After holding its first ever spring turkey hunting season, Long Island’s Suffolk County now has its place in the coveted National Wild Turkey Federation’s (NWTF) record books. First-time turkey hunter Christopher Tellone pulled the trigger on a beautiful 28-pound bird that made a mark, not only in the record books, but in the hearts of New York wildlife officials.
As with the case of approving any additional hunting seasons, officials are always looking for confirmation of their decisions. And having one of your local birds head into the record books during the inaugural season is never a bad thing.
While it was Tellone’s first time in the turkey woods, he is a seasoned hunter, having chased upstate whitetails for most of his life, he heard of the opportunity on Long Island, and immediately knew he had to participate.
“I love to hunt deer, and have most of my life, but I don’t know much about turkey hunting,” Tellone said. “The places I’ve hunted deer are a long way from the city, and when New York opened a firearms turkey season in Suffolk County for the first time this year, I decided I was gonna get after the birds because there are turkeys just 90 minutes from where I live in the city.”
Spread across eight days in May of this year, Tellone battled through the difficult season with a number of close encounters. On his first trip out, he was met with the delightful sounds of spring gobblers, only to be disappointed by his apparent lack of calling ability.
“I got to my hunting area late that morning after sunrise, and toms were going crazy, gobbling everywhere,” Tellone says. “On my way back to the truck, I spotted the birds, tried calling to them, but they wouldn’t come close.”
Being taught never to give up served the first-timer well as persistence finally paid off. Doing research between hunts, Tellone got dialed in for the remainder of the hunt. He experimented with a few things, but ultimately relied on his gritty nature to overcome his prey.
Eight days after his first trek into the woods, he found himself belly crawling through cold mud to get in tight with a group of toms pushing a couple of hens around the field. He was able to maneuver himself into a better position, using his decoy as cover.
As he set up behind a tree, the hens began to lead the four toms directly to him. He saw the lead gobbler and figured he was the alpha of the group as he pulled the trigger on his trusty Mossburg 500.
The bird folded.
Weighing in at 28 pounds, Tellone’s gobbler also sported a 10.5 inch beard accompanied by two 1.75 inch spurs. Arriving at a local taxidermist with his coveted gobbler, the shock and awe he was met with prompted him to officially score the bird with NWTF.
After official measurements, the bird was given a final score of 84.2 making it the highest scoring ‘typical’ turkey on record in the state of New York.
