Permit for Joliet training area.

purcel41

purcel41

New member
Just got my permit for hunting the Joliet training area. Has anyone ever been out there or know much about the area. A coworker recommended this so I was willing to try it for the $25.
 
I use to hunt there about 12 years ago untill they started releasing pen raised birds.Back then the JTC had an excellent population of wild birds and very few pheasant hunters.One year I harvested 24 roosters from there.Then they had 2 years of bad hatches and they began releasing birds for the hunters,it started getting very crowded with ill mannered hunters and I haven't been back since.
It still is a very nice place,the biologist there takes very good care of the grounds with perscribed burns,food plots and native prarie plantings.
I still have a few friends that go there and they like it alot.
Afew tips to remember,they stock pheasants just before opening season and just after 1st. and 2nd. deer gun seasons.Try and hunt those times because the birds don't last vey long afterward.
Read the rules very carefully,sign in and out,wear your blaze orange hat and vest,make sure the area you sign into is open and remember only one rooster per day for,I believe the first 2 weeks of the upland season and make sure your hunting license and FOID card are up to date.The Millitary Police there have no problem revoking your hunting privilages
The best fields are(in order)6,2 and 5 North.
Area 6 is closed alot for police training but usually opens up in the afternoon.
If you can hunt afternoons,I am told,there are alot less hunters to deal with as well.
If your dog likes chasing deer you might have a problem,I always kicked up deer in the fields when I hunted there.
One last thing if you hunt with a dog,keep away from Arsenal Road,there is alot of traffic there and they always seemed to fly on that road.
Not trying to scare you about the JTA,it is a nice place just take these precautions and you have alot of fun there.
 
Rock,
Thanks for the info. You pretty much summed up all my questions at once. I heard good and bad so I figured it was worth a try. I have a young dog so any chance to hunt him is a good day.
 
I used to live just up 55 from there. Theres a few down there including the old Arsenal on the S side of 55.
 
This is just North of Des Plaines C.A.It's called 5th. Army Training Area.
I wish they would allow us to hunt the old Arsenal,now Midwin Tallgrass Prarie,the allow deer and turkey hunting,but no upland hunting.Got to love living in northern Illinois:mad::mad:
 
FCSpringer said:
We have 2 field trials each year at des plains. We use all hens and about 200 are released each trial.
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Hate to hijack this thread but how big of fields do you guys need for your springer trials and are they judged off horseback,atv or foot?
 
ROCK said:
Hate to hijack this thread but how big of fields do you guys need for your springer trials and are they judged off horseback,atv or foot?
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No horses. Birds are planted off a flag line with an atv with crates. A spare atv will cart some old folks or someone with several dogs if needed some. But they stay on the same path. Everyone else walks. New fields would be welcome if you have one in mind. The right 40 to larger would be nice. But bigger is always better.:D
 
Our NSTRA region leases 80 acres of crp ground-mostly brome,clover and big bluestem that we have split in half by a fence(2-40 acre fields) that we use for our field trials.I cut it in a squigly line checkerboard fashion,lots of islands of grass,for our pointing dogs.The cover is thick anywhere from ankle to head high,but as I said,with alot of mowed paths thru out.Our lease allows us to use these grounds 365 days a year.We have rented the grounds to other dog clubs before so if interrested,please pm me and we could talk.These grounds are in Livingston County,IL south of Dwight,IL. About 1 hour south of Des Plaines C.A.
Once again sorry for hyjacking the thread.
 
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