Low Hunter numbers

H

Hockeybob

Active member
This year Chain O Lakes state park is now closed for controlled Pheasant hunting. Silver Springs state park is back to being run by the state and has reduced its days per week from 5 down to 3. Des Plains Conservation area remains the same for now but when you look at the available permits there are plenty left for all dates.
I bring this up because back in 1984, My brother and I would drive down after school and get in the “sweat Line” or non permit line at 6:00pm the night before, sleep in our car just in hopes of a standby permit the following day. Today you can pretty much get any day you want. The popularity has really changed over the years for many reasons. Some of my fondest memories were made at these State Parks.
 
Here in Iowa, I see the same thing happening. Less habitat, losing more every year. With fewer places to hunt, people just have stopped bird hunting. CRP has really helped the bird numbers, but for most, it just isn't easy to get into those fields....little public land here.
 
Back in the 90's I lived about 25 mins straight up I55 from DPCA in Wilmington. My brother and I used to get up in the middle of the night to drive down there to get our place in line to get a permit to pheasant hunt. We waited in line for hours in any weather while the workers were inside the pole building drinking coffee for an hour. They treated us like third class citizens and wouldnt open the doors. In addition to that (Im going to try and be gentle about this) there are other nationalities that hunted there that didnt follow the rules and hunted very unsafely. They hunted like the rules didnt apply to them with nobody telling them otherwise. I had a few runins with them and I was done. Them screaming with loaded shotguns was all I needed.
I then moved to the WI stateline where I am now. Im a mile from COL entrance on Wilmot Rd. Its a different atmosphere in COL as its a lot of woods hunting and a lot of roads inside. Lots of close together parking lots, lots of hunters at the time etc. Parking lots like 5 and 6 would have 15 trucks in it and was a line of 30 guys walking into the field side by side. No thanks. I think the biggest reason the number of hunters started to decline there was when Barry the site superintendent retired a number of years back. He was the most genuine guy in the world and really wanted to the hunters to have a good time. Seemed like everyone knew him. I cant tell you the others dont want that but he was a notch above. There was also a ton of guys that just drove the roads looking for birds and then jumped out to chase them. Its just not real hunting.
For me, I was bitten by wild birds. When youve chased released birds for many years and then get a taste of satisfaction by putting a few wild birds in your vest, you never want to chase released again. It was me. I now hunt a lot less as a result and bag fewer birds but its still a ton more enjoyable than chasing ditch chickens.
Im headed to SD on Sunday and all will be well in my life for that week.

Also, Ive tried for years to get one of the free upland permits for the IL PHG areas and have yet to be successful. There must be so many guys looking for access to upland managed land..
 
I'm fortunate to be able to hunt wild birds in Iroquois County around Milford, IL. Still good bird numbers down there where the habitat is right. My dad was absolutely obsessed with pheasant hunting, and he knew so many people. Fortunately I still have access to tons of private ground. Growing up it was a madhouse on opening weekend. Hunters everywhere. I hunt down there on most weekends during the season, and I have not laid eyes another bird hunter in the last 3 years. I don't even know anyone who has a bird dog in Milford anymore either. The Iroquois County PF Chapter is very active, but hardly any of those guys do any bird hunting. Everyone deer hunts now.

Same thing with quail hunting in Southern, IL. I usually make it down to Franklin County at least once per year to hunt quails, and I never see a bird hunter down there either.

I live South of Rockford around Stillman Valley, and I go out to Johnson Sauk Trail (Kewanee, IL) a couple times each year to the controlled pheasant hunting site. You used to have to make reservations to get a spot, but not anymore. In the last few years, I've never not got on as a standby hunter. I will say, the crowd there is usually very friendly. I don't run into any hunters from Chicago Land out there. I guess because it's pretty far from Cook County. It's an easy ride and just off of I80.

I'm leaving for my annual trip to South Dakota on November, 4th, and will hunt 5 days. Hopefully will make a second trip out there in December. I used to go to SD on opening weekend, but switched to the start of the third week about 15 years ago. Seems that extra couple of weeks really helps with having most of the corn harvested. My hunting base out there is Ipswich, which is about 30 minutes west of Aberdeen.

Good luck this year guys and be safe!!
 
ehudgens said:
I'm fortunate to be able to hunt wild birds in Iroquois County around Milford, IL. Still good bird numbers down there where the habitat is right. My dad was absolutely obsessed with pheasant hunting, and he knew so many people. Fortunately I still have access to tons of private ground. Growing up it was a madhouse on opening weekend. Hunters everywhere. I hunt down there on most weekends during the season, and I have not laid eyes another bird hunter in the last 3 years. I don't even know anyone who has a bird dog in Milford anymore either. The Iroquois County PF Chapter is very active, but hardly any of those guys do any bird hunting. Everyone deer hunts now.

Same thing with quail hunting in Southern, IL. I usually make it down to Franklin County at least once per year to hunt quails, and I never see a bird hunter down there either.

I live South of Rockford around Stillman Valley, and I go out to Johnson Sauk Trail (Kewanee, IL) a couple times each year to the controlled pheasant hunting site. You used to have to make reservations to get a spot, but not anymore. In the last few years, I've never not got on as a standby hunter. I will say, the crowd there is usually very friendly. I don't run into any hunters from Chicago Land out there. I guess because it's pretty far from Cook County. It's an easy ride and just off of I80.

I'm leaving for my annual trip to South Dakota on November, 4th, and will hunt 5 days. Hopefully will make a second trip out there in December. I used to go to SD on opening weekend, but switched to the start of the third week about 15 years ago. Seems that extra couple of weeks really helps with having most of the corn harvested. My hunting base out there is Ipswich, which is about 30 minutes west of Aberdeen.

Good luck this year guys and be safe!!
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There is actually a decent wild quail population in certain parts of Iroquois county also, but like most people in this state i do my bird hunting west of the Mississippi .
 
whatsnext said:
There is actually a decent wild quail population in certain parts of Iroquois county also, but like most people in this state i do my bird hunting west of the Mississippi .
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Haven't seen wild quail in Iroquois for almost 2 decades. They should be there but we never bump them.
 
And like that I get to report that we flushed a covey of quail in Iroquois co on Saturday. Also ran into other hunters and saw a third group on my drive out in Indiana on private land. that never happens either.

Had a big group on Sat. 10 hunters and 6 dogs. Probably put up 60-70 birds and all but one person got a limit. that was the 10 year old kid on his first hunt who got a cock with a 20ga single shot.20231202_170540.jpg

Some of the birds we got (not all) and note a few quail. Think we got 4 total. Covey was about 25 birds. That will be all the shooting at them this season.
 
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I don't have a Facebook account. How do i get in touch with the Iroquois County chapter of PF?

Thanks!
 
Made it down to Milford again for the last trip of the year. Had my cousin from Springfield with me, which is the first time I haven't hunted solo all year. About 2 inches of real wet snow was on the ground We went to 4 spots, saw birds in every spot and killed our 4. We started at 8:30 and wrapped up at noon. My young pointer is really starting to figure it out. It's been nice seeing the light bulbs go on with her. We probably saw a total of 30 birds, and had 8 solid points. 4 were on roosters, and had another get up wild and flew back over the top of us. My cousin missed a rooster on a point in a hedgerow. Great point, but he didn't get the bird. So 4 for 5. Birds were a little skittish. It was so wet I don't think they really wanted to be in the grass. Both of us were completely soaked from the waste down.

All in all, I had a pretty good year. I made 5 trips down and had 4 limits. Got skunked on my 3rd trip down. Saw plenty of birds, but only had points on 2 hens, and wasn't even remotely close to a rooster. Never fired a shot on that trip.

Feels like there were more birds than last year. My biggest concern is just the overall lack of cover in places. Some of the areas that I have hunted my whole life are completely bare. A lot of the filter strips have come out the last few years which is concerning. However, where the cover was right, the birds were plentiful. Never saw another bird hunter in my 5 trips down.

Heading out to AZ at the end of January to quail hunt, and really looking forward to that.
 
I hunted Milford area las Friday with two guys and my new Brittany. Hunted places that i know have seen lots of pressure already and didn't get out until about 10:30am Had 7 nice points, 6 cocks and 1 hen. First bird hunting partner let fly because at first we both thought it was a hen, the tail was so short. But as the right light hit we could see it was a cock.

2nd spot we had 7 birds flush as we drove up. Mostly cocks and 1 or maybe 2 hens. Worked the patch which is about 10acre rectangle with two of us walking and the third guy (who can't really walk) blocking by the truck. My goal all year had been to get him a good shot and a bird. other hunter with me got a cock off a nice point and by dog retrieved to him.

Next point was a hen that held tight for about 5 minutes and then dog worked toward blocker and he signaled us that dog was on point. Dog held point for about 6 minutes as we made our way over and was about 2 feet off the edge of the field and 15 feet in front of blocker. Got bird to flush by him and he got it, so made trip worthwhile.

Two other places we went, was just be walking and him blocking. Had two nice points and two very half hearted attempts by me to shoot. Last spot had one point and i broke the birds wing and watched it run across a giant field of cover crop and out of sight. Dog never saw where it went or got a good scent trail. We looked for that bird for about an hour but the field is larger than one section.

Did get another point out in the middle of that cover, which is about 1 inch deep. Was a hen and looking around I found 5 or 6 roosts in the middle of that out in nowhere. Totally surprised.

And did not see any other hunters. And this year was more birds than last. Couple places had mowed the filter strips :( but there seem to me to be more cover in total.
 
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