ORIGINAL: Cougar Mag
Lastly, in Illinois, if it wasn't for the outfitters, your state would be a joke right now due to the horrible management that the state DNR has done. It has been the outfitters and private land owners keeping that state in the top slot for B&C whitetails.
Huh? Which is it in your opinion? Has to be one or the other.
No, I don't think it has to be one or the other. The # of huge bucks coming from ILL are virtually all from "controlled lands". What I mean there is lands that are under QDM programs of some sort. State lands are going in the wrong direction. So, the state is doing terribly.
ILL deer definitely have the genetics (generally speaking), but the only places that they are allowed to grow to their potential is on private/outfitted land. So, where ILL may have the most potential, it is doing a horrible job of herd management IMO based on research I have seen.