Mason McLaughlin and his grandfather, Wallace Walker, watched the gobbler and a group of hens strut into the field and then return to nearby woods. It was the same gobbler they had seen the night before on a scouting trip while turkey hunting on family land in Lowndesboro in Lowndes County.
“Whenever the gobbler went back in to the woods, I was devastated,” Mason said. “I literally started crying because I was so sad.”
McLaughlin, an 11-year-old who recently finished the sixth grade at Demopolis Middle School, was hunting with his grandfather in hopes of harvesting his first turkey. Walker and McLaughlin kept working, despite cold and rainy conditions, and eventually lured the gobbler back into the field and within range of McLaughlin’s .410 shotgun.
“Whenever he came into my range, I said this to myself: ‘If I miss this shot, I’m going to jump off a bridge,’” McLaughlin said. “I didn’t miss.”
A photo from that hunt, commemorating the first gobbler McLaughlin ever harvested, was entered into the Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association (ALBBAA)’s 13th annual Big Gobbler Photo Contest, and it received the most votes.
As the winner of the 2025 ALBBAA Big Gobbler Photo Contest, McLaughlin receives an Otis Elite Gun Care Kit (for shotguns, rifles and pistols), a Dead Ringer shotgun sight, a Knight & Hale Owl Call and a Willow Sage slate turkey call. The prize package carries a total value of $275.
Walker said winning the contest adds to the special nature of sharing the hunt with Mason.
“The excitement was unreal, just to watch the excitement from him and taking this bird,” Walker said. “He sat there and was patient and let it all happen the way it did.”
ALBBAA Director Pam Swanner noted the hunt that produced the winning photo provided a family memory that will last a lifetime, and said that’s precisely what the 13th annual Big Gobbler Photo Contest is designed to celebrate.
“It’s wonderful to know that this hunt created such an incredible family memory that Mason and Wallace will cherish forever,” Swanner said. “Every year, our Big Gobbler Photo Contest attracts entries that showcase a young hunter harvesting that first gobbler. To know such a photo impressed voters and won this year’s contest is especially gratifying.”
ALBBAA’s 2025 Big Gobbler Photo Contest launched in March and ran throughout Alabama’s wild turkey season. The contest drew dozens of entries after contestants uploaded a photo from the 2025 season to the ALBBAA website, and the winner was selected exclusively through online voting that ended May 15. ALBBA offers other contests, like this one we reported on recently, so if you'd like to learn more, click here!
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