Spring turkey seasons are opening throughout the country, and the madness has begun. It's about to get ratcheted up a notch for the American Hunter staff, too—because two of our number are on their way to La Cygne, Kan., to compete in the annual "World Turkey Hunting Championship."
A turkey hunting championship? You'd better believe it. The event, which is sponsored this year by Flextone, has been held in Eastern Kansas for a number of years now. It draws turkey-hunting fanatics from all parts of the industry: divisional qualifiers, media members, industry-sponsored teams—they'll all be in attendance. This time, we'll be joining the crowd. Executive Editor Adam Heggenstaller and Digital Managing Editor Shawn Skipper will be joined by Steve McGrath of SPG Outdoors to form Team American Hunter.
The event features two and a half days of high-stakes hunting on private land throughout Kansas' Zone 6 (properties are drawn in a lottery the day before competition begins). Our boys will be rocking Browning's Hell's Canyon Speed line of clothing, alongside the requisite Buckmarked ammunition and firearms. Heggenstaller intends to carry the new Ravin R9 crossbow, as archery kills will net teams bonus points. If you're interested in brushing up on the tournament's extensive set of rules, you can find them here.
A bevy of decoys and calls will be on hand, naturally. When you're competing for a championship, it's best to leave it all on the field. There'll be further coverage of our Team's gear later this week.
The team will have all of Tuesday to scout its assigned patch of land, before competition begins on Wednesday morning. We'll have regular updates on their progress. You can catch all of our Facebook Live updates by "Liking" the official American Hunter Facebook page, which can be found here. We'll also have periodic updates on AmericanHunter.org.
If you're looking to learn more about the tournament in general, go to NationalTurkeyHuntingChampionship.com.
