salukipv1

I've never hunted it, but there is ALOT of public land in the golden triangle of IL......ie pike, adams, brown etc.....like mult 15,000 acre parcels.....checkout the IDNR website.....they post it etc...., I assume other guys know if the land and hunt it, but ya october archery....public land, maybe you'll get lucky? Stan potts patterned and killed a monster on public a while back. If there was ever a place to get lucky that sounds like it, I'd just be worried about other hunters, maybe plan a M-F hunt, id go archery last days of october.....

ihunt1975

I'm afraid to tell ya salukipv1 Hunting on public ground has changed since Stan Potts killed his monster on public ground. Evolution of tv hunting is to blame. Everybody wants to come to Illinois. They are killing better bucks than they re used too but the bucks are usually 2 1/2 yr olds. When you kill 'em at 2 1/2 the potential of a monster 150" or higher goes down.
Here' s a real life example. I hunt a 1200 acre piece of public ground. Before non res invasion, it was nothing to pass on 140" deer. Now I see lots of 2 1/2 yr olds 120" or less because 1 1/2 yr old are protected there. But first week of Nov., I see half of them in trucks with Michigan license plates. I'm glad someones happy with them but the real travesty is the crazy amount of hunting pressure they put on the herd just to shoot a 2 1/2 yr old. Any buck with age moves on neighboring private ground with less pressure. I'm sure its the same everywhere from the stories I here from other in state hunters. But the real lesson in all of this is don't depend on public ground to regularly produce trophies.

125py

i am thinking any state other than Illinois

don128

Missouri.

Prozacaddict

It depends on if you want a high-fenced operation. My buddy owns/operates a Deer Preserve here in Ohio where you can harvest a 140" to a 200"+ it depends on how big your pockets are. If interested PM me.

RT1

You talk about all the michigan license plates, the michigan hunters are killing off the smaller 120 class / 1-1/2-2yr. oldbucks instead of passing on them. I can totally believe that with the michigan hunters. I live and hunt in southwest michigan and that's all we see is a majority of hunters shooting the first thing they see. The saying is "if it's brown it's down" It drives me up the wall. Their are very few older bucks in michigan. They don't get a chance to grow up and reach some type of potential. There are a few practicing quality deer management, not enough. They panic because they only have a few days off. Michigan is really not that great to hunt. If your lucky enough to own hundreds of acres and have surrounding neighbors that practice what you do, you'll never get a trophy quality buck in michigan. There are gobs of deer, not a problem of getting a deer in michigan. We really have to many. We have great land for them to flourish, but to many just shoot at anything that moves.

kickin_buck

Illinois is great, but the public land is getting pounded by people. You have tag issues with Iowa and there is not a lot of public ground in Northern Missouri. Kansas is the place to be, this coming from an Illinois guy.

opieone

Well Kansas has some reallynice bucks, and Bowhunters have the best chance for rutting bucksaround the 1st week of November.
They don't open regular firearms season for ustil the wed after thanksgiving, not a lot of rut activity still going on.
So I think getting a trophy buck here in KS favors the bowhunters.
I heard this year that unfilledarchery tags may also be used for rifle season later, I havn't confirmed.
Don't know about public land, I've never found a shortage of landowners that are willing to grant permission.
I hunt in Bourbon and Crawford counties in the southeast.
A friendarrowed 2 bucks in Wyandotte Co(5 miles from KS speedway) that had permanentlylocked horns in battle 2 years ago. The game officer said he should have shot one and then called them for permission on the 2nd one.

RT1

Michigan is so easy to get a license over the counter. Just drive over that simple. I should say on my previous reply, Michigan is a good deer hunting state, the biggest deer are in the lower penisula. I say just above Grand Rapids, straight across from shore to shore on down to the indiana border. There are alot of big michigan deer out there. There is just a stupid trend to shoot them to young going on in the southwest portion of michigan. Believe me there are some nice big bucks, just not as many as there could be. ALOT of deer in michigan, better than not having alot.

Handles

I'd try MN as suggested. Lots of public land. That bemidji area is a good starting point and I would head NW from there. Fosston, Bagley, Trail, Gully, Oklee. Very low human poplulation areas with lots of thick timber dispersed by farm land. Try edges of beaver ponds. It wouldn't be dumb to pick up an over the counter bear tag.