It's turkey time in Illinois. More than you can ever say.
These two were part of a group of at least five hens and two gobblers wandering along a railroad in the middle of a Kankakee County town Thursday evening.
This was after I had spent several hours trying to get some fresh turkey photos around Kankakee River State Park.
As nature will, the unexpected blessed us.
Let me back up.
On Tuesday, Norm Minas, the bearded great wanderer and explorer of the Kankakee River, called with a tip on a place to photograph a gobbler.
Well, I never found it at the state park by the time I got there on Thursday.
But then my wife spotted a group wandering along a railroad track in the middle of a town.
I managed some fresh photos, and was backing out to leave when, off in the distance, I see a huge head on the other side of the track.
It was a tom.
It bobbed along, warily eyeing me, then finally crossed over, far off in the distance.
Too far for a good shot with my camera hand held.
Then when I downloaded the photos, I see there is another tom in the background to the left.
We have turkeys in all 102 counties in Illinois, and spring hunting in 96 of those counties, according to forest wildlife program manager Paul Shelton.
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