July’s Woman of the Wild-Tanya Poppe

I have had the pleasure of knowing this gal since she was about 4. Tanya Poppe is an inspiration to everyone I know. She has the most amazing sense of humor and she had me rolling while she was telling me her turkey hunting story!

Tanya had a malignant brain tumor when she was just eleven years old. After having surgery to remove the tumor, she then had to endure chemo-therapy and radiation treatments. After going through all that she then suffered a stroke. Tanya has gone through many health setbacks throughout the years but she just keeps moving forward with an unbelievable resolve and a tremenously positive attitude!

Tanya comes from a big hunting family. Every place you look in their house there are mounts. Her Mom, Dad and Two brothers and sister-in-law, all hunt. Tanya did not want to be left out so she started hunting a few years ago. She has harvested her first doe. This past year, she decided that turkey hunting would be fun. She asked her Uncles if they would take her on a turkey hunt. They said yes and she applied for her permit and drew for the last WI season.

Everyone jumped into action to get this huntress into the woods. Let me tell you this little gal has so much spunk and everyone loves her so much, that somehow, someway, it was just going to happen. Tanya uses a wheel chair most of the time, but someone forgot to order the 4 wheel drive model! (Just kidding, Tanya) This was no problem for Team Tanya, they rose to the occasion and built her a rickshaw, to cart her out to her stand.

The local NWTF scrambled and ordered a swivel shooting table that fits into a blind with shooting holes for her to use. Next the local welding shop designed a special gun vice to hold her shotgun and built it just for her. They found a place where she could be almost certain of shooting a Turkey and they were set. Well almost.

According to Tanya she was decked out in everyone else’s clothing. She had no camo of her own so it was kind of like when you get married, except it was something old, nothing new, everything borrowed, but it will do! She said it brought her luck! And luck it certainly did. Her turkey weighed 25 lbs. and it had a double beards, 12 1/4 and 6 3/4 long. The spurs were 1 1/8 inches long.

You will hear more about Tanya’s story in the weeks to come. I will be adding a video of her telling the story about her turkey kill. I have tried to write the story several times but nobody tells it like she does!