The fall shotgun turkey season runs nine days beginning on the second three-day weekend -- Friday through Sunday -- after Oct. 11. These dates apply statewide for the fall turkey hunt. Eighty-one of Illinois' 102 counties are open for autumn hunting, depending on the size of the turkey population. Permits are required for each county, and hunters can obtain a maximum of two permits for the season. One bird of either sex is allowed per permit. The permits are allotted on a random lottery basis.

As for bowhunting, a maximum of two archery turkey permits can be purchased over the counter at license retailers or at any Department of Natural Resources regional office, and they are valid statewide. Each permit allows the taking of one turkey. The fall archery season coincides with the deer archery season, closing only during the shotgun portions of the deer hunt.

You can check for available shotgun permits and purchase archery permits online at www.dnr.state.il.us.

Turkeys were initially re-introduced in Illinois in 1959. Some of the originally stocked birds were trapped in northwestern Illinois and then released in suitable habitat around the state. Other turkeys were obtained from states already well populated with the big birds, such as Missouri. In some cases, Illinois traded Canada geese for turkeys, a swap that surely would hold no allure for any state today, considering the widespread increase of resident honkers everywhere.

The success of the wild turkey program is attested to by the fact that every one of Illinois' 102 counties now hosts a viable turkey population, and all but a handful allow hunting during the spring season. During the 2006 spring gobbler-only season, hunters reported 15,628 birds killed, an all-time record that topped the 2005 take of 14,951 toms. The first wild turkey hunt after the re-introduction program started was in 1970, when just 25 birds were shot. Without doubt, the wild turkey is well established in Illinois, and its population is growing annually.

For those of you lacking a place to hunt wild turkeys, the DNR's public-hunting areas offer plenty of opportunities. Region 1 in the northwest part of the state allows fall shotgun turkey hunting at 15 sites, and 32 sites allow archery hunting. Region 3 -- the east-central counties -- doesn't allow shotgun hunting, but it does have six bowhunting sites available. In west-central Illinois' Region 4, hunters can choose from 27 shotgun sites and 32 archery sites for fall turkeys. Region 5 in far southern Illinois has a wealth of public land open to fall turkey hunting, including the sprawling Shawnee National Forest. No less than 20 shotgun areas and 35 archery sites welcome hunters in Region 5.

The Illinois Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations is free and available from retailers selling licenses, or at any DNR office. In it, you will find everything you need to know about the fall turkey hunting season, as well as maps and phone numbers for each of the public hunting areas that allow fall hunting. Since each public area has its own set of site-specific regulations, it would be wise to call and learn the details ahead of time.

Those who own or have permission to hunt on property holding wild turkeys should be aware that these large birds can travel up to eight miles to reach suitable nesting or feeding habitat. What this means to hunters is that a patch of woods or a succulent clover field that may have held large numbers of turkeys in the spring could be barren come fall. On the other hand, a flock of birds may move into a new area for the winter, depending on the habitat available.

As a general rule, turkeys usually return to the same habitat in the fall to spend the winter, so if you saw birds there last fall, they probably will be back this year. This fact of turkey life is yet another reason to thoroughly scout your prospective hunting area before the season. It isn't much fun to hunt hard all day, only to learn the birds have moved down the road.

Since fall turkey hunting is very challenging, the results may not accurately portray a county's turkey population, so it may be better to take a look at the records for the 2006 spring hunt. Even though we have noted that the birds may move quite a distance between spring and fall, it is unlikely they will travel far enough to leave a county, unless they live right on the border. It seems pretty safe to say these seasonal wanderings will not affect a turkey population countywide.

Here are the results of the spring turkey hunt in some of the top-producing counties, and keep in mind that these are all gobbler numbers. The top 10 counties were: Pike, 708; JoDaviess, 564; Adams, 560; Macoupin, 468; Fulton, 444; Calhoun, 410; Schuyler, 398; Pope, 378; Hancock, 375; and Marion, 363. It is interesting to note that most of these highly rated counties are located in west-central Illinois.