Anyone ever hunted Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois? Looking at planning an out of state trip. I know it's big woods hunting and probably pretty tough but curious if anyone can give their experience.
Crazy hunting pressure?
Low deer quantity I'm assuming?
Southern Illinois-- Public
- littlebuckhunter
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Re: Southern Illinois-- Public
A couple hunting buddies and I bowhunted southern Illinois for several years the first week of November, mostly the Shawnee. Life happens, and we haven’t been the past couple years, but where we hunted during bow season we didn’t think the hunting pressure wasn’t bad at all. In fact, we rarely saw anyone else. We mostly focused on small sections we thought might get overlooked by most hunters, hard to get to spots, or went way further in than most were willing to go. We had our best luck hunting terrain funnels. One spot was only an acre that was cut off from the main block of land by a county road. You could sit and watch the cars go by just a few yards away, but it was a great funnel leading into some crop fields. We also had pretty good luck calling that time of year. We always saw a good many deer, killed a handful of really nice ones, saw a couple of absolute giants, and always had a good trip. Message me, and I can possibly give you more detail depending on what area you’re planning to hunt.
- KPillinois
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Re: Southern Illinois-- Public
littlebuckhunter wrote:Anyone ever hunted Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois? Looking at planning an out of state trip. I know it's big woods hunting and probably pretty tough but curious if anyone can give their experience.
Crazy hunting pressure?
Low deer quantity I'm assuming?
If you are talking about the Shawnee public area at Ferne Clyffe State Park there are TONS of deer ! Thinking about bow hunting there myself next year, IDNR has the Hunter Fact Sheet and map posted online. I live in Illinois, but up closer to St. Louis about 2 hours away. I've been at the campsite on gun weekend and everybody had deer hanging in camp, and i'm talking tons of campsites. Not a single hunter didn't have deer.
I've changed my ways, I'm now looking for big bucks on public land.
- littlebuckhunter
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Re: Southern Illinois-- Public
Thanks men, appreciate the info and the offer to help!
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Re: Southern Illinois-- Public
PM sent
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Re: Southern Illinois-- Public
I'm from an hour & a half north of most of the Shawnee ground but have started making a trip down to hunt every October with friends. This year we tried the Saline County SFWA & saw plenty of deer only 1 mature buck. There are a few other smaller public areas like this one that aren't just timber & hill country but have more habitat diversity, that's why we picked this area. Probably will try something else next year. Driving around the area & a lot of the private fields you can see all kinds of deer. The forest has decent numbers of deer too & you hear plenty of stories of big bucks but it is intimidating/hard to figure out for someone used to hunting farm country. Hoping to give it a try & learn more next year though! Good luck if you decide to make the trip!
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Re: Southern Illinois-- Public
dcbakr78 wrote:A couple hunting buddies and I bowhunted southern Illinois for several years the first week of November, mostly the Shawnee. Life happens, and we haven’t been the past couple years, but where we hunted during bow season we didn’t think the hunting pressure wasn’t bad at all. In fact, we rarely saw anyone else. We mostly focused on small sections we thought might get overlooked by most hunters, hard to get to spots, or went way further in than most were willing to go. We had our best luck hunting terrain funnels. One spot was only an acre that was cut off from the main block of land by a county road. You could sit and watch the cars go by just a few yards away, but it was a great funnel leading into some crop fields. We also had pretty good luck calling that time of year. We always saw a good many deer, killed a handful of really nice ones, saw a couple of absolute giants, and always had a good trip. Message me, and I can possibly give you more detail depending on what area you’re planning to hunt.
Hey DC, first day joining a friend told me to check out this site. I'm planning on going to shawnee next week for 7 days during the run. Any other tips would be greatly appreciated. I've done some e-scouting on onx but no boots on the ground yet. I will hunt around eddyville mainly and/or around pope county. Thanks in advance!
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