Ok guys, as a few of you know I'm relocating to McHenry county for my job this fall. My house in NY goes under contract tomorrow morning with an anticipated closing date of 10/31. This will put me out there and possibly able to hunt as soon as the weekend of 11/9. What exact tags do I need to hunt out there? Do I have to purchase in advance or can I get OTC when I land out there? I've never completed a Bowhunter safety course and have been grandfathered in VT, PA, MD, and NY......will that be a problem in IL or will they see my NY archery tags and let me buy in IL too? Last of all what exact seasons are open for me to bowhunt after 11/1? If I remember there are some firearms only dates mixed into November?
Depending on your birthday you should be ok with the hunters saftey course. shotgun season starts on the 16th this year and is closed to archery hunting
I live in IL, but now hunt in WI. The IL DNR will have all the info you need. The only place in IL. where your tax dollars are well spent is the DMV. If you time it right, you can have an IL drivers license in you hands in 30 minutes. This will save you around $500 bucks, if memory serves.
That just depends on where you are hunting. I hunt in Lake County a lot which remains open along with DuPage and Cook during the gun season.
You need to be a 'resident' for 30 days before you can purchase a resident tag. That means have a driver's license and such for 30 days immediately prior to buying the tag. Otherwise, you'll need to buy a NR tag. You'll need a hunting license, habitat stamp and the deer tag. Resident archery tags are over the counter. NR tags are purchased online. I think it's possible for the archery NR tags to sell out but I'm not sure that really ever happens. 1st gun season starts on 11/22 and runs through the 24th. 2nd gun season is 12/5 - 12/8. There are other gun seasons but you can usually hunt through them provided you wear blaze orange. (if you're hunting public land, check the regs first.. some will be closed to archery during some of the gun seasons and a few are open to archery during all of the gun seasons) http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/ArcheryDeerHuntingInformation.pdf
This pretty much, even if Christine is one of those dang out of staters now ha. Although I have seen non-res tags sold otr, unless somethimg as changed since last year. The easiest way to remember which gun seasons are a no go for bow hunting is its always the Friday-Sunday before Thanksgiving and the Thursday-Sunday after. (Not counting Thanksgiving thurs) all the rest of them bow hunting is allowed you just haveta wear orange.
Don't hate me because I was smart enough to move out. :D I think you can buy left over NR gun tags OTC and antlerless archery tags OTC but the NR archery combo is online. But don't hold me to that.
Ha ha yea I know, believe me I would if could. After second thought you may be right when it comes to otr tags, I also think its the left over firearm tags the more I think about it.
You guys might be right, but knowing what we do about Illinois' insatiable appetite for money, I'm thinking you can buy tags OTC for non-resident archery...just don't mention the word firearm.
