It’s no big news that fall calls for turkeys can work during spring. Hunters have long known about this unusual tactic, but it’s usually the autumn “kee-kee” call to which they are referring. Instead, I recommend the “lost hen yelps” to could fool an old tom. Before looking at this luring sound and why it works, let’s first examine the kee-kee call.
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A member of our staff at Babe Winkelman Productions just returned from a visit to his parents’ farm in Illinois. While he was there, he bumped into an old pal at the local tavern and they began talking about how their respective hunting seasons had gone. The local boy had taken a decent buck with his bow, plenty of pheasants, a good bag of waterfowl, and, oh by the way, 11 coyotes in the past two days!
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Living in west-central Illinois over the past three years has taught me how exciting it can be to bag a mature gobbler in the middle of the spring. With an extremely busy schedule, I had not even decided on the specific location to hunt, and scouting had not even entered the radar screen. As the opening day of the season approached, I became more and more excited to get out into the woods. However, I was nervous because of a poor pre-season
program.
Paddlers looking for a scenic trip near Chicago should consider floating the waters of the Kishwaukee River. Located 90 miles northwest of Chicago, near Rockford, Ill., the ‘Kish offers outdoors’ types the opportunity to paddle one of the clearest streams in Northern Illinois.
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I had just put my binoculars down when I noticed movement across the beanfield. I quickly raised the binoculars to see a nice whitetail buck coming through an open gate in the fence. He was well over 400 yards away with nothing between us but wide-open field. One thing bothered me, however. He was not heading in my direction!
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Pull a jig across a smallmouth bass nest and hang on for a tail-dancing fight from an irascible fish. It’s arguably unethical to sight-fish for nest-guarding bass. And some states and provinces even prohibit pulling brooders off the nest. The underlying reasoning for the regulation is the potential harm to bass populations. Until Illinois scientists recently studied the question, there was no science behind the regulation.
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Outdoorsy-types looking for an exciting day trip near Chicago should consider exploring the waters of Nippersink Creek. Located in McHenry County, Nippersink Creek is a meandering stream that offers easy paddling, scenic views, and the opportunity to explore Glacial Park Conservation Area — and it’s only a short 80-minute drive from the Chicago Loop, near Richmond, Ill.
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Being successful at a sport as challenging and unpredictable as turkey hunting, on a regular basis, is a very tough task. Usually the more mature the hunter is, the more successful he becomes. There are, as we all know, exceptions to every rule. The closest exception I know of to the above described situation is a young man named Caleb. This 16-year-old has accumulated a large degree of turkey-hunting know-how and experience in his short, six-year turkey-hunting career.
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Getting a mature gobbler in close enough to kill with a shotgun is a tough enough job. But add to that a second person, using a video camera on a tri-pod to film the hunt, and the task becomes proportionally more difficult. But that is exactly what my cameraman, Grayling Akers, and I undertook in the 2004 turkey season.
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