Spanish Fort’s Col. Kelly inducted into Turkey Hunters Hall of Fame

Spanish Fort’s Col. Kelly inducted into Turkey Hunters Hall of Fame

By David Rainer, Al. Dept. of Natural Resources
The inaugural class of the Alabama Turkey Hunters Hall of Fame was inducted last weekend during the World Championship Turkey Calling competition at the Mobile Convention Center, and the inductees included 97-year-old Colonel Tom Kelly of Spanish Fort who now lives in Virginia and couldn’t travel to the ceremony. Those honored posthumously were Lynn Dent Boykin of Mobile, Fred T. Stimpson of Mobile, Ben Rodgers Lee of Coffeeville and Billy Macoy of Lineville. Eddie Salter of Evergreen, a World Championship twice, was also inducted.
Kelly is known as the poet laureate of the turkey hunting world with his seminal “Tenth Legion” book considered an annual read for diehard turkey hunters. Kelly was a forester by trade and a turkey hunter by passion. He has authored more than 20 books, most centered around the many aspects of chasing wily turkeys.
I interviewed Kelly several years ago, and he still marveled at the behavior of wild turkeys.
“After 70 years, a turkey will still do things to me that I wonder how in the (heck) did he do it,” Kelly said. “I honestly think that a third of the turkeys we kill are walk-ups. We call to a turkey, and he gobbles and gobbles, and then a turkey comes up from another side. You wonder how he got around there, but I think it’s a different turkey. I think there is way more of that than we think.
“I think where the fascination lies is that every time you go something happens a little bit differently – every time. And they’ve got a genius for making you look stupid.”