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http://espn.go.com/outdoors/hunting/...grande_OR.htmlVerdict's in: Oregon turkey Rio Grande record

In a region chock-full of big toms, boy, 9, sets a standard for gobblers

By Frank Medicine Wolf Springer
Special to ESPNOutdoors.com

When Jacob Braught stepped into the woods in Oregon's Linn County for his first wild-turkey hunt, the boy knew it would be a day he would always cherish.

Jacob Braught and his record bird.

As it turned out, it also would be a day the rest of the turkey-hunting world would never forget.

By the end of that 2002 spring-season opener, the world record for the heaviest Rio Grande wild turkey had been shattered by the 9-year-old lad.

After spending the morning with two hunting partners on a successful opening day hunt, Steve Braught retrieved his son from their Lebanon, Ore., home and headed back to the woods for a late afternoon chance at some "large" birds he had spotted that earlier.

"Jacob took his hunter-safety course last year and went duck hunting with me last fall, but this was the first chance he had to go turkey hunting" the elder Braught said.

The father and son team spent their first hour attempting to locate the birds, and, after setting up along a wooded fence row, called for an additional 90 minutes as the birds moved toward their hide.

"We'd set up four decoys in an opening and were working the slow moving birds with an H.S. Strutt box call. There were four large toms together, and it took a long time for them to come to the clearing," Steve said.

When the toms eventually stepped into the open, Jacob settled the front bead of his 20-gauge shotgun on the first bird to appear, and sent a load of No. 4 shot through its head.

Jacob ran to the downed bird while his dad watched.

It wasn't until the young hunter yelled, "I can't carry it, it's too big," that father and son realized the immensity of the tom.

It wasn't until the young hunter yelled, "I can't carry it, it's too big," that father and son realized the immensity of the tom.

They immediately took the gobbler to a meat shop and weighed it. As the bird settled on the porcelain surface of the certified scale, the needle halted at 37 pounds and 2 ounces.

After measuring the 12-6/16-inch beard and the spurs at 1-3/16 inches and 1-1/16 inches, they called a taxidermist friend who advised them that "turkey mounts are ugly."

Upon this "expert" advice the hunters skinned and froze the bird!

As the excitement over the huge turkey's demise quickly spread, the father realized what his son may have actually killed, and retrieved the bird's head and cape from the garbage can.

Mike Carey, Western regional director for the National Wild Turkey Federation, inspected the bird and verified it as a wild turkey, and, in review, the national headquarters has certified the kill as the world-record heaviest Rio Grande.

Additionally, the bird's total measurement calculation at 84-6/16 inches ties the official overall world-record Rio Grande and is the Oregon state record Rio Grande turkey. The beard is listed as the 12th longest on record for any Rio Grande.

In the past few years, west-central Oregon has seen several Rio Grande turkeys killed that bested 35 pounds. The Linn and Douglas county areas of the state offer some of the finest wild turkey hunting in the world.

Therefore, it should be no surprise if the weight record is broken in the next few seasons. For more destination information see the ESPN Outdoors.com article titled, "Douglas County draws West's turkey hunters."