sigav8r

Okay, so here's an interesting scenario. A friend of mine has some property around Champaign, IL (200 acres to be exact) that he and his wife inherited from their family. It's a large farm in a "farming community". Anyways, I asked if he knew of anything "hunting wise" out there. He said he doesn't think so. Here's my question: Is that a part of the state where there's good (or any for that matter) deer hunting? It would be free for me to do so if that was a good area. And I'd need some help scouting and preping for the "right" person. This would of course be for next year. BTW: I'm down in TX so this is why I'm asking this question.

GSPsnFORDs

When I think of Champaign County, I think of A LOT of flat land and sparse tree lines. I went to UofI for 4.5 yrs and looked for deer hunting ground off and on....good ground seems to be far and few between. IMO there's more good pheasant ground than anything even though pheasant numbers aren't what they used to be. However, there have been some good deer taken in that county and surrounding counties in recent years...guess you just have to know where to look.

uncle matt

Get a solid location (coordinates) and look it up on any of the aerial sites on the web like terraserver, yahoo maps or maps.live.com.

That oughta give ya a good idea.

englum_06

It all just really depends. Im from about an hour south of Champaign and there's plenty of big bucks killed every year here. Id say we have more of a wooded area but Im sure there are plenty of woods to be found in Cham-bana. Vermilion County which is East of Champaign has very nice bucks taken every year. In fact Ive got a "Big Buck's of Illinois" book which shows the amount of B & C bucks taken in every Illinois county up until 1994.

Champaign- Typicals Measuring 170 Minimum = 5 Non Typicals Measuring 195+ = 1
Vermilion-Typicals Measuring 170 Minimum= 5 Non Typicals Measuring 195+ = 1
Edgar- Typicals Measuring 170 Minimum= 1Non Typicals Measureing 195+ = 5

Like I said this is just up until 1994 and I know there have been many more killed. It looks like the more East, South East you get, the bigger the deer once you're this far East into the State. Ive got some pics of some of the deer we have taken if you would like to see them. You say "around" Champaign, what area "Around" Champaign are we talking?

sigav8r

Thanks for the help guys. I'll try and get more specific information and a better address. I thought he said it was about an hour south of Champaign, but I'll find out for sure. Stay tuned.

englum_06

Well ifyour buddysaid an hour south, and you can get into the Coles, Edgar, Clark county areas- all an hour or an hour and a half, you're in for some nice deer hunting.

Here's a link to an Outfitter that hunts this area:
http://midwestbucks.com/trophy.html

I am by no means intending to advertise for these guys, in fact I wishthey weren't here, buttogive you an idea of the kind ofdeer this area has the potential to hold, Ill show you the link. Just click on "Trophy Bucks" and click on the different seasons. Like I said Idon't know much about them except for our hunting land borders one of their areas.

It makes it kind of nice because they don't put up fences or anything, so it's kinda like we're hunting the same deer that people are paying thousands for, for free. I even killed one last year that was heading back from one of their food plots. The plots never used to be there until 2 years ago when they bought theground,so when they put the plots in I decided I'dchange my hunting patterns to benefit from their plots. I figure I might as well take advantage of it, right? May sound bad, I don't know, but I'm a good 300 yards from their line, but it's visible and I have the pattern figured out.

sjsfire

Wow, Yeah an hour South could be as far down as Effingham County travelling Interstate 57. If your planning for next year firearm you'll atleast have to know what county and apply for county specific. Bow hunting tags are available over the counter just about everywhere. Let us know the location.

Kid

Only for residents!

Lanse couche couche

If you are 62 or older you can now hunt with a crossbow and buy the tagsover the counter whether you are a resident or non-resident.

No matter how flat land looks from the road, it often has lots of small dips and hollows that you can locate by walking it. I've flushed lots of big deer out of a small plot of tall grass and small trees out in the middle of big flat fields.

sigav8r

Well, good news and bad. My friend said it's Edgar County near the towns of Hume (?) and Paris (?). Bad news is he said there's very little trees/cover and in the times he's been out there (don't know when, what season, etc), he said he hasn't seen deer or pheasants or any type of game animals.Oh well, one can dream right? Thanks