Dove hunting opens next Wednesday, Sept. 1, in Illinois. Here’s the breakdown of field conditions in anticipated order of opening-day success at local sites and a few select Downstate ones.
Jim Edgar/Panther Creek SFWA: Traditional top spot looks good; wheat burnt, sunflowers being mowed and there are birds. No longer first-come, first-served in opening days, now permit holders sign up for draw from 8-10 a.m. Back to alternating fields: 1-3-5 for opener, 2-4-6 for Day 2.
Green River SWA: Sunflowers good, some proso millet, mowed.
Matthiessen SP: Sunflowers good, mowed, field No. 1 a little weedy.
Des Plaines SFWA: Fields look good, flowers dried, one mowing done.
Iroquois County SWA: Good sunflowers, deer browsing made some spottiness.
Silver Springs SFWA: Rotation year, half sunflowers/half wheat, less weeds than last year.
Shabbona SP: 29 acres of sunflowers “look best in last seven years, very clean of weeds.”
Kankakee River SP: Proso millet planted late, starting to head late, natives (foxtail, smartweed) need to fill in until millet matures
Chain O’Lakes SP: Fields mowed
Marseilles SFWA: No planted fields, closed Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
