Illinois Snow Bird - Illinois
Steve & Robert with Robert's first turkey with a bow.
Hunter: Robert North
Cameraman: Steve North
I climbed down from my cozy warm bunk bed and stumbled into the main area of our camper. I immediately went to the window where I could see the thermometer outside, ten degrees. “Wow, this is going to be a fun morning” I thought. After eating a hearty bowl of cold cereal, I put on the warmest clothes I had. My dad and I got in the cold truck and drove a short distance down the snow covered road. I grabbed my Hoyt Gamemaster and he grabbed the camera. We walked to our blind and got setup well before light. As the horizon grew brighter, I noticed a turkey roosted on a limb about 150 yards from our natural blind. As the sun began to peak over the tree tops the woods became alive with the sounds of cackling, putting, and yelping.
We built our blind along the edge of corn field during the past summer. It was an old hog shed that we converted into a ground blind. Since there was snow on the ground, the turnips that we had planted in front of the blind would hopefully attract a deer. When there was enough light to see, we noticed that the deer had already found the turnips and had pawed up most of the ground in front of us. Because of the freezing temperatures most of the ground was frozen, except right in front of us, making this spot one of the only available food sources around.
By now the sun was over the tree tops and had raised the temperature to a balmy 15 degrees. The turkeys that had made so much noise were beginning to fly down and congregate behind us. After all the birds had flown down, they began working their way toward us. Fortunately, I had a turkey tag burning a whole in my pocket. The biggest hen stepped out in front of me at ten yards. I picked my spot, drew and released. WHACK! I hit the hen right in the wing bone. She jumped up in the air, fell on her head, and took off running. I watched her lay down in the middle of the field and assumed that I had just killed my first Illinois turkey with my bow. My dad and I sat still until the rest of the birds had wandered back into the woods.
After about 30 minutes we got out of the blind and walked toward the spot we saw her lay down. I was about 20 yards from the spot when I saw my arrow… with no turkey on it. Our morale dropped. Confused and shocked we stood in silence staring at the arrow. After walking around looking under brush pile after brush pile, I said, “Let’s go back to the last spot we had blood.” I knew the chances of finding this turkey were slim to none, but we had to try. I was able to find a few pin drops of blood. We walked along an old pond dam, when I saw my bird lying under a log. I got close to it and saw she was alive. I had an arrow on the string, got around to an opening and shot my turkey in the head. After a short while the bird was done. All I could say was unbelievable! It turned out to be the most memorable hunt I have ever been on. We could have stopped looking for the bird because of no sign, but we stayed persistent and were able to harvest a beautiful, big 18 pound hen.