Yeah, all of the big bucks that were in Illinois were either killed in the early 1990's, or swam the river to seek refuge in Kentucky and Iowa. Sorry to say, but if we ever want to regain our big buck status, we are just going to have to quit hunting, and start managing for those big Illinois cottontails. Yep, don't even bother with Illinois, we're tapped. Nothing left here but a few mangey does and 10,000 out of state hunters trying to kill them.