Curt Hass from Orland Park, IL got a 10 incher the first day of his hunt.

And Vidal Martinez from Chicago shot a jake his first morning out. 

Dan Marzano from Oak Forest, IL, an employee of mine at Freddie Bear Sports, topped off the season with a huge double-bearded tom. Dan guided all of the first and second seasons. Like me he was anxious to get out for himself. 

Dan was modest and quiet when he brought his bird into camp and announced he had been successful. What an understatement! As I approached the tom lying in the back of Dan's truck I was looking at a monstrous, double- bearded, long spurred, gorgeous gobbler that would be the envy of every seasoned turkey hunter in America! 

One beard was 10-3/4 inches, the other 8- 1/2 inches. The 1-1/4 inch spurs complemented the birds' 24 pounds [another full mount for our lodge]. 

Congratulations to Dan and all our other spring 2001 hunters. 

If you would like to hunt for an Eastern wild turkey join us in the spring of 2002. Email me at fred@freddiebearsports.com or call 708-532-4133. For permit information check the IL Department of Natural Resources web site at http://dnr.state.il.us. Also check out our new on line store at www.freddiebearsports.com.

Good hunting, Fred

PS: I forgot to tell you about the fishing. In Illinois you can only hunt untill noon so we spend the afternoon fishing on our two private lakes. We also have several farm ponds full of bass and bluegill. We caught several bass over 20 inches this year. Don caught the biggest we weighed, an 8 pound 7 oz bucket mouth. One day Ron, our friend Roger Caveness from Wolf Lake, IL and myself caught 200 bluegill that averaged 1/2 pound each. Bring your fishing pole!