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The Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association (ALBBAA) is again sponsoring its Big Gobbler Photo Contest, giving hunters the chance to submit their best turkey hunting photos for a chance to win a prize package.

The 13th annual Big Gobbler Photo Contest is designed to further educate the public on the abundance of natural resources found in Alabama’s 23-county Black Belt region. The contest began Monday, March 31.

“The Eastern wild turkey is ‘king of spring’ in Alabama’s Black Belt and that’s why hunters flock here every spring from across the nation,” said Pam Swanner, director of ALBBAA. “We want to see photos showing the accomplishments of these hunts, and we want people to also enjoy the Black Belt’s stunning natural scenery, as well as the local food, history and entertainment.”

The winner of this year’s contest will receive an Otis Elite Gun Care Kit (for shotguns, rifles and pistols), a Dead Ringer shotgun sight, a Knight & Hale Owl Call and a Willow Sage slate turkey call. The total value of the prize package is $275.

The 2025 Alabama turkey season began last week and runs through May 8, one of the country’s longest wild turkey seasons. Hunters are limited to harvesting one gobbler per day, among other restrictions. Each gobbler harvested must be immediately recorded within 48 hours to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR).

To enter the photo contest, hunters must upload, through the ALBBAA website, a photo of a turkey harvested during Alabama’s 2025 spring wild turkey season, and the gobbler must be harvested in the 23-county Black Belt region. The winner of the contest is selected exclusively through online voting.

Entries can be submitted and votes cast online on the ALBBAA website at https://alabamablackbeltadventures.org/news-more/shoot-the-black-belt/big-gobbler-photo-contest/. 

Participants are limited to one entry and must fully complete the online form with the necessary information, including the county where the gobbler was harvested and identifying everyone in the photo.

Voting will conclude on Thursday, May 15, which will give voters time to support photos taken during the last days of the 2025 Alabama turkey hunting season. Only photos of turkeys harvested in the Black Belt during the 2025 season are eligible for the contest.

“We always love seeing photos entered every year in the Big Gobbler Photo Contest,” Swanner said. “Each photo is a testament to the phenomenal turkey hunting available here in the Black Belt. I personally love photos showing young hunters bagging their first gobbler or families hunting together. Those are memories that last a lifetime.”

The Black Belt includes Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Monroe, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Russell, Sumter, Tuscaloosa and Wilcox counties.