Actually, all of the private land in some areas of Illinois is not as locked up as you would think. In the county where i am from, leasing has not yet really taken over YET and there are still quite a few landowners who will give people permission to hunt. However, they are starting to limit the number of people that they will allow to put up stands because the number of people wanting to deer hunt has risen so much. That is a good thing because there is not much public land in the immediate area.
In some areas of the state, purchasing land also remains feasible, IF you are willing to make some financial sacrifices. But that option will likely be gone in another decade.


I really dont see a downside to increasing public land hunting opportunities. The alternative is most hunting ground being tied up by a small number of deer hunters. That doesn't bode well for other deer hunters and especially other types of hunters.

My issue and issue of others is not fact being sued and loosing, it's being sued and having to pay for the court cost.

We were sued about Granddad leaving the farm to us. We had to pay to protect ourselves, did we win

yes and no[&:]

If it makes you feel any better - a landowner liability case should never get past summary judgment. That means it's dismissed at the very infancy of the case. Should amount to no more than a couple-hundred bucks in hourlies - and you can recover your costs from the Plaintiff, based on his filing of a frivolous suit. Yes, it's a nag. But seriously, we're talking about one-in-a-million here. A landowner has a far bigger chance of one of his livestock wandering out into the roadway and causing a fatal accident.

Even with those protections in place, we will see the day where every hunter has to buy "hunting insurance." That's coming. Mark it down.

Don't you just hate it when people won't share what they worked hard to have and you want for free?

So many hunters expect to be allowed accessfor breathinginstead of offering something in return. It is the sense of entitlement that istheshame from where I stand.

No shame in it, huntingson. It is what it is. No sense of entitlement at all.

You won't let someone hunt your land: it's either because you're hording the deer for yourself, or you just plain don't want 'em there. Sorry bro, I don't candy-coat things. Sure, I could say "Oh, I worked hard for this, and I won't want to share it." But the real-world translation is: "My deer. Stay out."

If I had 1000 acres, I'd horde the deer for myself and my buddies. No doubt about it. I'm not shy about admitting it. Why sugar-coat the truth? I don't get it.

I wasn't sugar coating.If someone would be willing to trade goodsor services, then I would consider it.In fact, I have let 2 guys hunt in the past hunt because they had helped me out and thenasked if they could hunt. Now, of course I want to kill the biggest deer.However, if someone I let hunt shotamonsterinstead I wouldn't be upset. And I don't have anywhere nearenough acrage to think thatI could horde deer. They come and go on and off my landall the time.

Jeez, you don't even want people to be allowed to hunt PUBLIC land. So, what is the real difference between you and a deer horder? I know you like to argue for arguments sake, but it seems that you have talked yourself in a circle here.

Germ your're a deer hording SOB.[&:]
I wish 3/4's gun hunters would stop hunting[&:]
Hunting access is too easy in PA. People can hunt and it's too easy to start[&:]

Actually huntingson you better being hording those turkeys[:-] Now i have to go setup my lazer guided protection system for my land I plan on using this big LAZER to keep the deer on my land. Did you see my really big lazer

Well, I'm looking at it from two different perspectives:

1.)Why do some states just have SO MANY hunters? I looked it over, and most of the states with gross hunter overpopulation - they're all highly populated areas that areloaded with public hunting areas. Odds are, that's where/how most guys got started. Cheap and easy entertainment.

2.) Despite the number of hunters actually dwindling, how is the pressure in some areas actually increasing? Deer horders sucking up large tracts of prime hunting land, property that's closed to all hunting, suburban sprawl, economic growth. Pike County would be the most obvious and extreme example. Lots of other places with similar problems, in a lesser degree.

It's very consistent, actually.One is the initial cause of the high hunter population. The other is the reason that the problem can't seem to correct itself (and is actually getting worse).

Fran developmemnt has more to do with this than anything. We have lost zero land to deer horders in my area. We have a several new subs named after deer[&:] BTW if I, huntingson or the man on the moons wants to buy all the land and PA and kick you off it's alright Not at all less deer hording as wanting 3/4 hunters to stop hunting

The reason hunters numbers are dwindling has to do with age, do some research.

Germ ... don't let him get to ya ..... somebody wizzed inFran's cornflakes this mornin'