dukemichaels

I'm not comparing anything.

I'm saying it doesn't matter what state you hunt only the land YOU get to hunt.

Cut it anyway you like.. if you can't hunt it.. what difference does it make.

magicman54494

I think I can answer your question. More deer = more deer sightings. Less pressured deer= more daytime movement. I believe this will hold true anywhere you go.

GMMAT

In case anyone forgot. This is what he said.

And for the most part I agree with you Duke. But let's also be real.

mahoningbuck

You can never throw OHIO out the door with the bow harvests the last ten years. I think the DNR has done a fabulous job making Ohio's deer population strong. We are seeing more and more out of staters coming our way because of the potential of taking a super quality buck or doe for that matter. I am sick and tired of the whole Pike county this and Pike county that.......if it wasnt for the Drury brothers and their lackluster team of mover inners on others property no one would of given two craps about Illinois. Now is the whole state of Ohio loaded with deer......NO! Ohio as most other states has differences in habitate and I think that is the number one factor to getting quality deer. After that comes management from both the DNR and land owners.

MOTOWNHONKEY

Seeing them and laying one on the ground is two different things. (p&y bucks)To answer your questionthe deer are skidish as hell and move early and late. Its like duke says, there are some prime areas but do you want to lay the $5000.00 down to see lots of big bucks? I know your question has nothing to do with big deer but their movement patterns. I have many many sits where I see no deer at all. Your deer population is well over an est. million where as Kansas is under 400,000 . If you cant put yourself on deer there you better not even think of comming here.[8D]

dukemichaels

I'll tell the truth.. since I live here and hunt here.

Depends on where you hunt VA.

Hunt anywhere within a 1.5 hour drive of the major cities.. and the deer are REAL skiddish and move at night as much as they can. They see more pressure than one can imagine. A 2 yr old buck is HARD to see in these regions. A 3 yr old is a legend.

Really when it gets down to it.. there is no place in Illinois I would reccomend to an out of stater other than the extreme southern portion of the state.. the bottoms area.. or the Mississippi region.. the entire western half.

Deer movement here is really no different than any other state.. with exception to the Mississippi region.

Now.. they say Pike is the best county to bowhunt bucks.. but they're full of crap. Thta area has had so many outfitters over the past 20 years that the doe pop. outnumbers the humans 5 to 1. They are like rats in Pike the does are.

JoDavies is the real jewel of the state. A mere 2 hours from Chicago it boasts Mississippi genes and LOTS of private managed lands by both outfitters and city hunters. The whitetail there are unlike anything a man can imagine.

But good luck trying to get land there. You have to pay the price.. either through an outfitter.. or steep price per acre. A lease out here costs 60+ an acre.. and usually more. OUCH!

Public land.. forget about it. It's either got 2000 (sorry Germ) morons from Michigan on it.. or is only open on Mondays and Tuesdays. Lines start forming about 3 pm the day before. Those deer don't even move at dusk.

It's MOSTLY what you'll see in your home state.

Unless you pay BIG money and hunt the Mississippi region.

And that my friends.. is Gospel.

Oh.. and keeping with Motown our Illinois pop. is estimated at 700,000ish. So prepare for many sits where you see nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

drhntr178

Ive hunted on1 farm in ILL. Its 240ac. owned by my best friend and his dad. They plant food plots and manage it for big bucks. They've owned it for 3 yrs now.

When I've been over there it seems like its a different species of deer. They let yet you walk or drive (golf cart) within 50-100yds and barely spook. They seem to tolerate humans much more than here in Missouri. They see anywhere from 5-20 a sit.

In short, yes the deer that ive seen do behave different. I wanted to buy land there immediately until I found out what they paid for it [&:]

Scott/IL

IMO Pike County is a tad overated. Not because they don't have big deer, or because it's not great hunting,but becausenearly every farm there is eitherunder the control of outfitters, rich landowners who manage their lands, or farmers that lease their lands who in return get managed. You take all of that in such a concentrated area and add in some great genetics and good soil and you will get big bucks.

I am up that way every Friday and you can bet your life that I have seen some giants crossing the road and standing in the middle of fields. This falls in line with what DUKE is saying though. The average joe hunting Illinois on his middle class salary is most likely not going to have access to this land.

I have hadcontact with 1 outfitter in pike[:'(][:'(][:'(]andhe happens to be one of the most prominent andmost highly regardedones in the state.

Cougar Mag

Remember, Rob used an outfitter.

So true!

Let me inject something. For the first month and a half of this season I saw two P&Y bucks and if not for impatience and ignorance for not trimming a good sized limb on an adjacent tree I should have killed a 145-150 class buck. I was the only hunter hunting that land at the time. Lost permission to that land but thats another story[].

Move to the past week.....exactly 7 days. I gained permission to hunt land 2 miles away as the crow flies. It had been hunted twice all season by another guy who had little interest in hunting it. The first afternoon there I saw two P&Y bucks. After watching deer the first three trips it was pretty easily seen what the patterns were simply because the deer felt safe using this property. Probably should have got a shot at a 130-135 class buck yesterday evening but an unseen doe busted me and it was over.

What I'm saying is perhaps their are more bigger bucks here because of lower pressure overall. Lots of that is due to land access or the lack of. Are the deer easier to kill...........no!!!! There are also less deer in many areas. In Matt's case I'd venture to say there are more deer in his chosen area than in others. There was a 190" class deer in bow season on public land near me this season. I don't hunt there often at all due to the pressure. Some nice bucks there to be sure, but less deer as well.


Talked to a guy from S. Carolina who belongs to a hunt club. Told me he prefers Iowa and Kansas over the places he has hunted in Illinois. Says he sees less deer and less people in Iowa/Kansas but more bigger bucks. It all depends on where you are hunting.

GMMAT

I'll buy that Duke. Maybe we could add in the ones that are moving are just a lot bigger..

I don't know what to say......That's just amazing. I've hunted over 200 times spanning nearly 4 seasons now .....and I've never seen a 115" deer from stand.

Duke...he ain't helping!