Join us as Fred Lutger, David Mills and Robert Hoague go for the Grand Slam this Spring. Our plan is to begin in Florida in mid March and move on to Nebraska, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and Tennessee. Look for the daily updates, lots of on the spot pictures, and plenty of video for BowTube.com as the hunt progresses.
2008 Illinois Turkey Hunt 2nd Season By Fred Lutger
Jul 17, 2008 - 8:47:53 AM
Paul Millhuff from Minooka, IL showed up last night for Illinois 2nd spring turkey season. Paul make it a short hunt when he pulled the trigger on a gobbler at 9 am the first day of his hunt. Paul has hunted our Brown county farm four times.
We set the Double Bull blind right in the middle of a pasture surrounded by deep hardwood ravines. A single hen walked through the pasture at 8 am. An hour later two red heads came out of the ravine to our right and circled behind our blind. Paul opened the back window and spotted the birds on the far side of the field at the woods edge.
Dropping to his knees, Paul leaned over to get his shotgun in position. The shot dropped the gobbler in his tracks. This was Paul,s 4th bird in 5 hunts.
Dave Martinek resides in Willow Springs, IL. Dave's hunt was equally impressive. He was hunting one of our Adams county farms. The fields on this farm leading to the high ridge where Dave hunted were so soft from yesterday's rain he was forces to park his truck and take a long hike. Dave left extra early knowing of the long walk ahead.
Dave crossed the swollen creek and headed up the ridge to the flat on top. Being familiar with the area from previous hunts Dave set up near the roosting birds. At 5:45 am a gobbler sounded off less than 100 yards from Dave's position. At 6:15 Dave squeezed the trigger on a massive Eastern tom that marched right in to Dave's calls.
We weighed the bird at 22 pounds 14 ounces. The thick beard measured 11 1/8" and each spur was 1 3/8".
Dave spent more time hiking in and out than it took him to call and shoot his bird.
This was Dave's 9th bird out of ten hunts at our camp.
