Contributors to this thread:
Fortunate this year to draw a 1st season Pyramid State Park - East Conant unit. Lots of birds but very limited number of tags. I think only 5 for each season. Probably like a lot of other special draw areas. Good luck all.
Whole family drew and thankfully all different weeks!
Lee
Drew 4th choice Wayne Fitzgerrell SP 3rd season. Not hunted this property before but it's along my work travel route and wife is going so I just applied for park type properties. I'll pick up a couple leftover county tags later, which I can use at my favorite properties. Just bought a portable boat so I'm focusing all my turkey hunts to IL 3rd season & WI 4th season so I can hit the spring walleye runs next year at Maumee & Peshtigo Rivers, & Lake Winnebago..
Drew my first choice in the second lottery, 3rd season county tag in a massive population loss area where the public is flooded out half the years so demand is low, but I know it very well. Will grab one leftover in Wisconsin next week, which will leave me with 2 IL, 2 WI & 1 IN = 5 total. Yes got lucky here for a Kingsbury tag 15 minutes from home. Only got one Tom last year due to house projects move and S IL flooding. Wife wants more! Time to catch up. I expect to fill 3 minimum.
I’ve got a lot to do around the farm but I plan on going out 2nd season in Marion county. While I’m out there I need to cut a bunch of trees down and fix a few tree stands.
Are people still going out for the long beards even with ILDNR shutting down all properties? Any mention of tag reimbursement?
I have a first season south zone site specific tag here in southern Illinois. (and I don't mean Joliet as southern Illinois for all my friends in the far northern part of the state). I've been walking it and scouting since mid January.....Including since JB has closed DNR sites. I've seen one truck and 1 person on over 3K acres in about 5 trips. I hope that JB and the DNR have the insight to adjust those policies prior to april 6. I know I'm looking for a lot but honestly I can not imagine not being in the woods opening morning. How that plays out I couldn't say for sure at this point.
I’ll be out on private land for turkey season but I’m not sure what they plan on doing for public ground. Hopefully they will address and change the closing of sites. I understand closing the buildings or where people may congregate but in an open field with nobody around seems harmless.
Just got the email I was suspecting. All my work travels have been indefinitely suspended by HQ due to the virus outbreak. We are to do virtual inspections via phone interviews. So my two Illinois WMA turkey hunts are toast. No way in hell I'm going to pay the expenses to travel 6 hours on my dime just for a turkey. So plan B is walleye fishing nearby Lake Erie. That leaves me with 3 tags (2 WI, 1 IN) which are all close enough to drive at my own expense.
Check this link out. Not only are all Wisconsin parks & WMA's open, but all entrance fees are waived to encourage families to visit during the virus outbreak. I am waiting for Pritzker to do the right thing by making an announcement opening ILWMA's for turkey season, and forcing state employees to go back to work, but it won't help me any now.
Yup I'm pretty spoiled by getting most my hunting & fishing trip expenses paid for in the process of my job for the last 12 years. There's no way I'm driving 6 hours one way for a bird. If I gotta go there for work anyway, that's a whole nuther story. Just common sense. Toledo is not in my work area anyway, so walleye would be on my dime regardless. But it's only 2 1/2 hour from my home and I've been wanting to try the new folding boat. So I'll look at the bright side.
In case you have not seen this.
ILLINOIS (WAND) - Illinois officials are canceling hunting and fishing on state-managed or state-owned sites while they're closed during the pandemic. The decision to close parks was "extremely difficult", the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said in a press release, but "was the right one" as officials saw large crowds showing up at state-owned parks across the U.S. All state parks, fish and wildlife areas, recreational areas and historic sites owned by Illinois were closed March 15.
As a result, all upcoming scheduling events, including but not limited to hunting and fishing on state-owned or state-managed sites, have been canceled. In a Tuesday announcement, the DNR said this change will be in effect while the state sites are closed.
DNR officials noted they can't give out refunds or transfer permits under current administrative rules. They said "all possible solutions" to the problems this situation creates for sportsmen and women are under review.
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Why am I not surprised by the Thief Pritzker and the state of Illinois solving their problem by sending the bill to honest sportsmen. We all get to throw our turkey tags in the garbage while the state keeps all the thousands of dollars in fees they charged us for them. No refunds. Not even a “We’re sorry”. The DNR just says “It’s not our fault. We are mandated by legislation to shaft you”. Only in Illinois!
What part of thier reviewing possible solutions did you not understand?
The same part they claimed in their prior press release. That would be the part.
"officials saw large crowds showing up at state-owned parks across the U.S." This line is laughable. There are 5 permits issued for my hunt at a 3,010 acre public property. By my calculation that's 602 acres per hunter. Pretty sure that allows for more than 6' between hunters. Politicians managing wildlife and pandemics. What could possibly go wrong?
Large crowds - exactly 2 (TWO) tags issued for the park my daughter drew. Large crowds my ass!
Lee
Drove thru my special draw site this afternoon....3000 acres....there were 4 trucks who I'm sure were mushroom hunters. I am really torn about Monday morning.
I’m sure there are people who might take the risk but it wouldn’t be me. I’ll be out at my farm this week and the weather looks nice down south.
That property wouldn’t be Wayne Fitzgerell F&W, would it? It’s 3,010 acres and where my first hunt was supposed to be. I don’t blame the four guys, but they weren’t me. I wasn’t driving 6 hours for a bird anyway, but today got reassigned to be a work at home project manager until pandemic travel ban ends. This may even preclude my plan B Toledo walleye fishing. :(. Plan C is planting fruit trees in back yard 2 apples down, 2 cherry & 2 peach ready to bury.
I was down south yesterday and the weather was a bit cooler but no snow. All I saw were some hens and I heard a few gobbles in the distance.
While DNR officials continue their ongoing search for "all possible solutions" to our public property turkey permit fee reimbursements, it seems the state is very quick in seeking a 44 billion dollar federal coronavirus bailout of their mismanaged budget, no doubt blaming the unsustainable pension disaster on it's collapsed stock market investments. This was decades in the making! Why was I not surprised at all when I read this? The politicians are chasing after me in Indiana still trying to hand me the tab for their bills! No thank you!
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The editorial board of the Chicago Tribune has repeatedly slammed the Illinois Senate's request for a whopping $41.6 billion federal bailout as the state's financial troubles continue to grow amid the coronavirus outbreak.
"Let’s stipulate that Don Harmon, rookie president of the Illinois Senate, laid a rotten egg with his recent letter asking members of Congress to give Illinois a $40.6 billion bequest. Assorted politicians and pundits have scorned Harmon’s inclusion of a $10 billion pension bailout, as if a sudden pandemic created a pension crisis that, in fact, Harmon and his fellow Springfield lawmakers spent decades creating," the editorial board began a piece on Friday. "We called Harmon’s request shameless and dishonest. His 'ask' was roundly criticized and, we would bet, part of the reason Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected the idea of state bailouts in a recent radio interview."
The Tribune editorial board agreed with McConnell that states should solve the problems they created and added that "taxpayers across the country should not be responsible for Illinois’ financial mismanagement and particularly its unfunded pension liabilities."
TRUMP LASHES OUT AT WASHINGTON POST'S PHILIP RUCKER AT BRIEFING: 'TOTAL FAKER'
"It also helped expose Illinois Democrats’ agenda for 2020. While asking for a federal bailout, they have shown no movement toward cutting spending or removing from the November ballot a constitutional amendment that eventually will mean higher income taxes for millions of Illinois taxpayers," the board elaborated.
Illinois Senate President Don Harmon Illinois Senate President Don Harmon The board then knocked Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker for offering "no solutions" to his proposed state budgets only to wait "for money from the feds -- from federal taxpayers."
BILL MAHER SCOLDS NY TIMES OVER CORONAVIRUS DEATHS COVERAGE: WE NEED CONTEXT, NOT FEAR
"Pritzker should be re-examining expenses and payroll and weighing furloughs for state workers. He should be negotiating with the state’s labor unions to pull back, or at least delay, pay increases that during a pandemic of mass unemployment are scheduled to ship hundreds of millions of dollars in raises to workers who largely are staying home," the piece continued. "Instead, there continues to be no appetite for reducing spending. Only asking for more money from taxpayers. ... The coronavirus will be the reason, we expect, Pritzker will make an even harder push for his graduated income tax. Revenue losses have been deep and painful."
"But voters already had many, many reasons to reject the pressure of sending more money to Springfield through a graduated income tax. Harmon’s letter -- a brazen, twisted plea for a bailout with no admitted responsibility on the part of politicians who got us here -- should give voters another one."
Illinois governor says new COVID-19 numbers should show state could be nearing peakVideo CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
Earlier in the week, the Tribune tore into Harmon's "shameless, dishonest" request for the bailout.
"What is beyond galling is using the coronavirus as an excuse," the board wrote on Sunday. "Even by this state’s low standards, asking federal taxpayers from California to North Carolina, from North Dakota to Texas -- farmers, small business owners, teachers, nurses, bus drivers, bartenders- to help dig Illinois out of its pre-coronavirus, self-inflicted, financial hellhole is astonishingly brazen. Every member of Congress should carefully scrutinize pleas from states whose unbalanced budgets, embarrassing credit ratings and vastly underfunded pension systems predated virus outbreak."
I see the turkey showed up
Didn't know Don Harmon was a Bowsiter! :)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday that he was not interested in trying to discharge the state's pension debts through bankruptcy.
The governor's comments came after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would favor allowing states struggling with pension debt to declare bankruptcy rather than bailing them out.
McConnell said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show that Republicans had little appetite for covering the costs of state pension debt.
“There’s not going to be any desire on the Republican side to bail out state pensions by borrowing money from future generations,” McConnell said.
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I wish Mitch McConnell was in charge of Illinois turkey permits. I’m quite sure I’d have my public land permit refund by now.
they should honor any current pension but change the future system. There are currently over 35,000 former teachers making over $100,000 in retirement in the state. There are about 25,000 more former state employees making over $100,000 and this is not sustainable. Every man, woman and child in Illinois would have to pay $16,000 just to fund the current liabilities.
It’s amazing that I started this thread about turkey hunting and end up defending the pension system.
If you want to see the numbers go to the site openthebooks and you can see why Illinois can never pay for their current obligations.
I couldn’t stop laughing when I read this today. You just can’t make this stuff up! ........................
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Pritzker said the legislature passed a balanced budget for this year, and had it not been for coronavirus Illinois would have had a budget surplus.
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Haha haha! But still no word on our turkey permit refunds.
Last June, the General Assembly passed a 1,581-page budget that lawmakers shoved through in a matter of hours. An Illinois Policy Institute analysis found the budget was as much as $1.3 billion out of balance. Even granting optimistic revenue assumptions, the state would have ended the year $574 million in the red.
Making matters worse, the budget was unbalanced even with 20 new or higher taxes and fees on Illinoisans. Those taxes and fees, including doubling the state gas tax, designated more than $1 billion for the operating budget and financed a $45 billion infrastructure plan.
Lawmakers and the governor claimed the budget was balanced on paper, using their projections for spending and tax collections. That is where Illinois runs into trouble.
The Illinois Constitution requires a balanced budget, but the requirement is toothless. The constitution reads: “Appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year.”
The word “estimated” is the issue. The requirement is that lawmakers plan to spend only what they receive but does not require the budget to actually balance at the end of the year. This allows for numerous budget gimmicks, including overestimating revenue and underestimating expenditures.
Worse, Illinois actually carries what is essentially a perpetual operating deficit through its backlog of unpaid bills. As of April 30, Illinois owes more than $6.9 billion to various vendors for services already rendered. Under state law, the unpaid bills carry high interest penalties ranging from 9% to 12%. The state’s weak and ineffective balanced budget requirement allows the backlog deficit to be carried from year to year.
Illinois also has virtually nothing set aside for a recession or other emergency, what is commonly known as a “rainy day” fund. The state had only about 15 minutes worth of cash in the rainy day fund when the pandemic hit in mid-March.
And there was budget trouble projected even before COVID-19 wrecked state finances. The state in October projected it was facing a $1.77 billion structural deficit for fiscal year 2021, which starts in July.
Pritzker now wants help from the federal government to resurrect Illinois’ state finances.
In mid-April, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon wrote a letter to Congress asking for $44.2 billion from the federal government. Among these funds would be $10 billion to pay the state’s pensions next year. Pritzker has publicly rejected the idea, but still called on Congress to approve more aid for states. In Illinois, this means the money would inevitably go to the state’s broken pension system.
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Channahon, rejected the idea of using federal funds to bail out Illinois from problems it created through mismanagement well before the pandemic. He said the state will get help based on the damage done by the virus.
Illinois could lose up to $6.6 billion in personal income tax revenue resulting from people laid off or having income reduced by the pandemic. Lawmakers will now be tasked with difficult decisions about how to cut spending and try to balance the fiscal year 2021 budget – a task at which they have failed since 2001, on a budget that was already projected to be in the red and that now faces billions less in revenue.
Jstephwns, You just don’t get it. My posts are about my 2020 TURKEY HUNTING SEASON so far. ‘That’s all I got, thanks to the Butterball in Springfield and the political corruption in Illinois. What happened to my public property turkey tag fees was the same thing that happened to our state taxes. They were stolen and redirected to a corrupt political payback pension system. And now the Butterball is banging on Trump’s door to steal from all Americans to pay for their political promises. These are facts, not opinions. I did not ask for this. I should have been hunting in Illinois April 17-22 with one hunter per 602 acres. I should have had two toms in the freezer by now. But this is all I have to report until May 3-5 for my Indiana public property turkey hunt and May 8-12 on Wisconsin public. I'll have a more conventional hunt summary after those. My bet is by the time I return from my WI trip I’ll still be waiting for the ILDNR to assess "all possible solutions" to refund my money. This is what happens to honest sportsmen in corrupt mismanaged states. It seems some folks just want to collect their unsustainable state employee pension checks while they sweep the consequences under a rug. I expect their attitude will change in a hurry if states are allowed to declare bankruptcy as Mitch McConnell suggests.
Harvested my 21# Tom on day three at 9:45 am.
Harvested my 21# Tom on day three at 9:45 am.
This hen hung out with my decoy for 45 minutes and likely helped lure the Tom back to me later.
This hen hung out with my decoy for 45 minutes and likely helped lure the Tom back to me later.
Hen attacking hawk next to decoy.
Hen attacking hawk next to decoy.
My Tom made his first appearance strutting for a hen at 9:00 am.
My Tom made his first appearance strutting for a hen at 9:00 am.
Indiana public land came through with an eventful three day hunt. Used both my pop-up and Ghost Blinds combined with decoys with great success. Nothing like Wisconsin, where toms will avoid or run like hell from anything artificial due to heavy hunter pressure. I actually quit using decoys entirely there. But in low pressure Indiana it seemed everything in the woods came to check them out. A first for me was to see a live hen befriend my decoy and charge in to defend it later when a red tailed hawk swooped in landing next to it, apparently planning to attack? That hen got all puffed up and hissed at the hawk, as you can see in the photo.
My Tom first made an appearance at 9:00 am, strutting for a hen tucked in behind the hedge to the left. But he was out of range at 50 yards. I just made sure he knew I was there by yelping twice and viewing my decoy. I knew he would then return later after his hen went to her nest mid morning. He came back at 9:45 am this time in easy range.
Indiana’s deer management is nonexistent, with 16 shotgun days in the rut and three months of crossgun pressure, but state turkey management is very conservative. Just one Tom per hunter per season. This makes for a real quality hunt even on public land. I’d highly recommend giving it a try.
I had a great hunt, with tons of gobbling and encountering ten mature toms within 20-70 yards in just three mornings. My harvest came with only two hours left in my hunt, so I'd definitely say I got my money’s worth.
Anybody heard any updates on 2020 public land turkey permit refunds? I saw a blip article a few weeks ago somewhere and now nothing. Even on wide angle Google searches I've come up empty. That's like impossible. Very weird it seems the topic has just fallen into a big black hole. Same as Illinois property tax money.
Zim, Just call and tell them you played the system and have a lifetime license and as such you demand answers. Then you can wine and complain about how they screwed you over like the ex-wife did when they don't care.
I got my LL 100% legally in 2006. No playin involved. Investigated by a full time ILDNR law enforcement CO and confirmed. Back at a time when 85% of such applications were fraudulent, so said the officer. Pritzker didn't just screw me over, he screwed thousands of honest sportsmen. Now he claims Illinois was going to have a balanced budget if not for the Coronavirus, so bail us out. Haha ya right. Just give the money back as you know he should. If not I can see a lot of successful applicants just filling two tags next spring to get even. I pissed away 12 years worth of taxes to the Illinois entitlement system. The LL is the very least I should get in return.
You just can’t make up this kind of ineptitude. It’s engrained in the Illinois DNA.
Jeez! Do you EVER stop complaining! You hate Illinois, you hate Iowa, now you hate Indiana public. You’re running out of places to deer hunt. From what you’ve been posting, your bowhunting days are over, so why are you still stirring the crap here?
Why not stick to the issue and defend this zero turkey harvest report joke. Thousands of honest sportsmen are outraged over this. Just look on FB to see a few. Not just me! And you are out of touch with reality as Iowa has outstanding hunting and wildlife management. I have absolutely never complained about them. And Indiana has outstanding turkey hunting and management. Do you ever stop your Bowsite personal attacks?
“Indiana’s deer management is horrible, with 16 shotgun days in the rut and three months of crossguns pressure, but state turkey management is very conservative“ Kenny, your words on 5/7/20. And personal attacks, seriously. After all the years of you bad mouthing state employees and the pension system that we had no part in enacting, you accuse me of personal attacks. You have to be completely delusional or the biggest liar here.
jstephens, Calmly put down the hash pipe. I never denied Indiana's deer management sucks. It certainly does. Read carefully. I know you can do it. "And Indiana has outstanding turkey hunting and management." This clearly references turkey, not deer. Their deer are bought out by corrupt politicians just like Illinois. Turkey are definitely not. Not enough money in them. Iowa is outstanding across the board. I challenge you to find a complaint I have with them. Please show us all. Don't let the facts get in your way.
As to the million dollar state employee pensions.........every state employee knowingly bought into it. Quit blaming others. As if you didn't know those were entitlements promised by the most corrupt politiicians in the United States. Who's Democratic brother-in-arms is now tinkling his cup in Trump's face blaming Illinois' 20 year train wreck on Coronavirus? Pathetic. Can't wait to see where this ultimately crashes cause Trump ain't bailing Illinois out. Now tell me who is the liar here?
I wish I knew what the complaint was about, I can’t read Zims blurry picture. Cliff notes anyone?
Yes sure I'll try. When you hunt certain hunting areas the state has you print out a parking pass. Regardless of wether you hunted that area or not you have to report in or your hunting privileges for the next season are suspended.
So just return the parking pass and no issues right? How does this have anything to do with corruption, politics, or pensions?
Beats the hell out of me.
Come on Highlife, put the hash pipe down and get with the program! Maybe we all need to pick up the crack pipe to get on the the same page as Zippy.
Since Illinois has no rainy day fund the sheet will hit the fan soon!
I leave the state and this clown is still coming after me for money! Who will he ask next Xi Jin Ping & Kim San Pang?
Is Pritzker losing weight???? 8^)))) Corrupt for sure.
It’s one thing to disagree with the mans policy and politics, but to make fun of his weight is just plain childish. For all you know, he may have a medical condition that prevents him from loosing weight. Bet you guys were a blast in high school, but it’s now time to grow up. I never have or will agree with him on anything, but I will not poke fun at the man or his family on a personal level.
jstephens, I don't care if you liked my post or not. I'm sure that you have never said a joke about some kind of person or persons. BS!!! People has talked about me before, and i couldn't care less. Now take your last reply off like you have with the rest of your replies on here??? 8^)
No we took all those replies off because you can't argue with an imbilcile( sic) it is what it is. This guy wouldn't be happy if he had the exclusive rights to hunt every public state property all to his self.
No doubt Pritzker has already whined to Nancy Pelosi to implement Rahm Emanuel’s battle cry as part of the phase 2 stimulus package.
awh, Bowsite's image editing tool only works about 25% of the time so I could not replace the image in my prior post, but here is a clear copy. This is a post taken off the ILDNR website.
If you think it's no problem for thousands of screwed turkey hunters to be forced to find their unused or disposed of parking permits so they can all report their ZERO harvests...........or lose their property rights for 2012, you truly have been indoctrinated with the Illinois mindset. We have already been robbed and now they want to further inconvenience all of us? Really? We're still waiting for someone to apologize for the first screw job. That has not happened! Do you think other states operate like this too? Do you also think the democrats' flexible spending medical system is a great idea? With 30 snail mail notifications they want you to scan and post for them 30 receipts featuring itemized breakdowns for $7.80 each. And if you don't, they get to keep what YOU contributed..........your money! How does that make sense? Same democratic theft philosophy.
I can tell you what the total harvest is of all those thousands of properties in one second, with zero effort............. freakin ZERO!
Jeez, someone needs a hug or diaper change. Now you’re mad about the medical system? I’m not happy with the postal system, can I blame you for that? You work for a company that contracts to the USPS, so it must be your fault.
As far as I know you always had to return the parking pass. If your carelessness didn’t do that or prepare to do that it’s your fault, not any politician. I’m not in favor of J.B. but sometimes you have to look in the mirror.
If you misplaced your permit I’m sure someone from the state will help and inform you how to fix this problem.
I have to agree it is crap that you have to return what you weren’t allowed to use. I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to reset all the permit holders that were denied their hunt.
Well, after a week I finally got an email response from the DNR apologizing and admitting the property revocation threat was stupid and they finally corrected their 1990's computer software to record all the zero's without the need of us returning parking passes. Still didn't get an apology for stealing our money, but at least they admitted they were wrong. On a side note, I mailed in my last Illinois state income tax return today, and have a refund of $28 coming from Pritzker. I have to wonder if he will pay that up, or just deposit that in his turkey/pension fund. Nothing would surprise me.
