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Announcing the winners of the Georgia/Florida
Turkey Invitational
 The Fourth Annual Georgia – Florida Turkey Invitational was held Friday, March 27. Like our other Game Bird events of late, the rain came down in buckets, but it did not dampen the enthusiasm of our participants. We had 45, 2-person teams from Albany to Tallahassee entered this year, including Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue who was teamed with Tony Pope of Osceola Plantation.
The evening prior to hunkering down in the soggy woods, the teams met for the traditional rules dinner at Osceola Plantation in Thomas County, GA. A thunder storm, which took out the power for a while, didn’t put a damper on the night as the lights came on before the dinner program began. The program featured champion turkey caller, Eddie Salter, from Hunter’s Specialties, who presented a film on turkey hunting that captured everyone’s attention.
For those skilled or lucky enough to take a gobbler during the morning hunt, their bird was judged using the National Wild Turkey Federation scoring system: each spur on both the left and right foot is measured to the 1/16 of an inch and multiplied by 10; the beard length is then measured and multiplied by 2; in case of a tie, the heaviest weighing bird is used as a tiebreaker. The judge was Reggie Thackston who is Wildlife Resources Coordinator for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
L-R) Invitational winners, Blair Bailey and Shane Wellendorf with event coordinators Dr. Bill Palmer, director of the
Tall Timbers Game Bird Program and Vann Middleton, Director of Development for Tall Timbers.
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Plantation Security staff with Maj. Alan Lamarche, President of PSI, in the center.
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The judging and lunch were held at Seminole Plantation in Thomas County, GA. Our own turkey guru, Tall Timbers game bird biologist, Shane Wellendorf and his team partner Blair Bailey received top honors. That is no small task given the caliber of the turkey hunters in the event. Also, Tall Timbers Board member Dr. George Simmons took home the Calcutta winnings for the heaviest bird – a monster that tipped the scales at 24.5 pounds!
This annual event has become an important fundraiser for the Game Bird Program and Tall Timbers, this year raising almost $20,000. Thanks go to our hosts at Osceola Plantation, the Parker and Williams families; at Seminole Plantation, Rankin Smith and Bryan Knox; and to Alan Lamarche and his staff from Plantation Security who provided the fish and fixings for lunch.
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