Hunting a private lot in the midwest with minimum scouting

[bluguitar89]

Hello, I'm in IL and I was just notified that I was drawn for our IRAP program, which is basically public access to private land. I'll get to access the property from December 16-31, but I won't know anything about the place for a few weeks. Other ground rules include:

1. I cannot contact the landowner directly.
2. I will get an informational packet with more detail, including the location.
3. Might be either-sex, but will probably be antlerless only.
4. Archery only.
5. I cannot access the property at all outside of my designated hunting period.
6. Nobody else can enter the property with me.
7. No motor vehicles on the property.


Looking for some guidance on how some of y'all would approach planning this hunt. I don't have much late season experience as I'm usually burned out on time off and family patience by then, so I plan to pace myself this season so I can make the most of this 2 week period. I have the last week of December off work already (woohoo!)

I have an OnX elite subscription that will help with some preliminary scouting. Until I get my packet in a few weeks though, I have no idea whether this property is primarily ag, if there's water, hardwood, how many acres, etc.

How would you try to plan a hunt like this? Where do you think my best odds for finding deer are in terms of location, time of day, etc? I'll post more details as I get them.

 

[Anobody]

Easy that time frame start at the food and work your way back

Id walk/watch the big food souces first to see which areas they are eating In the setup. Id hunt more evenings on food or near food in the transitional between needing and food

 

[kyler1945]

Step one: jump up and down for having drawn.

Step two: ignore the property, including map scouting, until a day or two before you go.

Step three: use the time you save ignoring the property all season to hunt elsewhere, fish, take your wife to dinner, play catch with your kid.

Step 4: take the two weeks you have to hunt the property to focus on killing deer there.

I can’t imagine the property being big enough that you can’t spend a day looking at a map/driving borders/walking trails to learn everything you need to on day 1.

Take advantage of the fact that you and you alone will be huntjng the property, and ignore it until you’re there.

 

[Bwhana]

Bump and dump, fill tag!

 

[MattMan81]

Don't over think it.
Will it be hunted by other people before you? So there is a good chance it will have been pressured and toss everything you plan out the window.
Like every where else. Hunt the food and hot sign. Do an observation sit for the first Hunt and try to see where they go in and out. If you notice where other people have been hunting. Probably don't hunt there. They have blown that spot up.

 

[bluguitar89]

Don't over think it.
Will it be hunted by other people before you? So there is a good chance it will have been pressured and toss everything you plan out the window.
Like every where else. Hunt the food and hot sign. Do an observation sit for the first Hunt and try to see where they go in and out. If you notice where other people have been hunting. Probably don't hunt there. They have blown that spot up.

It might be hunted before me, but if it is it'll only be in October since the other two hunting periods in this program only occur then. So, even if there was pressure, it will have been a full month and a half since the deer saw a hunter. As for the property owner, that's anyone's guess. I would imagine they aren't hunters themselves, but who knows how much they're out and about.

 

[bluguitar89]

Bump and dump, fill tag!

This is where my ignorance kicks in- I've only been hunting a few years and I'm mostly self-taught. What do you mean by bump and dump? Is that when you deliberately spook deer from bedding?

 

[Bwhana]

Get there after daylight on day one and walk it out until you jump bedded deer. Access where they were and the best wind direction to hunt that spot. Setup with that in mind and you can catch them coming back, usually on the same day within hours or the afternoon, but definitely expect them back on the next day. Very effective tactic when scouting is limited to actual hunting time.

 

[BowhunterXC]

I've hunted under those circumstances and didn't care for it.
I went thru the drawing process, got drawn, hunted the section that I was assigned to and traded places with someone from another section that wasn't hunting. Plenty of deer sign, but the deer were 97% nocturnal, due to the pressure of neighboring sections. Hard to say what kind of "great white hunter" went thru those sections before I arrived, but I recognize spooked/disturbed deer when I see them. If I seen any deer during legal light, it was in the last 2 to 3 minutes and they weren't within bow range. Otherwise, I seen them on the way in (before light) or on the way out (after it was dark).

This is just my experiences with hunting sections that are by drawing.
I'll never do it again. I'll hunt private or public before a drawing section.

 

[bluguitar89]

I've hunted under those circumstances and didn't care for it.
I went thru the drawing process, got drawn, hunted the section that I was assigned to and traded places with someone from another section that wasn't hunting. Plenty of deer sign, but the deer were 97% nocturnal, due to the pressure of neighboring sections. Hard to say what kind of "great white hunter" went thru those sections before I arrived, but I recognize spooked/disturbed deer when I see them. If I seen any deer during legal light, it was in the last 2 to 3 minutes and they weren't within bow range. Otherwise, I seen them on the way in (before light) or on the way out (after it was dark).

This is just my experiences with hunting sections that are by drawing.
I'll never do it again. I'll hunt private or public before a drawing section.

Fortunately I have a fairly large (but also pretty popular) public hunting area nearby that I will spend most of the rest of my season at. UNfortunately, I don't have the means or the access to private property otherwise, so drawing hunts are the only ones where I get to take part in firearm season or find any place at all that isn't a total free-for-all.

I feel ya though, I'm just crossing my fingers that the fact that this property is being opened up to hunters through the state means the owners aren't hunters themselves. That should mean little to no pressure for months before I get my crack at it.

 

[neonomad]

Easy that time frame start at the food and work your way back

Id walk/watch the big food souces first to see which areas they are eating In the setup. Id hunt more evenings on food or near food in the transitional between needing and food

Agree food, food, food.

 

[Iron_llama]

I'm a big fan of scent drags and boot pads. Before Tinks stopped making interdigital gland lure I had more than one deer track me out to my brush blind and come in behind me. If you're going to be still-hunting the property in search of both deer and a good tree to shoot a deer from, a scent pad might help your odds.

I've never hunted in IL and I don't know what the management priorities are for this hunt but if it's like my local city hunts, they want dead deer. So resolve yourself to kill the first deer your see, or as many as you can, instead of targeting a particular buck.

Some of my local city hunts require all shots from elevated stands, they don't let us leave the gut pile in the field, and they make us bring a local PD Officer with if we have to track the deer onto private property. Read that info packet carefully and be prepared for any unique aspects particular to your hunt. If you're concerned about tracking deer onto private property or into traffic, sprinkle some fairy dust on some heavy single-bevel broadheads and try to break the offside shoulder.

Good luck! These unique hunts are a special opportunity, I'm certain you'll enjoy it.

 

[rakbowhunter]

I've hunted IRAP property before. It will likely be between 40-100 acres. Also, just because those are the timelines designated by IRAP doesn't mean the landowner won't be hunting it between drawings. The deal with IRAP is they basically trade partial hunting rights for land and habitat improvements made by IRAP whether that be controlled burns, plantings, or invasive species control.
Most properties I've hunted were good enough to get a deer down. Mid December in Illinois is when early borns fawns come in....could get some rut action. Good luck!

 

[Dcomer55]

With two week’s available I’d definitely boots on the ground scout at least the first 4 days. I’d rather have a few high quality hunts due to having scouted than a large quantity of hunts based solely on e scouting and guessing.

 

[colin.704]

Hello, I'm in IL and I was just notified that I was drawn for our IRAP program, which is basically public access to private land. I'll get to access the property from December 16-31, but I won't know anything about the place for a few weeks. Other ground rules include:

1. I cannot contact the landowner directly.
2. I will get an informational packet with more detail, including the location.
3. Might be either-sex, but will probably be antlerless only.
4. Archery only.
5. I cannot access the property at all outside of my designated hunting period.
6. Nobody else can enter the property with me.
7. No motor vehicles on the property.


Looking for some guidance on how some of y'all would approach planning this hunt. I don't have much late season experience as I'm usually burned out on time off and family patience by then, so I plan to pace myself this season so I can make the most of this 2 week period. u have the last week of December off work already (woohoo!)

I have an OnX elite subscription that will help with some preliminary scouting. Until I get my packet in a few weeks though, I have no idea whether this property is primarily ag, if there's water, hardwood, how many acres, etc.

How would you try to plan a hunt like this? Where do you think my best odds for finding deer are in terms of location, time of day, etc? I'll post more details as I get them.

I'd go have fun with it, all of it's good. do an observation sit in a safe spot with some glass and work towards deer thru the week, but hunt evenings until I found a spot for a.m. that I could get to in the dark. hunt safe 1st of the week and risk it once I got info on how they are moving

 

[neonomad]

I'm a big fan of scent drags and boot pads. Before Tinks stopped making interdigital gland lure I had more than one deer track me out to my brush blind and come in behind me. If you're going to be still-hunting the property in search of both deer and a good tree to shoot a deer from, a scent pad might help your odds.

I've never hunted in IL and I don't know what the management priorities are for this hunt but if it's like my local city hunts, they want dead deer. So resolve yourself to kill the first deer your see, or as many as you can, instead of targeting a particular buck.

Some of my local city hunts require all shots from elevated stands, they don't let us leave the gut pile in the field, and they make us bring a local PD Officer with if we have to track the deer onto private property. Read that info packet carefully and be prepared for any unique aspects particular to your hunt. If you're concerned about tracking deer onto private property or into traffic, sprinkle some fairy dust on some heavy single-bevel broadheads and try to break the offside shoulder.

Good luck! These unique hunts are a special opportunity, I'm certain you'll enjoy it.

Did you read that post, maybe in Saddlehunter can’t remember… where the guy kept seeing deer on a distant path so he went in with a fishing pole and casted his drag to the trail? Can’t remember if it worked but it’s genius.

 

[Iron_llama]

Did you read that post, maybe in Saddlehunter can’t remember… where the guy kept seeing deer on a distant path so he went in with a fishing pole and casted his drag to the trail? Can’t remember if it worked but it’s genius.

I don't remember seeing that but it's brilliant. One of the city hunts I did in thr past had an obstinate neighbor that absolutely refused to allow anyone to enter his property to retrieve deer. So the city clerk's advice was to have a fishing rod with super heavy line and a giant treble hook so one could snag a dead deer and drag it back to the City side. Never had to attempt it but if I do I'll post pictures here.

 

[huntin_addict]

I don't remember seeing that but it's brilliant. One of the city hunts I did in thr past had an obstinate neighbor that absolutely refused to allow anyone to enter his property to retrieve deer. So the city clerk's advice was to have a fishing rod with super heavy line and a giant treble hook so one could snag a dead deer and drag it back to the City side. Never had to attempt it but if I do I'll post pictures here.

Not for nothing, but if some jackhole wouldn't let me retrieve a deer that I could clearly see as deceased, I would call the warden and I would kindly then ask about wanton waste, especially if said jackholes intentions were to leave it lay.