hunting illinois info

[Pipefitter43]

I am planning on going to Illinois to hunt this fall and need some info. is there a book of some kind that gives you farm owners info so they can be contacted for permission to hunt? has anyone hunt the state on their public land if so what are the better counties to get drawn for?

 

[Cazador]

Knock on doors. Think about how you would feel if some stranger called and asked if they could hunt your land. They best way is to pick a county you want to hunt, find the public land in that area and go scout it. While you are there do some door knocking. Illinois is one of the better deer hunting states so competition for hunting spots is high. Get on the DNR sight and see where the deer kill numbers are and that will give you a start. Then add a $450 for an out of state buck tag. I believe that is the price. I would not wait till end of summer. Good luck.

 

[deerhunter10]

I would not go to Illinois for at least another 4-7 years.... ehd hit them crazy hard in 2012. And if I were me I would pick another state. Not saying they aren't there but that state gets hit hard and ehd and all that I would just pick another state. We went in 2012 and it was a disaster deer dead all over farmers burning them by the hundred just not a good sight.

 

[Good time Charlie]

Good time to get your foot in the door for later,
Pike and Schuler would be my prefrence

 

[Rackseeker]

Figure out which counties you are going to be hunting. Call the counties court house and tell them you would like to purchase a plat book for that county. You may be able to access it online now but when I started hunting Shawnee forest land that's how I got the plat books.

 

[SALTMAN]

Shawnee Forrest in the southern part is about as good as you can get . For public.
Private land .... Good luck ! Most all is leased up.

 

[Shed Hunter]

Shawnee Forrest in the southern part is about as good as you can get . For public.
Private land .... Good luck ! Most all is leased up.

Is the pressure high on it? I've never hunted out of state and I might give it a try here in the next few years.

 

[Big JWC 50]

Illinois is in some rough times right now. I've got almost 2,000acres of leased farms in Wayne county and we got hit by EHD 2012 and 2013. The deer r still there but you can tell we took a hit sightings are down. We still got some giant bucks but went from seeing 15-20 deer a sit to maybe 5-10 a sit.

 

[Pipefitter43]

I forgot all about the ehd! Thank you guys such a great help .

 

[Football Hunter]

Shawnee Forrest in the southern part is about as good as you can get . For public.
Private land .... Good luck ! Most all is leased up.

Is the pressure high on it? I've never hunted out of state and I might give it a try here in the next few years.

During the 2 gun weekends ,YES,during bow,not to bad at all.

 

[landman]

They have plat books for each county, tells you who the landowner
is on each tract, with owners info, you get them at each county courthouse.

 

[fredfred]

Good time to get your foot in the door for later,
Pike and Schuler would be my prefrence

Yep those 2 and add Brown and Adams countys to the list. Schuler is not as well known yet. Getting permission to hunt those countys? Yeah boy! $40+ an acre and 300 acres might have 30 acres of huntable land on it.

 

[Big JWC 50]

Good time to get your foot in the door for later,
Pike and Schuler would be my prefrence

Yep those 2 and add Brown and Adams countys to the list. Schuler is not as well known yet. Getting permission to hunt those countys? Yeah boy! $40+ an acre and 300 acres might have 30 acres of huntable land on it.

These counties also took a major hit from EHD in 2012 and 2013. I would be very cautious about where I went in Illinois

 

[lungpuncher1]

Don't over look eastern illinois. Just a little advice. Every piece of ground isn't leased and I don't think the EHD hit eastern Ill as bad as it did in southern and western illinois. This is coming from someone who's leasing in Adams and Pike county. Hoping things turn around in a couple years. I personally would love to see them go away with the ridiculous amount of doe permits.

 

[Winchester]

I would not go to Illinois for at least another 4-7 years.... ehd hit them crazy hard in 2012. And if I were me I would pick another state. Not saying they aren't there but that state gets hit hard and ehd and all that I would just pick another state. We went in 2012 and it was a disaster deer dead all over farmers burning them by the hundred just not a good sight.

Dang what counties in ILL did you see this? I know EHD was a factor there but cant imagine how bad it was for farmers burning deer by the Hundreds!!!!

 

[deerhunter10]

south pike was pretty bad but Calhoun county was absolutely terrible. and that borders pike. it was the craziest thing ive ever seen in the woods. any where there was water there were deer bodies every where. it hit them crazy hard. but Calhoun county was the one where the farmers were typo not burning. burring them by the hundreds.

 

[landman]

Don't over look eastern illinois. Just a little advice. Every piece of ground isn't leased and I don't think the EHD hit eastern Ill as bad as it did in southern and western illinois. This is coming from someone who's leasing in Adams and Pike county. Hoping things turn around in a couple years. I personally would love to see them go away with the ridiculous amount of doe permits.

Lower the population numbers helps deer survive EDH,... The higher numbers is what really makes it worse in areas

 

[Big JWC 50]

I would not go to Illinois for at least another 4-7 years.... ehd hit them crazy hard in 2012. And if I were me I would pick another state. Not saying they aren't there but that state gets hit hard and ehd and all that I would just pick another state. We went in 2012 and it was a disaster deer dead all over farmers burning them by the hundred just not a good sight.

Dang what counties in ILL did you see this? I know EHD was a factor there but cant imagine how bad it was for farmers burning deer by the Hundreds!!!!

It really was that bad! I've had guys in Pike county tell me they lost close to 70% of their deer herd. Guys were finding 30-40 dead deer per 300 acres of land. I also talked to Mark Drury at the Turkey Convention this yr and without missing a beat he said it would take him 10yrs to get his Iowa farms back to where they were if EHD doesn't hit again.

 

[lungpuncher1]

Don't over look eastern illinois. Just a little advice. Every piece of ground isn't leased and I don't think the EHD hit eastern Ill as bad as it did in southern and western illinois. This is coming from someone who's leasing in Adams and Pike county. Hoping things turn around in a couple years. I personally would love to see them go away with the ridiculous amount of doe permits.

Lower the population numbers helps deer survive EDH,... The higher numbers is what really makes it worse in areas

So lower the population after a huge 2 year EHD problem? That doesn't sound right. I could see lowering the number to prevent an outbreak but not after...

 

[landman]

Don't over look eastern illinois. Just a little advice. Every piece of ground isn't leased and I don't think the EHD hit eastern Ill as bad as it did in southern and western illinois. This is coming from someone who's leasing in Adams and Pike county. Hoping things turn around in a couple years. I personally would love to see them go away with the ridiculous amount of doe permits.

Lower the population numbers helps deer survive EDH,... The higher numbers is what really makes it worse in areas

So lower the population after a huge 2 year EHD problem? That doesn't sound right. I could see lowering the number to prevent an outbreak but not after...

EDH usually doesn't hit a whole county, usually it's a weird spotted pattern,thus the reason for herd reduction