RE: future of Illinois hunting
I disagree that charging someone to hunt is wrong. Like it or not, hunting has turned into an increasingly expensive "get-away" like golf, going to a baseball game, going on vacation, etc. They don't let you into Busch Stadium for free and once you pay $40 for a ticket to Busch then you have to pay another $9 for a beer and $5 more dollars for a hot dog. Likewise, a trip to Pebble Beach to golf or a weekend trip to Disney World isn't free either. I think in the future, hunting is going to be viewed as one more thing to try and work into the annual budget.
I also don't blame the landowners for charging a fee to hunt on their land. With the implementation of the new assessments on wooded land that is not in a forestry mgt plan, some landowners are paying outrageous property taxes. They should have every right to try and recover some of their expenses if the income stream is there.