I am going to make an educated guess that our beautiful Saturday on April 6 had a lot to do with the total harvest of turkeys for Illinois’ two youth hunt weekends being up from 2018.
Here is the breakdown from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources:
Here’s an update on the 2019 Illinois Youth Turkey Season from the IDNR Division of Wildlife Resources: Youth turkey hunters harvested a preliminary total of 1,364 birds during the 2019 Illinois Youth Turkey Season. In 2018, a total of 1,143 turkeys were taken. The record total was in 2017 when 1,531 turkeys were harvested. The dates for this year’s season were March 30-31 and April 6-7. This year, a total of 4,994 youth turkey permits were issued, including 129 permits for special hunt areas. In 2018, 5,253 permits were issued, including 106 for special hunt areas. The top five counties for harvest during this year’s youth season were Fayette (44), Jefferson (42), Pike (42), Randolph (39), and Marion (34). For more information on turkey hunting in Illinois: https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Pages/TurkeyHunting.aspx The table below shows Illinois Youth Turkey Season preliminary harvest figures by county, with numbers from 2018 and 2019.
| County | 2019 | 2018 |
| ADAMS | 24 | 32 |
| ALEXANDER | 13 | 13 |
| BOND | 16 | 7 |
| BOONE | 8 | 6 |
| BROWN | 15 | 15 |
| BUREAU | 19 | 14 |
| CALHOUN | 20 | 15 |
| CARROLL | 6 | 9 |
| CASS | 24 | 20 |
| CHAMPAIGN | 2 | 1 |
| CHRISTIAN | 4 | 3 |
| CLARK | 18 | 15 |
| CLAY | 22 | 13 |
| CLINTON | 10 | 12 |
| COLES | 3 | 3 |
| CRAWFORD | 20 | 13 |
| CUMBERLAND | 4 | 5 |
| DEKALB | 2 | 0 |
| DEWITT | 4 | 7 |
| EDGAR | 0 | 3 |
| EDWARDS | 10 | 11 |
| EFFINGHAM | 18 | 13 |
| FAYETTE | 44 | 33 |
| FORD | 1 | 0 |
| FRANKLIN | 20 | 16 |
| FULTON | 30 | 22 |
| GALLATIN | 14 | 23 |
| GREENE | 16 | 18 |
| GRUNDY | 3 | 1 |
| HAMILTON | 31 | 24 |
| HANCOCK | 32 | 25 |
| HARDIN | 4 | 0 |
| HENDERSON | 11 | 9 |
| HENRY | 17 | 9 |
| IROQUOIS | 13 | 8 |
| JACKSON | 21 | 28 |
| JASPER | 12 | 7 |
| JEFFERSON | 42 | 31 |
| JERSEY | 17 | 14 |
| JO DAVIESS | 31 | 31 |
| JOHNSON | 20 | 9 |
| KANKAKEE | 6 | 2 |
| KENDALL | 2 | 0 |
| KNOX | 28 | 22 |
| LAKE | 1 | 0 |
| LASALLE | 5 | 5 |
| LAWRENCE | 9 | 13 |
| LEE | 9 | 8 |
| LIVINGSTON | 2 | 3 |
| LOGAN | 2 | 2 |
| MACON | 1 | 0 |
| MACOUPIN | 31 | 26 |
| MADISON | 20 | 11 |
| MARION | 34 | 28 |
| MARSHALL | 9 | 6 |
| MASON | 13 | 11 |
| MASSAC | 7 | 4 |
| MCDONOUGH | 10 | 5 |
| MCHENRY | 13 | 10 |
| MCLEAN | 5 | 2 |
| MENARD | 11 | 6 |
| MERCER | 28 | 26 |
| MONROE | 12 | 12 |
| MONTGOMERY | 16 | 14 |
| MORGAN | 9 | 12 |
| MOULTRIE | 1 | 0 |
| OGLE | 15 | 13 |
| PEORIA | 10 | 3 |
| PERRY | 21 | 24 |
| PIKE | 42 | 25 |
| POPE | 10 | 8 |
| PULASKI | 18 | 14 |
| RANDOLPH | 39 | 44 |
| RICHLAND | 14 | 1 |
| ROCK ISLAND | 13 | 12 |
| SALINE | 15 | 8 |
| SANGAMON | 15 | 9 |
| SCHUYLER | 13 | 17 |
| SCOTT | 5 | 5 |
| SHELBY | 18 | 11 |
| ST CLAIR | 23 | 16 |
| STARK | 2 | 1 |
| STEPHENSON | 18 | 16 |
| TAZEWELL | 4 | 6 |
| UNION | 25 | 26 |
| VERMILION | 6 | 8 |
| WABASH | 3 | 1 |
| WARREN | 7 | 5 |
| WASHINGTON | 8 | 16 |
| WAYNE | 24 | 27 |
| WHITE | 15 | 15 |
| WHITESIDE | 10 | 10 |
| WILL | 4 | 3 |
| WILLIAMSON | 23 | 18 |
| WINNEBAGO | 14 | 12 |
| WOODFORD | 5 | 3 |
| Grand Total | 1364 | 1143 |
