Originally Posted by
whitetailcrazy
Illinois is not the state it once was with quality of deer... Indiana is surpassing Illinois by leaps and bounds with their 1 Buck limit. You can see on the TV shows how they are targeting Indiana... Illinois was all about the almighty dollar and not the quality of the deer herd. I have a few friends from Michigan who had deer hunted in Illinois for years and now say why waste their time and money on average deer, 1 has moved on to Iowa and the other to Indiana, much closer to home and much cheaper!
Was Illinois public land ever that good, or was it only good if you dished out big dollars for an outfitter or lease? I'm a fairly recent transplant (from northern Wisconsin) and hunt public land. My biggest complaint here is not quality of deer but access and opportunity to hunt.