Missouri’s Clay Howlett Memorial Chapter Hosts 5th Annual JAKES Event and Mentored Hunt

First time turkey hunters between the ages of nine and 15 participated in a turkey hunting workshop, where they learned about turkey biology, turkey hunting techniques and calling, turkey hunting regulations, hunting safety and shotgun patterning.

Youth who attended the workshop were selected to participate in a mentored turkey hunt on April 1-2 at the farm of Art and Kathy Booth near Richland and on the Ernie Calvert farm near Camdenton.

The hunters arrived early on opening morning and were paired with a conservation agent or NWTF member who served as hunting guides. On the opening morning of youth season, the high winds made calling and listening challenging, but the turkeys seemingly didn’t mind, as many of the hunters experienced multiple birds in a short amount of time.  If they missed on a shot opportunity, another gobbler was waiting out there to give them another try.  Hunters that bagged a bird opening day include: London Alexander, Marshall Carroll, Brooks Rozier, Ethan Chase and Jara Milligan.

The conditions were ideal on the second day of youth season, and every young hunter got either a shot opportunity or had birds in front of them, as it seemed again like a constant parade of birds throughout the day that kept the excitement going.  Hunter Cote bagged a bird on the second day.

Overall, six of the eight hunters bagged a bird, and all the young hunters either got a shot opportunity or had birds in front of them that stayed just out of shot range.

Special thanks to the Booth family for opening their property to the hunters and their hospitality for feeding and hosting everyone. The Booths have done a tremendous job of managing their habitat to produce excellent nesting habitat for turkeys. In addition, they invested significant time in pre-hunt planning and scouting to ensure that mentors and hunters would be able to maximize the effectiveness of their time afield.

Special thanks also go out to Ernie Calvert Sr. and Ernie Calvert Jr. for hosting half the hunters on their Camden County farm.  The Calvert farm has the most rugged terrain the state of Missouri has to offer, with excellent turkey habitat and an incredible number of turkeys. It’s a turkey hunter’s dream come true.  Both Ernie Sr. and Ernie Jr. did the pre-hunt scouting, blind placement, and they had the campfire and food ready for the kids when they came in for lunch.

Sincere appreciation is also due to Missouri Department of Conservation agents Jared Milligan, Logan Brawley, Nathan Ingle, David Ingram and Aaron Pondrom, as well as NWTF Missouri State Chapter board member and NWTF Clay Howlett Memorial Chapter president Dave Howlett. NWTF members George Dalgetty and Jason Peace, who served as hunting guides, are appreciated as well .

Hunters cannot be recruited and introduced to the sport without knowledgeable mentors willing to give their time and talents. We appreciate the willingness of everyone who made this event possible for sharing their passion to ensure our hunting heritage for future generations.

Clay Howlett Memorial Chapter President Dave Howlett took out his son and another youth hunter, Gabriel Morrow, a couple weeks later, as these youth hunters didn't get the opportunity to hunt during the Missouri youth season. Both hunters tagged their first bird.