Ben's 2026 semi-live hunt thread

[TheBenHoyle]

It is time to start my 2026 hunt thread. I lost my job in November of 2025 and I have been pretty preoccupied with replacing it. This is not the place for that story, but it was rough and now it is over. I accepted a new job yesterday and I start on 3/30.

That being said, I am going to try to get out on a coyote hunt in the next two weeks, which will double as a turkey scouting expedition. Right now, I have two Illinois turkey tags. One is a private land hunt where I shot my buck and I will be hunting with my dad. The other is public land and I will be hunting with a buddy.

I could pick up another tag for private land, but I need to take a closer look at the calendar. Sadly, the turkey season is smack dab in the middle of Easter/birthdays/Mother's Day/end of semester move out from college for my oldest daughter. With a new job, my vacation time might be limited so I may be limited to only weekend hunts. It's some complicated math, so we will see how it goes.

Other than turkey season, my only plans are the fall archery deer/turkey season in Illinois and an archery rut hunt in Ohio. My buddy and I have gone 3 years now and I've gotten a couple does and he took a button buck. This year I would really like to put an arrow through a big Ohio buck.

And of course, this year I would like to get some waterfowl hunting on the books. And I might put in for the fall shotgun turkey season. It bumps right up against the end of the marching band season, so that might be tough to get to, but it was very productive last year.

 

[noharleyyet]

Congrats on the new job Ben...good luck with your efforts afield.

 

[duckhunt]

Looking forward to a new season.

 

[Lmartin5]

Following...best of luck!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Let me just share with you the key need for success in a mid-March coyote hunt: a weapon.

That's right, I got all loaded up and ready to go this morning. I was heading out the door on time if not before. I made great time on the way to the spot I was planning on hunting. Everything was going great. Until I got there and realized, I left my gun at home...

I wasn't terribly upset since I wasn't expecting to see a coyote and considering my weapon is a Remington 870 12 gauge with buckshot, I'd have to call it in pretty close. This was really just a turkey scouting trip with the possibility of a coyote as a bonus.

Strike that from the list, settle in for some turkey scouting I guess. I hustled out to the northwest corner of the field where I could observe the woods as well as the woods on the property to the west.

Well nothing came out of the trees I will be able to hunt, but just before full sunrise I saw a flock of 25ish birds coming out of the north end of the woods to the west. There was about 5-7 toms strutting amongst the hens. It was fun to watch and even though they were over 150 yards from me I could see some long beards on a couple of them.



Since the birds weren't in the woods I can hunt, I took that opportunity to hike around in there. I also hiked about 200 yards south of there to check a small stand of woods that I can hunt, but I saw no turkey tracks in the snow, so I moved on.

The snow was spotty and past its prime, but I found a few neat tracks.



All in all it was a fine morning, but it does leave me wondering if I should get proper rifle to hunt coyotes with. Perhaps if I had a rifle I was confident I could use effectively I would have been less likely to have left it home. I am not a rifle shooter at this time. I've never had one and I haven't spent much time shooting them. But it might be nice to get a .243 or a .270. I mainly like archery hunting, but I may decide I want to go out west for an elk or antelope hunt with a rifle one day. Food for thought I guess.

And now I'm on the bench until April 17-19 when I have my first Illinois turkey tag.