Illinois, Missouri deer hunting dilemma
 

Hey guys, a week ago or so my dad found out we have permission to hunt a few farms that a family members friend owns. The farms are in White County Illinois, Grayville to be exact. I thought this sounded amazing. River bottom farmground in Eastern Illinois. My Dad and my brother do not seem enthused at all though! I'm used to hunting central and southern Missouri. I see an average of about 1 deer per 2 sittings.

The drive is a little less than three hours, but we do that for our deer hunting spot now.

How can I get them to want to go check the farms out???

Thanks guys!

Kellen

Tell them to google Illinois river bottom bucks.

Have him take a look at this.

www.northamericanwhitetail.com/trophybucks/NAW_1007_08/index.html

Haha Kid, already sent that to my brother a couple days ago in an email.

It shouldn't take any convincing. I go to school in Southeast Missouri, and I could get tags at in state rates here... but I don't even have to debate whether I want to hunt in Missouri or Illinois. The deer in the southern part of MO are usually scrawny (except the one that lives behind my house in the middle of Cape Girardeau).

Personally I really don't see the point in wasting our second week of gun season and spending my bank account to hunt over there.

Kidd,thats a nice buck but you have to wonder if he really shot the deer or not,usually during the 2nd gun season there is snow on the ground and a deer wouldn't spoil in 2 days,unless it was a warm December im not sure.

My wife and I have property to hunt in the county border to the East of White county (Clark) and when that buck was killed, my buddies brother saw that deer the weekend it was killed. He works oil rigs over there and knows the family. We average 6 deer per trip out. There are ALOT of deer over there!!!! There was another deer in the 180+ class killed the next year as well in the area. :deer:

Rarely is there snow on the ground that far south in Illinois that time of year. I hunt in White County and it was rainy and warm during the second season in 2006. It would have spoiled easy in 2 days that year. My Brother-in-law knows the guy who killed this Deer and it was legit. White County might be the best kept secret in Illinois. Though the outfitters are starting to take over.

If it were me, and I had access to a vehicle, I'd go alone if I had to. Seeing 1 deer per 2 stands is not hard to beat. Illinois will probably be more productive, even if you have not been there before. Will your permission allow you to go by yourself?

Shoot a nice buck and they'll want to come along next time.

Hey Buddy - that is a really good question you have there.
The answer is that sometimes people have a traditional hunting spot and all the begging in the world doesn't seem to have an effect on where they would like to go to hunt.

For some people, it has nothing to do with getting and everything to do with where you are at and the people you associate with.

3 hour drives is a tough one because that would probably limit you to one or two visits per a year.
I am not a firm believer in trail camera's because deer moves around, like other forum members has said and big antlers makes people do crazy things. In the end, you can't eat the antlers - but they do look nice hanging on the wall.

My suggestion to you is what I call a life's lesson.
If you want to be successful in anything in life, you have to surround yourself with other people who also wants to be successful. Sometimes that means taking the path less chosen.

If your family members do not want to go hunting there, you can't force them to go. But what you can do is find some people who would like to go and go hunting with them.
Two things will happen, first your family will get mad at you for a while, but once you are successful and show them - hey this is a great place to hunt. They too will want to go there and you will be able to change their minds easily without much effort.

Sometimes when you go off in your own direction, the other people will get to missing you and will want to tag along - just because they don't want to go hunting without you.

Here is a example.

My dad, grandpa and brother Bob hunted together all their lives.
Back in the day, you had to go to the mountains to hunt deer because there was no hunt-able population of deer where I lived.
Once or twice a year, they loaded up what ever car they had and drove 50 miles to the big woods to hunt deer.
We had a priest that was a good hunter that found a spot locally that had some deer and he convinced them to go hunting with him and they enjoyed it so much that they quit going to the big woods to hunt deer - because all the deer in the big woods had small racks and you had to go out into the woods all day with no heat and freezing cold temperatures and the automobiles back in the 40's and 50's didn't have all that good of a heater and the roads were not always the best in December.

So my dad and family spent the next 30 years hunting in one spot in the game lands and some local places - because after a while, the deer spread out as the timber grew and as the farms grew up and more deer were available to shoot.

Then they logged the game lands and it got to the point of where you could not see 50 yards in the area that they liked to hunt, so they quit going there.
Because I knew those woods and because I had a car of my own that I could drive where ever I wanted to hunt, I went there for about 7 years by myself.
All 7 of those years I either shot a buck or had a opportunity to shoot a buck by 9 AM on opening day.
When they saw how good I was doing, they wanted to go back to the game lands and try their luck, and as they started seeing deer - they wanted to go back more and more.
Then as I got more money into my pocket. I started going back to the big woods where they traditionally hunted and scouted a place that was really nice and took them along several times.
As they saw more and more deer going hunting with me and as they realized that I had more then one place to hunt, they wanted to go hunting with me.
When I got a job working for a electric company, I met many people and those people offered places to hunt for me and my family that most people do not get a opportunity to hunt in - in a lifetime.
Again, as they saw more and more deer - they wanted to go hunting with me.
The one thing I learned in all of my travels is to treat the property owner with respect and give them little presents - for letting me hunt on their land. It doesn't matter if it is some deer meat or small game or a Ham for Christmas or a box of Chocolates or even just stopping by and saying hello from time to time.
Sometimes the better you treat people, the more opportunities it opens up for you.
Maybe a farmer hears that you are a good shot and has some crows or groundhogs that he needs shot out of his field. For doing that - he lets you hunt deer. Maybe a persons tractor is broke down and you can weld or machine or repair it for him and in return he lets you drive across his land to get to a prime hunting spot.
It all works out in the end.

So do what you got to do and remember - someday if it is as good as everyone says it is - your family will want to go there with you and you will have a good time. Just give it some time to make it all happen. Don't rush things or try to do too much all at once.

Very good advice from all of you. Thanks a lot!

As soon as I turn 16 (this upcoming June) I'll get my license and be able to go there by myself if I want to!

My brother says he does not want to pay the 325 bucks for the tag. But I pay 400 bucks to mount a nice deer! I'd rather pay 325 and not mount the deer than pay nothing and not get a nice deer.

Maybe if he sees how successful I am at the spot he'll pay the 325

illinois is magical i would kill to have some private land like that to hunt. i hunt public land in central illinois and see deer about every time we go out.