Illinois Public Land
 

Im trying to plan a trip to Illinois to deer hunt the first 2 weeks of bow season this year. I'll have to do it on public land. Does anyone know of any good public ground to shoot a 120 class or better? Or does anyone know the best region of the state? I'll travel to anywhere in the state and I dont mind some long walks and hard work. I really prefer a long walk to get away from hunters. Please help. thanks everyone

RE: Illinois Public Land
 

First off ~ Welcome to HNI!

I've never hunter Illinois but of course hear / read stories about the famed Pike County, which always comes to mind...
Sounds like fun!!!

Here is the web page to the state and if you fish around you will find some decent info
http://www.dnr.state.il.us/index.htm
Another page for a little research...
http://www.qdma.com/
Harvest numbers (05-06)...
http://dnr.state.il.us/pubaffairs/2007/January/deerharvest.html
An older article to read and give you a few ideas??!!
http://www.illinoisgameandfish.com/h...ng/IL_1207_02/
Here's the world record typical for Pope&Young....

Score: 204 4/8 Location: PEORIA COUNTY, ILLINOIS Hunter: MEL JOHNSON Year Taken: 1965

RE: Illinois Public Land
 

I would recomend Shawnee National Forrest. Get away from the famed Golden Triangle. I hear it's madness during season. The Shawnee is thousands upon thousands of acres of public land.

RE: Illinois Public Land
 

X2 on the Shawnee National Forrest, plenty of good ground to hunt just be sure to get in there a ways.

RE: Illinois Public Land
 

Goto Iowa...lol.

You can shoot a 120" all day anywhere...so ya maybe get away from the golden triangle esp if you only want to shoot a 120"

RE: Illinois Public Land
 

Shawnee is the way to go. Thousands of acres and if you get off the beaten path you will be able to havea chance at a nice buck. I saw the pictures of a gentleman who got a nice 150 class buck off there this year. He worked for it though and was a mile from the nearest road. My suggestion is to get as far away from Chicago as you can. Everything within a few hours of the city is quite crowded and your chances of taking a nice buck are quite slim, they do exist but they are extremly smart and hard to find.

RE: Illinois Public Land
 

Check into some of the Army Corps of Engineers land on the Mississippi River. There was some of it in the area where I lived downriver from the Quad-Cities and there wasn't much hunting pressure there because few people knew about it and some of it was hard to get to.

RE: Illinois Public Land
 

Go to MN a secret big buck haven. Shot a 150 on the first night of a self guided hunt. Good Luck

RE: Illinois Public Land
 

Hey deernutz not to to try and intrude but just curious in what part of the state where you hunting and was it bow or gun.

RE: Illinois Public Land
 

Shawnee National Forest is the way to go...and especially if you are bow hunting you do not necessarily have to get very far off the beaten path as the pressure will not be all that great.

Would be very helpful if you could scout before hunting though...