Early spring 2018 in Southern Illinois

This isn't a particular trip, but rather the composite of multiple trips.  I like to get an early start on scouting for turkey hunting season because it is a good excuse to get out and hike the local woods before many other people are.  After the snow melts, it's nice to get out for some fresh air and take some photographs.  And, on occasion, we actually stumble upon turkeys!  There are also some pictures from other hikes and trips around the area.

Laura conquering rocks


She finds rocks when we're looking for turkeys.

We just bought a new camera and finally have some control over the settings.  This was just a small trickle, but I was excited to finally be able to play with shutter speeds.

One benefit of bushwhacking is that we find beautiful spots like this, that many other people never see.


This turkey season was a difficult one because the winter refused to let go, which delayed the mating season for the turkeys.  I still managed to get a jake on the last day of my first tag.  I played with our new Olympus TG-5 on the focus stacking mode to get some of the finest feather details I have ever been able to record.












Spring finally arrived at the tail end of turkey season and we got a few more nature photos...








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