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(First Youngest World Slam Holder in History!)
Dr. Howard Pollock
Former President, NRA
US Congressman (Alaska), Retired
Another World Slam Turkey Hunter
Incredibly, this avid young hunter now holds the potential new WORLD RECORD for a smaller-species Ocellated Wild Turkey taken with a Matthews Bow. The "pavo ovelado" certified weight was 17.09 pounds (7.770 kilos) - taken at the Itzamna Ranch in the Calakmul Reserve of Campeche, down in the southern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, only a few miles north of the border of Guatamala. (Jose' Manuel Skorlich was Keenan's outfitter, and Vincente Queb was his Mayan hunting guide.)
"Just what kind of young man is Keenan Adams?" you ask, and "How has all this fame and his most unusual early accomplishments affected him?" Well, the answers are as equally amazing as are his several particular outstanding achievements. Keenan is a nice looking boy with a ready smile to welcome all who approach him; he is an enthusiastic outdoorsman, yet confident, youth; unpretentious, and well-mannered. I found him courteous, obedient to his superiors, a wholesome "normal", young boy (despite his most unusual accomplishments at such an early age). Keenan is the youngest of seven siblings (six sisters ranging in age 13 to 26). I immediately liked Keenan very much, and am pleased to see him so focused, so happy, so well-adjusted.
But the most unusual aspect of Keenan's trip to Campeche, in southern Mexico, was that he was allowed to hunt and harvest a total of eight Ocellated Wild Turkeys. Providing a unique opportunity for him to convert many of his previous Grand Slams and Royal Slams into new World Slams. He will have eight World Slams upon harvesting 3 more Osceola birds. The Ocellated Wild Turkey is perhaps the most difficult of the wild turkeys to hunt and harvest, in my view.
(Perhaps an explanation of "Slams" is in order.
A Grand Slam consists of taking all four U.S. wild turkey subspecies (the "Eastern" (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris), which has the most widely distributed geographic range of all the subspecies; the "Osceola" (Meleagris gallopavo Osceola), found only in Florida; the "Rio Grande" (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia), found in the central plains States; and finally the "Merriam's (Meleagris gallopavo merriami), found in the western mountain regions of the U.S.).
A Royal Slam includes all the subspecies above plus the "Gould's" wild turkey subspecies (Meleagris gallopavo mexicana), found mostly in Mexico, but with an isolated few areas near the northern Mexican border, in Arizona and New Mexico.
Finally, a World Slam includes both the Grand Slam and Royal Slam subspecies plus the "Ocellated" wild turkey species (Meleagris ocellata or "pavo ocelado"), found in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico - Campeche, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Tabasco, and Chiapas - also in the northern border regions of Guatamala and Belize.
When I first met young Keenan Adams at the Rancho El Durangueno, he was the proud owner of four earned Grand Slams and three earned Royal Slams, and amazing collection of distinguished accomplishments, especially for a lad his age! But, his unbelievable number of Ocellated wild turkeys from the Yucatan gave Keenan a fantastic opportunity to round out several new World Slams by harvesting a number of "Gould's" wild turkeys at beautiful Rancho El Durangueno, where there is an abundance of these spectacular "royal pavos".
This is where my friend, Eric Gustafson, partner-administrator of Rancho El Durangueno, and I had the opportunity to meet young Keenan, together with his father, Roy Adams, and his uncle, Z A "Buddy" Adams, both avid and enthusiastic hunters and owners/operators of Adams Brothers Construction Co., Inc. in Bainbridge, Georgia. Both Roy, who is President of the construction company, and Buddy, who is the Vice President and Construction Superintendent, each have three World Slams, and could have earned more; but their dedication, major hunting interest, and promotional desires lie in the accomplishments of young Keenan.
Roy and Buddy Adams also brought along a professional photographer, Jack Walker, III, who volunteered to film and record Keenan's hunting adventures there at the Rancho. Jack produces and directs his own popular TV show, called "Outdoors-N-Georgia".
However, before I departed Rancho El Durangueno, Buddy shot a 27.4 pound turkey, with an 11 ½" beard, and 1" spurs, the largest turkey ever taken in the region; and Roy shot a 24.2 pound turkey with four beards (which may as well be a new record itself). And, incidentally, before I departed the Rancho, young Keenan closed out three more new World Slams, which demonstrates how really fabulous and productive the Rancho El Durangueno is, and how truly remarkable is this great young hunter! Unbelievable!!
Incidentally, while his dad will not allow Keenan to accept any money from eager sponsors, Roy will permit his son to accept limited company products to use for his hunting - and there are many sponsors to aid this remarkable young man and boost their products:
(See Sponsors at right)
My own turkey hunting experience this year at the Rancho brought mixed rewards - because I shot a very nice 22.4 pound gobbler longbeard, but he moved at the very instant I pulled the trigger of my 12-gauge shotgun (#2s in a 2 ¾" shell); and, while I seriously wounded the turkey, I didn't kill him, and had to immediately fire a second round that did him in; but, among other things, my second shot cut off about eight inches of his 11" beard, ruining it as a trophy to be mounted - so I will have to settle for saving and mounting the magnificent white-tipped fan of tail feathers, and somehow saving the beautiful golden bronze feathers that cover the back of the turkey. By the way, this gobbler actually had a triple beard - but it was the principal and longest of the three beards that traumatically severed with my second shot.
Incidentally, my very capable and professional turkey hunting guide was Artemius Garcia, who was subsequently Keenan's hunting guide also. Unfortunately, Artemius spoke no English, and I spoke no Spanish - but we got along very well using sign language when we needed to communicate. Artemius is a very capable principal hunting guide and hunt organizer for all the hunters and guides, arranging the hunt locations, scheduling the 4-wheel motor vehicles, personally awakening the hunters long before daylight each morning (so each could be at his or her hunting site long before dawn), taking the official measurements and recording the weights of each trophy, and preparing the trophies for transport t the taxidermist. Artemius really knows his business.
An aside, but informative comment - using the conventional quality rating system for hotels, but applying the system to turkey hunting camps and facilities everywhere, Rancho El Durangueno would rate "5-STARS" for lodging, service, delicious food, wake-up calls, hunting equipment, transportation to hunting areas, guide service, refreshments available on the hunts, etc; and the Rancho furnishes shotguns and ammo (to alleviate the need to undergo vexing restrictive security inspections when flying or for international border crossings). Keenan, his dad, Roy, and uncle Buddy were pleasantly surprised and quite delighted. It was Roy who coined the complimentary facilities rating of "5-STARS" for the Rancho.
On the Rancho acreage, there is a surprisingly large population of "long beards" (gobblers), and an amazing number of "jakes" (young males, that will be trophy size a year from now). The 56-000-acre (23,000 hectares x 2.4) Rancho property is divided into 25 or 30 "portreros" (pastureland divisions). It was a Portrero de Ricardo last year where I sat in a small camo pop-up tent hidden in a tiny cluster trees at the exact location where 60 plus turkeys flew down off their mountain top roost, and landed within just a few feet from me! I had never been right in the midst of ever so many wild turkeys completely undetected; nor have I ever seen so many "long beards", "jakes" and hens in almost-touching distance!
But this past week I sat in another camo tent at Portrero la Fresada and had another spectacular opportunity to witness over 100 turkeys in just a two hour period 0 (11 spectacular "long beards", 17 to 20 "jakes", and 85 to 90 hens. Incredible!
Incidentally, of the 10 gobblers harvested while I as the Rancho this past week, not a single bird weighed less than 21 pounds - and that's simply fantastic!
"Where is Rancho El Durangueno located, and how does one get there?" you ask. Well, let me first explain that there are two mountain ranges in Mexico, running roughly parallel north and south - both known as the Sierra Madres. Durango is located in the western Sierra Madre Occidental range, roughly 26.8 nautical miles west-southwest (or 240 compass degrees) from Monterrey, which is located in the eastern Sierra Madre Oriental range. Thus, instead of flying into Durango (at 6090' elevation), then driving up the torturous steep route to the Rancho, one can arrange to fly in a 5-passenger executive aircraft directly from Monterrey to the Rancho's paved 4500' (1,500 meter) landing strip (at 8200' elevation) - and get there sooner.
By the way, at present the turkey hunting season throughout Mexico begins in the last full week in March, runs through April, and terminates at the end of the first week in May.
In this isolated mountainous area, the electrical power for the lodging facilities at the Rancho is furnished by solar power units. The power is generated by sunlight and then stored in a system of batteries, of course - however , in the unlikely event that unusual heavily-clouded weather conditions were to continue each day for an extended period - with less power being generated and stored in the batteries - it is conceivable that very heavy use of power at the Rancho could conceivably exhaust the stored power supply, until normal sunshine returns to regenerate power and again store the energy in the battery system.
Incidentally, notwithstanding the "5-STAR" rating for the isolated hunting lodge facilities at the Rancho, regular telephone service is not available presently. There is no direct two-way communications with the U.S. (to satisfy a hunter's desire to make an evening call to an anxious wife to let her know that everything is going splendidly!). Telephone calls into the Rancho pose no problem, but calls out require a relay system to patch the call through another Mexican telephone in a different location; and then the redial phone patch made by a cellular phone to the other Mexican phone can be relayed to the recipient in the U.S.
Well, in closing, I want to return to the extraordinary feats of the most unusual, dedicated, determined young turkey hunter in the world - Keenan Adams! As I write this fascinating story of the fantastic beautiful Rancho El Durangueno hunting for more Gould's wild turkeys, in order to elevate prior Grand Slams and Royal Slams into treasured golden World Slams.
Wow! Keenan, you are a true world champion turkey hunter! But, now, where do you go from here, young man? Your Dad and your uncle Buddy both love you very much, and are proud indeed of your fantastic accomplishments as a great young hunter. Dr. Eric Gustafson, Partner/Administrator of the Rancho El Durangueno and I feel exactly the same about you, Son. Don't ever let all the attention go to your head or change you.
Continue to work hard to be the best in all your endeavors. One thing more - please give my warm regards to your proud Mom and six sisters. To you, sincere congratulations, warmest best wishes, and my affectionate regards. May the Lord continue to bless you and keep you close to Him always.
Dr. Howard Pollock
Former President, NRA
US Congressman (Alaska), Retired
Another World Slam Turkey Hunter