Richard Music’s son Matthew, 11, bagged a massive 28.4-pound gobbler on opening morning, March 29, of the first youth spring turkey season in McHenry County.
“Yes sir, biggest I’ve ever seen in 30 years of hunting,” Music replied. “Leave it to a kid to get the big one, right? LOL.”
It was big all over with a 11.75-inch beard and spurs of 1.5 inches.
Extra special was Music hauling his son, gear and turkey (on the way back) on a trailer and e-bike.
“We used it to get back a mile across a bean field,” Music explained. “I drove and pulled him in the trailer.”
This starts Turkey of the Week for another year.
TOTW, the celebration of hunting wild turkeys in Illinois and their stories (the stories matter, as this one shows), runs Wednesdays in the paper Sun-Times as warranted.
To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), X (@BowmanOutside), Instagram (@BowmanOutside) or Bluesky (@BowmanOutside.bsky.social).