Pathetic Public Land Wild Bird Hunting in IL

None taken
Any chance you have heard about the red herring known as the world shooting complex in sparta illinois. Here sits hundreds of acres unuseable by the public because the illinois govt is holding it hostage until a budget can get passed. The ATA and other major and minor shooting organizations have tried to get the state to allow them to maintain and run the site to no avail. This is the mantra of illinois state govt.
 
Sorry, that's out of my circle. Sounds like a problem for all concerned. Knee boots my friend, knee boots!
 
Makintrax73 said:
I would even be in favor of a $10 upland bird stamp like WI has a pheasant stamp - provided they have to spend the money on upland habitat.
Click to expand...

I admit to being cynical. While this sounds like a great idea, I suspect the state legislators would work it like they did the Lotto scam.

They asked the voters to vote in the Lotto because "all the money will go to the schools!" Great idea! Who could be against that?

When it happened though, all the money that used to go to the school regular old budget went somewhere else. Sure, the Lotto money went to the schools but there was no big increase in funding overall.

If there were some way to ensure the new stamp money went to upland habitat in addition to the usual budget for upland habitat...it'd be great.

You can't trust politicians, IMO. Well...you can trust 'em to lie I guess.
 
Illinois is a mess. No doubt. Maybe some day Illinois will realize it's potential to become a hunting-industry state. We have a world class Whitetail deer herd, a growing and expanding turkey population, good to great waterfowl hunting, and--if we are willing---due to the lay-out of our land, we have the ability to become a great upland hunting state once again. Wild pheasants, quail, and huns.

Increase public lands, public land access, private land access initiatives, habitat improvement funding on private lands, etc.;) God knows with all the industry that's been leaving our state over the years, rural parts of the state are going to need something to fall back on.

Anyway, let's nibble on some small, yet positive improvements we've seen;

1. Illinois DNR has been in a "upland habitat" state-of-mind for some time now, implementing good to great upland habitat improvements on many of our public lands---Yes we need more public land and increased access, but they're making due with what they have been given and have done some pretty good work out there all things considered).

2. County conservation dept's are doing the same thing with implementing some amazing upland habitat areas.

3. Pheasants Forever, along with other habitat org's have been working with the state to improve and open limited upland hunting (wild birds) on some prime upland habitat areas (PHA).

4. On many areas where the state has made road improvements, native habitat (instead of turf grass) has been installed and mowing no longer continues on many roadsides/ditches where native plantings have occurred.

6. In some counties--such as here in McHenry County--a number of rural roadway ditches have been left unmowed until late July, some even later.

7. The state is undergoing wild pheasant studies for a number of years now. A lot of important information about changes within our wild pheasants as far as behavior, breeding, nesting, brood rearing, genes, etc have been discovered. Just maybe we can come up with a cure to our wild pheasants unwillingness to expand as they did in 1995 and prior.

8. Though analytical, after many years of hearing people/clients telling me "we no longer have wild pheasants around here"---that has changed. Each year (for the past 3 years or so) more people are starting to see or hear wild pheasants again. I'm not sure why, but possibly it has something to do with delayed mowing:confused:

Again, these are all small moves in the right direction. Yes, something big has to happen with a lot around here. Some day, we may get the big-city off the backs of the rest of the state! Fact is, Illinois is a rural/agricultural state. Illinois is NOT Chicago. It's long past due our politicians get that through their heads.

Nick
 
1pheas4 said:
Illinois is a mess. No doubt. Maybe some day Illinois will realize it's potential to become a hunting-industry state. .........
Nick
Click to expand...

Lots of good info here Nick. Thanks.

Although I have no scientific study to prove it I see the mowing that you brought up as a big key. I surely would like to see Pheasants Forever get with IDNR to push this in the legislature. Less man hours, fuel and wear on equipment mowing thousands of acres of ditches sure seems like a win/win to me.

My guess on why upland birds dont expand here in good conditions is habitat fragmentation, and mowing could help with that maybe. Again, nothing scientific, just a guess.

Maybe too controversial, but I would like to see farmers mandated to put in filter strips along waterways if they want the USDA subsidies. Lots of issues with ag runoff, not just habitat. That would take a little money out of my pocket too.

Maybe I dont give IDNR enough credit IDK. I havent heard of a master plan from them, but maybe they have one. Not much can be accomplished on a large scale without a plan and baby steps that can be implemented toward the larger goal.
 
Yeah, we need to get with the program when it comes to leaving ditches alone. Another area that can use some improvement is public parks/properties where we pay people to mow vast areas of turf grass that nobody uses.

My back yard is an example of that. The village has a nice chunk of land. Most of it is mowed once a week. There's not a soul that uses that area for anything. I'm planning on going in to talk with the village about converting it into habitat. Warm seasons with wild flowers or something along those lines. I believe the neighbors would like the looks of that more than a mowed field too.

One other thing, I was talking with a client of mine who works for the county conservation district. I asked him why IDNR and the county conservation district can't have a public hunting system like Wisconsin does. In Wisconsin you can park your car and hunt on state and county public lands. Obviously they require a hunting license. Other than that your good to go--like South Dakota for example.

He explained that Wisconsin has a policy/laws in place (someone correct me if I'm wrong please) where if someone gets hurt on public land they can't sue $. Where as here in Illinois, the state or county would be liable.

I'm wondering if we could get something put into place---protection laws for the IDNR and county conservation districts similar to what Wisconsin has? I would think this would open up more opportunities for public land access????

Plus, the liability insurance costs burdening the IDNR and county conservation districts has to be huge. Add to that the silly lawsuits that some crazies bring about over things that are due to their own poor judgement and it's no wonder we can't walk off trail without getting a ticket:eek: We can't even work out dang dogs out there:mad:
 
Last edited:
IL is the biggest anti-gun state in the Country. Why would the progressives who have run the state into the dirt care if you have a place to hunt, or not? I'm surprised they aren't laying for you at the parking areas to shake you down and take your guns.

When I lived in WI and worked for a major motorcycle manufacturer, my co-workers from Northern IL were moving to WI in droves. I thought living in WI was like being in jail. But, I guess it's my frame of reference, being from an area where you can hunt all day and only see the landowner kicking around.
 
A number of years back we had a massive amount of people march at the state's capital in favor of passing conceal-cary for Illinois. I'll never forget the expression on the faces of media/reporters (on the nightly news) when they showed a 2-3 second clip of the march. They were speechless for about 5 seconds then said "WOW".

It was as if they had no idea we pro-2nd amendment types existed here in Illinois, particularly in great number--with great fervor/passion.

And that was it as far as reporting on the march too. A 2-3 clip. That was it. No more air-time. That gives you an idea of what we are up against.:eek:
 
We should probably organize a Pheasant Hunters Political Action Committee and get serious about getting some birds back into Illinois and other Midwestern States that have zero compared to the "old" days

Steve
 
I guess Mr.Trump, (I'm not a big fan), proved that there is a silent majority out there. If anything good comes from his Presidency, I hope it's that folks will speak up, even when you get called some kind of "ist" or that you are guilty of some kind of "ism".
 
I know his two sons Don and Eric are big on hunting, I even saw them being interviewed while out pheasant hunting. So hopefully we can get some leadership going in the right direction for us, at least he wont be wanting to take our rights away. I don't have a semi-auto of any type and don't plan on buying one, but I know that if we let them get their foot in the door on semi-auto rifle and pistol usage, then your auto bird guns will be next.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top