Resurrection of a Hunter

People know Matt Hughes. He can walk into a restaurant a thousand miles from his home in Illinois, like he did this past spring in Greensboro, North Carolina, and someone will recognize him.

A few years back, a friend of Hughes had given him one of Sandy Brady’s signature pocket crosses, but Hughes had the small cross, made from century-old Tar Heel State tobacco sticks, confiscated by TSA during a pre-flight screening. Hughes requested a replacement and was put in touch with Brady, who extended the invitation for Hughes to attend the 46^th annual NWTF Convention and Sport Show in 2022. That was the beginning of his turkey hunting story, but it was far from the start of Hughes’ long journey to live and hunt again.

Hughes, 49, was an icon in the sport of mixed martial arts cage fighting, known by most as a two-time champion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. An Eastern Illinois All-American wrestler, he became a force in the cage at 170 pounds, with wrenches for hands, and an artist in submission holds that could make a grown man cry. Note: Hughes still does this when fans pose next to him for a picture; he’ll grab them between the ribs and laugh as they squirm in momentary pain. Naturally strong, Hughes said he believes he got his strength from growing up on a farm. His family couldn’t afford formula, so he says he was fed milk straight from a cow.

After being inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame and retiring from fighting, Hughes, who entered the ring to “A Country Boy Can Survive” by Hank Williams Jr., began life in the hunting industry with various hunting shows. He pursued white-tailed bucks in Illinois and elsewhere, and even ventured to Africa, but never hunted turkeys.

In 2017, Hughes was helping a friend move farm equipment when his truck approached a railroad crossing. He doesn’t remember much from that point, but we know he proceeded to cross the tracks, which were at a slight angle. Hughes says he looked both ways and believes the angle of the railroad disappeared behind the column that separates the front and back seat of an extended cab truck. He never saw the locomotive, and it crushed his vehicle and slammed him into oblivion like no punch had done before.

He spent 18 days in a coma and somehow climbed out of it only to face years of debilitation while relearning to walk, talk and perform mundane daily tasks again. He suffered traumatic brain injury, still has difficulty speaking normally and walks with a pronounced hitch in his step.

But — and it’s a big but — the former UFC champion refused to lay down, and even carries a sense of humor about his injuries.

“The TBI (traumatic brain injury), I just use that as an excuse when I make mistakes,” Hughes said. “I was hit by a train. If I can’t laugh at myself, what can I do?”

With intense physical therapy, Hughes began to rebound and start anew, but he still battled with darkness and depression, on occasion considering ways to commit suicide.

In the end, he said, “That would just put pressure on somebody else, even if it took it off me.”

Fast forward to 2022, after Brady’s invite to the NWTF Convention brought Hughes to his first encounter with turkey fanatics. Hughes signed autographs for hours at the KT Team booth on the Sport Show floor, helped hand out trophies at the Grand National Calling Championships, and even put a fan to sleep with a technical wrestling hold, causing him to crash through an adjacent booth. (The fan didn’t believe Hughes could still do it.)

Hughes had such a good time that he thought this turkey hunting stuff might be fun, so Brady set him up for an Easter weekend hunt in North Carolina a few months later. He picked up a shotgun to pattern the day before, which marked the first time he had pulled the trigger on a long gun since that near-fatal train accident.

“He was motivated by the NWTF convention to get back into hunting,” Brady said.

It was time to see if the former champ could put a chokehold on turkeys, too.

Hughes’ first turkey hunt occurred in a blind overlooking a large field and a scenic hardwood bottom below. He had some help, as you’d imagine, in the form of calling champ Kerry Terrell and three-time D.D. Adams award winner and call-making aficionado Kimmy Hanks. Plus, North Carolina Wildlife Commissioner Tom Berry provided land access for Hughes’ return to hunting.

Two or more gobblers shook their roosts at daybreak, gobbling early until they hit the ground.

Although a group of hens pulled the attention of one, another strayed far enough to notice the decoy 25 yards from the blind and slowly made his way in. About 10 yards from the decoy,

Hughes set his sight and fired at the strutter. On video playback later, you could see the shotgun pellets sweep the grass below the gobbler’s legs. The aim was low, and the bird took flight, sailing into the hardwood cover some 300 yards away.

Terrell, who Hughes began calling his birddog (keep reading), noticed the turkey’s legs were limp and lifeless in flight, so he and Berry began searching the point where the gobbler disappeared into the tree line. Twenty minutes into the search several hundred yards away, they heard jakes aggressively purring and fighting. Through the spring leaf cover, they made out a group of jakes harassing and flogging something in the tall grass.

Sure enough, as they approached, the jakes scattered, and there was the gobbler Hughes had shot. He was back at the blind lamenting the shot but still enjoying the camaraderie and joking as he always does. Then, Terrell and Berry crested the hill with Hughes’ first harvest.

“He went from the low of lows to the highest high,” Brady said. “That’s what makes turkey hunting great.”

Hughes, who had fought in front of millions on pay-per-view, jokingly placed most of the blame for the misaligned shot on the cameraman (Hanks).

“Before every fight, I was nervous,” he said. “With the turkey coming in, you just don’t know if you’re going to mess up and miss. I was a little nervous, plus I had a cameraman behind me. So there’s proof I messed up, and I didn’t like that. I should have thrown the cameraman out of the blind.”

The back-and-forth between Terrell’s tube and trumpet calls and the gobbler made it an experience Hughes won’t forget.

“I’ve never hunted an animal that you have so much interaction with,” Hughes said. “You’re talking to it, and it’s talking back; there was just communication the whole time. I’ve had some good calls, but I’ve never tried speaking an animal’s language before.”

Hughes continues his daily rehab routine, but he can’t shake his newest hunting experience, hoping to return to Nashville in February in preparation for another spring hunt — one that reenergizes and restores the soul.

“The bad thing is, I don’t need another hobby, but now I’ve got another hobby and another passion,” he said. “It’s been a long time since the accident that I’ve been in the field with (wild) animals. It was just amazing on Easter weekend. I killed my first turkey, so I just felt my story title should be ‘Resurrection.’”

And it all happened thanks to a small cross that reconnected a hunter with his love for the outdoors.