Illinois Turkeys

[Arrowslinger10]

Going to roost some birds tomorrow night for saturday. Looks like we are going to have some perfect weather down is So. IL for the 2nd season opener. Some changes in my work schedule have left me with only 2 days to hunt so I have to make the best of them

[heathwesley]

Youth Season April 7th 2013 - My nephews first bird.  He missed a jake on Saturday the 6th.  On Sunday we hunted the same bird hard all morning.  He was really one of those birds you should probably just leave.  We stuck with him and finally got located in a spot he must have been comfortable checking out.  Around 10:00 AM he took his last breath and the 2013 season is off to a terrific start!  We had a ton of different birds gobbling off the roost.  22lbs, 1" spurs, 10" beard - .20 gauge single shot at 15 steps

[Arrowslinger10]

That is awesome Heath!!! Love to see the young guys getting it done. Memories which will last a lifetime and a sickness that can be shared with our community!!!

[Tbird]

Was able to get out and hunt with a buddy this morning. Started off slow only hearing two birds off Roost and there was a flooded bottom between us and them. At around 8:00 we were able to strike some birds. Abou 8:45 we had 4 longbeards coming up the ridge to our left. They tried coming up behind us but he was able to get turned and get a good shot on one of the birds. Things started off a little slow but turned out to b a great morning.

[ILHUNTER]

From what I've been hearing from some buddies things are still pretty slow hear in the northern zone, I'm going to try to hit it hard this weekend, just haven't been hearing many gobble yet up my way.

[tomstopper]

That is awesome Heath!!! Love to see the young guys getting it done. Memories which will last a lifetime and a sickness that can be shared with our community!!!

:agreed:100% Congrats to that young man.......

[ads1]

This is my second Illinois long beard shot on the first day of the second season. He weighed 21 pounds,  10 1/2 inch beard and 1 1/4 inch spurs.

[ads1]

Youth Season April 7th 2013 - My nephews first bird.  He missed a jake on Saturday the 6th.  On Sunday we hunted the same bird hard all morning.  He was really one of those birds you should probably just leave.  We stuck with him and finally got located in a spot he must have been comfortable checking out.  Around 10:00 AM he took his last breath and the 2013 season is off to a terrific start!  We had a ton of different birds gobbling off the roost.  22lbs, 1" spurs, 10" beard - .20 gauge single shot at 15 steps

That is a fantastic bird!!! Congratulations!

[Improvinghunter101]

Went out the first day of the northern season opener up here.  The place I usually hunt has received quite a bit of rain and so the gate was locked and was not allowed to open it up.  The rain and drizzle had just let off so I wasn't sure if I was going to be hearing much of anything.  I had to walk one mile down a muddy road.  Figured I would try to use a bike but turned out it was a bit too muddy for that so I had to dump the bike 200 yards out from the truck.  Got to where I wanted to listen and heard one in one patch of timber and a couple a ways down the road.  After deciding that I had walked long enough, I went after the one closest to me.  He was hammering them off.  Got set up and started calling to get him fired up.  He double gobbled and triple gobbled back at me.  He came in and about 50 yards he started strutting and spitting.  At this point I realized it was a jake.  But barely. His tail fan may be had a quarter inch difference but his little 4 inch beard gave it away completely.  You can also usually tell the jakes from the longbeards in the gobble too but this guy was ripping them.  He must have gobbled every 10 seconds or less and at least 120 times.  He kept coming right at me and it was at that point that I decided if he wanted to act like a big boy, he was going to be treated like one.  At 25 yards, it was game over.  Smoked me a super jake at 655 on the opener. Finally got back to the truck at 745 with my gun slung across my back, turkey in one hand, and my bicycle in the other.  Never been prouder. Shortly after that it began raining again.  Long walk, short hunt but much appreciated after the last couple years.

[ILHUNTER]

Congratulations on some great hunts guys, I can't wait to get out there this weekend.

[slawman]

It's been wet all week but Wednesday...buddy got a nice one Wednesday morning.

[Arrowslinger10]

I need turkey floater decoys!!!!!!!!!!   

[Tbird]

Hunted this morning with my gpa. With the 20mph winds and it being about 38 deg it felt a lot more like duck season than turkey season. Only heard 2 birds gobble maybe 5 or 6 times. Looks like the weathers gonna b a little better for the weekend. Good luck to everybody.

[dcar_roll]

My season did not go that well. Between the bad weather , birds not cooperating , and throwing my back out tuesday morning. I did manage to kill a potential decoy thief thusday. A young female coyote put a stalk on one of my dekes but only managed to get within about 5 yrds before getting a 3 inch #6 winchester supreme from my 835 Mossy.

[opster246]

Hunted N Zone 1st season opener on Monday and the toms were fired up on the roost.  After flydown, decent gobbling continued as they followed the hens in their usual routine.  All birds seemed to stay together until about 830, then they began to split up with the gobbling heading in all different directions.  Called a nice pair of toms in the timber around 900 which came in hard to the right and I couldn't get the gun over to the right before they slipped off.  Would have been a 45 yd shot, which is about as far as I would take a confident shot.  They put on a heck of a show and walked off to join up with another gobbling tom.  After that opportunity walked off, I made a move on a field tom that had been gobbling all morning in relatively the same area.  On the way to him, I crossed paths with a coyote stalking thru the woods which turned tail and ran out into the field.  It didn't spook the tom I was after, but he moved across the field and into another block of timber.  Sounded like he made a couple rounds in there and then statred gobbling to my calls.  15 min later he and a buddy came across the field, got to about 35 yds and started to slip away.  I was hoping they would come over and pound on the DSD jake, but as they made the turn away, I dropped the closest one.  19 lbs, 10" beard, 7/8" spurs.  Beautiful day and a great hunt.  Went back out with my dad on Fri after all the rain.  Hunted all day, in the wind and flurries, and it was a much different story.  Very little gobbling, had 3 hens walk thru the decoys.  Saw a tom and hen way out in the field who showed no interest and a group of 4 jakes skirted the set up at about 80 yds.  Dad didn't fill his tag and is done for the year.