backnaction34

Im planning a trip to Illinois this fall for some bow hunting. Ive checked out the DNR website but I cant finda list of the Bowhunt only public lands. It has them all listed together, gunand bow,and with my slow a?? computer the season will be closed by the time I find what I want... any help???

Kid

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yodeldog3

Look under Illinois state parks, you should find what your looking for. Most of the state parks, the big ones anhow do have bow hunting. I shot a nice 10 pt in lake shabbona state park in 2000. It"s in northern Il. near Dekalb.

ihunt1975

Bow only places are usually small tracts of ground, too small for firearm hunting. They usually get the crap hunted out of them fast because of their size and the number of bowhunters in the state. You're better off going south to the big forests where ground is plentiful and hunting pressure is moderate.

backnaction34

Thanks for the heads up on that. We were thinkn southern IL...sounds like to us its better. (bigger dear), any truth to that?

backnaction34

My bad....DEER DEER DEER DEER. I failed most all my spelling tests

fastetti

Im sure I won't be as helpful as others on here, but if you are checking out Southern Illinois, I take a look at Shawnee National Forest. I hunted Crab Orchard while I was in school down there and saw MANY large bucks during the archery season. The problem was I on Upland game hunted (No where to put a deer!) I don't think Crab Orchard gets to much Bow pressure and with the amount of land, there are always places to hunt. We'd go out hunting 5 days a week and rarely did we see anyone in tree. If they were out, they were rarely farther than 100 yards off the road.Lotsof decent corn adn been fields to set up on and if you knowwhere the thick stuff is in the woods near the ag. fields, you'll find the deer.I'd take a good look at Crab Orchard though, lots of acreage and I don't think they havea huge amount of gun pressure.

Good Luck!!!

kickin_buck

Crab Orchard is a good place to start, but it does get a bunch of pressure because of the amount of land it offers. Take a look at Stephen Forbes State Park in Marion County. I hunted a piece of private land about a mile from the park a few years back. We always stayed at the camp ground on the park and always seen tanks coming and going to our land. I turned a guy at work onto it who was looking for a place for him and his kids to bowhunt. They have been at it now for 5 years and he has taking one 16 pointed that grossed at 173 and some change. They take deer every year and every year see good bucks 140+. I know there are a group of Texans that come up there every year for two weeks around the rut, it is a good place to start looking. Most of the State Parks in Illinois are archery only, the hard part if finding the ones that don't get beat up with hunting pressure. Also, it just crossed my mind, check out Randolph County Conservation Area, I shed hunt this place and have always found some good sheds, so the bucks must be there. Good luck!!!!

backnaction34

Thanks to all you guys this sounds like it ll be helpfull ALOT !!! Got anymore ....keepem coming!

ACPOSSETIM

Depending on when you are planning on coming, public land will be bow only until our first gun season. That gun season is usually the weekend before thanksgiving. I think even some of the public ground allows bow hunting during the later gun seasons...but I'm not sure. Hope this helps.