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Help...need public land to shotgun deer

I know this is bowsite, but I was just contacted by my landowner that he and his siblings are not allowing hunting on their land as they are selling it. I have tags for Macoupin county and now my 14 year old son (who just got his hunting license) wants to shotgun hunt. He has told me that he wants to bowhunt eventually but does not feel comfortable with his ability. I am looking for a place in Macoupin County that is not a draw and I am unfamiliar with the public land for shotgun hunting.

Sorry can’t help in that county but the tags are over the counter now so you may be able to try a different county.

All tags were sold out in Jersey, Madison and surrounding counties. Sucks...won't be able to gun hunt this year due to Macoupin county having only ONE public land area and it is a draw archery hunt only.

Most public hunt areas for gun season have site-specific permits so your county tags wouldn't be valid anyway. Many of them do however offer daily draw permits for $5. Basically ypu have to arrive at the ranger station before 430 and put your name on a list and foid card in a coffee can. They give a safety speach at 450am and draw spots starting at 5am for any open slots. Some parks will have 100 people waiting on standby, others literally no one. The rangers are usually good about getting kids a spot so they can get out in the field. Might not be in your county, but there are a bunch of them sprinkled around the state.

Other choice is do like everyone else and either knock on doors and ask at church, or pay a lease or outfitter. It's just how it goes.

As a school teacher I am quite limited on funds for a lease/outfitter. The daily draw is something that I was unaware of. Can you send me the names of the park that do the daily draw? I would love to get my son out there and hopefully he can get the hunting bug. You can PM me and i would greatly appreciate that.

I know Desplaines Conservation Area and Goose Lake/Heidecki have day of drawings. Both located up towards you.

If you go to Heidecke let me know. I hunted there about 15 years ago and I may be able to steer you in the right direction.

Des Plaines and Goose Lake are both pretty far from Macoupin county (as in 20 miles south of I80 near Chicagoland). You can try flipping through the state DNR website for public hunt areas. I used to hunt the daily draw in McDonough county at Argyle Lake which would be a whole lot closer, still more than an hour drive from Macoupin area.

If link doesnt work use this address:

https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/FactSheets/Pages/default.aspx

It looks like for 2020, youth can gun hunt in any county with tags.

CHECK THIS PLACE OUT. NOT TERRIBLY FAR FROM MACOUPIN. JUST GET OVER THE COUNTER TAG FOR HAMILTON COUNTY (I THINK). DEFINITELY NO SITE PERMIT NEEDED BASED ON THE LINK I ADDED TO THIS POST. TRUE PUBLIC HUNTING, GET YOUR LICENSE AND TAG AND GO. HAVEN'T HUNTED IT BUT HAVE HEARD NOTHING BUT GREAT THINGS. WHEN I HAVE MORE TIME TO BOW HUNT I WILL BE VENTURING OVER TO THIS PLACE FOR SURE. SAW SOME PICS OF GIANTS OUT OF THESE UNITS DOWN THERE. I HUNT A LITTLE FARTHER NORTH IN JEFFERSON COUNTY. HOPE YOU CAN FIND A WAY TO GET YOUR SON OUT IN THE WOODS THIS YEAR AND HOPE THIS MIGHT HELP. GOOGLE MAPS USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SITE MAP CAN HELP YOU DIAL IN A FEW SPOTS TO GO SIT. GOOD LUCK!

Thank you pgalou

I will save this thread, but this past Thursday I was just talking to a parent at my boy's scout meeting when I remarked that I was frustrated with zero opportunities for public land hunting in Macoupin co. An acquaintance, our son's are friends, turned and looked at me and offered to contact his mother if I could hunt her 36 acres. Roughly 15.46 acres of woods and 21 acres of fields...guess who now has a small slice of hopefully heaven to shotgun hunt. Practically fell into my lap and I will be meeting the landowner this evening to set up a stand.

You should buy a lotto ticket. Things like that don’t happen very often, good luck!

Thanks...went yesterday evening and got there in time to see a big buck run across the field that I will hunt on Friday. I set up in a very small stand of timber that has a creek running through the timber...hopefully I'll get a couple of nice deer...and my son too.

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