Turkey Fever

Turkey fever.  We've caught it.

Don & I enjoyed our third joint turkey hunt this year.  Our time to hunt in IL was limited with Don

getting out only one day and me enjoying but two days in the field during the 6 day season.  Although we saw several turkeys, opportunity to harvest a tom never presented itself.

Fortunately we had planned a trip to Michigan and those birds up there were much more cooperative.  Don saw numerous birds and by mid-morning he managed to get in position and fill his tag with the good looking turkey shown below.

Future hunter(s)?  Too bad I didn't have a camera ready to record the excitement Hudson & Cadence displayed when they first saw Dad with his turkey. 

Late in the day I had a chance at either of two gobblers of equal size.  This one sported a 9.5 inch beard and weighed in at about 18 lbs.

Cadence checks to see how sharp the 1" + spurs are.

Brenda is quite gracious and allows two mounted turkeys from previous hunts to be displayed in our basement.  But I don't think she wants a third.  How do I know that?  After shooting this tom, I sent a text to Brenda, Kamela, Karmen & Kyle letting them know of my success.  Each of the 3 kids responded with various forms of congratulations.  Such as "Awesome", "Good job Dad", "Terrific". 

Brenda's response?  "Help us all!"  We all got a good laugh out of that.