Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds Anybody interested in a West Central ILLINOIS deer lease for 2011 ?

FYI

Deer #'s are Way down in IL. The DNR blamed it on the late harvest last year. This year 90% of the crops were out at the START of bow season. And the #'s were WAY off from even last year. Most hunters here believe that the #'s are quite a bit lower than the DNR is reporting. A lot of hunters think they(state lawmakers) have been pushing for endless seasons and the sale of more and more permits then using the funds for the state budget woes. It's a fact that they have been extending seasons and selling more permits...even when the herd is in spiraling decline.

Am I reading this right? A fellow can lease one of your farms for say $50/acre for the entire season, and he's regulated on which critter he can, or cannot shoot? As in, if'n he kills a 138" buck you charge an extra $500 on top of the 4K he's already payed you?

I reckon I'm not up on this leasing biz, seems like the game management would be left to the guy throwing the dough.

don't forget the state's $400+ permit fee/deer.

Well that's true, but wasn't my question.

Guess I always figured if a guy leased some ground to hunt, it was his to hunt whatever legal beast he wanted to.

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.

Illinois firearms harvest for 2009 was 99,419 and IL. firearms harvest for 2010 was 98,700 down less than 1%. [Total Archery kills are not available until after season is over]. My brother and a couple of other tenants I have and most of the larger farmers were done with harvest in this area, the third to fourth week of Oct.. What part of IL. are you from ? Archery permits are $410.00 for 2 tags = buck and doe, gun permits are $325.00 for the same.

That's right. But, you failed to mention that 2009 was down significantly from 2008. In fact, this year's harvest will be down right at 7% from 2008. This will be the case, despite the fact of near optimal harvest conditions this year. And you also didn't mention that there are more hunters in the field and permits issued to get to the low harvest #.

BTW, we farm in McDonough and Fulton counties.