Turkey shoot a holiday tradition, with no ruffled feathers

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (AP) — With the blast of a shotgun, the Raleigh Moose Family Center Turkey Shoot is under way. But fear not: No gobblers were harmed in the making of this holiday fun.

“The main misconception is, they think we shoot live turkeys out here,” says Glen Coplen, a past governor and current dispenser of shells at the Loyal Order of Moose Raleigh Lodge 1318. “We do not.”

Three nights a week, from late October through Christmas, muzzle flashes and fire pits illuminate the darkness as shooters compete for cash, baby back ribs, a ham and, yes, a turkey.

“This is a fun turkey shoot,” says Coplen. “There are very competitive turkey shoots out there, but this is charity.”

While there is no official nationwide count, events like this have been a holiday staple of sportsmen’s clubs, and veterans’ posts across the country for generations.

“Turkey shoots are as American as Boston baked beans and brown bread, or corn pone and sowbelly,” read an article in the November 1953 edition of American Rifleman magazine. “The very name ‘turkey shoot’ conjures up a picture of a forest glade at the edge of a frontier settlement where men in the buckskins of the forest competed with those in the homespuns of the settlements.”

These events once DID involve live turkeys. In his 1823 book, “The Pioneers,” James Fenimore Cooper describes a shoot in which the bird “was fastened by a string of tow, to the base of the stump of a large pine,” the shooters blasting away from a distance of 100 yards (91.44 meters).

Today’s contestants take aim at clay pigeons or, more often, paper targets. At Lodge 1318, they use No. 8 shot, fired from 63 yards (58 meters).

“It doesn’t matter how many pellets you have or whatever,” says Coplen. “The closest pellet to the center is going to win.”

This bone-chilling December night, he needs a caliper to determine the champion in several rounds.

“This is going to be a tough one,” he says, maneuvering a target under a lighted magnifying glass.

The price of admission if $5 a round. Proceeds go toward various charities, including a big Thanksgiving dinner for area seniors and an “angel tree” surround by Christmas gifts for needy children.

But the shooters don’t go away empty-handed either.

Tammie Smith, whose boyfriend introduced her to the sport a few years ago, took home two prizes: A pot roast pack complete with vegetables, and a “breakfast pack” with sausage, a dozen eggs, biscuits and jelly.

“Sometimes I donate my winnings, and sometimes we share it with the family,” she says, a bauble fashioned from the caps of her first winning shotgun shells dangling from her left ear. “So, it’s a good time.”

Roger Jones drove 45 minutes to take part in the shoot and won a Butterball for his efforts.

“It’s just fun,” he says, holding the bird by its plastic netting. “It’s something that I did with my father and brothers, ever since, you know, we all were little.”

Mick Wysocky, 12, won some money two days earlier but came up empty this night.

“I joined pretty recently,” he says, sporting his Moose sweatshirt. “I really haven’t been shooting that long, and it’s been a pretty good experience.”

It’s been a bit of a struggle to keep the Lodge 1318 turkey shoot going.

Once firmly in farm country, urban sprawl has crept in on all sides. A pellet-scarrred wooden wall and dirt berm are all that separate the shooting range from a large subdivision.

Lodge members leaflet the neighborhood at the start of every season. The county noise ordinance allows them to shoot until 11 p.m., but they stop at 10 out of courtesy to their neighbors.

“They’re so used to it now,” Coplen says. “We haven’t had a complainer call all year, or last year either.”

So far, they’ve managed to keep their property from being annexed into a city that forbids the discharge of firearms. But with the pace of development, Coplen wonders how long they can keep this beloved rural tradition going.

“You know, we might lose it someday,” he says as cars whizz past on busy U.S. Route 401. “We’d hate to, but it’s just a fact of life.”

Spent shotgun shells litter the pavilion floor during a turkey shoot at Moose Lodge 1318 in Wake Forest, N.C., on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Roger Jones shows off a frozen turkey he won during a turkey shoot at Moose Lodge 1318 in Wake Forest, N.C., on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. He drove 45 minutes to attend the shooting match. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

A fresh paper target hangs beside a pellet-shredded wooden wall during a turkey shoot at Moose Lodge 1318 in Wake Forest, N.C., on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Glen Coplen, a past governor of Moose Lodge 1318, oversees the distribution of shotgun shells during a turkey shoot in Wake Forest, N.C., on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Mick Wysocky, 12, fires a shotgun during a turkey shoot at Moose Lodge 1318 in Wake Forest, N.C., on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

The leaders of Denmark and Greenland insisted Monday that the U.S. won't take over Greenland and demanded respect for their territorial integrity after President Donald Trump ‍​announced ​the appointment of a ‌special envoy to Greenland.

Trump's announcement on Sunday that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry would be the U.S. special envoy prompted a new flare-up of tensions over Washington's interest in the vast, semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. Denmark's foreign minister said in comments to Danish broadcasters that he plans to summon the U.S. ambassador.

”We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a joint statement. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”

“Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the U.S. shall not take over Greenland,” they added in the statement, emailed by Frederiksen's office. "We expect respect for our joint territorial integrity.”

Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early months of his second term for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island. In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of underinvesting there.

The issue gradually drifted out of the headlines, but in August, Danish officials summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen following a report that at least three people with connections to Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland. Denmark is a NATO ally of the United States.

On Sunday, Trump announced Landry's appointment as ‌special envoy, saying that “Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.”

Landry wrote in a post on X that “it’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a brief statement that “the appointment confirms the continued American interest in Greenland.”

"However, we insist that everyone — including the U.S. — must show respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he added.

Danish broadcasters TV2 and DR reported that in comments from the Faroe Islands later Monday, Løkke Rasmussen said he will call in the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen, Kenneth Howery, for a meeting at the ministry.

Before issuing the joint statement with Frederiksen, Nielsen wrote on Facebook that Denmark had again woken up to a new announcement from the U.S. president, but it “does not change anything for us at home.”

Earlier this month, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service said in an annual report that the U.S. is using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike.

Denmark is a member of the European Union as well as NATO.

Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the EU's executive Commission, told reporters in Brussels Monday that it wasn't for him to comment on U.S. decisions. But he underlined the bloc's position that "preserving the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, its sovereignty and the inviolability of its borders is essential for the European Union.”

FILE - Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks to reporters at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen smile during their meeting at Marienborg in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, on April 27, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

FILE - Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance tour the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen speaks during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)