Adeer cart does the trick if you have a navigable route back.Also, call a friend if possible. Like I did in the photo. It's my buddy Jim Cantu who hasn't been able to hunt in 2 years due to his wife's school. This was my Oct. 3rd public land buck. Had to cart him about 1/2 mile. Last year it was 4 miles. That was tough. My hamstrings were tight as piano strings. Luckily I enjoy the challenge of getting them out.

My 2nd buck was much tougher. Shot him in central Illinoisin rough terrain. Carted him 1/4 mile, but when I got to the creek I was done. Had to get him up an 8' bank, so I went for help in the opposite parking area. Three guys teamed up to help horse him out of there. Not possible without the help. However, last year ILDNR legalized quartering your deer if you had him called in to the electronic check-in. So if you have a backpack it's no problem anymore. That is what I will do next year.

Not stupid at all buddy. Not being able to use a four-wheeler or ATV to get them out is a real drag. (no pun intended)
We hunt almost a mile into the woods to avoid the restof the crowds. We use a plastic sled when there is snow on the ground and a wheeled cart for when its dry.

Good Hunting,
Bowflex

There is still quite a bit of hunting ground available for sale in parts of the state. In some areas, it is way too expensive, but in others you can still get enough to deer hunt on for the price of some newvehicles. Its just an issue of saving the money and shopping around.

Ultimately, the best solution is to increase the amounts of public land available for hunting. If i was still a resident of Illinois I wouldhave already started a petition for Illinois to start a program like in south Dakota where the state leases scattered patches of private land and opens it for hunting.

In Illinois that would only happen if it benefits Chicago.........

You are right on the money with that comment

i live around pike county area and every bit of ground that has a tree on it is leased up. it sucks. i had a ton of ground to hunt 7 years ago. no nothing in that county. thank god we still own our farm and there a couple hundred acres there. i think its only going to get worce though!!

The land leaseing is about the same inMorgan and Macoupin also. I dont see itgetting better --only worse. I joke and say that in afew years instead of leasing land you will be leasing a tree to hunt out of.
A few years back insome of us were in a Taxidermy shop and a guide for one of the bigger outfitters with quite a bit of Morgan county land leased came in. He started talking to us and was actually stupid enough to brag about all the land they had and how he was sick and tired of local guys leasing land and sick of local landownwers leasing land to the local guys because it was taking land away from the outfitters. Needless to say he turned quite a few heads and it didnt take him long to get out of there.

I just purchased a farm in Macoupin County. We are very excited about it. What is the hunting like in that area??

I hear you guys on the leasing. But, surprisingly, we are selling out farm, and some people dont act interested. Weird!

2,137 deer harvested in Macoupin County during the 2 firearm seasons this year. I'd say they have a pretty healthy deer population. Congrtas on the farm. How many acres? Wooded/tillable?

Hey ICALL2MUCH---sent you a pm