Well I hate to break the news to you this way, but you're living in one of the toughest parts of the country to find private land to hunt. Granted you may get lucky and pick up a spot through knocking on doors but your chances certainly aren't very good. Believe me - I've tried. It seems like these days most of the good land around Lake Co is being bought up by either developers or the Forest Preserves anyways. And everywhere that isn't has 3 guys legally hunting it and another 5 illegally hunting it.

As you noticed as well, public hunting close to home is virtually non existant. IMO your best option is really just to look for a place to hunt within a couple hours driving distance and hunt as much as you can. Whether it's North into WI to take advantage of some of the great public ground up there, or knocking on doors in NW or Central IL is up to you. Those truely are your best options.

Or you can do what many of us are doing and try to find a spot to lease. Paying money to secure a spot definitely hurts, but it seems to be the way things are going these days.