Late Season Illinois Hunt Advice/Concerns/Suggestions

[Ground Checkin' Heavies]

Thinking about heading back up to Illinois for an end of the season hunt after Christmas. Anyone have any suggestions on what to expect. Anyone ever hunted the Midwest late in the year? I'm worried whether or not the deer will be moving or on any type of feeding pattern due to the snow. Let me know if anyone has any experience. Thanks.

PS: Reason I'm going is there are rumors of a 200 in. buck and a 170+ buck on the farm I'm hunting, plus the 150 or so I passed about a month ago.

[ffparadavis]

My friend in Illinois said that the bucks have all but vanished, but the deer are herded up and if you see any, that you will likely see 20-30 at a time. I havent hunted this time of year, but they will be wherever the food is from now till the snow lifts. If you have any snow where you are going. If you can find any standing crops ex. Beans,Corn, Clover etc.. thats where i would be! They gotta eat something.. Good luck!

[bowhuntntxn]

1. Dress Warm
2. Find the food sources.
3. Dont pass a 150 this time!!


Good Luck if you go back, and this time make it count!

[Dr. D]

Take a friend

[Ground Checkin' Heavies]

Thanks guys. Also, I'm thinking about possibly flying. How do you ship a carcass/meat if I get lucky and kill something??

[fister]

I was there last week and the bucks were scarce. Does were grouped up as said before, and fairly easy to find. I am told by my uncle who lives up there that late season is much better than right after gun season for bow hunters, you will be on foot and not in a stand most of the time though. The snow makes them easier to track. If I had a chance I would head back up tomorrow, as I didn't get a shot last week, saw a bunch, but never without trees or distance between me and them. Good luck!!

[Drawknife]

Find and hunt the food food food, I hunt south central Illinois and You gotta find the food. Still hunting works pretty good. I talked to my bro this morning and they had a bad ice storm last night. Might want check before going.

[txdukklr]

no tips but good luck!

[Stros]

hunt the food source, they should be bedded up close to the food so be quite going into your stand. good luck

[justhrowit]

It's one of the best and most over looked times of the year in the midwest. Find food. If there are uncut corn or bean fields, or food plots.... get on them. If you can find a Locust tree still dropping the beans, the deer will eat those as well. Also, don't be surprised to see some chasing still going on. I've seen it time and time again in Illinois. Un-bred does go into late estrous and the bucks will chase her like crazy. The biggest buck I've ever seen on the hoof was chasing a doe the second week of January in Central IL. Dress warm!

J

[whackem and stackem]

Late season in Illinois can rock. Get on the food as stated above and wait on the big boys. Deer will yard up this time of year and those yearlings will be coming in as well. Good Luck

[Hillary]

Find a processor in the area that will hard freeze your meat and ship it to your casa.
SO much better than carrying on.

And dress warm. BRR

[LSU FAN]

im at school at the university of illinois right now and have been hunting a few times recently...the deer movement is less than ideal but when you see them, they are in pretty big groups...i hunt in putnam county in a town called Hennepin...DRESS WARM!!!! today is the first time in about 3 weeks that it has been above 20 degrees but one thing in your favor is there is snow everywhere...the deer stick out like a sore thumb! try to hunt near a food source if you can...all of the farmers cut their crops pretty early this year so it has been difficult to pattern them...but you know there are monsters just lerking around everywhere up here...with each minute that passes, your chances of seeing a huge buck increase and you gotta love that! best of luck...look forward to reading about a successful hunt

[Ground Checkin' Heavies]

Thanks for all the tips guys. I'm actually working in Wisconsin right now, and I'm familiar with the cold weather. I've got cold weather gear. I was planning on hunting the stand closest to the corn field. I was more curious as to the buck movement in the late season. The property has a cut corn field on one side of it. The stands are already in place, and one of the stands is on a bedding area. It's difficult to describe as it's not far out of town, but surrounded by corn. I have to give it one more shot, I just hope to catch a big buck making a mistake.

Hill, what about the cape and horns, etc, if I were to fly and kill a big one? I figured I could get a processor to ship the meat, but what about the horns and cape? I wouldn't want a taxi from up there doing the mount, I would want it done here in Texas with a guy, I know does great work.

Doc, I'm going in the middle of the week, and you need a $450 tag. Maybe in a few years

[Ground Checkin' Heavies]

BTW, I'm hunting near Macomb, it's in McDonough county, west-central Illinois, if any of you guys are familiar with that area.