Dim prospects for Illinois uplands

Oooh. Love that rooster shot. Who took it for you?

is it me or does it seem like every article that i read about another season opener in illinois has a gloomy outlook every year!!!! the state needs to take the money from fee increases and buy some more ground so that it is more encouraging to go without seeing 6-7 guys before u get to ur spot. the only good spots to upland hunt anymore are the pay to play places and thank god they dont ask for an arm and a leg like the deer outfitters cuz if it wasnt for those places i think upland would fall off the radar

What hunter participation is down? I bet fee increases will help get more people in the woods.

hey how bout you guys buy your own ground instead of expected the state to keep on buying it? serously should we have dnr shoot the the birds for you also?

hmm maybe we need a pheasant biologist and a rabbit biologist…hey lets get a crow biologist too…

Hmm maybe perhaps since land prices are through the roof and most people don’t operate on credit like the state and can’t afford a 100k or more for land. Oh and maybe we expect something for the money we pay or should it only go to the land owners for food plots? Seems like there are funds used to purchase land why wouldn’t people want it used? I’m begining to think your just a forum troll trying to get people going.
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All that aside they should have some coyote hunts on state areas if they want to improve game numbers, just to thin the predators out a bit would be a big help.

cougs, I always thought the Taft/Hartley(hunting license, tax on all outdoor equipment) law was to provide hunting access???
Steve

johnh, you’re all wet!

john h lets switch roles for a minute and see if u say the same thing im a 27 yr old husband with 2 kids and raising my wifes niece also and im the only one that works….buying my house is the best im doin right now let alone hunting land i expect some return on my investment!!! coming up with the money for deer tags is a task in itself!!! so if u dont know everyones story u might wanna think b4 u talk…....it would be alot easier for me to feed my family if there were more access points where not everyone was piled on top of each other and shooting at the same 75 pound doe that steps into the .5 acre field

So, let me see here.  I’m no rocket scientist.  Just using the pheasant hunting stats.  Since the 03/04 season, there’s been a decrease of approximately 20,000 hunters.  And just last year, the drop was almost 7000 hunters. So, assume this trend continues at a pace of 4000 hunters lost per year.  So, we drop another 4000 hunters for 2009/2010 year.  And now let’s add a 70% (from $7 to $12) increase next year to the cost of a hunting license to hunt an ever dwindling population pheasant hunters and of pheasants and the DNR thinks its going to accomplish what with the license fee increase???  Smart thinking.  Why don’t we all take a proposal like this to our bosses with that “hey - I got a great idea” look on your face and reply back letting us know how that goes over.  Must be the same goverment mgmt that works for the Post Office running the DNR, as they keeping raising the price on stamps on the smaller and smaller number of people who still actually mail letters/bills etc.  Pure insanity.  If these people worked in the private sector they would be part of the 10% in the unemployment line.

Also, notice the increase in hunters and # of birds taken in 2004/2005.  Assume it is a result of an increas in bird population/access? (or was that the last year that the state provided site controlled hunting?  dropped off of the CRP program).  Surely there is some validation of why we had a one-year increase followed by a sharp decline (11,000 hunter lost the next year).
Now - take THAT kind of info to your boss at work and say “hey - I’ve got a great idea”. If we either increase the availabilty of our product (bird population) or provide more locations for our customers to buy/use our product (land access) and I think we can increase our revenue and our profitability over time.  Say “hello” to a pay raise and a promotion . . .

My personal opinon is that all of these stats are made up bunk. I am out in the field every non- shotgun deer hunting weekend, rabbit hunting. Last year was the worst kill I’ve had in 30 years. This year while running and going to field trials I’ve seen a large increase in both quail and rabbit numbers. I think some of these guys need to get out from behind their desk and to a little leg work. If the deer population continues to decrease quail and rabbit populations will contine to increase with faverable weather conditions.

Well, I have no idea where the state derives its stats on pheasants harvested or pheasant hunters for that matter.  I’m 40 and have been hunting pheasants in IL since I was 10 and I have never received any survey of any kind.

The pheasant population problem in IL very simple.  There’s little or no acceptable habitat.  Why is that?  The price per acre paid for CRP in IL is too low.  Why would we expect a farmer to bid his ground into CRP when he can make more money farming it.  That’s why South Dakota has so many more pheasants.  The farmers up there will bid their ground into CRP because it’s not as fertile so why farm it if they can make as much bidding into CRP.

Expecting the state to buy more land and release more birds is not reasonable, plus it doesn’t solve the big picture of no habitat. 

My dad and I still kill a lot of pheasants every year, we just have to work twice as hard as we had to in the late 80’s and all through the 90’s.  We might drive 10 miles between hunting spots, but if you find a place with good habitat you will find pheasants.  The bottom line is, until the federal CRP program makes the price per acre more attractive to IL farmers the pheasant population is going to remain very low.

As far as the number of hunters, it’s not rocket science.  Most hunters are fair weather hunters.  If the birds are few and far between then a lot of hunters are going to stay home.

Just my 2 cents