southernbuck01 Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Anyone have any info, good or bad, on Stephen A. Forbes SRA, Ramsey Lake SRA and Sam Dale Lake SRA? A buddy and I have been talking about making an archery hunt up there around the first part of November. We don't want to pay for any outfitters as we feel pretty confident we can find the deer if they are there, which I would imagine they are. Anybody have any info they would be willing to share about any of these places? Not looking for any of your spots, just wondering if these are as good of places as we think they could be. We decided on this area as they seem to be relatively close, and if the activity was slow on one, we could move over to another. Any information would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dartonman Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting You can access a whole lot of info on these places through the Illinois DNR website....Im in Northern Illinois, so I cant help you with these locations........best of luck to you....glad to see more archers coming to Illinois........al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernbuck01 Posted April 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting I think I have gotten everything I can off of the DNR website.....well, all I can find.....from maps to harvest information on each area. They really have a lot of useful information on their site. I went to Pike county 2 years ago with my dad for the late muzzleloader season, and I had mixed feelings about it, . As far as deer go, they are there without a doubt. We did go with an outfitter and did the semi-guided hunt, and I guess we were expecting a little too much. I think there was a lot more pressure than the outfitter led us to believe. The weather wasn't the greatest either as it was at or near 0 for a couple of mornings. All in all, it was a good experience and having a good hunt is about much more than killing something. As far as the rut goes, would we be seeing some signs of it around Nov 5-10, assuming the weather cooperates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddyboman Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting Im not from ILL, but I do live just across the river. What part of Ill are you wanting to hunt?? Oh and welcome to Realtree!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dartonman Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting Pre rut begins in my area of Northern Illinois right about Halloween.......you will be in buck activity in November buddy..........al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddyboman Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting Al is right. From end of oct to early/mid November is usually good rutting activity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUDRUNNER Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting I hunt just about 5 or 6 miles from Ramsey lake.I've never personally hunted the park,but we drive through it all the time,and use the showers there when we go up for a couple of days so we talk to a few guys that hunt it.It sounds like they have a lot of deer,but I never really hear about any monsters being killed at the park.The pressure seems to be pretty moderate,and it never seems to be overcrowded,but they do have pheasant hunts that bring people in on occasion.One nice thing is you could camp there and the lake has some good crappie and bluegill fishing if you need a break from the stand for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punkinslinger Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting [ QUOTE ] Pre rut begins in my area of Northern Illinois right about Halloween.......you will be in buck activity in November buddy..........al [/ QUOTE ] Yep, I was at a seminar Saturday and the speaker was Charles Alsheimer and he and his team predict an early start to things with the rutting moon being the 26th of Oct this year. From what I understood, this early rutting moon takes place in Oct only every 3 years unless I did not hear correctly. Very good presentation. I will be in Fulton County hunting the 20-26 of Oct. Hopefully the weather cooperates this trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernbuck01 Posted April 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting Toddy, I guess that would be South Central?? It is Marion, Fayette, and Wayne Counties. And thanks for the welcome. I have been reading the forums for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernbuck01 Posted April 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting Mud, Thanks for sharing. We are definately looking to camp at one of these places, and good fishing would just be a bonus. I might have to bring the fishing pole and rip some lips. It is good to hear that they possibly have a lot of deer at that place. Small deer for up there are giants here in Louisiana, so killing a bona fide monster is not what I'm after, although I will try my best to let the air out of one if given the opportunity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUDRUNNER Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting No problem!If you guys make the trip to Ramsey let me know and if were at the farm that weekend maybee I'll swing by the park and say hi. The rangers there are pretty helpfull and can probably point you in the right direction for finding a few deer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilhunter1986 Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting dont know about those specific locations. i would look into banner marsh, jubilee state park, and marshall county public hunting grounds. ive hunted all three of these places as the have good potential for killing deer. ive seen some huge deer killed and seen huge ones that have been harvested out of these areas. i strongly recomend em. if u have any questions feel free to ask. they are all within 15 minutes of peoira illinois nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ildrhntr Posted April 4, 2007 Report Share Posted April 4, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting News Flash..............There are no deer in Illinois Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randyman Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting I've hunted Stephen Forbes State Park a few times and it has the potential for nice deer. The time frame you mentioned is about right. If possible, come up and do some scouting before your trip and be prepared to deal with crowds during the time frame you plan to hunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam16 Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting I hunted the public land 20 minutes from Champaign, IL since i go to school at Illinois University. Let me know if you want any information about it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bonemass Posted April 11, 2007 Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting [ QUOTE ] News Flash..............There are no deer in Illinois [/ QUOTE ] We welcome Trophy Doe hunting too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernbuck01 Posted April 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2007 Re: Illinois Public Land Hunting Thanks for all the replies and information. We are looking forward to coming up that way. Hopefully I will have the chance to stick a nanny as big as the one my dad killed up there with the smokepole a few years ago. She was a trophy. One of the biggest bodied deer I have ever seen. She field-dressed 140. We are still eating sausage from her . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernbuck01 Posted April 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 Anybody ever deer hunted Crab Orchard NWR or Giant City State Park? I see that they look to be right next to each other. Anyone have any information they are willing to share on these places? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randyman Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 One other option to consider is the Shawnee National Forest in Jackson, Johnson, Union and Pope Counties. With some work, you can still find areas in these Counties that hold huge bucks and don't get near the pressure that some of the areas you mentioned get. Is there a particular reason you are only looking in the Southern part of the State? If you are bent on only hunting State Parks and the like and you are willing to drive a little farther North, consider Siloam Springs State Park, Pere Marquette State Park, Sangchris Lake State Park or Beaver Dam State Park. The last 3 are within about an hour of each other and all hold the kind of Bucks you are coming to Illinois for in the first place. All get a fair amount of pressure, especially during the rut, but if you hunt during the week and are willing to work, you should be able to escape most of the pressure. My biggest Buck to date, a 140" 11 pointer, was killed at Pere Marquette and i hunt the State parks around my home extensively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowJoe Posted April 26, 2007 Report Share Posted April 26, 2007 I happen to be the local Realtree forum "expert" (LMSAO) on SOIL hunting around the Rend Lake area. I can guarantee you'll have more fun here than almost anywhere else for free. We have a lake over 19000 acres in size not to mention the surrounding land and parks that are not only run by IDNR but USACE and National wildlife as well. I can map you map out tons of spots to hunt as well as several gems that very few people still know about. Bring your walking shoes, your camera and maybe a bike for the long hauls on our bike paths made of concrete. You have to walk a ways but it's well worth it. The deer know where the hunters usually can be found but that's when you go where they don't normally ever see us. The good part is we usually have flat ground wherever you go and pasture land. Most places are well connected to both woods and croplands along with many fence rows. PM me if you need more info on where to stay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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