Got drawn for a illinois bird this year. Hope they stick around. 6 day hunt mid season. Super hard to hunt them up there in the wide open spaces with small timber blocks to try and get between.
Illinois birds
- Thread starter Livin2hunt
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megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Super exciting to have those birds on camera! Hope they are still there come season! Family land?
Definitely excited! Yeah these cams are on family and we have the surrounding leased(close to 1200 acres total). Weve got the only cattle ground around up there so we have all the hay with clover and wheat fields surrounded by ag fields. Birds are pretty scarce in that area up there so this is pretty amazing! We have a very small quota for that county. We've done quite a bit of nesting habitat on the farm and it's starting to pay off.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Awesome... glad you have family ties... nothing like family land. And nothing better than killing game on your own land!
Chiflyguy
Well-Known Member
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- Aug 6, 2019
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Joe2Kool
Well-Known Member
Kill a longbeard and post some pics!!
Edwards. Im not fond of the broke up seasons myself. I have been drawn 3 times up there over the past five years. Killed a really nice tom my first year. I use them to for the first hour or so of light then I'm walking drains to hit all the timber blocks. Seems like it takes forever for birds to get across those big fields.
Sounds like we need a kill thread started since mega is already on the board???
Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
Second.
Dumb question because I don't know. Is Illinois a draw state for turkeys? My inlaws own 60 acres in Pope Co and I've considered buying OTC deer tags since they are always some left over but never considered turkey hunting it. But if I killed out in TN and KY early enough I would think about it.
It is. There are 3 lotteries but only 2 for nonres. 1st lottery is res only. I do the exact same thing. I hunt tn, ky, illinois. I just work ky around when I get drawn for illinois. Depending on the bird population of that county or zone is how they decide what the quota will be. I like the later draws. Last year it was below freezing the entire week the first season and we were miserable and birds didn't work at all.
Thanks for the explanation. I may go up and do some scouting and check on the over the counter tags. It's only 1 hour, 45 mins away but I always devote my turkey season to TN and KY and deer season to KY because I don't have TN property to deer hunt. But I say every year I need to spend time in Illinois, just never do it.
Give it a try. U won't regret it. That's a good County for birds!
