Congrats. I agree w/ the late season sentiments- so long as snow is on the ground I love it. I think I'm switching time off strategies next season- going to do very little October hunting, hunt hard during rut then again in December. I'm sick of wasting my leave on the first 3/4 of October seeing -zip- in daylight while getting nocturnal monsters on my cams all month long.
I'm not sure what your seasons look like in Illinois, but here in PA, they're always too late or too early in some respects. I happen to like the first week or so of archery, which opens the first Saturday in October, but do wish it would start two weeks sooner to get more of the early season feeding patterns to hunt. By the middle of October, its almost wasteful and detrimental to be in the woods much. Our rut hunt ends the second Saturday of November, a week too early. Then we can't get back out for late season archery until the day after Christmas.
What you mention is a reality in Special Regs WMUs here in Pa. It's nice being able to hunt (5D) the entire rut!
I don't hunt IL, but I do in WI and MI/IN. WI starts in mid Sept when I try to catch them on summer feeding patterns. In MI/IN season starts Oct 1 and I usually only hunt that opening weekend and then again the weekend of Columbus day because I get an extra day off. I don't go again until the last weekend of October. Next season, I think I'll be skipping October completely until that last week. Halloween is on Wednesday this year so likely starting my rutcation that day thru the end of the weekend.
They are, but on the flip side, I am thankful they don't open the rifle season for deer the week after archery like a lot of states do. Could you imagine the pandemonium and utter craziness of 800,000 rifles in the woods during the peak of the rut?
