The 5,000 outfitter permits come out of the total of 20,000. I didn't apply for an outfitter permit even thoughI could have. However, with the outfitter permits I would have only been able to hunt on the outfitters properties. Which is fine if I kill one and I hope I do but if not I will be able to go back and hunt some public ground later in the year. I can't tell you whether or not to go to Illinois or Wisconsin because I have never hunting Wisconsin but I can tell that the ground in Illinois is normally pretty to easy to scout and figure out in a realtively short amount of time. Where is the ground in Illinois? If you can get some coordinates you can pull up some backs and have a good idea of where you will hunt just by looking at topos and aerials. In most cases you will probably be better off hunting public than private but that all depends on the two pieces of property but you will have more control over the pressure on the private ground. Just some things to think about.