“Addicted” might have negative connotations in some references, but not when it comes to turkey hunting for 81-year-old Earl Groves. More than 50 years after hearing his first gobble he’s still loving every minute of it and can’t get enough.

“I really don’t know why I went the first time which was back in 1958 or so,” said the Gastonia, N.C., resident, just a couple months shy of turning 82. “I had a good friend that I used to fish with in the Florida Keys and he asked me about going turkey hunting and I did and I’ve been doing it ever since.

“We didn’t have any turkeys then (in North Carolina) and about the only place that had any turkeys was south Florida and that’s where I started,” said Groves. “There wasn’t but about a half-million turkeys in the whole country when I started.”