Does this blue line from from Evansville to East St. Louis run through the best hunting/Big buck county's in the state of Illinois? The reason I'm asking is, we will see more 130+ bucks in 1 week from Evansville to St. louis, than we will during the whole year going south through West Ky. and we do run through some of the best countys in the state of Ky. I seen 3 bucks one night in East St. Louis near Cahokia Mounds that would all go B&C, I've seen two bucks going south through Ky in the past 8 years that would make B&C. The over all deer numbers and BIG buck numers are crazy awesome on our route through Illinois!!!! EDIT: These are the routs we run on the railroad...so we run all hours of the day and night, and alot of it is in the middle of nowhere.
No, that would be the 2nd worst place to kill a "big buck" as regions go in IL. I'd say SE is the "worst". (IMO) Rest assured, there are hotspots in both areas though. And all in all, it's not "bad".
I have seen some giant bucks in Washington and Jefferson Counties as well. I live just north of that blue line
It seems to all be very good across the state where we run. We go through an area south east of Mt. Vernon and its nothing to see 100+ deer out in the bean fields on a late July evening....With a dozen or more being 130 to 150 inch bucks.
Deer density isn't as high in some of those areas as it is Northwest of there, but there are some great deer along that route. A lot of Southern IL gets overlooked b/c it's not in the bluff country along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Tons of good deer there though.
I've seen lots of big bucks from Metropolis in the south to Carroll county up north. No they're not behind every tree but they darn sure are behind way more trees than they are here in South Carolina.
I agree with Justin. I hunted the Mt. Vernon area a number of years ago and my brother spends most of November down there. I would hunt down there over where I've hunted in WI hands down. From what I and my brother experienced that area and south has some great deer.
As already said, there are spots across the entire state where you'll have good odds of seeing some really good bucks. Some of the "lesser known" areas are dynamite, if only because everyone's focus and/or knowledge of IL deer hunting is focused on the Central & Northern areas of the state. Funny you mention Cahokia Mounds. I live about 20 minutes from there, and you're right, there are some giants in that area. The Mounds park itself is of course off limits to hunting, as are most of the grounds around it—so it's essentially one giant "refuge". I used to photograph deer out at Mounds park, and at times in late season, I'd see well over 100 deer just within the park boundaries—including some hammer bucks. The line you drew runs through some outstanding deer hunting areas. Shawnee is by and large an overlooked area in general. Mainly because it's so vast, and yet it's not all contiguous. There's a lot of private ground throughout the sections of the National Forest, but even on the public ground, there are some big boys roaming out there. It's a much different world from Central & Northern IL—larger tracts of timber, less open ground/agriclulture—and some very remote areas. I hunted the farthest SW section of the state my entire life, mostly on Shawnee grounds, and I've seems one absolute giants within Shawnee over the years. We have a farm in Alexander County where we've taken several P&Y bucks over the years, to include a 170+ buck three years ago. With IL, I don't think there's any "bad areas" in this state as far as a guy having good odds of killing a good buck. Some areas have higher densities, therefore better overall odds, but the state as a whole holds good genetics. I'd say "access" is the most difficult aspect of hunting in IL, as leasing is rampant, and some of the smaller public grounds are simply pressured too heavily. Gaining "free" access to private ground is nearly impossible anymore.
Your right Southern Il is very very overlooked. But thats fine for me =) these pictures were all deer off my farm last year. I know the date says 2006 but it wasnt set correct. The two i killed were also off my farm also (johnson county, 45 miles north of KY) The eight pointer scored 133" and the ten scored 161" and weighted 268 lbs on hoof.
