EP 2 Best Public Land Whitetail Hunting in Illinois

[@leewilliams6354]

Also the deer are not “blown out” like you suggest. Deer aren’t leaving the area. The parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express in Salem Illinois was where I seen the biggest buck I’ve ever seen in my life. Easy 180 closer to 200 main frame 10 with kickers off both G2s and split brows

[@adamsmith8980]

The biggest sheds I’ve found have all come from public except one 200” set on private. I feel like I could kill a booner if I could ever get drawn for certain spots. But the parks workers and friends always get drawn

[@Recruitcreative]

@@adamsmith8980 what state are you in?

[@leewilliams6354]

Pressure picks up on Veterans Day weekend.

[@joeykessinger6464]

Another thing to check before making the trip to state ground in IL, some places are only for residents or U.S. military.

[@codyg572]

Itll be my first trip to illinois this year to try my luck first week of november. Yall get ready to drag.

[@Recruitcreative]

You are coming at the right time!

[@chaz976]

do yall have a link to the huntable acres pdf in the video in order to print it out?

[@BruceMcafee]

Do you guys have any experience on the Trail of tears state forest in southern Illinois

[@Recruitcreative]

No we haven’t hunted that are. We are close to it but haven’t tried it out. I know the area is pretty hilly and mostly made up of hardwoods though.

[@BruceMcafee]

Would you or do you know if there is good deer population there ?? I am from southern Missouri and use to big hardwood forests

[@Recruitcreative]

@@BruceMcafee it’s hard for me to say without having scouted it but based on my trips on public land this season I would say the deer herd is down. Now that could be from timing but I wouldn’t have high expectations on any public piece currently.

[@kylehoward5452]

I’ve personally hunted it and the national Forest around it. I’d say the deer herd isn’t the greatest there. Then add in the terrain challenge of the hunting, it can be a very tuff time.

[@ukjw2]

Do logging cuts get over run? If I showed yall 2-3 spots on a map would you have a moment to tell me to either steer clear or redirect me to another county? I was lookin at Hardin and gallatin but tbh I’ve never done this before so I really don’t know. Appreciate the podcast.

[@Recruitcreative]

I’m not sure if they get over run with hunters. That probably just depends on the location. They are great areas to hunt though. Yeah sure send them over to [e-mail]

[@five9eight]

Smart water. The bottle is the smart part of it. Thicker plastic, non ribbed, bigger cap, filter compatible. Your welcome. 😁

[@reddye2331]

I can tell the pdf file on the top 10 and the data is not correct in the least bit. I'm pretty sure I never seen the 15 to 20 lots that Starved Rock State & Wildlife Ground. Witch 1 good smaller lot of 275 acres has at least 2 to 5 giants either traveling through and out 5he 5 at least 2 of them core it out & call it home. Great archery hunting. Every year I hunted tht lot and always bagged a couple does . I do have 1 giant 16 point tripple drop tine buck on the wall that I slaughtered out there way back in 05. I don't hunt at all except mushroom & stanky leg these days. Hopefully a youngster reads this and just maybe hunted it till becoming a KILLA of the woods

[@leewilliams6354]

I hunt public land in Illinois every year. It’s an over the counter state for the combo license. Every year I kill a 140 inch buck and see 150-170 inch bucks. We don’t shoot 120 inch deer and neither does the majority. I live in Florida btw. Any hunter that is a good woodsman can kill a mature 4 plus year old buck. I am leaving today Nov 3rd and won’t come home until I fill my tag.

[@Recruitcreative]

Awesome! Good luck this year.

[@weitzfc1]

Because of state citizens, losing their hunting ground to out of stators, I think all state hunting areas should be limited to citizens of the state only

[@Recruitcreative]

@@weitzfc1 do you think all states should do this or just the state you hunt?

[@weitzfc1]

@@Recruitcreative all

[@ukjw2]

Gonna lose revenue and end up with your public land being sold off to cover the shortfall. Or your in state licenses skyrocketing to cover the difference. Not to mention all the small towns and local businesses that thrive off of the incoming hunters and the money they bring. In top of that, locals don’t kill enough deer. Gonna have to bring in wolves to help manage.

[@scottwilkins3481]

​@@ukjw2Do you hunt Illinois? Most people coming from out of state go to outfitters and those are all inclusive (food drink ECT), so they're not spending money at small towns! And then you have the minimalist hunters that stay in campers, vans and trucks, they're definitely not spending money if they don't have to! And after some research the state harvested around 161,000 deer in 2023, I know that's not a big number compared to the deer population, but of the 542,703 permits issued only %14 of those were out of staters, don't really think they contribute too much to our economy except to feed outfitters!!

[@ukjw2]

@ I went this year and the public land looked like an out of state parking lot. All those airbnbs booked up due to out of staters hunting public land. Maybe where you live there isn’t much of it but southern Illinois is loaded with out of staters spending money. Every night at the only bar in eddyville it was packed with out of staters eating and drinking.