I have a friend of mine from the south that wants to deer hunt in the midwest. I was thinking of suggesting Illinois to him but I wasn't sure of the process of getting a non resident gun tag. Does anyone have any experience with this and also are you guaranteed to get one or is it a lottery system? I was trying to do research online but it was hard to find. Thanks

Gun tags in Illinois are by lottery only. Also there is multiple draws to the lottery and a NR can not enter into the first draw. After the first draw, (and others) they list what tags are available on the Illinois DNR site.

You don't have to worry about it until Late July for None Residents. You can do it all via the IDNR website. Pretty easy.

Illinois public land is pretty limited, and there's special tags for it, which are kind of difficult to draw, depending on the site. There are also county tags, which are good through the county, but generally don't give you access to public land. County tags are easier to draw, but you need to work out land access, which usually means either a lease or an outfitter, which, in turn, means $$$$.