hc4runner....Ill. DNR says they know nothing about a raise in fees. That means nothing though. Personally, I would be surprised to see one this year.

KC-IL.....Looking at your post objectively, that could be correct. In all honesty, I have only heard any animosity about NR hunters in Illinois from one person in all the years I have been going there. I have heard a fair amount of it on this site in the last 15 months.(that is how long I have been coming here)

As far as outfitters go in Illinois....hard to rule out anything by some of them. I know a few outfitters in the Pike, Calhoun, and Adams area, and some of them are real nice, and good outfitters. I have also had two nationally known outfitters drop high paying hunters off on my property and tell them to hunt it. Told the hunters it was ground they were saving for special clients, gave them a climber and just dropped them off.

I would be pretty upset if I was paying a ridiculous amount of money to a man that knowingly had me tresspass on anothers ground.

And, regardless of who wants the rate hikes, it will eventually hurt the local economy when it gets to the point that non-residents don`t want to pay that much.