The kitchen and breakfast room of the Torstenson Family Youth Conservation Education Center in Pecatonica, Illinois.

PECATONICA, Ill — Even if you're not the outdoorsy type, the natural beauty of the Torstenson lodge and surrounding wildlife can easily lure you in — or draw you out, as the case may be.

Rockford tool magnate and avid conservationist Robert Torstenson died in 2002, leaving a house and estate in Pecatonica, about 100 miles northwest of Chicago.

Today it serves as the 750-acre Torstenson Family Youth Conservation Education Center, run by the Illinois Conservation Foundation. The center provides a place where kids can learn about wildlife, nature and hunting.

To raise money for nature programming, the foundation recently started offering Torstenson's main "log house" as a vacation rental for nature lovers, family reunions, couples getaways or any group of at least eight looking for rustic nature and oversize luxury in a house you can imagine Ernest Hemingway or Teddy Roosevelt adoring.

Though it's called a log house, this place is no frontier cabin. Made of lodgepole pine logs from British Columbia, this $3 million abode features a huge gourmet kitchen, billiard room, kennels, four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a dining room that can seat 20 and a breathtaking great room that brings new meaning to the word great.

An avid hunter and outdoorsman, Torstenson decorated the house with taxidermy mounts of more than 30 African animals from ostrich, leopard and gazelle, to warthog, sable antelope and water buck. The mounts lend a certain "Night at the Museum" feel to your stay and can serve as a great walk-around animal quiz for anyone who knows a bit about African wildlife.

But the inanimate animals aren't the main attraction of the great room. Instead it's the floor-to-ceiling windows that stretch across nearly the entire back of the house. These offer a breathtaking panoramic vista onto the river oxbow, forest and a field where living animals — sandhill cranes, whitetail deer, all manner of waterfowl and migratory birds — come to eat, drink and swim each day. This makes the giant leather couches and chairs in the room like theater seats on a nature program that doesn't end and changes with the seasons.

Those who would want to enter the wildlife scene, rather than just watching it, can enjoy nearly four miles of Pecatonica River frontage and about nine miles of trails on the property for hiking, bird watching and cross-country skiing (you'll need to bring your own) in season. It's a bit like having your own forest preserve outside your door.

Currently, all eight beds in four bedrooms are singles, but the foundation is working on installing queen beds this summer. It's also working to convert a couple of extra rooms into bedrooms. Meanwhile, those who want bigger mattresses or who want to add some sleepers to the large rooms can bring an air mattress.

Speaking of sleeping quarters, if you go with a group, you may want to draw straws to see who gets the immense master bedroom, with its adjacent sun room and giant bathroom whose waterfall fixture flows into a hot tub. It is by far the fanciest bedroom in the house and offers yet another reminder that this was the home of a man who enjoyed blending comfort with his love of the outdoors.

Part of the fun of the house is its outsize nature, the feeling that you are a tiny person walking through a forest of logs, animals and sky beyond the windows. The view beyond the great room can make the room feel as if it's a continuation of the trees, pond and field in front of its windows.

I stayed in the house as part of a weekend program for youth hunters, who were there in search of wild turkeys. Two of the kids harvested birds, and two were unsuccessful, but the second most memorable part of their adventure was exploring the house and the accompanying grounds.

Hunting opportunities are restricted mostly to youth hunting events on the grounds, but Mark Spangler, executive director of the foundation, advises checking out ilcf.org for possible hunting opportunities to raise money for the center.

Say what you will about hunting, but if Torstenson hadn't been conservation-minded, this massive animal habitat wouldn't exist, hunting or no. And habitats are getting harder for the animal population to come by.

Those who like to cook can feed a crowd from the large, well-equipped kitchen, but the foundation also can arrange for a chef to be hired during the stay. If you prefer to cook and eat outdoors, the house features an enormous screened outdoor dining room with a built-in grill, a fireplace and a huge log table that can seat at least eight.

Nearby Pecatonica and Winnebago are home to many chain restaurants but also some great independent spots. We particularly like Toni's of Winnebago (815-335-2328, tonisofwinnebago.com), where the staff is friendly and the butternut-squash ravioli and wild mushroom gnocchi are divine.

The one drawback to the lodge for some will be the spotty cell phone reception (T-Mobile was the worst, while others operated better) and the lack of wireless Internet, though the land-line phone system works fine.

But, in some ways, this detachment from the digital world was more of a benefit than a drawback in this serene wilderness escape so close to the city, yet so blessedly removed.

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IF YOU GO:

To make reservations or inquire about hunting opportunities, call 217-785-2003 or visit ilcf.org. As the Illinois Conservation Foundation modifies the house, prices may go up. The current rental donation is $750 for the first night and $500 for subsequent nights. Cost of a chef depends on the number of meals and the menu.

Toni's of Winnebago, 508 Elida St., Winnebago, Ill.; 815-335-2328; tonisofwinnebago.com