I'm headed to the State Park not too far from my property tomorrow to do a little scouting. I plan on hunting there some next season, just to hunt some different land and let my place rest a little now and then. Besides there is 2000 acres of mostly hills and woods to hunt here. All I have to do is register at the lodge once and get a pass and I can hunt there any time through the season. And I don't believe it gets a whole lot of pressure. It's prety rough country. So where do you think I will find the most beds and maybe a shed?
Good luck tomorrow. I am not saying I am any good, but want to give it a shot to get better. I am going to label up a map in a minute. I want to hear what you discover tomorrow in relation to my suggestions (if you happen to look in those areas). Good luck, I will be out on Sunday scouting as well.
John, Make sure to check the regulations...I believe all IL state parks prohibit picking up shed antlers now...at least the ones in my area do - and they have this heavily marked in all parking areas...I have yet to get good reasoning on this - but it started a few years back. Rumor is some nature loving group got this passed... Good luck otherwise...
wow you can't pick up sheds I've never heard that. Not at all suprised by it. In VA it illegal to pick any wild fruits, nuts or vegitables. <a target="_top" href="http://searchwithtednugent.swagbucks.com/refer/shaneagee"> <img alt="Search & Win" title="Search & Win" border="0" src="http://prodegebanners.sitegrip.com/images/tednugent-173x63.jpg"></a>
Your blue box is outside of the park boundaries. A few of the red dots are inside the park, if I get there. The line is a little to the right of Camden Hollow.
the problem with most public area's for me is the parking lots, cant seem to enjoy my time afield when people mess with my ride. I have come out to notes on my truck telling me about what they have put in my fuel tank all the way up to 4 flat tires and my plates stolen. had a witness to the last one and the sherrif's dept told me,not to come back,,,justice i got a little back on this one,i called the sheriff from the persons house where the car was parked that did the damage, i did not go back and they got my point.
That's a sad excuse for a fellow hunter. Sorry about your troubles. This area hasn't ever had any type of vandalism. However in 2008 the game warden was called by a hunter who had been threatened by another for being in "his" spot opening weekend. The guy said he would be waiting for him at the lot and he was....and so was the warden.
the bull$$ of it was the sheriff new the people doing it and told me i was lucky "' they have been burning them" with a slight grin. he didn't think it was so funny when i called from inside there house the next morning. I rang the doorbell and told the lady that answer the door i needed to use the phone and called the law from inside there home and while we waited for the sheriff i explained my story....along with the description of there car as it was parked on the road next to my truck as i was walking out with my friend the night before as he seen the whole deal go down.... there faces was shear terror funny thing for me the more i talked the calmer i got and the more they sh1t in there pants, the sheriff was not happy and i got my point thru to all partys, no tickets were given but i am sure for a while that every noise they heard outside that old home made them think twice about pulling this on the next guy. forgot to ad the reason they were doing this to hunters was they sold there family farm to the conservation dept and felt it was still there farm as they saw it,
I ended up on deer trails that took me mostly East of those areas. Maybe next time. I did find some deer beds and a lot trails and even managed to find a shed in the park to go along with the 3 I found on my place.
I think my map was a little off. The boundary is closer to the black line that runs down Dagget Hollow, between the 2 words. Brett had his blue box East of that if I remember right, His map is gone now, but some of his red dots were in areas I walked. I didn't find much sign in the woods that had the huge oaks with little understory. Most sign was in areas with thicker understory and brush. A lot of where you had marked is old timber with not much brush. There are trails crossing through those spots but not much bedding. I ended up in some of the nastier places where the deer seem to be using more right now, lots of browse there and cover. I'm sure when the acorns start to drop they will hit the areas with the oaks too. It was slick going with the thawing snow and ground. I didn't get a whole lot of it covered.
