rockport

It is. After the draw the leftovers are sold over the counter and are still available well into deer season.

Topgun 3006

Are you trying to tell me there are leftover buck licenses after the draw for NRs in Pike County? Even if that might be the case there are still a set number of tags for an area, is that not a fact? If that is correct, then it certainly prevents every Tom, Dick, and Harry and whoever else wants to hunt Pike County from hunting there. Am I correct or incorrect on that statement?

rockport

Yes, there is a limit but its so many it is all but moot. Firearm tags are limited by county but Getting tags is not a problem. Bow tags are state wide.

Pretty much anybody that wants a pike county tag can get one barring legal reasons.

I would not suggest taking the chance but more than likely you could walk right into the pike county wal mart and buy a tag the day before deer season right over the counter.

finding a place to hunt....now that is a different story although there is a fair amount of prime public ground. The state just bought some land right in the heart of deer country a couple years ago. It is open to the public but as far as I know not a lot of people know about it yet. Those permits may be hard to get. "special hunt areas" I know the new farm very well as its about 2 miles from the house I grew up in and my gradma was the owners caretaker for years before he passed away and I mushroom hunted the property.

That is about all I know about it but if you are interested I wouldn't just assume its out of reach. Its called Ray Norbut--- Dutch creek unit in Rockport IL and it is +/- 400 acres. The other place is just called ray Norbut and it has 1,000 acres open to the public and sits on the Il river in Griggsville IL

I don't know exactly how these places are ran but it might be worth some research if you are interested.

Topgun 3006

Thanks again! I just figured that with the Pike County area now being the big deer mecca that it is that it wouldn't be that easy to get a tag. Like you mentioned though, getting a tag and finding a decent place to hunt are two different things. In my younger years all I did was bow and gun hunt for whitetails. Then in the early 90s I went out to Wyoming and it's so great out there with all the different animals that I've been going out there every Fall ever since. I met several residents out there that are now great friends along with a couple ranchers that I help out a little in exchange for a little elk hunting now and then such that it's what I look forward to every year with my hunting here not having that big of a priority these days. I'm heading out there in 3 weeks for two months and will be helping them on elk and antelope hunts and I have a guided horseback hunt for big mulies up in the high country south of Jackson in late September myself and will probably buy a leftover cow elk tag to use during October where we always hunt near the BigHorn Mountains.

rockport

Wyoming is pretty hard to beat. Ive never hunted there but Ive been there. It is beautiful. I was surprised to see so many animals just roaming about outside the parks. In pike in certain areas you can see the deer in huge numbers coming out right before dark but in Wyoming it seemed to be all day long. I was always seeing something roaming about.

Topgun 3006

Here is the start of a herd of 400 elk that went by me one morning two years ago and this was on public land. I'd have to kill you if I told you where this honeyhole is, LOL! What was weird is that there wasn't what I would call one good bull in the entire bunch. Just behind the hill I was on taking this photo is where we've taken a number of bulls and cows, including this one that went 357 3/8" in 2010.

super_hunt54

To put it simply top, if it was hard to get tags in Pike County and the other ones in the "Golden Triangle" the outfitters there would be out of business. Like Rock said, tags are easy, it's getting onto property that's holding the big boys that's fun!

rockport

Looks awesome. I may have to try it someday. For whatever reason Ive just never been a traveling hunter. It just never has appealed to me a whole lot for some reason. Maybe because it all has to happen so quickly I don't know but I find when I go somewhere like Wyoming I just want to look at them.

I do go on an occasional fishing trip though.

Topgun 3006

About all I do any more is look and photograph them, especially bull elk that are an absolutely awesome animal and even more so when they are bugling during the rut next month! I've got thousands of pictures saved that I enjoy looking at to remember hunts just like we do when we look at mounts on the wall. I'll tell you one thing and that is to not wait until your an old man to go on a hunt out there and you won't be sorry even if you never shoot anything. Cripes, I hardly even put in for tags any more and just go out to see the country, animals, and help a few friends fill their tags. The last ten years I can honestly say that I've been having as much or more fun doing that than I ever did shooting all the animals I have over 60+ years.

rockport

I'm sure I will go back but for now we have decided to quit traveling. We took the daughter to Disney last year and decided that would be our last one for awhile(we have already seen most of the country)

We decided to make more commitments with our money here and just can't afford nor have the time for both. We just had to make a cut.

What we have now is lots on a couple different lakes. One in a campground with our big camper where most of the family camps and one secluded primitive camp only accessible by boat. That is where we spend our spring/summer free time. We have 20ish family members doing the same thing so we all get together there every weekend and we also have a small hunting shack in the family for the /fall/winters.

We are stretched about as thin as we want to be doing all that...its a lot of work between the boat, camper,golf cart,4 wheeler,mowing,keeping the hunting shack functional. Equipment spread out everywhere and trying to keep everything going is about all we can handle but we decided it was the best compromise for the enjoyment of our whole family and so far we really enjoy it. Good company, good food,good fishing, and good hunting.

Our big trip this year will probably be to southern MO for a weekend of trout fishing.

Plus I'm into the business side of hunting now leasing large pieces of land, splitting it up into smaller pieces and sub leasing.