Need advice on hunting in Illinios
 

I just returned from hunting in Macoupin county Illinios yesterday. The lease we have has standing corn and soybean's. There were 3 of us hunting for 3 days and did not see a deer. The land was walked over 2 month's ago with deer on top of deer. I am from the south and have never hunted around standing corn or soybean's, but my question is were did the deer go . The track's we saw appeared to be old and we only saw a few rubbed tree's. I am now not sure if I want to go back when it get's closer to the rut. Please help.

The standing corn is a very secure hiding spot!

Well the deer will stay in the corn and use it as food and shelter. Also once beans start to turn colors they will leave them alone until they finish drying out. The other thing you need to remember is that acorns are dropping right now and deer will leave corn to feed on them so if you could find acorns that will help your chances.

The last thing is when its hot like it has been the deer will go nocturnal and you may not see them again until a big cool down. I wouldn't worry to much right now if you aren't seeing deer. Wait until all the crops are out in your area which at this rate will be first week or 2 of november. If after that you aren't seeing deer you may need to take a step back and try to figure out whats going on

I'm hunting not far from there. The deer just are not moving. Don't panic.....they will.

Fall is running a little behind around these parts this year. The woods are still very alive and the deer don't need to move much to find food. There is food everywhere right now.

I'm seeing exactly the same thing, don't worry it will turn on. I haven't seen any rubbed trees yet.

I don't know exactly what you are hunting but central IL is pretty slow right now.

Also still way more crops in than usual due a very wet spring and late planting. A lot of the corn is still 20-25% moisture.

Thanks for the info. If the deer was to turn on feel free to leave me a post.

Deer may have moved to the acorns right now. If the beans are brown and the acorns are falling then they probably have moved to oaks. Also, I'd look into hunting the trails leading up to the corn. Those tracks are probably made during the night. With the warm weather, those deer aren't going to move as early therefor they will be late to the fields. Try to intercept them along the way. I've also learned that stands on ag fields aren't necessarily the best thing. I used to set most of my stands on the edge of corn. Once i moved them in the woods a little bit more I started seeing a lot more deer in range. Think staging areas rather than field edges.

standing corn= a deer's home, they will stay there until the corn is down

The underbrush in the woods I hunt seems particularly thick this year. I assume that means conditions were good for woodland plants, and that probably means mast-producers too.

I'm a bit farther north, and from what I've seen and heard, pretty slow around here too.

If you had to pick a time this season to come back and bow hunt Illinios. When would it be, since I only plan on coming back for a week later say in November?

The week before gun season.

I agree.

For now though I would concentrate on water. They will certainly hold in the corn for the food but just like us they need water as much or more than food.

Just wanted to echo what you have been told. Have hunted Illinois 5 times. When the corn is still standing the deer up there will lay up in it just like they do in a thicket here in Alabama. Hunting can be slow and tough when the corn is still up. After they harvest the corn it will throw them back into the woods and you will see more deer. As others have said be back there the week in November before the first gun season comes in. Rut should be kicking in and you will still be getting a crack at them before that pumpkin army invades on day one of gun season. LOL!

I agree completely.

Just something to think about but where I do most of my hunting (pike co) there are a lot of out of state guys with leases and something that is getting more and more popular is finding a local they trust and letting them hunt the property for free and in return they get a lot of good information and someone to watch over the lease.

I know you would probably like to have it to yourself and your group but being so far away you probably have trespassers anyway. You might actually have less people on your lease doing it that way.

Ive never had to do what your doing because fortunately I live in a prime deer hunting area but I can imagine showing up for a week with no information, scouting etc. Is pretty tough.

Not to point out the obvious but if I could live in a grocery store I would, as stated above water might be the key to more opportunity but until the corn is out it will be tough. Good luck.

How many times have you guys seen a deer drink water?

Are you saying a water source is not a good option?

I'm not saying rule it out. Just asking because I rarely ever see a deer drinking water. They don't sweat like we do and their diet specially right now in Illinois has a very high moisture content.

I wouldn't call it a bad idea but I would call it over rated.

I'm willing to listen though.

For us here in Central Il we have seen about two straight months with little to no rain and I mean no rain so that is going to put alot of stress on whatever water sources are left and everything else that did have moisture in it is dead so for us here finding a water source is going to help somewhat.

Have you been hunting on water?

Were still green as Ive ever seen it on the west side of central IL. We haven't had much rain but the acorns are still loaded with moisture and corn is still 20-30% moisture.


I guess my point is not that they don't drink water but that for every 1 deer I see drinking water I see hundreds of deer coming in and out of food and bed/cover.
Looks like we going to have some cold coming finally.

Starting to pick up a little in my area. I hunted Adams county this weekend and had deer in range every time out. 3 bucks in range but all 140 or less.