Enjoying a free upland game permit and checking the odds

FRANKLIN GROVE, Ill.--Old dogs know stuff.

So when Maggie took off running Wednesday through the big bluestem of the restored prairie at Franklin Creek State Natural Area--Nachusa Prairie, Steve Komes hustled after his 11-year-old Springer.

He was closest when Maggie busted a long-tailed, brilliantly-colored rooster pheasant into the air. Two of us promptly missed it, our only chance of the day.

Wild birds know stuff, too.

In early September, Pete Lamar emailed, "You’re not going to believe this, but I got a free upland game permit for [Nov. 6], a Wednesday and the third day of hunting at Nachusa Prairie. . . . If you’re available on that day, see if you can put the band back together."

Lamar, I and Steve Palmisano are core members of a group of about 10 who apply for a free upland game permit annually. Those who draw a permit see who can make it that day. Palmisano pulled in Komes from Milwaukee to fill our four-hunter roster.

Illinois currently has 40 sites, with the addition of Burning Star State Fish and Wildlife Area this year, in its Free Upland Game Permit program. Hunters apply in August to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. A permit gives the lucky hunter the site for a day with three to six hunters total, depending on the site.

Luck matters.

This year there were 1,087 permits available for which 2,571 hunters applied, according to Don Kahl, Ag and Grassland Wildlife Program manager. Odds don't seem that bad, 1 in 2.5.

But get into the thick cover of numbers. Each hunter may apply for six sites, four dates each.

"That means, there were up to 61,704 hunt area/date choices [1,087 x 24] in the lottery for those 1,087 permits," Kahl emailed.

Those 61,704 choices are NOT spread equally over the 1,087 permits.

"I only apply for the first couple weeks," said Lamar, who noted hunting pressure moves some birds off the site.

I always apply for Sibley State Habitat Area and Saybrook Pheasant Habitat Area, crown jewels of the program. So my chances of drawing a permit go down. But those site are so unbelievably good pieces of habitat that I keep applying every year for them.

"Our larger sites by acreage have more permits than the smaller sites, so throw in some dates for a Jim Edgar Panther Creek or Green River hunt, to increase your odds of drawing a permit," Kahl emailed.

He noted that many hunters do what I do and apply at "the gold standard sites" of Saybrook and Sibley, then suggested, "But make sure on your application to throw in some hunt area/dates on some of our smaller PHAs. That way, if you don’t hit on one of the two popular sites, you’ve got a shot to draw on one of the smaller, lesser-known sites that receive a fraction of the applications."

He also advised, "If you don’t have dogs to hunt over, have a friend in mind that has dogs and invite them along. Better yet, if you want to hunt permit-only sites more often, be the person who is known to have a well-trained dog – that dog will get you a lot of invites."

The habitat at Nachusa Prairie was notably better than when I, Lamar, Palmisano and Ken Gortowski hunted it eight years ago on my permit. The site has 72 huntable acres. In a 15-year agreement, The Nature Conservancy is restoring the native prairie and wetland. TNC has its 4,000-acre Nachusa Grasslands virtually adjacent. Eight years ago, after we hunted, we visited Nachusa Grasslands to observe the bison.

TNC has done a great job knocking back invasives, especially buckthorn, and making the prairie vibrant in the last eight years. As we set off near dawn, a rooster cackled to the east, first of six roosters cackling on the day.

As we walked, we appreciated what TNC had accomplished. It was not a walk in a hunting preserve, it was slog through tall prairie, primarily big bluestem. Yet far better than eight years ago. There's several stands of young pin oaks on the site. I also saw sumac, coneflower, switch grass, goldenrod and bush clover.

As we walked, I counted at least 10 deer beds and we saw six deer bounding away through the prairie. We worked the entire property for three hours without busting another pheasant.

It was time.

At the parking lot, Palmisano pulled out the card table of his late father and assorted camp chairs of pink, orange and chartreuse, then prepared a hunters' feast worthy of Esau: baby-back ribs and chicken wings made smoking hot on a portable grill, French bread, pasta salad and German potato salad. We attacked it like savage beasts.