Contributors to this thread:
Hello I live in WV and am curious about your public lands. Just wondering how good they are and if they are as good as the private land. I know IL has big bucks through out the state. Just curious if you do see alot of big bucks in your public lands. Any information would be greatly appreciated, looking to hunt either Ohio or Illinois next year on public lands. I dont want your honey holes either. Ill research with topo maps and aerial photos, just curious on how good the public lands are there.
ohio is closer, cheaper, has more public land and as many if not more big bucks, less pressure too. just look on the main forum at all the public land monster ohio bucks.
there really is no comparison. ohio is where it is at, unless u draw an iowa tag, considering your location.
I've been bowhunting IL for 12 years and I can tell you there is some good public land hunting. However the last 4-5 years I've really seen an increase in hunters and a decrease in deer numbers. I've not really noticed a decline in bucks or good bucks just does. I think they need to eliminate the OTC doe tags for archery. I can also say don't expect to even see a good deer (125-145)in one week of hunting. I hunt from opening day to closing day and might see 1-2 deer in that range all season. Some years are better than others but that's about the average. That being said I love the diverse choices of public land that they offer, if you want to hunt rolling hills, mountain like hills, big woods, small woodlots, or swamps you can find all of them.
I hunt Shawnee in S. Illinois and don't see near the deer I did 5yrs ago. This picture is from a vacated campsite after the first gun season this yr. Taken in Shawnee by someone else.
Ya no way I'd drive past southeast Ohio to get to Illinois public land. Decline of our public has been brutal last 5 years. I chose to burn my Iowa points this year and don't regret it. Still, being conditioned to see such crap in Illinois the last 4 years distorted my judgement enough to shoot a 130" buck. :(
hoyt, looks like they were backstrap fans eh?
X 2 to Woods Walker ....I'd like to spend about 1 hour with the 'people' that did 'that'! Brutal and disgusting and "No Respect"! They deserve the same treatment and I hope they get their just reward!
I hope that photo and location was documented and those idiots are caught and 'punished' !!!
Ok - I'm in no way justifying the picture Hoyt posted. I also understand it was on public land and with that, the land is multi-use by hunters and non-hunters so that was stupid to do.
But, what is wrong with putting the remains of a butchered deer back out into nature? I see it as "recylcing". I also believe it is much better than putting the carcus in plastic bags out by the curb for the garbage man. The plastic bags are a waste and the carcus just rots and goes to waste in the landfill (and at a slower rate because it is in a bag). I've also had the neighbors dogs get into the garbage as the bags wait to be picked up, and now the carcus/deer parts are dragged up and down the street and my neighbors have to see/deal with it.
I've killed over 50 deer and have not taken any of them whole to a meat locker. We field dress our deer and dump the remains from our butchering in a designated area on our farm. We allow others to coyote hunt over it as well. The remains are usually gone in a few weeks.
Thoughts? Blast away . . .
DeerBanger - I agree with you, except you see deer with quarters still attached in that pic so they left good meat to rot. If they took all the edible parts and left the rest then I would say there is no problem with leaving a pile of carcasses at all. Might be a good idea though to leave them in a spot that's a little ways away from hiking trails or parking lots.
Does IL have any wanton waste laws? If so, I hope you got some license plate numbers and turned them in.
Deerbanger- What can you say to a guy with a handle like that. If you look at the picture you will see the deer in the foreground had the head cut off the loins removed and possibly some of the hind quarters removed with the rest left as waste. I would like to see a butcher shop that butchered like that and was able to stay in buisness. Maybe instead of paying to have my buck butchered I should just cut the head off and leave the rest for coyote bait---I find it disgusting.
Vids - I agree, the guys who did this did all hunters an injustice. And again, I was not justifying the picture or what they did, but was trying to see what others thought of "recycling" their deer carcus instead of leaving it for the garbage man.
And "Sureshot" or should I call you "cheap-shot" as you obvioulsy didn't read my first sentence and then took a personal swipe at me! And a butcher can't dump their carcuses, would be my guess - but have strict rules for disposal?
But what is a guy who butchers his own deer to do (and I mean COMPLETELY butchers AND processes his own deer like I do - from making my own summer sausage, hams, canadian bacon, burger, etc)? We do try to recylce ours in as ethical a way as possible (away from road, not in plain view of others, away from crop fields so the farmer doesn't get flat tires from bones). Thoughts on what others do who butcher and process their own deer?
I hunted the Shawnee for 15 yrs. and would see that happen every year. I personally have no problems w/ out of state hunters but there were quite a few hunting around there (alot of people from Chicago also< which i wish were out of state!! (no offence to the "good" people of Chicago):)I assume they are too lazy to butcher the whole thing. This past weekend I heard some guys from Georgia were bringing deer into the campground without tags and imeddiatly butchering them. Then watched 2 "residents" launching slugs at deer at over 300 yrds. I guess slobs come from everyehere!!!
Deerbanger - I know you weren't justifying that picture at all, we're in agreement that what those morons did is disgusting.
Putting the rest of the carcass back into nature (after all the meat is removed) is the best way to do it. When I have the chance that is exactly what I do. Unfortunately I live in the suburbs so sometimes I have to put it in a plastic bag for the garbage man to take.
I found this buck in Shawnee this yr. I came across it when walking out one morning. Saw it from about 150yds in an open oak ridge. It was hit mid lung on one side and you can see the exit hole on the other. Probably top of heart. Good blood trail. This deer was left because someone didn't want to use a tag on it.
I took some of the meat for my dog. The buzzards got to it before I got back that afternoon...was going to share it with the dog.
They probably killed a bunch of deer for camp meat and never tagged any of them. Then whatever was left at the end of their camp week they just left it. The fish and game dept should be notified to try and find these crooks next year.They will probably be back in the same area.Im from Out of state just posting but if I lived there I would call the authorities.
I would hope at this point of the 21st century one of our finest would have read this post.
What was depicted in the last photo could be explained by numerous scenarios, but there is one obvious denominator; ignorance.
Rainman..that deer was laying in an open hardwood ridge. You could see it from 200 yds in any direction. I can't think of a scenario where it could run farther than 200 yds shot through both lungs and most likely heart. Also have a good blood trail to follow.
Public Works , road crew dumpsite? With some coyote help.
I believe public works crews take them to a local landfill instead of dumping them in the woods. If someone has done this kind of work before they could verify if that is right, I just know what I saw on the tv show Dirty Jobs.
Hoyt maybe someone with limited skills did'nt find it?
You mean a blind person? I guess that's possible, but about the only possibility I can think of. Would have to be a good shot though.
Vids - nope, IDOT is not required to do render or bury animals. They either drag them off the shoulder or drop in dump sites - commonly roadside ditches or at the end of service roads on state owned public parks. Earlier this year news crews made all kinds of accusations about a couple dumps sites with dozens of animals in them. Got people upset until the state admitted it was there regular practice to save money. Pretty much dropped off the radar since then.
http://wqad.com/2012/03/13/idot-dumping-deer-on-state-right-of-ways-to-save-time-and-money-3/
Since that pic "taken by someone else" you have no idea the original source, or even where it was taken. This is the internet folks. Don't believe any of the stories about what happened until you find the person who took the picture and verify the truth.
Based on what Burt said, and looking back at hoyt's first pic with multiple animals I am guessing that is just roadkill deer dumped by IDOT. If you look at the ones furthest back they look older and have been scavenged more than the closer ones, it would make sense that they weren't all dumped there over one weekend.
Burt...I know who took the picture. It's in Johnson Co. between two deer camps. The area is called Gum Springs just a couple of miles south of Reynoldsburg, Illinois...according to the picture taker.
I take everything on the internet with a grain of salt.
hoyt, what part of the dear meat do you give your dog? how you prepare it? I should start giving my dogs some....especially last years left over....
I bone and pack the deer out when I kill one and don't have a lot of extra for him. Just the trimmings I get when I cut up for freezing after the boned portions have been in an old fridge for a few days.
But he got everything on the one in the picture. I was hunting on farther back in and would take a little out every time I came by it.
My friend has hunting cabins and he brings me boned out carcasses, etc. for the dog. He likes it all raw. He stashed bones, etc. and they last just about till next season. He's chewing on a leg bone now.
