Well Illinois guys i think its going to be a good year. We had 2 big bucks in one of our shelled corn fields yesterday evening and 5 does. At least the corn will be out at a decent time this year and the deer will be forced into the woods.

No doubt. The early harvest will certainly change things compared to last year. My brother is coming down to hunt with me for a week, from the U.P. of MI, and all of IL hunting that he has seen has been on TV, so i'm working daily on trying to bring his expectations down to a somewhat reasonable level! Should be a good year, light winter, lots of mast, i'm pumped. Got stands all done, now just waiting for the calendar to turn.

I know what you mean about the tv and people thinking that every deer theyre going to see in illinois is going to be a giant. If Illinois doesnt change something about the rising prices of tags and licenses theyre going to lose alot of income from the hunting community because people just simply wont pay it. Im glad i get landowner tags but i feel sorry for the individuals who have to pay for them. Im going out this weekend to hang the rest of my stands and then ill just be ready for oct.1

Word is that they are planning on a early harvest for the crops. Mid October would be super compared to last year when it was mid November when they where cutting corn...

Yeah, it's all about Mother Nature and how she cooperates with the farmers and their ability to get into the fields. The corn was ready for quite a while last year, but the rain was relentless. Farmers here in West Central IL have begun to pick!! Last year, I didn't bowhunt one time in picked corn...sort of sucked, but can't complain too much I suppose.

I know, I felt a little bit bad about my how much it costs to get an IL tag. My bro got the combo and one more doe tag and it was $455. He had no problems paying it, happy to do it, but dang, thats alot.