jim edgar park or siloam springs for big deer

[cdtc33]

I have hunted jesp this year (Oct. 27-Nov2) and two seasons ago. I do believe the quility of bucks have droped off some in that length of time. Has the area seen more preasure, it seemed much more crowded this year then in 2004, or was it just a fluke? A native of Chandlerville said that siloam seems to carry larger bucks? If you have any info on any of the above statements I would appriciate the comments.

[backwoodsman]

Well its two years later but yep the pressure increased, alot of locals/residents lost their hunting ground and thats the only place they have to go. Some are left with smaller areas so they do alot of early season bow at JE to save their spots till the rut/gun season. Alot of the adjacent landowners are leasing/ outfitting too and dont have any buck restrictions also. Alot of 90-110 class 1 1/2yr olds are getting whacked now outside of the park boundaries.

[burls]

I have hunted JEPC for a lot of years...many when was just called Site "M" (named for Brent Manning) and was nothing but dirt and gravel roads out there. Yes..a lot of 90 to 110 are being shot around the outside of JEPC...but im here to tell you there are still many really good Bucks running the place! 2 keys ....first be willing to travel to the most remote areas. second, hunt Tuesday thru Thursday...maybe a friday dont even attemp a weekend hunt. i shot a 150 class 9 point there on Oct. 29th last year....its to bad that there are more hunters out there...but at least most are now resident hunters. 5 or 6 years ago when non resident hunters could buy deer tags over the counter it was way worst than now.

[backwoodsman]

I did a little coonhunting and trapping there when it was Site M. Non-residents seem to be migrating away which doesnt break my heart at all. Alot congregate west of the Illinois now. Land price's are falling again so some of the pressure on the public lands should be easing. We just acquired 32 acres in Pike county so our family and kids will always have a spot to hunt. Alot of the hunting media arent promoting Illinois like they were the last 15 years so that should help too. Some of the local farmers are looking for people to lease their ground for hunting. Buddy just leased two farms, one 150 acres for $700 and another 220 for $900. He managed to throw together a hunting group for both and it cost them about $300 ea. Theres always that way to go?

[weitzfc]

i don't believe site-m was named for brent manning. it was named site-m long before he was on the scene. i think the m stood for menard. i have hunted there since about 1968 , back then we had the place pretty to ourselves. as for the quality of the deer herd , it amazes me time and time again the big deer shot out there. but you just keep telling that to the out of staters. way, way, way , to many out of state people on state land. with all the people i hear about losing out to outfitters and leasing , state land should be for its citizens only. the deer are after all, the property of the people of the state of illinois.

[backwoodsman]

I agree Weitz. Kansas had the right idea years ago! Many resident Kansas hunters will tell you what they think of outfitters and out of staters. We'll never stop the flood now. One good thing happening is the yahoo's are moving on to Ohio, Kentucky etc. ALOT of Pike and other counties outfitters are hurting for clients and several have went out of business. Of course it doesnt help your profession when a full 50%+ are crooked as the days are long. They just busted another one for selling either sex tags to out of staters. My uncle owns 80 acres on the east side of Site M/Jim Edgar. They take alot of deer but the quality has been dropping for over a decade. The farmer he works for has ground that borders the park and they have never ending problems with yahoo's crossing over/sneaking in. We trapped it and coonhunted it some when Commonwealth Edison still owned it. We no longer put our deer in record books or take them to the deer shows. Watched out of staters last year at Bloomington writing down counties etc where the bigger ones were taken. I agree to a point that our bragging on here or at the deer shows does hurt but that is human nature too. I hunt some in Pike county too and you have to experience that mess to believe it. Like I said before no way to stop the flood now, but, a law could and lawmakers listen to votes/voters and money. Until ALL resident hunters stand together nothing will get done and its all a moot point right now. Money talks and thats what is driving the non-resident/outfitter problem. Our deer herd has been prostituted and the outfitters are the pimps and non-residents are the johns.