THE SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2022 A5
Turkey hunting with the fastest gun in the West
Redmond’s Chance
Koch an 11-time
world champ
BY GARY LEWIS
For The Spokesman
Last Chance Morales turned
toward me and flicked a ques-
tion with his eyes. He wanted
me to tell him whether or not
to shoot the jake.
We had called our way
down the long hill, through
the fir trees and out into this
meadow under the oaks. It
was opening day and Troy Ro-
dakowski was the boss caller.
I had hunted here before. The
only thing I had succeeded in
getting was poison oak and a
tick bite.
We let our guard down and
then Rodakowski made a se-
ries of yelps with his mouth
call. Four or five gobblers fired
back and it sounded like they
were on the other side of the
small hummock. We scram-
bled. Troy sat on my right, up-
slope, I plopped down in the
shade of a tree trunk, Trevor
Barclay sat with his camera
behind me, and Chance with
a tree trunk and a shrub for
cover on my left.
A hundred yards down-
slope two gobblers fanned
out along the fence line while
another gobbled and walked
away up the opposite hill.
From the corner of my eye, a
black and shiny jake strutted
into view this side of the fence.
His gobble was sharper, juve-
nile, but he was legal. In a few
moments he was in front of
Chance, eager to find the hen
we were advertising, but afraid
to commit.
With a sideways glance at
Chance, I could see the bird
was in range, but I wasn’t go-
ing to tell him to take it. The
28-year-old had invested 10
days last spring calling turkeys
in eastern Oregon and spent
eight days in the fall season
and had yet to get a gobbler in
his sights. After 18 days he had
earned the shot at this jake,
Gary Lewis/For The Bulletin
The next day was Easter, and Last Chance Morales (a.k.a. Chance
Koch) already had it planned out, visualized. After the festivities, he
would pluck the bird, cut it down to its component parts and seek to
harvest as much meat as he could from his trophy.
but if he held out he might
get a bigger one. I gave him a
shrug. Your call Chance.
In the Single Action Shoot-
ing Society and in Wild Bunch
3-gun competition, they call
him Last Chance Morales.
They also call him Chance
Koch, of Redmond, and they
call him world champion with
11 titles between 2009 and
2020. Sometimes you can find
him shooting with fellow Wild
Bunch members or in USPSA
competition at the COSSA
Park east of Bend, but it would
be hard to find a more en-
thusiastic turkey hunter. You
might call him the fastest gun
in the West, but he let the jake
walk. And I smiled. They don’t
call him Last Chance Morales
for nothing. I knew right then
Chance would get his turkey
but probably not till the last
hour of the hunt.
We were pulling for him
now. Troy, Trevor and I really
wanted Chance to get his bird
and we were going to do what
it took to put him in the best
spot.
We returned to camp that
afternoon where there were
turkeys in the yard and big
beard-dragging toms too.
Chance could have filled his
tag the easy way. But it wasn’t
the way he had visualized it.
This is what you learn talking
to a world champion — they
visualize every part of every
stage of the game, playing it in
their minds over and over.
We met up with Troy the
next day at first light and af-
ter a quick vote headed back
to where we had the close
encounter with the jake the
morning before. This time
we had good luck with us in
the form of Troy’s 5-year-old
daughter Reese, head to toe in
camo, wearing face paint like
her daddy.
We called our way down the
slope as we had the day be-
fore, but the gobblers refused
to commit. After four hours
of calling we hiked back and
sat out a squall under the roof
at Junkyard Extreme, a burger
joint in Junction City.
When the sun broke
through the clouds, we
pointed the trucks at a nearby
farm.
Time was running out.
Five hundred yards from the
truck we sat with our backs
to a fence. It was all or noth-
ing time. Rodakowski put his
hand up to cup the sound and
yelped and a gobbler fired
back. Close, back in the brush,
down in the canyon. And the
next time he gobbled he was
behind us.
This time Troy and Re-
ese sat down in the middle,
their backs to the fence, to the
brush. I gambled on the birds
coming from the mouth of the
canyon, while Chance backed
up next to a green cattle gate.
Every time Troy yelped,
the gobbler fired back and
then we heard him light on
top of the gate and hop down.
Chance picked him up out
of the corner of his eye at 12
yards, put the red dot sight on
its head and squeezed. At the
shot, the bird tumbled and
somersaulted and Chance
sprinted to get his hands on
his first turkey, a 2-year-old
tom we reckoned weighed 14
pounds.
I made my play an hour
later and missed a running
right-to-left shot through the
blackberries. The fastest bird
in the West, my gobbler sailed
unscathed out across the val-
ley.
█
Gary Lewis is the host of “Frontier
Unlimited TV” and author of
“Fishing Central Oregon,” “Fishing
Mount Hood Country” and other
titles. Contact Gary at www.
garylewisoutdoors.com.
Courtesy photo
Ryan Gibler, of Redmond, earned
the rank of Eagle Scout after
finishing an honor wall for Red-
mond veterans.
Teen earns
Eagle Scout
rank with
local project
Spokesman staff
Redmond’s Ryan Gibler, a
member of Boy Scouts Troop
9027, has earned their Ea-
gle Scout rank by finishing a
community service project.
Gibler planned, coordi-
nated, and built an honor wall
for Redmond veterans, which
is located at the VFW Post.
Eagle Scout is the highest
achievement or rank attain-
able in the Scouts BSA pro-
gram of the Boy Scouts of
America. Since its inception
in 1911, only four percent of
Scouts have earned this rank.
A dedication and Court of
Honor ceremony was held
Saturday, May 7 at VFW Post
4108, 491 SW Veterans Way.
Attention Parents of 2022 Grads!
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memories!
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grouped together by school and published in full color.
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ADVERTISING DEADLINE: THURSDAY, MAY 26
Fly-tying corner
Small but fierce, this fly design turns a traditional mayfly pattern into
a more buoyant and visible trout morsel. The foam makes the fly not
only float better, but also gives the angler a better visual target out
on the water.
Mason’s Mighty Morsel Mayfly is available in six different colors:
Adams, BWO, PMD, Purple, March Brown, and Callibaetis. The poly
wing gives the illusion of an emerging insect simulating multiple
mayfly stages.
Use this one when fish are feeding on mayflies. Trout may cruise
along the bank to sip dries in calm water. Use a long, light leader ta-
pered to 5X. Keep the shadow of the rod off the water.
For the tail/shuck, use grizzly hackle fibers and a few short pieces of
white poly. Build a slight taper to the gray floss body, ribbed with a
stripped quill. Use thin gray foam for the underwing/head then fin-
ish with brown/badger hackle and a white poly wing.
—Gary Lewis, for The Bulletin