max the dog

Ten zillion people who want to hunt deer on limited public hunting land is the problem. The only part of Illinois with good public hunting land access is the far southern tip and the quality just doesn't compare with what you find along the west central part of the state. All of that huge demand is sending real estate and lease prices sky high. It's nice if you own land but not so nice if you don't.
Things would be much better if we had at least twice the public hunting land to use. What little public land we have is choked with people instead of deer. The western states should consider themselves lucky to have so much good public land.

datamax

Now honestly how many people do you think will hunt IL ? Sure, IL has great hunting, but why would they choose IL over Kansas, or Missouri, or WI or any other big name whitetail state ?

Answer : outfitters and leasing

I lived a bit in IL and I don't remember it having vast ammounts of public land like some states have. That in itsself will keep non-resident hunters in check (not knowing where to hunt or having the contacts to go)

But ..... outfittes and leasing solve that problem, doesn't it ?

A lot of states, not just out west, have great public land hunting, but yeah I agree its a great thing taken for granted by many. But IL's sister state Missouri has unlimited non-resident tags, great hunting and the bulk of the public land is in the southern part of the state, isn't it ?

So why doesn't MO have a problem ? Why would IL be any differnt than MO ?

Answer : outfitters and leasing

bloodb2

I'm amazed at all the jumping to conclusions going on in this thread. Guys, just because a bill passes through the senate does NOT mean it's law yet! This issue has NOT yet been decided nor would it ever include unlimited permits for everyone when it has been! Unlimited available permits and unlimited permits per person are 2 completely separate things.

The sky is NOT falling. Stop spreading rumors until the facts come out.

Check out http://www.irro.net for updates on this issue as they are available. IRRO is the group that's brought the lawsuit against the state of Illinois trying to get the cap removed.

hunter25

datamax, I agree with pretty much everything you're saying. I don't think this will affect the average hunter in IL as much as people think...nor is it going to have a huge affect on the deer herd. I hunt mainly private land, but do venture onto to public land once in a while. There have always been restrictions to how many hunters can be in a "Hunter Lot" at one time...this is not going to change for the State Parks, so it's not like there are going to be twice as many hunters for a given area or lot on public ground.

For private land hunters, this will have little affect. Sure, it will drive up the cost of a lease or available land for sale...but that's economics. It's been happening for decades and will continue to happen. Think about what this just did for people that have their own land...yep, the cost of your land just went up!

Getting rid of check stations? Not that big of a deal either. A lot of states don't have check stations and their herd is fine. I would imagine more deer will get "called" in or tagged than what they did before. The reason for this is simple...convenience. What was to stop you for not checking in your deer before? Besides the obvious (law), nothing. Just don't think there is any reason to over react here.

adams

Bloodb2,

Welcome!
Thanks for the link and the added information.That was a good first post. It's interesting to see the DNR had originally proposed this as a solution and it was rejected by the governor's office.

I hate to see legislators get involved but if they are working as a tool or extension of the DNR I can accept it. The way it originally sounded is that this was a push by outfitters to expand their bussiness as the expense of the residents and the deer herd. If dnr feels this is best to manage the heard I have trouble opposing it.

It'sa amazing how a little extra information can make such a big diffrence in the way an issue is viewed.

duramaxlt

Until the 2002 season there were no limits on NR archery and there were no problems that was when the license were just $120 so why do ya'll believe everyone is going to rush out to Illinois to pay $450. Pesonally i can tell you that my group has already gotten smaller if this passes.i believe that mainly some residents are worried they are going to lose their free hunting spots as far as hurting the quality of deer in Illinois that won't happen with bows and everyone knows it.the gun totals keep rising though and thats where the hurt will come from.

Don K

bloodb2,
These bills will be called for a final vote in the 2nd legislative house in two weeks. All that's needed after that is the gov's signature. That web site has nothing on it on what has been passed this week.

bloodb2

Correct, nothing is posted there yet because nothing is final as yet. IRRO will post accurate updates as soon as it is available.

Don K

The IRRO
Our mission is to Protect, Preserve, and Manage Our Recreational Resources. We need to act NOW to secure our future in the commercial hunting industry


Yep, secure that future and the hell with the regular guy...........

IL_BOW_MAN

Cornfed, I emailed my Senator on the check station issue and here was the response...

Now how true it is, we won't know until the new regs come out!!