Never too early to prepare for turkey hunt

A permit application for turkey hunting must be submitted to the state in December, about six months before you can head for the fields.

There's a need to get all your ducks in a row even before you submit your application. In the past, I've been able to receive one permit per year and was able to hunt Whiteside, Brown, Adams and Franklin counties.

My first bird came from Whiteside County, which is just north of the Quad Cities. It was a good experience. I had low expectations, though, because the weather then was cold, windy and snowing. I was told back then that we might not have any luck getting the birds to move. They did, and I was able to harvest my first tom.

Last year a friend of mine, Ron Allen, suggested that I hunt with a friend of his, Gary Nutt, of Springfield. Allen pretty much wanted to guarantee harvesting a bird, but knows better than to do that. I met Nutt a year or so ago and had a good feeling that he is a very experienced turkey hunter and caller, so putting in for a permit for Schuyler County, where Nutt has bagged numerous birds over the years, would be a wise choice.

We did all our homework and preparation for the trip to Schuyler County, which is just west of the Illinois River, about 50 miles south of Galesburg. The drive makes one wonder where a turkey would be found because of so many corn and bean fields. Everything was flat. But once we got to the area where we would be hunting, we were in the midst of rolling hills, grassy fields, and beautiful forests. This was turkey country.

Rich Komar joined me on the trip and our plan was to tape a nice television show for "Illinois Outdoors." Komar has joined me on a few turkey hunts, but has not yet been able to hang a beard on the wall of his office.

Mornings come early during the turkey season. Komar and I, along with Gary Nutt, drove to the field at 4:45 a.m. It rained all the way down from our south suburban homes and throughout the night. It was still raining as we unloaded our gear and set up my hunting blind. I just got an API outdoor Terra XL blind. It's Bass Pro's top of the line hunting blind and was so easy to set up -- even in the dark. I knew that at least, once we were settled in, we would not be getting wet.

But as luck would have it, as soon as everything was all ready for sunup to arrive, the rain stopped and we started to hear the toms gobble.

Nutt told us that there is no need to do a lot of calling. Making the calls at the right time is more important. When you know a bird is somewhere out there, you have to give a call to entice that gobbler to come to your decoys. According to Nutt, less is better.

We heard the gobble of turkeys all morning long. Finally, at about 10:30 a.m., we saw our first bird. Nutt gave a brief cluck on his box call. It was just enough and we saw the bird turn its head. My blind worked great as the bird was oblivious of our presence.

The turkey had to walk down into a shallow valley and jump a narrow creek. Then we noticed a second bird not too far behind.

Trying to be quiet and patient was probably the most difficult part of the hunt. We knew the birds were now down by the creek, about 100 yards away. Would they come up?

With a couple more clucks on the call, we saw one head pop up from our side of the valley. A nice tom came walking toward the decoys. Behind him was a big jake, a juvenile male turkey.

The birds walked back and forth, looking at the decoys and pecking at the ground. Komar and I already decided that if two birds ever came into range we would take them both at the same time, even if that meant a short hunt. Six months of waiting and preparation didn't matter.

The birds came closer and closer. Nutt explained earlier that we needed to aim at the turkey's neck and shoot only when the bird's head is high and away from the body.

The birds still walked around the decoys and Nutt made one single cluck on the box call. This caused the two birds to raise their heads and stretch their necks out to look for the hen that just made that sound.

"Take 'em," Nutt said. And with that the shots rang out and we got our birds.

Gary Nutt has been hunting turkeys for many years and knows what it takes to bring them in for a good shot. Opening day of the second turkey season came quickly and passed even faster.

Komar got a 23-pound, 7-ounce tom and I brought back a 17-pound, 9-ounce jake. The beard on my bird was only three inches long; however Komar now has a beard to hang on the wall. It is a respectable 10 inches long. His bird had spurs that were an inch and a half long.

Turkey hunting comes and goes so quickly, but the memory of the hunt will last forever. If you'd like to see the TV show that we taped, it will be on Comcast cable, channel 67, Total Living Network, on May 10 at 12:30 p.m.

I say it often that great fishing is not that far away. With great turkey hunting here in Illinois, great hunting is not that far away, either, even though we now have to wait another year to get back into the fields.

Thanks for reading my articles every week.

If you want to share some comments, reports or photos, please send them to iloutdoors@comcast.net or mail them to Illinois Outdoors, P.O. Box 713, New Lenox, IL. 60451. Don't forget to visit my Web sites, www.illinoisoutdoors.com and www.fishinglineradio.com.