Dates & Rates
PAYMENT PLANS: Deposit of $850 due at time of booking hunt. Remaining balance is then made in a 3 or more easy installments due throughout the year. Illinois Connection can cater to anyone’s financial situation by creating a payment plan that is flexible to meet your individual needs. Illinois Connection would like for everyone to come and experience possibly a hunt of a lifetime, so please call and see what plan is available to make your hunt a reality. Illinois Connection is willing to adjust to each and everyone’s means.
Pricing is as stands. There are no separate trophy fees.
Credit cards accepted
Offering 5 day bow hunts, 3 and 4 day firearm / muzzleloader hunts on private land in Brown, Pike, and Schuyler counties. Illinois Connection has arguably been the most successful outfitter in recent years. Unlike most outfitters, we operate minimal weeks out of the entire season. Primarily beginning in mid to late October and ending with the late muzzleloader hunt in December. We offer pre rut, rut, and post rut hunts.
*The dates listed are actual hunting days. Hunters are to arrive the day prior (no earlier than 9:00 am) and depart the day after the last day of their hunt, no later than 8:00 am.
Our ground has been under strict trophy management for 1-23 years.
| Dates | Cost |
|---|---|
| October 1-5, 2024 (5 Day Bow Hunt) | $3,850 |
| October 12-14, 2024 (Youth hunt, muzzle loader or shotgun) | $3,500 |
| October 12-16, 2024 (5 Day Bow Hunt) | $3,500 |
| October 19-23, 2024 (5 Day Bow Hunt) | $4,650 |
| October 26-30, 2024 (5 Day Bow Hunt) | $5,200 |
| November 2-6, 2024 (5 Day Bow Hunt) | $5,200 |
| November 9-13, 2024 (5 Day Bow Hunt) November 16-20, 2024 (5 Day Bow Hunt) |
$5,200 $5,200 |
| November 16-24, 2024 (Combo Hunt 6 day Bow / 3 Day Muzzleloader or Shotgun, Straight Wall Centerfire) – Hunter Can Harvest Two Bucks
**Multiple Combo Dates are Available: (5 Day Bow With 3 or 4 Day Muzzleloader or Shotgun, Straight Wall Centerfire). Hunter Can Come Earlier in the Season for 5 Day Bow and then return for the 3 or 4 Day Gun Hunt – Hunter Can Harvest Two Bucks Call for Dates and Pricing. |
$10,500 |
| November 22-24, 2024 First Firearm Season (Option to use Muzzleloader, Shotgun, or Straight Wall Centerfire) | $5,300 |
| December 5-8, 2024 Second Firearm Season (Option to use Muzzleloader, Shotgun, or Straight Wall Centerfire) | $4,900 |
| December 13-15, 2024 Muzzleloader Only | $3,850 |
| January 4-8, 2025 (5 Day Bow Hunt) Return Patronage Hunt With Reduced Rate – Any Hunter That Has an Unused Archery Permit and Has Hunted With Us Earlier in Season Can Return for a Second Chance or A Firearm/Muzzleloader Hunter That Has Hunted With Us Earlier in The Season Can Purchase an Archery Permit and Return for a Second Chance. |
$1,500 |
| January 4-8, 2025 (5 Day Bow Hunt) Rate for Hunters That Have Not Hunted With Us Earlier in Season |
$2,800 |
- 16,000 Trophy Managed Acres
- Private Farms in Brown, Pike, & Schuyler Counties
- Strict Trophy Management
- 5-Day Bow Hunts
- 3 & 4 Day Exclusive Firearm Hunts
- Fully Guided Hunts Only
- Elaborate Lodging
- Experienced Guides
- Extensive Food Plots
We offer fully-guided archery and firearm/muzzleloader hunts on over 16,000 acres of the highest quality land in Illinois. Our ground has been under strict trophy management for 7-22 years. Unlike most ground in Illinois that is flat with no trees, our ground is 75% timber and 25% agriculture. Our farms are very rugged; creek drainages, bottoms, deep hollows, hardwood ridges, CRP, cedars and the nastiest Locust/Osage thickets around. This heavy cover allows for a high deer density and security for a buck to mature to a ripe old age. The other portion of our ground that compliments the herd is thousands of acres of agriculture and food plots that offer corn, soybeans, alfalfa, wheat, clover, buck forage oats, whitetail select (infinity), Biologic, turnips, and other legumes.
Illinois Connection offers many tracts of land. Our land carries a 140-inch gross minimum with a $1000 fine if they fall below that standard. Our larger tracts of land with several thousand contiguous acres carry a 150-inch gross minimum with a $1,000 fine as well (tougher management). Our current management has strengthened our trophy quality tremendously. Since 2009, we boast our ground has produced 72 gross scoring Boone and Crockett’s; eleven bucks grossing over 200s, ten bucks grossing over 190s, nine grossing over 180s and forty two grossing over 170s. View our previous photo galleries to see how our quality has increased.
With the use of over 1000 stands and many different farms, our deer are ensured minimal pressure and an increased chance of reaching a mature age. We currently carry a 70-80% shot chance at a 140” trophy whitetail with a 34-40% success ratio. The success is harvested deer only to the skinning pole. We are not factoring in misses, wounds or passes.
We use the highest level of hunting equipment to make your hunt one of utmost comfort. We use Loc-ons (Non-Typical), Millennium Ladders, Ground Blinds and Elevated Shooting Houses. Our stands are approximately 18-24 feet in height. With the use of over a thousand stands, we have something to cater to all.
With the use of many experienced guides, we are able to strategically place hunters in different hunting situations depending on the time of year and the stage of deer activity. The guides have thousands of acres and many farms at their disposal. Depending upon deer movement, our guides will move you daily. If the farm you are hunting has great movement, you can choose to stay there if wind permits. If deer movement has changed on the farm you are hunting and movement is just out of range, our guides will pull and re-hang the stand to bring you in closer for an opportunity, wind permitting. We have some of the best guides around and they are willing to work hard to make your hunt as successful as possible.
- Our Early Season Pre-Rut Archery Hunts can be highly productive. The weather is very comfortable and most hunters like having the first crack at our mature bucks. At this time of year, our bucks can be patterned quite well. With the harvest taking place, there are plenty of fresh crops on the ground, acorns and strategically placed food plots containing Whitetail Select Clover (Infinity), Buck Forage Fall Oats and Turnip/Radish. These hunts typically involve multiple stands placed on edges or just slightly in security cover leading to and from bedding areas near food. As the year progresses, we will move deeper into the timber as movement permits.
- Our Archery Rut Hunts are unmatched at Illinois Connection. Our archery hunts are five to five and a half days, depending on time of year. With large contiguous timber, rolling hills, creek bottoms, ridge tops, CRP, bottle necks, fence lines, high deer density, mature bucks, low pressure, excellent stands and the best guides around, this equation needs no mathematician. It is the best of the best.
- Our Firearm/Shotgun/Muzzle Loader Hunts are highly productive and fill very quickly. The hunter on these hunts can bring a weapon of choice; muzzle loader, shotgun (slug only) or pistol. These weapons can be equipped with a scope. The hunters on these hunts will hunt from tree stands, ladders, ground blinds and elevated shooting houses.
- Our Muzzle Loader Hunt is a three-day hunt, typically in mid-December. It is with the use of a Muzzle Loader only. This hunt involves tree stands, ground blinds, ladders and elevated houses. We will concentrate primarily on stands around food sources. This is the time of year when the stomach of a deer is his worst enemy. These hunts typically fill quickly and can be highly productive.
- Our Youth Firearm Hunt is the newest hunt we offer at Illinois Connection. The state now allows Non-Residents under eighteen a three day opportunity (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) in early October the usage of a muzzle loader or a shotgun/slug. This is a very productive hunt at an affordable price. This is a family-oriented environment where it is all about the children. Your child or grandchild will never thank you enough.
