have as many good days as possible. She is enjoying the sunshine, and we are so thankful to see that smile on her face!!”

Jordan Grace has about 10 days of radiation treatments left, and then chemotherapy will take place until November. Her family asks for your prayers in this journey, and they invite the GON community to follow along at Jordan Grace’s Journey Facebook page.

Jordan Grace spends a lot of time in Augusta receiving radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Her chemo treatments are scheduled to end in November, just in time for her to kill her first deer.

What a morning in Washington County! Tucker Cobb (left) and Evan Wiggins guided Jordan Grace Cobb, 8, of Davisboro, to her first three turkeys. Even though Jordan Grace is fighting cancer, she’s enjoyed reminding her older brother of her success. Tucker has never killed three with one shot, and he’s never killed a bird with three beards. Jordan Grace did both those things with one squeeze of the trigger.