I love wasting my time there!

No big deal. Just have to understand the trend and take action. I pounded the phone line two-fisted, cell and landline, until getting through at 1:30 PM. Looking forward to my two special draw public land hunt properties this fall. Pre-rut in WC Illinois, then peak rut NE Illinois. Early birds got the worms this year. Good luck to all.

As I understand it , the outfitters in Ill. are responsible for the quick sell out of the permits, cause they can buy up to 6 permits per phone call, so you know all their family and friends were busy on the phone Saturday. I guess they have to protect their investment in the business. Don't mean I have to like it....I wish they make it to where only the person doing the hunting can purchase a permit, to make it fair for all the rest of the country who want to hunt there.[>:]

As far as the early bird goes, I was dailing the # 10 minutes before 8:00 and it was already busy....never got a dial tone the rest of the day using 2 cell phones and a landline at the same time. I guess the Lord has other plans for me this year, as far as my hunting out of state.

The Outfitters where not responsible for the quick sell. They could buy 6 at a time last year also. The quick sale was because they increased the amount of operators to handle the calls thus they sold out faster because there was more people getting the phones.

Not exactly DonK, Last year they sold out in 5 days and you could get through pretty easily any day after the first day. Our club was still taking a few hunters that week and we checked daily on the numbers left and had no problem getting through. Obviously people took last years sellout seriously but there HAD to be substantial increased demand.

It sounds like something will need to change...I am hearing that a lot of noise is being made in Springfield. One outfitter I know lost 45 of his 200 hunters. We've heard of another who will be bankrupted over this.

I'm glad all the hunters in our little club were dilligent and/or lucky. We only lost one hunter out of 44 and quite frankly he only called for about 20 minutes, left for work, and then called a bit Saturday night, gave up again and called Sunday morning and got shut out.

"We've heard of another who will be bankrupted over this. "


Sounds to me like they didnt plan. How does Outfitters in other states do it when they have a much lower cap then Illinois? They survive so they must plan ahead. Lots of Outfitters work in draw only states and they must be doing ok.

IMO, the only way to tell how much of a demand there really is, is to have a mail in lottery system in place. You then would know exactly how many people where applying.

Let them scream in Springfield all they want. I hope the cap stays where it is for everyones sake Non-resident and resident hunters.

Truthfully it's about time the outfitters were thinned out. Here in Pike there are so many outfitters leasing ground, us little guys have little chance of finding places to hunt. We could probably lose half the outfitters and still have more than neccissary. I don't hate em, but as someone who's lost hunting ground to em, I'm happy to see em having some trouble.

I dont know if thats the truth about outfitters can buy 6 permits. As I took it, it was a call in deal that had to be done by the non-residents.That's what it says in the outfitter rules and regulations guidelines anyway? If it is different I'd like to know about it.

Why does it have to change? The state does not subsidize outfitters and the state shouldn't!! Outfitting is a business for making money, plain and simple. Making game animal laws and quotas are the states business, not making sure each outfitter is allotted enough permits for hunters!

yes i agree 100% with cougar mag like he said its a business its win or lose, and i think its for the best that they cut down on NR tags but thats just my opinoin.