Illinois’ upland game hunting: Opening day scenes

SHARE Illinois’ upland game hunting: Opening day scenes

CLARENCE, Ill.–The most important image from opening day for upland game seasons in Illinois may have been the one I snapped in Iroquois County on my way home this evening.

4083682579_a44600044f.jpg

That’s right, a combine headed out to harvest more corn.

An extended stretch of favorable weather is allowing farmers to do serious work in their fields.

But we start at dawn.

4084443388_b27ed3022d.jpg

A dog snifts at the rolls and other goodies on a table, while some two dozen hunters lined up in what used to be called the shed, but has now been cleaned up enough now to be called by such dignified names as a man cave or clubhouse, to hear Gerry Rodeen lay out the day’s plans and strageties.

4084443778_b6783cd041.jpg

That’s Rodeen in the middle of his speech. He is the “five-star general” of the opening day festivities, loosely associated with the Pioneer chapter of Pheasants Forever, Illinois’ first PF chapter established in 1987.

4084444408_f4a0feb956.jpg

By noon, it was obvious, between the hot day already warmed into the 70s and the high percentage of corn still in the fields, it would be a tough day of hunting.

There were only nine birds in the hand by lunch.

And what a lunch it was with 100 hunters and farmers from around Ford/Iroquois counties expected at the shed, the clubhouse or man cave, whatever it is properly called now.

Ribs, ribeye steaks, Italian venison, hot wings, brats with onions and peppers, smoked turkey, chili, potato salad and corn.

A lunch filling enough to thin the ranks for afternoon with some opting for afternoon naps. The smaller afternoon crew added only two more pheasants.

But the way the farmers were harvesting as we hunted, even Sunday should be a better day for hunting.

4084443096_7368cbe100.jpg

The best image of all, a cock pheasant just before being dressed out.

The Latest
He launched a campaign against a proposed neo-Nazis march at a time the suburb was home to many Holocaust survivors. His rabbi at Skokie Central Congregation urged Jews to ignore the Nazis. “I jumped up and said, ‘No, Rabbi. We will not stay home and close the windows.’ ”
That the Bears can just diesel their way in, Bronko Nagurski-style, and attempt to set a sweeping agenda for the future of one of the world’s most iconic water frontages is more than a bit troubling.
Only two days after an embarrassing loss to lowly Washington, the Bulls put on a defensive clinic against Indiana.
One woman suffered a gunshot wound to the neck. In each incident, the four to five men armed with rifles, handguns and knives, approached victims on the street in Logan Square, Portage Park, Avondale, Hermosa threatened or struck them before taking their belongings, police said.