Mach1

My wife wanted a fall wedding. I told her it had to happen before October 1 or I or part of my family wouldn't be at the wedding. We got married Labor Day weekend a few years back. We tried to plan our first child around hunting season too. But he decided to come 3 weeks early, right in the middle of turkey season. But she let me hunt the morning after he was born while she was still in the hospital. She wants the next one to be born in the fall, that way she can take her 12 weeks off during the holidays. We'll see how that goes...

I still need to convince my wife that hunting vacations will be worth it when I've got the money to take one.

Illinois non-res hunting license - $50.75 (5-day $28.75) habitat stamp - $5.50 non-res archery permit - $400 non-res archery antlerless - $15.50 http://www.dnr.state.il.us/license_price.htm To me, spending money to hunt out of state is no different than people who will spend thousands of dollars to go on a week's vacation to Disney or where ever else they go.

Had an Ameristep blind stolen about 3 years back on private land we had permission to hunt. Had just bought it and hunted out of it maybe 3-4 times. Went in to hunt out of it one morning and couldn't find it and waited til the sun came up to look and it was gone. It was brushed in very well amongst some tree tops left from logging. Either someone knew it was there or they came up on it while in the woods and took it.

Back legs up. We've got a deer hanging pole that swings out from the wall inside the shed that has an electric hoist mounted on it. Just back the truck it, hook up the legs, and push a button. MUCH easier than hoisting by hand in a tree. By the time we hang them, there's not much blood left after field dressing and rinsing the body cavity with water. What blood that does drip out, the dogs take care of rather quickly.

NWTF member here

I here ya. We're heading back to Illinois from Virginia tonight. And then back to work on Wednesday. Ugh.

You must be in the Jasper/Effingham county area then, no? I live in that area. Good hunting around those parts.

You could get a Remington 870 set up for under $700 pretty easily.

I hunted out of a blind a few times in an area I knew there were other hunters. I hung an orange vest on a branch above my blind. If I'm on property I know my family and I are the only people with permission, I don't put a vest above the blind.

That area in the northeast corner of our state really makes us look bad.

Get out as quick as possible. Been there and don't like that place one bit.

Call the DNR. I believe you've got to get some type of permit to raise them. A guy back home used to raise some along with a couple deer and I believe he had a permit to do it from the DNR.

My brother and I occasionally had this problem in our 10/22's. Problem went away when we quit buying the cheap ammo.

I've had one for a couple years. I've had no problems with it and it shoots good.

I saw two bucks alive that were shooters for me, and I shot one with the muzzleloader...a 150 inch 8pt. The other I didn't have a shot at during shotgun season. I passed on a number of 1 1/2 yr old bucks this year. I've passed an uncountable number of 1 1/2 - 3 1/2 yr old bucks since 2000 when I shot my 174 inch 9pt with the bow. Since 2000, I've shot 4 bucks (includes the 9pt. and this past season's 8pt.) and all have been mature deer scoring 140+.

Gobbling on the roost is another idea. I'm personally not a huge fan of the full strut mounts. Don't know why.

I was getting lots of these things in the mail and immediately sent them to the trash can. Also got phone calls, but never answered because it came up AUTO WARRANTY on the caller ID.

Check out this guy's idea to help our deer herd in Illinois. Please tell me I'm nto the only one who thinks this a completely ridiculous idea. This is a exerpt from the blog: Full entry: http://www.prairiestateoutdoors.com/index.php?/scattershooting/article/open_blog_thursday23

My dad, brother, and me after a successful morning...

We do have a lifetime license that can be bought. It is 30 times the current fee. I had planned on buying one in the past but never did. Wish I would've now, but I'll probably still try to buy one in the next few years.

This I can agree with.

That's a good area to hunt in. I grew up in the county just to the south and there's always been big deer up there.

The greater Peoria area has some good hunting. Not sure about public access in the area.

I use TruGlo fiber optic turkey sights on my 870. I've shot birds from 2 yds out to 50 yds with no problems.