Though Sunday’s story about turkey hunting deals mostly with Tennessee, I did come across some really interesting stuff from our other Mid-South states while researching the story.

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks has an impressive list of turkey hunting records with several pertinent categories.

For example, the longest wild turkey beard ever recorded in Mississippi measured a whopping 17.25 inches. The bird was killed by Monty Roberts in Monroe County back in 2001.

The longest spurs ever recorded belonged to a bird killed by Dr. Don E. Marascalco in Lauderdale County last year. They measured 1.88 inches.

The heaviest turkey ever taken in Mississippi weighed 25.25 pounds and was killed by Hunter T. Hayes in Newton County in 2004.

One of the most impressive birds I’ve heard about this year was killed by Germantown’s Katie Robinson (pictured) during the snow storm that plagued Mississippi’s Youth Weekend March 8-9.

Katie, a 15-year-old freshman at Briarcrest, killed the bird while hunting with her father, Mitchell Robinson.

Mitchell called up four big gobblers and 12 Jakes. Katie picked out the biggest one and shot her trophy at 15 yards. The bird had 1-inch spurs and a 10-inch beard.

Not too shabby.

The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission has some interesting data about turkey on its web site as well.

According to the AGFC, since 1932, approximately 6,400 wild turkeys have been stocked in Arkansas. Memphis residents will find it interesting that a large percentage of stocked turkeys were captured on Brandywine Island, just across the Mississippi River from Shelby Forest.

Wow, 100 wins in 3 seasons. That, ladies and gentlemen, is one helluva accomplishment. I have looked in newspapers and other media sources online and didn’t see it mentioned. The fact of the matter is that the Tigers are in rarified air with those 100 wins and no one seems interested in the media.
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