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Tony Hudak pulled the trigger on his shotgun and watched a gobbler fly away.
A few days earlier, Hudak and his wife, Janine, flew 6,000 miles to Hawaii to finish a quest that only four other hunters had ever accomplished. He hoped to become the fifth hunter to harvest a turkey in all 49 states where they exist (Alaska is the only state that doesn’t have wild turkeys).
Hawaii was the last state on Hudak’s list.
Hudak began his gobbler hunting quest – which is officially recognized as the U.S. Super Slam by the National Wild Turkey Federation, unintentionally in 1999. That’s when he accomplished the Grand Slam – harvesting all four of the turkey subspecies found in the United States (Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande and Merriam’s). The next year, Hudak achieved the Royal Slam when he harvested a Gould’s turkey in Mexico.
After that, Hudak focused more time on guiding other turkey hunters in Pennsylvania and didn’t give much thought to the Super Slam. But over the years, as he hunted with friends in other states, things started to add up.
“In 2009 I went to Louisiana, New Mexico and Colorado and figured if I harvested a gobbler in two of the three states, that would give me 25,” Hudak said. “I ended up getting a gobbler in all three states and my wife, Janine, said why stop now. I might as well go for all 49 states.”
That’s when Hudak truly embarked on the quest to become the fifth hunter to achieve the Super Slam.
But it didn’t come easy.
The hunts involved hours of planning, thousands of miles on the road and plenty of nights sleeping in his truck. Some states didn’t give up turkeys that easy and required a few return trips before Hudak was finally able to connect with a gobbler.
“Rhode Island was tough. It took me three times,” Hudak said. “It’s all public land and on the weekends everyone uses it – birdwatchers, hikers, ATV riders. I was sharing the woods with so many people and trying to call a turkey. It wasn’t happening.”
Finally, in 2014, Rhode Island yielded a gobbler, as did Wisconsin and Arkansas. Hudak checked Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia off the list in 2015. Now, a quest that took Hudak from Maine to California hunting gobblers came down to just one state, Hawaii.
And it was like hunting in a different world.
The Rio Grande turkey subspecies inhabits Hawaii, and Hudak said they present a unique challenge.
“That species is noted as being runners. Unlike our turkeys here that will hang in the area of the roost for the first hour or two, these turkeys hit the ground running every day,” Hudak said. “They’ll come in from a long way.”
Even more challenging was the terrain in Hawaii. The landscape was open – brush, stands of grass and lava rock. The keen eyesight of a turkey would play to it’s advantage in Hawaii, and Hudak not only had to find turkeys in a hurry, but learn the landscape.
“For open terrain, it was probably the toughest place I ever hunted. Texas was a close second,” he said. “The lava rock isn’t easy to walk on. It’s like tennis balls constantly rolling under your feet.”
But Hudak set out on the morning of March 19 hoping to find the final gobbler in his quest.
At 6:30 a.m. a gobbler sounded off from its roost from far away. Hudak began to maneuver into position when another bird gobbled. It was closer and Hudak focused on the second bird instead.
Hudak called, the bird answered and then things happened quickly.
“Apparently he was rushing in because the next time I called he was just 50 yards away over a little hill,” Hudak said. “I got against a koa log and the bird came around a knob in full strut, 30 yards away.”
The gobbler lifted its head and Hudak shot.
And missed.
And that’s when Hudak began having doubts.
“I was thinking that I just flew 6,000 miles to get here, and all these years of traveling to every state and it comes down to this and I blow it. I whiffed,” Hudak said. “It took me an hour to get my wits back after that ordeal.”
At 8 a.m. another bird gobbled but Hudak couldn’t get it within range, and that’s when Big Island of Hawaii posed another unique challenge.
Fog.
“Turkeys clam up when it gets foggy,” Hudak said.
The fog rolled in thick from the ocean, forcing Hudak and John Sabati – the ranch manager for where he was hunting, to retreat to a lower elevation. All he could do was cover ground and call with the hope a gobbler was out there somewhere.
Finally, at 3 p.m. Hudak spotted a gobbler in a cow pasture in full strut. The bird walked back-and-forth along a fence, unaware it was being watched.
Hudak would get a second chance.
“Once I saw what he was doing I tried to get on one end of his strut zone and cut him off,” Hudak said. “He came to about 60 yards, walking right to me, then turned around and walked away 100 yards, still strutting.”
Sabati suggested sneaking below the gobbler, so Hudak made a wide loop and came up to the fence. The gobbler was there, and still unaware.
Hudak clucked once with his mouth call and the gobbler turned and walked right into range. Hudak shot and this time he didn’t miss.
The 49th and final state in Hudak’s quest for the Super Slam was checked off the list.
But Hudak wasn’t thinking about the accomplishment. At least not right away.
“I was relieved because I knew it wasn’t my gun. I was totally focused on not missing after what happened in the morning,” he said. “But when John started taking pictures, that’s when it started to sink in.”
A quest that began 17 years ago and evolved into a dream was now over.
“It’s a sense of accomplishment, but also bittersweet now that’s it’s over,” Hudak said. “I still don’t think it really set in, but it will in time.”
Hudak’s turkey hunting quest took him to every state in the continental U.S. Each hunt required countless hours of planning, research, phone calls to biologists and landowners and help from other hunters.
But as Hudak reflects on the work it took to achieve the Super Slam, he said his success was only achievable through the support of his family, such as his wife, in-laws Louise and Richard Adamchick and his parents, Tony and Katherine.
“My father has passed away but he taught me the ways of the mountains, and my mother always made sure we had everything we needed when we hunted, and they helped me to get to where I am,” Hudak said.
But there’s still one more goal to accomplish.
Now that Hudak has accomplished the Grand, Royal and Super Slam he only needs to harvest an ocellated wild turkey to achieve the World Slam. The ocellated turkey has colorful plumage and can only be found in a small area of Mexico and Central America.
That’s where Hudak is headed in 2018, after he takes some time off to enjoy hunting gobblers at home in Pennsylvania.
Maybe by then, Hudak will grasp what he has accomplished.
“Turkey hunting is a very humbling sport. For an 18-pound bird, that can put you to shame real easy,” Hudak said. “Perhaps what I’ve done will sink in when I get the certificate from the NWTF saying it’s true. Until then I don’t think it’s hit home.”
