#Grand Slam Archives - Share the Outdoors

Budz has shot more than 500 wild turkeys and completed more than 120 grand slams of all four subspecies (Eastern, Merriam’s, Rio Grande, and Osceola)

Budz has shot more than 500 wild turkeys and completed more than 120 grand slams of all four subspecies (Eastern, Merriam’s, Rio Grande, and Osceola).
Budz travels light because he covers a lot of ground. He always has two mouth calls in his mouth,
When Budz needs to reach out a long distance, on a windy day, on a ridge, or in a deep swamp like where he lives in Florida, he relies on a Rafter Box Call from 4-Play. See details in the story.

**Jeff Budz with one of the more than 500 wild turkeys he has taken in his 35-year hunting career.** *Photo courtesy of Jeff Budz*

By Dan Small

To call Jeff Budz a turkey-hunting fanatic is a serious understatement. He has more than 35 years of hunting, guiding, writing, and filming hunts all over the world. To Budz, who lives in Okeechobee, Florida, hunting isn’t just a hobby or––in the case of guiding––a paycheck; it’s a way of life.

Budz has shot more than 500 wild turkeys, completed more than 120 grand slams of all four wild turkey subspecies (Eastern, Merriam’s, Rio Grande, and Osceola), and recorded a self-guided super slam of longbeards (one in each of the 49 states with wild turkeys.

We caught up with Budz as he was preparing to launch into another spring turkey season.

Q: When did you start turkey hunting, and how did it become such an obsession?

Budz: I shot my first turkey in 1989 during my junior year at Southern Illinois University. My friend Jim Lynch took me out. Two jakes shock-gobbled to his calling and came running in. We each shot one, and I was hooked right there. What I love most is the interaction between the hunter and the gobbler. It’s like a chess match. Turkey hunting changes through the season, and you have to stay one step ahead to connect with a bird.

Q: For many turkey hunters, a grand slam is the Holy Grail, something they hope to accomplish once in their lifetime, yet you have done it more than 100 times. What drives you, and how were you able to record that many?

Budz: I shot my first grand slam in 1994, and then in ’95, I got two because you can legally take two Osceolas each spring. Osceolas are the bottleneck since they’re found only here in southern Florida. Not many people had done it back then, and I was curious to see who had taken the most grand slams. So I checked the (NWTF) record book and learned it was Dick Kirby, founder of Quaker Boy Game Calls. I thought he hung the moon, but he was ahead of me, and that just drove me nuts because the view from second place never changes.

We each got two grand slams in ’95, ’96, ’97, and ’98. Then, somebody told me you could shoot two Osceolas in the fall, too, so in 1999, I shot two in the spring and two in the fall. Along with other birds I had shot, I had four grand slams that year. When the records came out in June, I learned that Dick had also figured it out and had taken four grand slams that year. I got mine on November 29th and 30th, and he got his on December 30th and 31st, so at least I had beaten him to the punch!

I didn’t know how many slams I was behind Dick at the time, but I wanted to catch up with him. Then, a Seminole tribal member told me about a place on the reservation where non-tribal members could buy permits, so I bought one. That year, I shot five grand slams. Then, I learned you could buy as many tags as you want. The following year, I went back there and here came five Osceola gobblers all in a line. I fired one shot, and four of them dropped stone-cold dead.

I was actually aiming for five, but I was beside myself because with all the other birds I had shot over the years and not yet recorded, I had just picked up four more grand slams. That deal isn’t available anymore. Many states are cutting permit numbers, so the opportunity to do what I did is slipping away.

Q: So, your record may stand, then?

Budz: I don’t know. My son is 5 1/2 now. He hasn’t shot a turkey yet, but if anyone’s gonna break it, I hope it’s him. I’ll do everything I can to help him as long as he wants to.

Q: What advice do you have for beginning turkey hunters?

Budz:

Spend as much time in the woods as you can.
Scout areas you plan to hunt before the season opens.
Talk to mail carriers, UPS drivers, school bus drivers, and anyone who drives around in areas where you want to hunt.
Knock on doors.
Don’t be bashful.
Get as much intel as you can. If I see a tom strutting in the same place two days in a row, I can usually get him.

Q: How important is calling, and what calls do you carry?

**With the 4-Play box call, a hunter can sound like a flock of turkeys, which can fool even a mature old gobbler.** *Photo by Dan Small*

Budz: I would never win a calling competition, but some competition callers can’t kill a bird because they are not good woodsmen. I travel light because I cover a lot of ground. I always have two mouth calls in my mouth, but when I need to reach out a long distance, on a windy day, on a ridge, or in a deep swamp like here in Florida, I rely on a Rafter box call by 4-Play. The rails are made of four different kinds of wood: walnut, poplar, sassafras, and cedar. Each makes a distinct sound, so you essentially have four calls in one. “Rafter” is another word for a flock or group of turkeys. It’s the perfect name for a call that sounds like a whole lot of hens.

When I’m calling, I try to sound like a flock of turkeys, like a party. I want to get inside that tom’s head and make him come check us out. It says a lot when the Rafter is the only box call I’ll carry. When I call, I’ll add to the variety of sounds by turning my body left or right. I might step behind a tree or go over a little lip. Even older gobblers who have heard it all can’t resist that difference in pitch, tone, and movement.

Q: You completed the super slam in 2014, and you also took a grand slam of bearded hens with a bow. What challenge is left for Jeff Budz?

Budz: I want to get a slam with every legal hunting tool. So far, I’ve done it with .410, 28-, 20-, 16-, 12-, and 10-gauge shotguns, a rifle, a crossbow, and a muzzleloader.

I just got a recurve, and I’m practicing with it. I also want to go real old-fashioned with a musket–maybe put some nails in there or whatever they used back in the day. I’ve got a couple of other ideas I can’t talk about right now, but you’ll hear about them eventually.

For more on Jeff Budz, visit his website: www.tagitworldwide.com. To order a Rafter box call, visit https://4playturkeycall.com/partner/13/.

c. 2024 by Dan Small Outdoors, LLC; https://www.facebook.com/dansmalloutdoors/

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First memory of shooting a bow was at 4-H Conservation Camp
After a home burglary, her dad bought Joella an Indian compound bow, history was in the making
Today, Joella Bates is an 11-time 3-D Archery World Champion and teaches young people archery skills

By David Gray

**Joella Bates, 11-time 3-D Archery World Champion**

If you follow competitive archery, Joella Bates is a name that stands out. Among Joella’s many accomplishments, she is an 11-time 3-D Archery World Champion. Even more impressive is that she won five of the championships using a Compound Bow, five with a Recurve Bow and one with a Long Bow.

Add to her individual accomplishments being a team member on Team USA’s 2017 World Archery 3-D championship win.

For all who meet Joella, it only takes 30 seconds to become infected with her enthusiasm and energy for helping youngsters learn archery.

As a kid she grew up in the outdoors. Her Dad was an outdoor guy. Joella says, “I was my Dad’s shadow.” When he went to the woods or the lake he took me and introduced me to wonderful world of hunting, fishing and shooting.

The shooting however was not with a bow. It was always with a rifle. Using what Dad had taught her and her considerable competitive spirit, she developed an exceptional skill with the rifle. In college at the University of Tennessee, she soon found herself on the college rifle team.

Still, archery was not part of her life. Her first memory of shooting a bow was at a 4-H Conservation Camp event when she was in the ninth grade. At the camp, the 4-H kids could shoot at the rifle range and the instructor let them compete for snacks. When Joella kept winning all the snacks the instructor finally said, “Why don’t you go try archery.” That’s when the magic started to happen.

Her first memory shooting a bow was not good. She only remembers the string hitting her arm and it hurt. Determined to figure out how to shoot a bow and wanting to win a trip to a 4-H Round Up event, Joella asked her Dad to help. He brought out his old compound for practice and she only remembers losing seven of his arrows.

While in college the family firearms where lost in a home burglary. Her guns were gone, but Dad knew she wanted to figure out how to shoot a bow, so he bought Joella a used Indian compound.

The bow did not fit, but she practiced. The draw length was too long and Joella remembers, “I ended up black, blue and purple all over.”

In 1989 after college, working with Tennessee Wildlife Research, a coworker offered, “I have a friend who owns a bow shop and he can set up one to fit you. If you learn to shoot it I will take you bowhunting.” At 28 years of age, Joella got her first bow properly set up with instruction on how to shoot it.

Her skills learned from rifle hunting helped. After much practice, she was invited to go bowhunting.

Joella says, “That was another giant learning experience. I had a world record case of Buck Fever and missed my first five deer. Later that first season, I did harvest my first bowhunting deer.”

In 2001, Joella began traveling, hunting, fishing, writing and speaking about the sports. “I was not getting rich, but I was paying the bills and making many friends.”

She received invitations to hunt around the world.

Joella is the first lady hunter to take the “Big 5 of Africa” bowhunting and the first lady to arrow the “Turkey Grand Slam.”

A love for teaching archery and especially helping young people to get started the right way, lead to the start of JoCamps. This is an archery instruction school that travels to the community the students live in which saves travel time and expenses for the students and parents.

**Joella with former JoCamp students Trevor Funcannon and Brooke Hultz**

JoCamps include the National Training System used to prepare archers for the Olympics and International competition.

At the recent MONASP (Missouri National Archery in Schools Championship), Joella…while tutoring young shooters, reunited with Brooke Hultz and Trevor Funcannon, former JoCamp participants.

Trevor said, “Joella actually teaches you how to be a better shot, her methods are very effective.”

Brooke said, “The JoCamp method is different and really works.”

Joella Bates can shoot, but to share and teach archery is what she loves the most.

If you have a youngster or archery team interested in a JoCamps archery
training event contact joella@jocamps.com.