The second day of Illinois' South Zone turkey season was cold and breezy, but at least it was not snowing as it had on opening day. After setting up against a tree and calling, I heard rustling leaves to my right and caught a glimpse of a gobbler's thick, dangling beard headed my way. I took advantage of the situation when the gobbler passed behind a tree and then stood in front of my shotgun barrel only 30 yards away. A moment later it was over. My season had ended!

The author's husband, John, tagged this South Zone gobbler a few days into the 2009 spring season. Photo by Vikki Trout.

My husband, John, concluded his Illinois turkey season just a few days later. We were double-teaming a longbeard that gobbled consistently as he moved toward us. John set up in front of me, and after a few soft clucks and purrs from my call, the gobbler decided he just had to top a rise to find his hen. As he came over the hill, he was in perfect range of John's shotgun. It was then we both believed Illinois would boast a record harvest.

Since turkeys depend mainly on their eyesight for survival, an open woods is to their advantage -- not the hunter's. However, once the green-up begins, the odds change slightly because gobblers are forced to search for hens. With this in mind, it is easy to understand why John and I had the feeling this was going to be a great year for all turkey enthusiasts. How wrong we were.

After turkeys had all but disappeared around 1910, Illinois began its restoration effort in 1958 by releasing turkeys in Shawnee National Forest. These birds had been raised in captivity. However, those efforts failed and biologists soon learned that tame birds could not survive in the wild.

Illinois obtained 65 Eastern wild turkeys in 1967 from Mississippi, Arkansas and West Virginia. It was the year that changed our state forever. These turkeys knew how to survive -- and that they did!

"By 1967, we knew that the secret was in releasing wild birds. We brought in 65 birds from three other states. All of the tens of thousands of birds now in Illinois are descendents of those few dozen birds," said Paul Shelton, Illinois' Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Forest Wildlife Program manager.

By 2004, DNR officials realized wild turkeys did not have to have heavily forested areas such as Shawnee National Forest to survive. They could easily flourish in varied terrain that included forests and open fields. More restoration efforts occurred as birds were moved to west-central and northwestern Illinois. We now have Eastern wild turkeys throughout Illinois.

Typically, Illinois turkey season in both the South and North zones arrives before the woods have begun to green up. Each zone allows five hunting dates, and each season lasts between five and eight days.

Illinois turkey hunter participants have steadily climbed from 47,374 in 2000 to 75,844 in 2008. When you compare hunter numbers with harvests, 12,850 birds were taken in 2000, while 15,159 were harvested in 2008. These statistics show an increase of 18 percent. Hunter numbers increased by 28,470 in those eight years, while birds harvested increased by 2,309. Although hunter numbers have increased significantly, harvest numbers in recent years have been somewhat steady.