Wrongway, I go to college in Edwardsville so I would possibly be interested in the Chouteau-Gaberet Island. That would keep me from traveling home every weekend to deer hunt. Is it very crowded? Every other public land spot I've hunted on is extremely over hunted and you get yelled at constantly when walking to your spot in the morning. Also since its an island, do you have to have boat access?

You need a boat for Mosenthein Island, but not for Chouteau-Gaberet Islands. The road back to the 1 parking area can be ruff. I use my bicycle to get to my favorite spot. It is a 2 1/2 mile ride from the parking area. It can be busy on the weekends.
I made a rack to carry my stand and equipment for my bike, and a cart which attaches to the back of the rack to haul deer out.

That's the CLOSEST place to park for Chouteau island??

It is 2 1/2 miles to my favorite spot by road, shorter if you want to cut thru the fields.
You can hunt right next to the parking area if you want to. There is a few different patches of timber and fields to hunt.
You can also hunt some spots along Route 3. Go to the Horseshoe Lake office or the Corp of Engineers office in West Alton during business hours and get a map showing the hunting areas.

wrongway, the dnr website says chouteau island is 184 acres. You could barely go 2 1/2 miles if you circled 184 acres... Is my acreage estimation off or is the internet wrong about the huntable land?

So I guess if I want to find the big dudes I just have to go to the parking area and follow the bike tracks?

Chouteau and Gabaret Island are one island, and Gabaret has 930 acres. I like hunting the southern border of the hunting area on Gabaret. I don't see alot of deer, but I do see enough to make the trip. I don't see very many hunters either because I try to hunt weekdays.

wrongway, my bud and I are thinking about going out scouting and shed hunting next Saturday. Would you wanna meet up and do some of that together? Email me: [email protected]

thanks.