Oneida County Sheriff’s Office Follows Long Time Tradition…

Oneida County Sheriff’s Office Follows Long Time Tradition of Partnering In Youth Turkey Hunt

This past weekend, the Federated Sportsmen’s Clubs of Oneida County Inc., the Madison County Affiliated Conservation Clubs, local National Wild Turkey Organization, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Police (ECO) from Regions 6 & 7, members of the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, NYS Outdoorsmen Hall of Fame, and other interested sportsmen and women from the area teamed up to hold their 11th annual, two day long, Youth Turkey Hunt.

Nineteen area youth from Herkimer, Madison, and Oneida counties went afield with area Environmental Conservation Officers, Deputy Sheriff’s from Oneida & Madison Counties, and local sportsmen & sportswomen in pursuit of New York’s most majestic game birds; the Wild Turkey.

Prior to this past weekend’s turkey hunt, a safety day was held on April 17th at the Cassety Hollow Rod and Gun Club in Oriskany Falls in Oneida County. All of the young new hunters and their parents attended the safety day. A safety and regulation presentation was put on by ECO Ric Grisolini on hunting Turkey and in the afternoon, each youth patterned their shotguns under the instruction of ECO Steve Lakeman and ECO Ric Grisolini.

During the two-day hunt, twelve out of the nineteen that took part in the hunt were fortunate enough to harvest a bird. The remaining kids had close encounters with turkeys, but some were out of range while others had them so close they could almost reach out and touch them, but a bush or tree was in the way.

Mother Nature cooperated with beautiful weather and local parents helped make a large picnic lunch. The participants were pleasantly surprised by a visit from Assemblyman John Salka of District 121 and Assemblyman Brian Miller of District 101. Both gentlemen stopped by to congratulate the young men and women on their harvest and to reinforce their support for firearms owners and recreational sportsman in their districts.