The Crown Jewel of the trip ILLINOIS:
You guys who live and hunt there and only there have no idea how good you have it. Greg and I hunt PUBLIC land in an out of the way "not known for big bucks" section of the state WITH pressure ,and it's STILL better than any PRIVATE land I've ever seen in PA.
Really.. it's NOT like that all over the state. It's really not. Not even close.
Why do you think I travel 5 hours south to hunt.
And even worse.. most out of staters don't realize how much land that area of the state has in outfitters.. and can't be hunted by the average joe.[>:][:@] (most of it).
And Matt.. If you were hunting in Green co. or Jersey co. Ill. well then.. you are in a trophy area (despite what somebody told you).. just not in one of the counties with 10,000 outfitters running around.
I KNOW location matters.. but what out of staters don't realize is the greatest struggle for Illinois bowhunters is access. ALL private land dominates the state.. and outfitter land is second because of out of staters and their willing-ness to pay big money. And most of that land is ran by some joe-shmo outfitter.
And.. hunting an outfitter land is sometimes comparable to a forest preserve.. only with less a population and a 140" size restriction.. so of course you'lll see more older deer. Duh..
It's not like that in well over half of the state. Trust me. You can't even find deer through the cornbelt..
But I will agree.. that area that lays next to the Mississippi is magical. Unfortunately.. thanks to the outfitters and large private land owners..[&:]