pjhunts

There are some real good spots on public ground in south central Il . If you hunt smart and hard, all day sits, a 130-160 is a reasonable expectation. There are some special draw areas but most is show up and hunt. I hunt a lot of public area and have seen a number of really good bucks and even a couple that would have gone over 200! I usually see about twice as many bucks as does in some of the areas that I hunt.

ihunt1975

YOU CAN KILL TROPHY BUCKS ON PUBLIC LAND HERE. I HAVE 6 125" OR BETTER IN 4 YEARS. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS IS OKAY. ROUGH TERRAIN, ROUGH HUNTING PRESSURE. YOU'LL SEE WAY MORE BABY BUCKS THAN BIG ONES THERE. I'D SAY STAY NORTH OF RTE 13 AND YOU'LL BE FINE IF YOU KNOW HOW TO HUNT.

daughenbaugh hunter

i live in northern illinois their is a good public land area in ogle county alot of big deer, and if you need help finding a place here to try out. my family are farmers in the area, since 1846 and we have many farms in winnebago jodaviess and stephenson county illinois i hunt at. i may be able to help you for free of course, but they only allow me too bow hunt, due to all the livestock they have, the land they have instephenson is along pecatonica river in ridott illinois many big deer there. and no pressure, they have about 200 acres on the farm half woods have field.
so get in touch with me, William Daughenbaugh Pecatonica Illinois

allroberts

The southern 7 counties of Illinois has abundant amount of public hunting grounds,,,,,some of the best public hunting areas are in Johnson, Pope, and Union counties,,,even though I have my own ground I still do alot of hunting on public ground,,,,but be sure to bring a GPS there are some areas you can get turned around in really easy,,,,,,,,some of the best waterfowl hunting is on public ground,,,,,but as far as Crab Orchard refuge in Marion IL goes, I wouldn't waste my time I live with in 10 miles of there,, and there are alot of people I talk to that hunt for 4 or 5 days and never see anything,,,,,there has been occasions where I have traded hunts so they would get a kill or atleast see something, that doesn't happin very much though........

hammerman

As Daughenbaugh said Ogle county has some great public land. I've been hunting out there for 3yrs and have seen some nice bucks, unfortunately only taken a 7pt and a button buck.
If you interested in going pm me for info.