Illinois Pheasants

Ten Bears

WKR
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Mar 1, 2017
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Michigan
Heading to Bloomington Indiana for Christmas at the in-laws, wanted to see if anyone had any info on pheasant hunting on the eastern side of Illinois ? (would hunt Indiana but the season ends on the 15th) Taking the GSP with me and would love to kick a couple birds up during the day. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks-
John
 

ElPollo

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Aug 31, 2018
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I grew up there and cut my teeth hunting ditch parrots there. Still have family and friends there and none of them hunt anymore. Not because they don't want to, its cause there's no wild birds anymore. That country has suffered greatly from clean farming practices like round-up ready crops. The area I know of is Douglas, Coles, and Champaign Counties. Others may speak about other areas. I would suggest looking for a 'put and take' if you really want to find pheasants. I'll be back there around the end of the year with my two wirehairs and it'll be a week off for them to rest and heal up before going back to desert quail in the SW.

Good luck.

El Pollo
 
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Ten Bears

Ten Bears

WKR
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El Pollo,

Thanks for the reply. I kinda figured that was the case as my internet scouting turned up mostly put and take spots. Michigan is in the same shape I guess as Illinois with pheasants/farming. Maybe I will make a longer trip over to the Iowa border, just got my GSP back in shape after back to back TPLO surgeries and we are both itching to put some birds in the bag.

Thanks,
John
 

ElPollo

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John,

It’s really sad that bird hunting has largely disappeared east of the Mississippi with the exception of ruffles in the north. There are a lot of reasons why that happened, but none of them are worth kids not growing up following bird dogs. I can’t speak much about Iowa. Maybe others will weigh in.

El Pollo
 

Studs1991

FNG
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Aug 29, 2018
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52
Location
Chicago
If you were closer to Kankakee, I'd recommend going there. The DNR website should have a list of all the public places you can go. I took a friend out for his first time pheasant hunting in Wisconsin and got 6 birds in 4 hours. Good luck and happy hunting
 
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