Illinois hunt

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Who here has hunted the state?

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Is it as crazy as I hear when it comes to their herd?

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Depends what you have heard

The herd of OOS folks hunting public land is very impressive

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Tips for staying warm?

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No different than here. Lows in the upper 20's if you're lucky. Highs in the 50-60s

I am cold natured and use the Iwom to hunt in Iowa. It costs $400 but it’s wind and waterproof and has made a huge change in my hunting comfort. Ghis past year it was 5 degrees and snowing. I wore my UA 4 thermals and a hoodie with the iwom and never got cold. I dropped 2 warmers in the bottom and actually had to unzip a couple of times.

Slinging arrows!

I hunt NE Missouri less than 30 min drive to Iowa and Illinois so it would be comparable. I let 120's walk now and its a weird year if we dont have multiple 150's and more than likely a 170 on camera. I would recommend late October/ Early November as best time but not as familiar with IL laws.

Yes, you can have rough years but I also had a day where I saw 9 different 120 plus bucks. I consider that awesome for 1 day

You don’t go to Illinois to shoot 130’s.

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From the few I know that hint up there they regularly let shite walk that I wouldn’t hesitate on

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They do have an older age class which is somewhat related to an extremely short gun season and no rifles. I will tell you that my plan over the years has changed very little. When I initially started hunting there I wanted to kill a few Pope and Young deer. I wound up shooting several deer in the 140's, but eventually began to use trail cameras and get an idea that there were better deer walking around.

When that happened, I started letting the 4 year olds walk, looking for a 5 year old or older deer. It doesn't always works out. Some seasons, I simply don't have a 5 year old show up, and when you're a non resident playing a large sum of money to hunt, it's tough to pass on that 145" 4 year old towards the end of the season.

If you hunt where you can use cameras, use them and get an idea of what's out there. If not, do some serious scouting in late summer/early fall. Look for big rubs. We know that both small and large bucks can make smaller rubs. We also know that only big bucks can make big rubs. If you find some larger rubs, that means there's a mature deer in the area.

In other words, not much different than how you would scout at home.

In the 15 years that I've hunted there, my best buck was a 159" 9 point. Sadly, I've had opportunities at much larger deer, including deer I believe to have been better than 170" on a handful occasions. Those deer like that are extremely difficult to kill with a bow, even during the peak of the rut. They have an uncanny ability to know when something isn't right.

Good luck.

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Tips for staying warm?

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a fat chick works pretty good.

I’m not a stud hunter who only shoots 160 or better but the way we do it in Missouri 20 miles from Iowa is that your first year shoot what makes you happy and something you’re going to mount. After the cherry is popped we target 140 or better but most of us will pass those since we have a shitload of cameras that show we have latger deer. The big difference between there and here is that you only get 1 buck. If joe wants to smoke a 130 go ahead.. that means a 140 or a nice 120 makes it. We won’t allow 6 points (law id 4 on one side) but if someone wants to smoke 130” deer after driving 30 hours round trip not including 2 work weekends and that makes them happy then I’m perfectly ok with that. I let a couple of 140s go this season bc i would not have mounted them. I did smoke some does for meat though. Cameras in this case really help us manage the property. As far as the rut in the midwest, the weather still plays a huge factor but if it’s cool out and you see a doe cock the hammer. The midwest rut is really a great experience to hear the grunts and actually see deer behave like they “should” during the rut.

Hunted Pike Co. a few years ago with a pretty well known outfitter on a muzzleloader hunt. Weather wasn’t ideal and the moon wasn’t right either. In any event, saw some deer. Compared to what I’ve seen in Saskatchewan or Kansas it didn’t really compare in terms of total numbers. Was targeting 140 or better and didn’t see anything close to that. Best buck was probably a 125” deer that I let pass the first day. Went home empty handed. That’s the breaks sometimes. Best buck that week scored 160+. Overall average was in the 130’s. 7 out of 12 guys in camp filled their tags. Some folks had very unreasonable expectations. 180” deer aren’t at every corner anywhere. A few folks that had hunted there previously said it was shot out. That happens pretty quickly once word gets out about trophy hunts. YMMV.