Anne King ...
"Three Birds in three Days"
Here, Anne smiles after a successful morning of Turkey Hunting in Scott Co. Illinois. I'm proud to say, that on her very first day of ever turkey hunting, she and I pulled off a double. The birds gobbled all morning and worked straight into the decoy spread. Anne witnessed the perfect morning unfold before here eyes. And, ... might I add ... beautiful eyes at that !
With two birds in the bag on day one, and the final day of the Illinois
first season, Anne still had another tag for the Illinois second season. So,
we had high hopes to repeat the magic going into Saturday morning's hunt.
Her second day of hunting was more realistic, birds gobbling all morning, we worked them in close only to have them hang up and end the day empty handed. But, ... I found out that hunting with Anne, ... stopping to smell the flowers was just an important as locating a gobbler. She seemed to simply enjoy being out ... which made for a fun weekend.
Since no birds could be located, ... we stopped for a rest and
decided to switch gears and try our luck at mushroom hunting.
Anne knew where to look ... as we found enough morels for a nice meal.
I could already taste the fried turkey and shrooms and ...
I think Anne was thinking the same thing.
Joe, ... my normal hunting partner even was hunting on the second day.
He too, ... turns his attention to picking mushrooms.
Though we didn't bag a bird on day two ... we did bag some shrooms ...
soooo ... fun was had by all.
The next morning found birds roosted between where Joe was hunting and where Anne and I were sat up. We called and coaxed and Joe did the same. The morning started at about 5:45 and through a long battle ... Joe managed to win game. Anne and I could only sit and listen as the Gobbler went away to the soft calls of my son. At about 8 am ... we heard the shot and knew Joe had lowered the boom and joining up with him was in order.
Our birds taken on April 16th , ... on the final day of the Illinois first season were brought in using Kampp calls. The Box and Slate call from Doug worked beautifully. Needless to say, Kampp Outdoor Products work great.
Kamp Calls kicked some serious butt this weekend !
Joe ... using the Kampp Outdoor Products mouth call ... coaxed his nice tom away from several hens to lower the boom. Team LODGE ... and Kampp Outdoors are well underway to prove their calls are the best on the market. If you haven't picked yours up ... CLICK HERE and order yours today. You won't believe the sound ... and the birds ... they will come to the calls. Here is Anne King and myself with our double. We took lots more photos ... as this young lady will make her appearance as one of our Outdoor Girls of the Month very soon. She impressed me with her ability and her desire to hunt. It's no reason why she landed on our list as an OGM for 2010.
Thanks Anne for joining me on the hunt. This past weekend was fun and I would hunt with you anytime. Also ... thanks to Doug Kamphuis of Kampp Outdoor Products for setting us up with some AWESOME calls. I've never used any better calls. If you need some calls ... you better try his selection.
If you have any comments ... feel free to send me a note !