if you don't own land there then whats it matter where you live.i don't hunt in the co. i live in because i don't have land there to hunt.i'm not mad about it i don't go to the local farmer here and say hey i live near here let me hunt for free.your not being realistic.

and how can you sit there and act like its no big deal? you must have many places to hunt? i dont understand how you act like its no big deal when NR's come in and take it over. you have no choice with the landowner doing what he wants, but you have every right to be upset.
and Pike county has more NR's, i can assure you that, and everyone who hunts in pike county can tell you that. pike is a tourist attraction, as its said.
i never said that it was just me that its happened to, did i? no. its alot of hunters, and people are calling us whiners, because we are getting ran off by NR's, you would act the same way, so dont pull that act. you wouldnt be pleased if you got ran off your hunting ground, any hunter would be mad if this happened.
and what point do you prove by bringing your wallet out? and what do you accomplish by keeping your mouth shut?

OK,

Just got back from Springfield where I was able to attend a meeting and learn a bit about whats going on.

The Ad rules that is proposed by the DNR is just in case the Legislation lifting the NR cap doesnt pass. The DNR thinks that this is going to happen as it is now going to a full vote. The ONLY way anyone can help stop this is to call your local state rep and let them know what you think about HB1161 and SB1726. The DNR is not against these bills other than the wording they want changed so the 2 buck limit will still be in effect. There was a conference call involving the bowhunting groups, IFOR,the DNR, and there was a outfitter in too. The Outfitter was actually asking for the DNR to not allow NR to hunt public land in Illinois. That was shot down right away as the do it yourselfer or the ones hunting with family would get the shaft.

Other things check stations are GONE. This will be for both archery and gun. They are going to use a phone in system like they do for turkey. There was some good reasons to do this on the archery that I heard and one was the information would be "realtime" A CPO could check on someone right away and see what they have harvested. Currenty with the check stations all over the state and the archery season so long most of that infomation doesnt get compiled or does get done way after archery season is over. Now for the gun stations I think this is s HUGE mistake. Gun season is only for 2 long weekends and its a rat race already. Cant imagine this is going to happen.

Theres over 215 Outfitters in Illinois right now. The amount of land that was currenty leased in Pike County was astounding. (and its GOING to get worse)

Other things I heard I will try to post them here later, im headed to a Boy Scout Dinner.

Thanks for the update Don. All in all if those 2 bills pass, its going to be more damaging for residents and leasing will increase.

this is gonna be a disaster. check stations show proof of the weapon that killed the animal, there will be so much poaching, it wont work out without the check stations.
again, this is getting ridiculous. all these outfitters coming in, makes me go crazy...

Same here i like it the way it is especially with the checkin stations. So they think its "out of date" so what, so the people hunt that are passing this bill? because im going to go out on a limb and say NO they dont or none of this would be happenin. Like Don K said they are making a HUGE mistake by taking away the shotgun checkin stations and i even think taking away the bowhunting checkin stations is nuts[:'(]

What worries me on the gun check stations is that is the tool they have been using to check for CWD. I heard that they will still have CWD testing in the areas that it is present up here in northern Illinois. But what about the other counties? How are they going to find out if this is located somewhere else in the state if they dont check for it? I havent heard a answer on the one.

They want to have a 25 dollar over the counter doe tag for NR. This was here last year but was only available for those that had one of the either sex tags. Now any NR would be able to get one and im guessing this would help those that cant afford the regular tags and hunt with family and friends.

They want to legalize "barbed broadheads". The expanable heads are giving the DNR a nightmare as they have to check to see if they are legal or not here in Illinois. The "Tekan" by G5 was considered barbed and deemed illegal to use in Illinois last season. Their answer to saving time and answering questions is to just say they are legal. I guess if this flies you could maybe pull out your fiberglass fishing arrow and reel and your deer would have a harder time running away

Theres some legislation out there to fix the problem with people hunting on private land and liabilty. This would protect those that let people let others on their land for recreation use.

If you want to keep track of whats going on here in Illinois heres a great link.
http://www.if-or.org/legislative_alerts.htm

Im sure I missed something else and will let you know when it comes to me

Now I do like this one!! This is very necessary to help protect landowners! Because of that lawsuit over a sledding accident, I lost some ground last year due to a scared landowner.

Cougar,

Heres whats going on with that.

HB0932

Synopsis As Introduced
Amends the Recreational Use of Land and Water Areas Act. Provides that the purpose of the Act is to encourage owners of land to make land and water areas available to any individual or, on state-owned or managed lands and waters, members of the public (rather than to the public) for recreational or conservation purposes by limiting their liability toward persons entering thereon for such purposes. Provides that residential buildings are not included in the definition of "land". Changes the definition of "recreational or conservation purpose" to include hunting, hiking, recreational shooting, operation of an off-highway vehicle, rock climbing, trapping, horseback riding of an entrant's own horse or horses, fishing, swimming, boating, camping, picnicking, water or snow skiing, sledding, and snowmobiling. Effective immediately.

Actions
Date Chamber Action
2/2/2005 House Filed with the Clerk by Rep. Brandon W. Phelps
2/3/2005 House First Reading
2/3/2005 House Referred to Rules Committee
2/8/2005 House Assigned to Executive Committee
2/24/2005 House Added Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Michael K. Smith
2/24/2005 House Added Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Mike Boland
3/1/2005 House Added Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Robert W. Pritchard



This is a VERY good bill

I just have a couple of points to address some rumors on this thread....

As it stands now...the ILDNR already charges NR archers the MAXIMUM amount allowed by law for the NR archery tag.

There is legislation pending to raise the maximum amount, but as of last week, Brian Clark of the Springfield office felt that it would not come to pass for the 2005-2006 season.

Also, according to ILDNR records, roughly 3000 NR archers hunted with outfitters in the 2004-2005 archery season. I believe this number is low, because the way records are kept up to now, an outfitter could play with the books if they so desired.

If the 3000 number is anywhere near accurate, then roughly 4500 first draw tags for RESIDENT outfitters clients would go back into the lottery pool.

I specifically asked Mr. Clark if he felt that the avalibility of NR doe tags WITHOUT an either sex tag was an invitation for NR hunters to possibly break some laws. His response was that if a hunter was going to hunt illegally, he did not need this to do so. I guess I can agree with that?

Someone on this mentioned that the ILDNR did not like outfitters. This may be true, but as a non-resident outfitter, I can say that the ILDNR takes my phone calls on a monthly basis, and they are EXTREMELY polite and very helpful.

As far as resident hunters losing ground to hunt.....this is no doubt a real issue. I can clearly see both sides of the issue. I do my hunting and outfitting in Pike county. While there sure is more pressure there now than there was over 8 years ago when I first started there......residents of Pike county have not seen REAL hunting pressure.

I would like to continue with my personal hunting, and my outfitting in Illinois, but my number 1 concern is for the continued health of the resident deer herd. I have been fortunate enough to hunt whitetails in a bunch of places, but I can honestly say that each year I return to Illinois to bowhunt, I am astounded all over again by the quantity, and QUALITY of the deer.

I just wish they would lower the price of the NR doe tags....it gets pretty darn expensive knocking does down to help keep everything in check.

One thing I would like to see all outfitters go to......offer a chance at a FREE hunt for every hunter that tags a doe while there. I was amazed at how many clients shot does when I implemented this one.

However this mess turns out....I hope eveeryone has a great season this coming year, and I know where I will be for a month this fall!