Strutter! In The Back Seat!

Always an adventure, this passion we call hunting.

Turkey hunting in particular can be unpredictable. No two hunts are alike, which may be why turkey hunters become so addicted.

A gobbler comes in quiet and is in your lap before you know it… birds fly down and fight over your decoy…

Or maybe a giant gobbler comes to life in the back seat on the way home from a successful hunt. Just another day in the crazy Georgia turkey woods.

“Son, we have a situation!” Driving home after a successful Jones County hunt, David Newberry and his son Carson were shocked when Carson’s “dead” gobbler came very much alive.

Carson Newberry, 11, of Macon, and his dad David had one of those turkey-hunting days they’ll never forget. Carson shot a huge Jones County gobbler—twice—once during a Jones County hunt and again after the gobbler popped up in the back of their Ford Explorer on the way home.

Carson’s dad, David Newberry, said it was raining when he woke up Sunday morning, March 16, the second day of the youth turkey-hunting weekend.

“I woke up Carson and asked him if he wanted to go since it was raining, and he did. He has a twin brother, Cannon, that I had taken Saturday morning but didn’t have any luck, so it was Carson’s turn,” David said.

“We arrived at the property and didn’t hear a gobble as it was raining. When we were walking back to the truck, we came up on the gobbler with three hens. We sat down and called him in to about 40 yards. It started raining harder, and we were getting soaked.”

Carson Newberry, 11, and his dad with the big Jones County bird Carson killed-twice.

Carson shot the bird, and David said he grabbed the gobbler, and they hurried back to the SUV in the pouring rain.

“I thought he was dead, so I threw him in the back,” David said. “As we were riding home, I made the comment to Carson that it would be funny if the turkey flew out when we opened up the back. As soon as I got that out of my mouth, the turkey stood up in the back as if he knew we were talking about him. He was walking around like nothing was wrong.”

David pulled over off Hwy 18 to ponder their situation.

The gun was in the back with the turkey, and David said he didn’t want any part of hand-to-spur combat with the big gobbler. They headed to the house.

“We opened up the back to let him out, and he went to the front seat. We then opened up the front door, and out he came running. Carson unloaded and killed him, again.”

The gobbler weighed 24 pounds and had huge 1 1/2-inch hooks.