Hunting Lease in Adams Co Illinois, where are the Deer? Ready to give up!

270GameOver · 11-11-2007, 08:52 AM

Anyone hunting up in Adams County, Pike, Brown IL? Me and my buddy have a lease this year on a 160 acre parcel. The property is mostly small tracts of woods with big to small alfalfa fields. We have hunted our a***es of and even though we have drawn shotgun and muzzle tags we don't even want to go. We hear all the hype about hunting in the Golden Triangle, but haven't saw one shooter this year. We have hunted every weekend since October 1 and seen minimal if any does and mostly 4 pointers. We left Friday thinking things would turn around for pre-rut and hunted Friday evening and Saturday. After Saturday we were so dissapointed that we loaded u EVERYTHING and came home. Most guys would love to have 160 acres in Adams County to hunt. We are so dissapointed that we are probablly going to skip gun season based on all the hours we've put in and haven't seen anything. It's CRAZY, there are trails all over the property, scrapes, rubs! But not one mature deer. Barely any Does and little bucks on occassion.Is anyone else hunting in Adams County up near Liberty and Barry Illinois? Is this normal or did we just get a bad chunk of property? We aren't seeing pre-rut activity or rut activity. What should we do, skip gun season and throw away all our money and time we invested. I mean this makes me not want to hunt, it's that bad guys.

270GameOver · 11-11-2007, 09:55 AM

It makes no sense, there are rubs all over the place, there are scrapes all along the alfalfa fields, and trails worn to the dirt. We hunt hard and aren't even seeing any Doe. All the hype about Northern Illinois is turning out to be just "Hype". We have been doing everything right, hunting the wind, and putting more than enough time in on stand. Every weekend and some weekdays from the opener of archery season. I've seen more deer in the woods behind my house "40 acres" then I have in Adams county. The trails cams aren't even taking pictures. It's like there are no deer. Up the road from us is Hadley Creek Outfitters, looking at their pictures they are killing deer this year. We are seriously debating abandoning our shotgun and muzzle tags based on how dissapointed we are. It makes you not even want to hunt. Is it our property or like this everywhere? I can't make sense of it.
My buddy was saying he talked to a guy who hunts in Liberty, 10 miles from Adams. This guy said the rut was in full swing last weekend and this week the bucks are bedded up with the Doe. I'm not sure if this is accurate either?

Predator19 · 11-11-2007, 03:58 PM

What??? Pike county has no deer?? I will come over and give it a look.

ICALL2MUCH · 11-11-2007, 05:16 PM

We hunt in Mount Sterling, IL (Brown County). Seen plenty of deer, and have seen rutting activity for 2 weeks. Your observations are interesting. Anybody hunting close to you? Id call Hadley Creek and get the low-down on that area, I am sure they would tell you.

White-tail-deer · 11-11-2007, 05:40 PM

Sounds like someone is hunting it while you are gone during the week! It's possible.

Splitear_Leland · 11-11-2007, 05:42 PM

Haven't you heard, Illinois doesn't have any deer left. They killed them all last year. Yeah, that's right, so there's no use in leasing any more ground for deer hunting, you are just wasting your money, unless you like to watch squirrels. And forget about outfitters, they are just trying to scam you. So if you are going to come to Illinois to hunt, don't even bother.

Sport4 · 11-11-2007, 05:50 PM

I will come and hunt it for you.

270GameOver · 11-14-2007, 05:25 PM

Looking for some more input on our lease.
Well, it seems as if we aren't the only ones having problems this year. We aren't seeing anything. Here is a picture of the property we hunt, mostly small tracts of woods and crop fields "alfalfa". The deer aren't in the alfalfa which is really what is making us think we shouldn't waste our times trying to hunt shotgun. We think the deer are roaming at night, we are seriously considering passing shotgun because of the luck we have had with this place. Any more imput would be appreciated.

MOmightymite · 11-14-2007, 05:57 PM

Where are you guys setting up on that property? If you could let us know we might be able to help more. I would keep after it though. There's no need to skip out on all that money you've invested. That's just crazy! And just cause it's Illinois doesnt mean that it makes hunting any easier.