by Natalie Kennedy

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20100220/LIFE/2190330/0/SPORTS01/Mistake-Lands-Hunter-in-NWTF-Record-Book

Burton “Skip” Cleveland is a dedicated and good turkey hunter. With 136 gobblers to his credit, he challenges himself to only take the mature gobblers, or males.

Last November, he mistakenly shot a hen which turned out to be “the best mistake I ever made,” according to Cleveland. The reason why is because that hen just landed Cleveland a spot in the National Wild Turkey Federation's record book because of an anomaly she had the longest spurs on record.

Normally only gobblers have spurs, which increase in size every year. Unlike the beard, which grows continuously and breaks off from wear and tear, the spurs continue to grow throughout the turkey's life. The longest spurs ever measured on a gobbler are two inches, he explained.

Cleveland, who lives in Troy and is a native of Covington, shot the record hen on Nov. 14, 2009. He had gone out that morning to a tree where several gobblers roosted at night. As the birds woke that morning, they flew off. Cleveland and his hunting partner and cousin, Gary Gee, tried to coax the birds back to no avail.

Later that afternoon, Cleveland returned to the site and began clucking and chirping and eventually they started to walk in to his spot. He decided to wait until the old birds at the back of the line came in. Before any arrived, one of the turkeys signaled an alarm putt at something, then sounded it again. The turkeys began to retreat and Cleveland spotted them coming around a tree. He fired and the rest of the flock dispersed.

“I looked down in total disbelief,” he said. “There, laying in leaves, lay the old flock hen.”

Hens are legal to shoot in the fall, so Cleveland pulled out his tag and began recording the information.

“I reached down to get hold of a leg to attach the tag and pulled back in pain,” said Cleveland. “Something had jabbed into my finger.”

It wasn't a stick or a thorn, but a 3/4-inch spur. An identical spur decorated the other leg. Not only may Cleveland have bagged the hen with the longest spurs, he may have shot one of the only ones.

“I talked to a turkey biologist. He's handled 3,000 birds and he's never found one,” said Cleveland.

After contacting the National Wild Turkey Federation, Cleveland learned that they do have records of spurred hens and there are only 10 on the list. The longest spur is 3/16-inch long.

An official traveled four and a half hours to meet Cleveland in Lock Haven to measure, weigh, photograph and document the bird. He received official notice that he's in the record book on Jan. 20.

“I always hoped I'd make the record book with a gobbler,” said Cleveland. “If I can't make it with a gobbler, I figured I'd make with the numbers.”

The numbers are impressive. Cleveland's shot 136 gobblers in his lifetime. A turkey track is painted on his dark blue Ford F-150 for each gobbler. The tracks race around the side, front and back of the truck which generally has 4,000 miles added every turkey season.

He's bagged the four subspecies of turkeys the Eastern, Osceola (Florida), Rio Grande (Texas) and Merriams (western mountain region). Cleveland has taken turkeys in seven different states and hopes to shoot one in every state.

This year, he hopes to down a gobbler in three days in three states. Spring turkey opens in Pennsylvania and New York on May 1 and in New Jersey on May 3. If he's successful in securing a New Jersey tag, Cleveland plans to hunt in Pennsylvania on Saturday, in New York on Sunday and head for New Jersey on Monday.

“Every bird's different,” said the veteran turkey hunter. “Turkeys don't do anything twice.”

The biggest gobbler he ever took weighed 26 pounds; he shot it in Missouri. He guides other hunters and in 1992, his hunting party shot 11 birds in seven days. All told, the birds weighed 269 pounds and had beards measuring 117.5 inches.

It's the challenge that draws him to the sport.

“Every gobbler has an angel on its shoulder and if anything can go wrong, it will,” he said.

He uses a box call for calling in birds when he's calling for hours, but usually he uses a diaphragm call so there's less movement.

“I've never been guided; I don't use decoys,” said Cleveland. “I've never shot a bird someone else has called in. I've made a life commitment out of it basically.”

Cleveland has written an article about bagging his hen and it may be printed in “Turkey Call,” the member-affiliated publication of the National Wild Turkey Federation.

Right now the hen is sitting in the freezer, waiting for someone to mount it. The carcass will be sent to the biologist Cleveland talked with earlier who will try to determine why the hen wore spurs.Re-printed courtesy of The Wellsboro Gazette. Article by Natalie Kennedy.