bochr

I have a non-resident liscene for Illinois and have never been there in my life. If anyone has any info on good public lands for deer hunting I would greatly appreciate it.

Buck Terminator

You might want to try Shawnee National forrest in Southern IL it has 277,645 huntable acres it is one of the closest areas to where you are from. It has the most area in the state and lots of deer everywhere. If you are a trophy hunter you might want to find a area in and arround the (golden triangle) area that borders Mississippi,Illinois rivers generally state zones 1,4 some really great deer come out of there every year. But public areas also get pounded pretty hard there also. You should be able to have the state send you a Digest of huntin and trapping regulations for this year it has all the public areas listed and where they are located and general iformation with phone # for most sites so you can call with any questions. I live in central IL and hunt in Shawnee area on private and public area for shotgun season. Good luck.

freezermeat

check with the idnr on hunting the clinton lake area

Zingnut

Yeah, I agree I hunt the Shawnee in Pope and Johnson Counties. Lots of deer, but you would never catch me out there during firearms season. To much orange for my taste. There are some great public hunting hidey holes but they are hard to find. All in all you will see deer... trophy class??? thats all up to what you consider a trophy. I see about 3 140+ class bucks during bow season on public land.

bochr

Thanks for giving me a little direction. I'll check into these areas and let you know how this year turns out.

bwhunter501

Shawnee is a good and also another great one is the Jim Edgar State Park iv seen some awsome bucks come out of there.

Firehouse140

I have a similar situation. A friend has got me back into hunting after 10 years. I have never hunted firearm season. We are booked to hunt in BIG RIVER STATE FOREST Illinois. Never hunted public land before. ANY POINTERS? Tree stand or ground? Any info would be helpful. Thanks

Buck Terminator

Is that in Henderson Co. ? I would take along tree stand, Ground hunting on shotgun season in public area does not really set easy with me. The area you are at says it has 2970 acres of hunting maybe you could find out how many others are let in to the area. The phone # for the area is 309-374-2496. Good luck