The #1 dedicated pheasant hunting website & community!
Find out more about our business services & solutions.
Welcome, New User

Illinois Pheasant Hunting

Credit: (PF)

2010 Illinois Pheasant Hunting Forecast

Forecast: The winter in Illinois was the 19th coldest on record with snows 10" above normal. Follow that up with a wet the second wettest May and June in history, and pheasant production appears to have been down this year, especially in northern Illinois according to Michael Wefer, ag and grassland program manager with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Illinois changed to a new spring audio count protocol that should lead to better population density and habitat data in the future. This year's data suggests numbers were up in central Illinois, but down throughout the rest of the state's pheasant range. One bright note for hunters is the corn harvest appears to be ahead of schedule this year. If this trend continues, hunters could still have a better season than last year, when 22,244 hunters entered 64,262 roosters into their game bags. As always, Wefer says, hunters that have access to quality habitat should still enjoy a successful season. Season Dates: November 6 through January 8, 2011 (North) November 6 through January 15, 2011 (South) Daily Bag Limit: 2 Possession Limit: 6 Field Notes: Illinois Pheasants Forever's Build a Wildlife Area campaign helped add more than 100 acres open to public hunting and outdoor recreation in the state this year, the initial results of this unique fundraising effort.

More Illinois news and articles

Illinois Pheasant Hunting Directory

View our comprehensive directory of Illinois Pheasant Hunting lodges, guides, outfitters, preserves and places hunt in Illinois.

Harpole's Heartland Lodge Illinois Pheasant Hunts at Heartland Lodge
10236 393rd Street, Nebo, IL 62355
Toll Free: (800) 717-4868 , Local: (217) 734-2526
Pheasant/Upland hunting packages can be 4 night/3 day, 3 night/2 day or daily hunting packages can be arranged. Hunt for native bobwhite quail and pheasant behind some of the best German Shorthair Pointers and English Pointers in the country. The only Illinois Orvis-Endorsed wingshooting lodge. Five star lodging.

More listings here along with the full Illinois directory.

Illinois Pheasant Hunting Information

It appears there will be fewer pheasants greeting hunters in the Prairie State this autumn thanks to a smaller breeding population in the spring coupled with a wet early summer. Though crowing counts were down nearly 18 percent this year, there are still birds to be had in Illinois. Last year, an estimated 29,000 hunters harvested 103,400 pheasants. The number of hunters afield was down by nearly 17 percent, but harvest was steady, meaning daily hunter harvest was up by 25 percent. In other words, hunters are still finding success. The most productive areas for pheasant hunting continue to be in east central and northern Illinois, including Ford, Iroquois, Livingston, McLean, Carroll and Whiteside Counties. Stark County also has a few areas with large blocks of CRP grassland that are still new enough to host good pheasant populations. Habitat-wise, Illinois has 22 township-sized CRP SAFE areas in its pheasant range. Though enrollment has been slow so far, Illinois' three SAFE projects (Prairie Habitat SAFE, Mercer County Pheasant SAFE, and Spoon River SAFE) target pheasants and other grassland species and have the potential to create over 20,000 acres of habitat. * Season Dates: November 7 thru January 8, 2010 (North Zone); November 7 thru January 15, 2010 (South Zone) * Daily Bag / Possession Limits: 2 / 6