The following information was provided upon request by Joey Buchanan giving his personal account of his Bow-Harvested Wild Turkey Grand Slam using all traditional equipment. Joey made his own recurve bows and his own turkey calls. Joey is a member of the Mississippi Bowhunters Association as well as a member of the Professional Bowhunting Society and a Bronze Life Member of the National Wild Turkey Federation. He is a native of Indianola, MS. and is a married 44 y/o with 2 young boys and lives in Oxford, Mississippi. Joey related to me that he had over 100 hunting endeavors in Georgia to finally get his Eastern turkey and it took 5 trips to Florida to bag his Osceola along with 7 trips to Texas to 'collect' his Rio turkey and he considers himself fortunate to have taken his Merriam in South Dakato on his first trip there. All in all his traditional equipment "Homemade Wild Turkey Grand Slam" took 12 years to complete spaning from 1994 to 2006. Congratulation Joey on your accomplishment and your perserverance. Below is Joey's personal account of his "Homemade Grand Slam".

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"I started exclusively bow hunting turkeys in 1992. I missed my first gobbler in 94' and killed my first gobbler in 2001. That was a long 7 years but well worth the learning curve. I took around 40 plus shots under 25 yards before I killed my first gobbler in 2001, an Osceola near Palmdale, Florida. I killed my 1st Eastern the following year at my hunting camp in Ga. on the Okmulgee River. I closed out the 2002 season with a big Merriam mature gobbler in south Dakota on a ranching operation. On my 7th trip to Tx starting back from 94', I finally connected with a "bull'  jake near Carrizo Springs, Tx in 2006. My Rio Gobbler I took this spring on a private ranch in South Texas completed the first ever Traditional Archery Grand Slam. Furthermore all birds included in the slam were taken with my homemade recurve and homemade turkey calls. I call it the "Homemade Grand Slam". My bows are hand made from osage/shedua/ebony with bamboo limbs. My arrows are 700 grain Alaska Bowhunting Supply Grizzly sticks with a Simmons 190 grain Tree shark. All birds were shot less than 12 yards, unguided and without the use of feeders. It has taken me over 7 years to accomplish this. All my birds were bow shot with my homemade recurves I've been making for a decade. The calls I use...whether mouth, box, boat paddle or slates are all homemade by myself. All turkeys were hunted unguided and alone. I never hunted over a feeder where legal (Texas) but in the strictest code of fair chase and always tried to maintain the highest code of bowhunting ethics. These four birds have all been recorded and certified by the NWTF and I have successfully completed their paperwork and awarded a Grand Slam title. I have hunted these birds using every imaginable type of blind and decoy under the sun. I have even mounted my own bearded hen decoy trying to fool these clever birds. Most of my hunting takes place in a leafy suit with a homemade 2 legged stool or a Double Bull Archery blind. I shoot 700 grain grizzly Sticks with a 2 ½" wide Simmons TreeShark head. My box calls are fashioned from the late Neil Cost. I am a student of his work. Although the NWTF doesn't record the kind of bow one uses, at the time of my last slam bird harvested only 16 people have completed the slam with a bow. I very certain I'm the first with a traditional bow and completely positive I'm the only one ever to do it with Homemade equipment ( bow and calls). Majority of my hunts always ended up empty handed but the restrictions hunting these birds with traditional tackle give one some condolence. However when you finally connect with a gobbler, the thrill is immeasurable. It's well worth the sacrifice. But on the flip side watching the gobbler strut off after a miss will gut check you and you will repeatedly ask yourself "if you're a bowhunter or turkey killer?" I guess I'm still a bowhunter. I love slipping around the woods in the fall and spring chasing these birds. Our fall season on the river is almost as fun as the spring. I'm very lucky to have that opportunity also. I have missed the chance to string up a lot beards on my trophy wall the last 14 years by choosing to hunt these birds with a bow but I've also been extremely fortunate on the other hand for the many many close encounter experiences the bow has given me . Most gun hunts are over at 30 yards, mine however may last to the last yard. Seriously I missed a strutting 2 ½ year old gobbler at 1 step. After that miss I learned how to sight down the arrow! But I've had many gobblers within 5 yards doing their thing that only a bowhunter will ever see that close. A gun hunter will never witness this. But as I tell everyone who inquires about my sanity, If you like the taste of wild turkey then gun hunt. If you want to be a better turkey hunter, bow hunt them for several seasons. What I've noticed over the years is that I call less and less, move around less but stay in the woods longer. It's not uncommon for me to hunt all day. If I find some really good turkey sign, I'll wait them out till one of the least intelligent ones might come to my soft calling or just walk by. As Joey related above, "When you finally connect with a gobbler using traditional archery equipment (and particularly when the archery equipment and turkey calls have been personally made), the thrill is immeasurable. It's well worth the sacrifice."

Joey Buchanan

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