Bulzeye,

Did you already actually send in the application already? Also, you can apply for permits directly over the internet at Illinois Department of Natural Resources site.

Kankakee, Des Plaines & Marsailles are (excuse me if you will) kinda lame. Lame in the sense of number of deer taken and they are pretty small most of the time. But if thats what' s available to you, great, go there. I would too if I wasn' t fortunate enough to have other places.

There are alot of really good public areas that have much larger animals. Look down south, around Shawnee NF and such. Alot of the public areas down there are really overlooked and underhunted in my opinion. Maybe you want to start trying some of those areas? You can get info on areas around the state, with pretty good maps and terrain descriptions from IDNR site.

I' ve seen some guys come out of State (public) areas with some real trophies! (And sometimes the guys gettin them are the only ones in there, or just a few vehicles in parking lots.)

For stats on permits issued.......I can' t help right now, but I' m sure the info is posted somewhere. I' ll bet the people at DNR can tell ya if you call them.

Harvest stats for firearm deer seasons can be found @ the Illinois Department of Natural Resouces website. Go there, click on " What' s New" on the main page, choose " Press Releases" and then you can select the year you are intrested in from past seasons. Notice the totals. All the areas you listed are in the really lower percentage of Illinois 100 counties (98 open to shotgun).

Where do I go you ask? Well I' m sure you' ve heard this before.........." If I tell ya, I' ll have to......................

I almost exclusively hunt private property whare ever I go, but am not opposed to public land either, believe me.

I shotgun almost exclusively down in southern IL. Always have and always will. It' s my home. I usually do some bow down there too. But not much. I don' t want to scare off anything from where I can come in during shotgun and really reach out at something I really want, if you know what I mean.

I bow hunt more up here, though. Up here I don' t do any public areas, all private. I hunt areas that would really suprise alot of guys and have taken really nice deer. Both (my favorite) FAT, HEAVY DOES and some (personal) " trophies" . Some practically right off " the backyard fences" . LOL

As for handgunnin for deer. Maybe someday I' ll give it a go. But for now I' m trying to raise 3 boys and get them, little by little, into bows and guns. Maybe once they are all into their teens I' ll try it.

Hope the info helps ya.