First off, Welcome Funky Money to the site. You should have fun on here!

I hear you guys about the Poaching. The land that I hunted on last year is a very large piece as well. There is a guy who patrols in everyday as well as the DNR and they have to stay on there toes to watch out for the poachers. We ALWAYS have to have our permission slip on us even know we know the guy who patrols it and the DNR. Nothing worse than trespassers and poachers.

I agree with Uncle Matt with there are a lot of the trespasser are local. They know the land and where the land owner will be therefor can hunt it, or should I say trespass and poach on it. Last years land they found many treestand deep in the backwoods where they thought people would try to hunt from the neighboring towns and people could get in and out without being seen. The funny thing is a few stands were in groups of two like they were filming a hunting show. Also, I didn't see them but opening day right near dusk, the DNR spooted 2 guys coming off the land in all black with rifles. As soon as he spotted them they were running. There was no truck parked anywhere near by so they knew they were local. Im not saying there aren't any upstaters that go down there and trespass, but for someone from Chicago to drive 6 hrs to hunt without having a place is insane. People who do that need to be shot on sight! Funky Monkey, no matter what that does suck about those deer being poached. I would have been pissed as sh*t! All Northerns are not like that m(especially me). Id rather have a hunt ruined on public land everyday Im in the woods than trespass on someones land to hunt.

Uncle Matt, It was good to see that Marion was growing. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn and I'll tell you what, that New ball park is nice. Good to see it hasn't struggled like it seems Carrier Mills and Harrisburg did.

CO seemed like it got a decent amount of pressure, but when I was rabbit and quail hunting a 1/2 mile of so off the road, we sure did run into some nice bucks! I could have spot and stalked some monsters there if I could have used my .270. I ran into a bow hunter in his stand here and there. I'd always back out slowly and if I saw them later on at dusk, if they were polite to me, I'd give them the inside scoop on where I have jumped some big bucks. One guy was super nice, told him of a spot off 13 near Caterville where I had been seeing a heavy 10 a couple times, sure enough I saw him the next year and he nailed that SOB with his bow!

I'll have to look into Johnson County. They just released the last permit results and my buddy and I were thinking that we'd just apply for Johnson, Saline or Williamson and do our research and find some public land. If we don't make it down there we are only out $30 so its not a huge deal. I would never ask for any specific locations but if you think one part of Johnson Co. (North, east, etc) is better for public I wouldn't mind the help. PM if you want.

Good luck to all this season, I hope to see some great pics!