Published: Dec. 9, 2015
West Bend family reflects on ‘special year’
Starts with record-breaking turkey
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
A state-record turkey and a boat catching fire made for an
interesting and memorable year for the Ott family.
It started in the spring when Rory Ott of West Bend shot a
turkey with a crossbow May 21 in Washington County that broke three state records.
He set the record for longest spur (1.5 inches), weight (22.48 pounds) and
beard length (10.0625 inches), and was second in grand score (59.625),
according to the National Wild Turkey Federation for the Eastern Typical breed.
The spur length is tied for second longest in the nation,
behind Abigail Baldwin of Gallia County in Ohio (1.625 inches).
The weight is sixth in the nation, the beard length is 11th
and total score is 15th. The longest beard on record, according to NWTF, is
13.5 inches — shot in April. The national record for weight is 27.3 pounds and
for total score it’s 84.
“The first time I saw it, I think I saw it on Facebook, I
almost didn’t believe it right away,” said Cody Ott, Rory’s oldest son. “I was
pretty amazed by it.
“After that, I kind of wanted to jump on the turkey-hunting
bandwagon.”
That wasn’t the only surprise the Otts learned from the
trophy turkey.
“There’s like 15 different types of turkeys,” said Heather
Ott, Rory’s wife. “I didn’t even know that existed.”
Registering the turkey was another adventure. Rory knew the
turkey was bigger than normal — certainly something he hadn’t seen before.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Rory said.
After several phone calls, Rory went to Cabela’s in
Richfield to get the turkey confirmed for records. According to NWTF rules, two
members have to sign off on a hunter’s bird in order for it to be official and
be entered into a database. He also signed up for NWTF membership so he
declared to fellow hunters he’d be glad to sign off on a turkey when needed.
“It was way more of a process than we thought it would be,”
Heather said.
Rory joked the turkey “probably lost weight because we’d
been driving around for so long.”
That turkey was the start of what he called a “special year”
for the family in the woods and on the water.
About three months later, Hunter Ott, Rory’s youngest son,
caught two king salmon on Lake Michigan — both were heavier than 17 pounds — on
the same day near Port Washington.
Then in September, Cody caught a 30-inch walleye near Saxon
Harbor in Iron County. Plus, Cody’s girlfriend, Janelle Byrum, had a musky bite
off the lure from the pole. That was within the first hour of the family on the
water.
Rory said 15-20 inches is about average for a walleye in
that area.
“It was crazy,” Rory said.
“With the little time we have, it’s tough to do,” he added
about the family’s success in the woods and on the water this year. “We don’t
get to see each other much. We’ve been lucky.”
Cody quickly chimed in “it always hasn’t been this way.”
There was a curve ball that was thrown in the middle of all
this: The family boat caught fire.
“My boat was down the whole summer,” Rory said. “The only
time we took it out was when they both caught their fish.”
Rory and Cody were fishing in late April and caught a whiff
of something that smelled like burning. They were fishing off the shore near a
power plant, so that’s what they assumed it was and didn’t think anything of
it.
As they were heading in, the motor died. Rory said he was
grateful the wind was blowing the way it was or “we would’ve sailed to
Michigan.”
When they got to shore, the voltage regulator had overheated
and smoke poured out from the motor.
The boat was fixed by early August and the first time out,
Hunter caught the king salmon. Two weeks later, Cody caught the above-average
walleye.
Hunter said he was nervous about going out on the boat, but
Rory had it covered.
“We had two fire extinguishers and life jackets,” Rory said
with a laugh.
The family agreed it’s hard or almost impossible to replace
memories like that.
Cody, 22, said he likes to hunt, especially with his dad,
because “you never really know what the plan is going to be.”
He added, “We’re always trying something new and it never
gets old.”
Rory hunts for several reasons, but the important ones to
him are the opportunity to spend time alone with his sons, see what they can
get and teach them conservation.
“You can hunt by yourself, but doing it with someone else is
almost better and with your dad, it’s a little more special,” Cody said.
“Everything I know about hunting I learned from him and I think that really
creates a bond between us.”
Cody is a full-time student at Concordia University in
Mequon and has a full-time job. He is studying nursing and working at a
hospital. Spending time with dad hasn’t lost spice.
“Hunting is one of those things we do every year,” Cody
said. “No matter what, I try to make time for hunting. It’s a constant in our
lives.”
Cody described time in the woods with Dad as therapeutic.
“You can sit in your tree stand for hours and not see a
thing, but it helps clear your mind,” Cody said.
Hunter, 11, is picking up the hunting bug as well, taking
hunter education safety classes.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Hunter said. “I’ve seen
how much fun they’ve had.”
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