Thank you very much! I will be hunting public ground but I am retired so I can lay with them if I choose to do so! I am very much looking forward to the challenge. I am very much trying to keep my expectations in check…..Toughest thing about any midwest hunting is getting good property to hunt. Then it usually takes a couple years to figure out the best stand locations, wind directions, etc.
I own a couple farms and lease some ground in southern IL and have hunted the area for over 25 years. There is pretty good deer hunting in my backyard and home state of IN but I've found the top end quality of bucks to be a bit better in IL, probably largely due to the way they structure firearms hunting -vs- IN. IN is a one buck state, so it's nice to hunt a neighboring state and be able to pick up another. I jump back and forth all season.
Best advice I could give you is to spend as much time on stand as possible from Halloween thru Thanksgiving.
Good luck and ask away if you have anything specific.