Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

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Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby JohnathonP » Sun Oct 14, 2018 2:16 am

Going to be hunting some state parks in Illinois this October and I would love to get any tips or suggestions from you guys. I was awarded a permit through a lottery system, in which only five hunters will be allowed to hunt a designated week in an assigned zone of the park. Side note, the hiking trails will still be open to the public. This is my first time trying these parks and I'm hoping to get any tips or suggestions from you guys for hunting smaller state parks.

Thank you in advance and good luck out there!


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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby street28ss » Sun Oct 14, 2018 3:49 am

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24471

I'm not trying to be negative, but the information you are looking for has been talked about ad nauseam by the long time members. I think this link will give you enough info.
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby Uncle Lou » Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:09 am

Like street 28 said, but focus on a little cyber scouting, followed by boots on the ground with stand and sticks, be mobile, be silent. Good luck
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby Jonny » Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:06 am

Print a map. Highlight hiking trails and access points (parking areas). Then either go towards the nastiest part of the park, or see if there is a spot that seems like the others would walk past. Maybe there is a small island of ground open to hunting?

With a lottery system, you are gonna get more serious guys. More meaning higher percentage than you will see on a Saturday at the local public. It takes a bit of effort to find lottery hunts and not everybody is willing to do that. So assume you won’t out walk anybody. Gotta find the spot they won’t go.
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby justdirtyfun » Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:30 am

I have done quite a few on a variety of areas. And at this point I keep it a low priority.

I will explain some details but first my reason for the low priority. We have limited time and need our efforts focused on ground that will be available year after year. Draw hunts are more likely a one and done. Or the time of year is not in your control. They have recruited us hunters to manage their herd meaning usually it's a doe first requirement. None of this is a deal breaker and my biggest buck came from a draw hunt.

Alright, keep all of their rules straight and follow them, even the dumb ones. Often the area will have a lot of people around so keep your best behavior on display, be an ambassador of conservation. More than any other property expect to be interrupted.

When I have one or more seasons on a draw I am staying with the same time of year as best as possible. This increases your success over time. Maybe just the early October for X reason or y reason.

The number one key will probably be 'overlooked' ground. They live around human activities 24/7 and we are supposed to stay in human spots. Cyberscouting will not give you the full story because of this. Know the roads and trails and parking lots in advance ( standard for any Beast I think). Give yourself time to observe high traffic areas like ball fields and such. Right beside or behind buildings can hold deer.
Using the normal activities to help you can be an excellent tactic. With my big buck I had a group of hikers approach before I stepped off the path. They created great cover noise with conversation. As they moved on I had already made my way into the woods 25 yards. Sneaking in from there was much easier. And also my setup was barely 35 yards from that point. The deer never had people leave that trail since it had a berm of dirt along the trail. A minor detail that gave them a sense of security close to humans.
I hope to hear of your success. Maybe later I can share more information.
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby Bigb » Mon Oct 15, 2018 2:45 am

Just going to throw this out there but does this place have the initial "MH" in Illinois? Just curious. It sounds about right for there. I scouted it about 10 or so years ago but never hunted it (didn't draw the permit). If it is, I can give a few pointers.

Any ground in Northern Illinois is extremely pressured but some good bucks are taken. It honestly takes just going a little farther than everyone else and thinking outside the box.
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby JohnathonP » Wed Oct 17, 2018 6:39 am

Thanks guys!!

Great suggestion Street28ss! I'll do more reading and searching for "Permit Hunts"! I was able to use On X and do some boots on the ground scouting so I've got that checked off Uncle Lou and I appreciate the head's up of who else could be out there Johny! Really appreciated all the info Justdirtyfun, especially the advice of being on best behavior and keeping it around the same time period to learn more.

Bigb I did not draw for MH, but got real lucky with a permit for ASB and VB which are near MH.


Going to go out tomorrow after work and see what happens! Fingers crossed!
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby Bigb » Wed Oct 17, 2018 11:17 am

Wow, nice job on the ASB. I don't hunt public as much as I used to due to work and two boys (3 and 1) so concentrate my efforts mainly on a spot in Central Illinois. I think you'll have some good luck on ASB if you can hike back a ways from the parking lots or at least have someone drop you off. I have a feeling you don't get of true "Beast Hunters" out there and they mainly stay near the roads. I think if you can find the well used paths you'll have luck hunting parallel trails for the bucks. I don't know about scouting mid season but if you can make it there after a good rain and look for big prints I think you can learn the bucks fairly quick. By the looks at the harvest reports there are a fair amount of hunter trips there but a decent amount of deer killed as well.

I hate to say it but I;ve never heard much luck at the other spot you drew. I think the way they have that set up it kind of limits getting a deer because of you "zone". That place and MH seems to have a lot of luck during firearm season when they open the place up a bit more but archery seems to stink. I think if I ever didn't have a place to gun hunt, I'd try one of those two spots just because the firearm harvests are so high. One place that drives me crazy is the Chain. I don't know if you ever looked into hunting there but hunting within a certain amount of yards of those stakes is ridiculous. I can't tell you how many good bucks I've seen in the past at that place but they are impossible to hunt because you can't hunt anywhere near where they live. I was out there two days after a good snow pheasant hunting and saw 2 bucks over 140" and probably 2 dozens sets of separate tracks but they were a few hundred yards from the hunting spots. That place is loaded with deer but they only kill a dozen or so because of how they set it up. Ridiculous in my mind!

Let us know how you do and if your seeing any deer. I'm happy to look more in depth at the maps but I'll think after an observation sit or two you'll figure those deer out pretty quick!
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby Ladykiller » Wed Oct 17, 2018 2:54 pm

I've found that by scouting a few days before your hunt via car, walking, glassing, etc yields good results. You get the most recent food pattern, conditions, and intelligence.
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby rizzo999 » Wed Oct 17, 2018 11:19 pm

I have a buddy who hunted VB last season. He ended up only hunting a few times during his week not seeing a deer. He gave up on the rest of his week and drove out to Iowa to fulfill his long waited non resdent tag there. I drive past and thru there all of the time and was surprised. I see decent numbers of deer and some huge bucks at times. Most of the bigger bucks i see around the units that have CRP or border CRP! Good luck.

I have another buddy who is more of a novice hunter who drew MH for gun. He hunted sun up to sun down each day and NEVER saw a deer! This was about 5 years ago.
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby MN_DeerHunter » Thu Oct 18, 2018 7:27 am

I hunted a very large park south of the twin cities a few years ago. I noticed that no matter how far of a walk guys were getting into the center of the property because of the trail systems in place. I focused on a funnel right on the property line with the thought that guys would be pushing deer when walking to/ from stands. Sure enough I saw a small buck work right through it around noon. I actually heard the guys walking by that pushed him to me. I think it would help to hunt all day too because guys will get up in the late morning and early afternoon and usually bump deer around.

My takeaways: focus on escape routes adjacent to property boundaries and make sure to hunt the period from late morning to early afternoon.
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby jmaas07 » Thu Oct 18, 2018 7:43 am

I'd pick the most overlooked park bench to set up on, probably the one with the least amount of graffiti on it
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby Kraftd » Thu Oct 18, 2018 8:00 am

I work five minutes from VB, drew once for the last season and didn't even hunt. Bad draw for that season and the only deer in the unit I had were coming out to a bird feeder from my unit every night and didn't want to worry about knocking on the door to grab their pet deer. There are deer there, I walk it a lot in spring and summer just to get out of the office, but just too restrictive for me. Rather hop over the border and hunt.

I've contemplated applying to the other two, but just a little too limiting for my style. Never even tried the Chain for the reasons noted.

One thing I would recommend is reach out the local DNR or MCCD folks a week out from your season. I know some of them and some hunt and have a pretty good pulse on things and would most likely be willing to give some good current intel. They generally know the properties very well too.

Good luck!
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby JohnathonP » Thu Oct 18, 2018 3:25 pm

Thank you BIG time for all for your insights and words of wisdom! My neighbor is interested in hunting for the first time, so we were hoping these state parks, including the Chain, would be areas he could hunt. Areas that are close by, especially since he's got 2 young children and I've got one that's almost two years old. Well he unfortunately didn't draw a tag, so we are planning on giving the Chain a try. When we scouted late Summer, didn't see the stakes in the designated areas, but will definitely look for them now!

Tonight I got to woods late, so picked a spot near the walking trail (but across some water) hoping to observe from a far and one that wouldn't disrupt anyone else's hunt. Had a young doe come in from behind and did see what looked like a large bodied deer a ways off at last light out of the cattails. Lots of trails and a few beds were in the area. Not going to lie, it was real exciting have some action tonight. I'm definitely not a "serial buck killer," but I sure am enjoying learning and trying new things!

Thanks again y'all!!
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Re: Any Advice For Hunting In State Parks?

Unread postby Tabernator23 » Thu Oct 18, 2018 10:16 pm

Long time follower, first time poster... :D

My friends and I were drawn a few years back for a state park near a major metropolitan area and werr super excited to hunt it. I will echo the thoughts above about weighing the opportunity cost for these types of hunts because they do take away from time that can be spent on more reliable access properties. We dedicated time to scouting it, including paying park entry fees, and found some really good stuff. Needless to say when we pulled in to check in we were very excited. We drove to our favorite spots and found out they were others favorite spots too... odd thing was we arrived at the earliest check in time... i guess they were friends with the park rangers ;). So lesson learned from that experience must have plans A,B,C,D,E,F...... you get the point. We ended up getting in to the woods pretty late and only saw one doe the whole day on the first day. Now state park deer are probably more curious and more laid back because between a friend and I we took 4 shots at that deer, that all missed for one reason or another, before she finally ran off. Lesson there is to practice, practice practice shooting your bow even during season. On the second day we went to the middle of the park where all the facilities and walking trails were and had a heard of deer feeding near a shelter house in the middle of lawn grass right by the parking lot and then we really got excited. We pushed into the adjoining woods and setup with high anticipation for what the day had for us. I did get to see my first buck fight across the creek but according to the rules a shot at either across a body of water is a big no-no... tried to rattle, grunt, bleat, wheeze them over but they were not interested. Anyway never had another deer in range the rest of the day.... by the way another rule was you had to quit hunting by 4 and be out of the park by 5 pm. Lesson there is echoed above know the rules even the dumb ones and follow them. Now here is the real kicker... when I got back to the truck park ranger pulled up and started chatting with me wanting to know what I saw to then inform me that I had deer grazing by my truck all day in that field in that open lawn area :oops: lesson there if you're looking to get meat in the freezer taking the advice above to find the most undisturbed park bench and setting up on it would probably be a good idea. Cheers and good luck!


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