I will be making my first trip out of Texas to do some bowhunting in the far north west corner of Illinois.. WIll be there in Carroll county from Oct.25th - Nov. 1st.... So, for you guys that hunt that country, I have a few questions... What can I expect the deer to be doing?? IE: Feeding, chasing, lockdown, etc... What can I expect as far as the terrain?? IE: Whats it like in that part of the state, Crops still standing or cut, rolling or flat country... What tactics would you suggest for getting on a mature deer on those dates?? IE: Hunt field edges, hunt travel corridores, hunt in the fields (if corn is still standing), etc... Any and all info/suggestions are more than welcomed and appreciated..... TexasBowHunter!!!
Hopefully this answers a few of your questions: - End of October in IL usually means some pretty heavy pre-rut activity. You can expect bucks to be slightly more visible during daylight hours, generally leaving their beds before dark to start checking doe areas. They will be scraping hard. This is usually the most effective time of the year here to rattle IMO. - The terrain is VERY hilly. Expect some sore legs and some sweaty walks to and from your stand. Make sure to dress accordingly. Wear as little as possible when walking in/out then layer up once you get in your stand. - Tactics are the same here as they are anywhere else. In the mornings concentrate on the downwind side of bedding areas, and travel corridors leading from food back to bedding cover. Evenings try the edges of food sources for bucks coming to look for does. If you don't have much luck there, try backing off the field edges 100 yards or so and see if you can't find bucks staging. Like I said, calling works pretty well this time of year if done under the right circumstances. We hunt the next county North of you in JoDaviess. Some good bucks around, just need to be patient and work hard to get them!
