Name/Title
Turkey Tactics by Corky PughEntry/Object ID
WTL001P0034Secondary Title
A Guide To Tactical Turkey HuntingDescription
Turkey Tactics—A Guide to Tactical Turkey Hunting, written by Corky Pugh, with an introduction by Jim Casada, was published through Kindle Direct Publishing in February 2026. Marion N. “Corky” Pugh, a self-described “nine-year-old trapped in a seventy-two year old body,” is a lifelong turkey hunter. Pugh’s obsession with turkey hunting is such that he hunts every morning of Alabama’s lengthy spring season, and has done so for decades.
Happily retired from a 35-year career, most of which was with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Pugh holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Auburn University in Montgomery. He served as Director of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries for the State of Alabama for over twelve years before his retirement in 2011. Upon his retirement, he founded the non-profit Hunting Heritage Foundation, of which he served as Executive Director for ten years. He hunts and fishes at every opportunity and enjoys woodworking, cooking, and surface collecting native American artifacts.
With more than 120 published articles to his name about hunting, fishing, and the outdoors, Pugh is also the author of Family & Friends, a collection of short stories published by Longbeard Publishing in 1994. Encouraging reviews were printed in Turkey Call Magazine by Gene Smith in 1995 and Jim Casada in 1997. Penned in 2003, Pugh’s Rules for Turkey Hunting later appeared in Rob Keck’s “Talk’n Turkey” column in Turkey Call Magazine. Pugh’s Rules also appeared as a chapter in Ron Jolly’s Memories of Spring. (2020, Jolly’s Outdoor Visions)
Primary influences on Pugh’s writing included Tom Kelly and Jim Casada. Kelly and Pugh shared deep roots in Monroe County in southwest Alabama and a decades-long friendship, with mutual involvement in Alabama's natural resources sector. Kelly encouraged Pugh to write, and Pugh has an extensive collection of personal correspondence with Kelly. Kelly’s definition of turkey hunting as a tactical exercise was the inspiration for Turkey Tactics. Casada included Pugh as a co-author of Black Belt Bounty (2019, Alabama Black Belt Adventures) and was revered by Pugh as an author and editor.
Other primary influences on Pugh’s writing included professional association with literally hundreds of wildlife biologists, fisheries biologists, and game wardens, at the state, regional, and national levels. As an administrator of a statewide wildlife and fisheries agency, Pugh gained a reputation as an effective advocate for wildlife management based on sound science combined with what was in the greatest good of the most people in the long run, and as a staunch proponent of fair chase and fair, impartial enforcement of game and fish laws.
A 2026 inductee into the Alabama Turkey Hunters Hall of Fame, Pugh has taken more than 200 longbeards, almost all of them in his home state of Alabama. He and his wife, Linda reside on Lake Martin in east-central Alabama, twenty minutes from Chalk Hill Wildlife Reserve, a 4,750-acre hunting lease founded by Pugh in 1983.Collection
Brent Rogers collectionCataloged By
Brent RogersCreate Date
June 3, 2026Update Date
June 3, 2026
