I've never hunted it but have heard a little bit about it. Gun season permits are sometimes a little tough to pull but so many people forget about the drawing so at least your in the hunt. Did you put any sites in as your second choice.

I have done a decent amount of public land hunting and enjoy trying to help people get a deer, especially newbies. Getting far away from the road is usually a great bet, but there are often times to hunt near the road. I'll try and take a look at the Starved Rock map here in the next week and see how it looks. Ive been there in the past but don't remember to much, I was pretty young when I was there. There are deer there and some big bucks, you just have to outsmart the bucks and the other hunters, which is possible. I'm amazed on how many big bucks I see while pheasant hunting these State parks, they grow big because they thick different than the 1.5 year and 2.5 year old bucks that get shot every year. Mature does are the same way. Let me know if you want some help looking for spots and I'll google earth the area and cross check it with topi maps to see if I can see any spots that look good.