Muleshoe you are correct on the minimum antler restrictions. My farms lease for $ 15.00 to $50.00 per acre. Whitedogone you are way off , to start with archery season starts Oct.1 less than 1/2 of crops around this area were harvested by then. I can tell from your post you are one of the few Illinois resident hunters that don't want out of state hunters hunting YOUR deer. Believe me, there are a few hunters around here that are that way, they used to hunt anywhere they wanted for NOTHING, now it has all changed, they don't think about the money it brings into the area.
I really don't care who hunts here. I own close to 600 acres and have 2 uncles that farm close to another 6000. I won't run out of ground to hunt in my lifetime. We finished picking corn on oct 10th this year. And there weren't too many neibors with any left to pick after us. The fact is that this was the earlist harvests in the past 30 years in IL. Yet the harvest continued to decline. It's because of this states lawmakers wanting more $$$. The issue of more and more permits has nothing to do with the health or size of the herd. I have spoken with retired DNR people that also voiced the same thoughts.
