You can't beat the searching phase while funnel hunting in my book. Being from IL I can tell you from experience that Nov.4th - Nov. 10th are awesome if the weather is right. But, I killed my biggest on Nov.19th at 11 amthe day before gun season. My second biggest came on Nov.8th while rattling. Hey man, it's IL.just get out there in Nov. and see what happens. Danscott gave some excellent advice too think about also.