Disabled hunter living in the Genoa-Kingston area looking for info on hunting these rivers. Have 17' Jon boat, 50 horse, boat blind and plenty of decoys. Just trying to figure out access/launch areas for the afore mentioned rivers. Very new to the area what types of hazards are regularly seen on these rivers?
ROCK RIVER/SUGAR RIVER/PECATONICA RIVER
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Make sure and check regulations concerning hunting rivers in Illinois. I truly wish you could just go out and hunt but it doesn't work that way. Basically - landowners own to the middle of the river on the bottom. In Illinois you must anchor to hunt. The minute you anchor you are trespassing and most landowners WILL have you arrested if you are trying to hunt.
If you do venture out on these rivers, the sugar River is very shallow in most parts in Illinois. The only access to it I know of is just south of Shirland on the Pec River. Put your boat in and head north on the Pec for a bit and the mouth of the sugar comes in. It's a popular River for canoeing, kayaking, and people floating down on intertubes. The Pec River has it's shallow spots as well with lots of debris in it. Access spots that I know of to the Pec are the one by Shirland,1 launch in Pecatonica Forest Preserve, 2 launches in Pecatonica, 1 in Freeport. There's a couple more in Stephenson county but I don't recall the names of the town's they're in or near. I recommend using a short shaft motor for the Pec and a trolling motor on the Sugar. Like rism said, check regs before hunting.
RISM / Booccephus
Thanks for the info. It has been an absolute nightmare trying to get any info from IDNR. Answers change with every single person and CPO I have talked with. It seems that the legality of where you can hunt on any of these Northern Il. waters depends on which way the wind is blowing on that day. Life long IL. resident but even for me this is just so F'd up it's beyond belief. I don't know if any of you hunt this area but I was told by one CPO that guys hunt an area known as the Sandbox anyone hear of or know where this may be? I think it may be on the Pec ? Anyway, I hope your season was better than mine this year. Wish you safe and happy hunting.
Thanks for the info. It has been an absolute nightmare trying to get any info from IDNR. Answers change with every single person and CPO I have talked with. It seems that the legality of where you can hunt on any of these Northern Il. waters depends on which way the wind is blowing on that day. Life long IL. resident but even for me this is just so F'd up it's beyond belief. I don't know if any of you hunt this area but I was told by one CPO that guys hunt an area known as the Sandbox anyone hear of or know where this may be? I think it may be on the Pec ? Anyway, I hope your season was better than mine this year. Wish you safe and happy hunting.
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51 Posts
I've never had any issues at all hunting the Rock or the Pec rivers. I don't think you can legally hunt the Sugar or Kishwaukee rivers. Basically if it's considered a navigable river (the rock and pec are) than you can hunt on it so long as you are far enough from an inhabited dwelling. The Sugar and Kishwaukee are not considered navigable so in that scenario the landowner owns the river as stated in previous posts. I could be wrong but have at times discussed this with the local game wardens and I feel the information is pretty accurate.
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