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Boy, 12, bags first turkey in Air Force Academy hunt
By Scott Willoughby, The Denver Post
Think of it as "Operation Turkey Swoop" or "Top Gun for Toms."
Playing the part of Maverick: Evan Williams, age 12.
Evan earned the lead role after becoming the first person to successfully harvest a wild turkey at the Air Force Academy, bagging a 21-pound Merriam's tom
April 15, just his second day as a turkey hunter. The seventh-grader from Superior was among a small group of youths and women selected to hunt at the academy after attending a Colorado Parks and Wildlife "Turkey 101" hunter education class in Colorado Springs.
"It's pretty exciting," Evan said after the hunt. "It's really hard to do. It's hard because you have to be really patient and quiet. I'm not really one of those people. ... But I'm going to try to be a turkey hunter."
Evan and four others were selected in a drawing to participate in the inaugural AFA hunt to help manage a flock of birds that has grown to menacing proportions.
At one time, the flock had grown to more than 100 turkeys in the 18,500-acre airfield, training ground and campus abutting the Pike National Forest, prompting officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and CPW to trap and relocate as many as 50 birds at a time.
