Illinois Wildlife Connections

note: The following reviews predate the numeric rating system and are not included in this outfitter's overall rating.

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outfitter review submitted by: David Long on Jan 3 2008

Species Hunted: Whitetail deer

Game Quality: very good

Accommodation Quality: excellent

Camp Condition: excellent

Food Quality: the best

Guide Experience: unbelievable

Other Personal Experience: very good

Overall Impression: excellent

Recommend: yes

Reviewer Comments: 4 of us went to Illinois Wildlife Connections towards the end of December. All of us went into this hunt just wanting to see a shooter buck. Ryan's farms are covered up with bucks. each of us saw on average 12 -15 deer a day with 40% being bucks. I had 5 diferent P&Y (140+) bucks come within 70 yards of my stand. The other guys also saw P&Y bucks. When we saw nothing at a particular stand, we were moved. The weather was cool but not cold. The deer were hearding up wich made this hunt very fun. Mrs. Michl had supper ready everynight and we ate like kings. Ryan and Mark were our guides and they did a fantastic job. Mark went beyond the call of duty, offering to carry our backpacks or climbing stands. This place beats anything you will find in western Illinois. These stands are not overhunted. They move the stands throughout the season to where to deer are moving. The Accommodations were great from sleeping to showering to sitting back and watching T.V. No, none of us shot a buck, but all of us are going back. If we saw this many deer and P&Y bucks, what would we see durign the rut?! There was one other guy in camp who has hunt the rut with Ryan for tha last 3 years. He shot a 155 10 pt. last year. he said that during the rut he wouls see 15-20 different bucks cruizing the creek bottoms. If you want to hunt the best Illinois has to offer, don't go to the Western part of the state.

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outfitter review submitted by: William R. Wolfe on Nov 27 2005

Species Hunted: White tail deer

Game Quality: poor

Accommodation Quality: basic

Camp Condition: good

Food Quality: ok

Guide Experience: middle of the road

Other Personal Experience: fair

Overall Impression: Won't return!

Recommend: No

Reviewer Comments: I saw a few deer but my impression that the main thrust of this operation is to make money! According to Gary Michl "The guides are extremely well paid", this made me feel good when I have over $400 a day into this trip and am not seeing squat! My advice is ask more pointed questions and assume nothing! Like how many deer are killed with bows? How many of the heads and pictures used on your web site actually came from your property? Out of eleven hunters one guy harvested a nice buck, I saw two nice bucks on someone else's property as we rode into our stand locations. The weather was great frosty mornings, no wind but no bucks either. Maybe I just had a poor experience but it won't happen again at this outfitter!

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outfitter review submitted by: Bryan Sawyer on Jun 6 2005

Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer

Game Quality: Poor

Accommodation Quality: Good

Camp Condition: Good

Food Quality: Good

Guide Experience: Very Poor

Other Personal Experience: OK

Overall Impression: Very Poor

Recommend: Never!

Reviewer Comments: For starters I hunted the last week in October the 2004 season. It was a full moon that week and I don't like hunting a full moon however I was advised by Ryan to hunt that week other than the 3rd week in Nov b/c he was booked the first two weeks on Nov and the pressure would be low at this time. This was a bowhunting only outfitter but after I got there and asked a few questions I found out that the deer on his website was killed by family members in shotgun season on the property that is bowhunting only. I told Ryan before I got there that I didn't want to hunt a farm with standing corn and I got there to hunt the only farm with standing corn. The guide I had didn't know the weather either. When the weather man said a north wind he thought the wind was blowing into the North so for the first couple of days this guy put me on the wrong wind until I convinced him he was wrong. What few deer I did see they acted like they where really spooky. The other guy that was hunting the farm with me didn't see but 1 deer a yearling doe and went home 2 days early b/c he had enough. I would not hunt there again under no circumstances, and as for the owner Ryan if you like giving your money to a snotty nosed brat then sign up with him.

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