I potentially have a job offer coming from Peoria, IL. I'm originally from South Dakota, which is about an 8 hour drive. What can you tell me about the town of Peoria? Is finding private ground to hunt difficult? If it comes to it, would $1000 get me decent access? Any locals that would be willing to trade IL archery hunting for SD archery or pheasant hunting? I was fortunate enough to grow up in a small, rural community where I knew everyone and getting archery permission was easy. I'm very willing and able to help on farms, but I don't know if that'd be enough for a landowner. Moving away from home will present a new challenge that I'm not sure I like. Thanks for any info.
Peoria is a small town by area standards...but comparing it to South Dacota... its big... private land to hunt? most of it is taken up by leases with hunt clubs and such, but ya might get lucky and find some, all I can say is ask around when ya get moved... or join one of the clubs that have a lease where ya want to hunt.... there is public access thats not too bad cause they limit the amount of hunters per day, so yer not run over by a bunch of people, scout em out before the season when ya have access, then get in line early or dont get let in.. I haven't lived in Illinois sense the early 80's, but my brother still lives there, hunts the public access areas and sees deer... Good luck
First off I'm sorry you are moving to Illinois. And secondly good luck finding land. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hunting clubs seem really unappealing, so I hope there are better options than that. Thanks for the reply.
Pretty sweet gig, but not worth talking about with no offer from them. I just wanted to feel the area out before things get more serious.
I'm in champaign which is a little over an hour away. From my experience finding land to hunt is a *****. Lol public land is over run by idiots and private ground is like finding a needle in a hay stack. I've been going door to door for a couple years with no such luck. Hopefully I get a place this year. As far as leasing a property goes I am no help. I just graduated so I'm search for that full time job where I could have money to lease something out of it came up. If you do find something lease wise and wouldn't mind a hunting buddy I sure I could put down some money. But good luck with the job, hope it works out for you. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I am only about 3 1/2 hours from Peoria, and I have 12-15 properties to hunt, nearly 1000 acres, and I've never paid a dime. All you have to do is ask a lot of people Sent from my LG-D500 using Tapatalk
Southern Illinois...I hunt land that butts right up to Campbells Outdoors Sent from my LG-D500 using Tapatalk
I think it makes a big difference on being a local vs. being a transplant. Like I said, finding ground to hunt around my hometown is much different than finding ground to hunt even 30 minutes away.
Need a hunting buddy? Im willing to travel from Champaign. lol Im just not having any luck up around these parts.
I agree. I'm a transplant down here. There is a lot of land thats either owned by the U of I or Jimmy John. So that puts a damper on things as well.
Peoria sucks. End of story. I used to live 30 minutes from there and drove 65 miles just to hunt on public land. Seriously though.... Don't move to illinois.
I live in Peoria myself last month, so I'm still in Illinois. I was down in Southern Illinois area for two years tho! I'll be headed to Champaign this fall, so I'm trying to find a place to hunt (either near Champaign or Peoria).
You are very close to some of the best hunting in the state. An hour southwest of you things start to get VERY good. If you can scratch up the $$$, you can likely find a quality lease to be part of. I have seen multiple leases in Fulton County this year that you could do for under $1k per year if you got 4-5 guys to go in with you.
