Kathrine Alderman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
The Jefferson County Kings of Spring held their annual Youth Turkey Challenge (YTC) recently! This year it was done as a stand-alone event, as the turkey banquet event that it is generally combined with had to be postponed to later this summer, due to COVID-19. So, they conducted the YTC at Trophy Creek Outfitters, in the parking lot where they also hosted the Big Doe Challenge in November.
They had 31 youths register for the event and 10 turkeys were harvested/turned in for scoring. They had registrants from all over Florida, including Crawfordville, Lake Mary, Live Oak, Perry, Port St. Joe and Winter Park. They even had visitors come from Alabama and Tennessee.
They also had five National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) State Board Members present at the event, four of which are also a part of the local Chapter, James Hodges (Event Coordinator), Hillary Hodges (Treasurer), DJ Swilley Ellerkamp (President) and Eddie Hatch. The fifth State Board Member was Ken Parramore, President of the Bay County LongBeard's Chapter in Panama City.
JT Surles of Trophy Creek Outfitters was the main sponsor of the event and Beau Turner donated gift bags for each youth who participated. Chapter member Marvin Beard scored every bird and they awarded first and second place winners.
There was a great turnout for the BBQ chicken dinner and awards ceremony. They also conducted two raffles, one for a Yeti cooler and one for an “NWTF package.” The proceeds of the cooler were put into their scholarship fund.
For the YTC itself, the first place winner was Lawson Markris and the second place winner was Ava Mercer. Markris, for taking first place, won a .20 gauge shotgun and Mercer, for taking second, received a .22 rifle.
The winners weren't the only ones to accomplish something, however. Monticello youth Warren Barker harvested his first turkey in this event, and another hunter, McKinley Hill, six years old, had her first hunt and bagged her first turkey at this event.
Along with everything else, The Jefferson County Kings of Spring also presented a scholarship winner for this year, local area youth Phillip Riley. He was awarded $500 from The Jefferson County Kings of Spring scholarship and $1,000 for the Sate level scholarship. He is also eligible to win the NWTF National scholarship (Dr. James Earl Kennemer Scholarship) for $10,000. Riley has been a member of the Kings of Spring for years and is a senior at Port St. Joe High School. He has a 4.0 GPA and plans to attend veterinary school. He also helped guide a youth in this year's YTC event.
It's safe to say that, despite COVID-19 and not being able to pair the YTC with the yearly Turkey Banquet, it was still a great success!
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