Des Plaines Fish & Wildlife Area

This is a giant stretch of DNR land down along the Des Plaines river. It offers fishing, hunting, etc, on a mixed landscape of prairie, forest, small cornfields, riverways, etc. There are numerous parking areas that allow easy access for exploration.
I’ve personally only visited in the fall during the DNR’s controlled pheasant permit hunting. Being close to Chicago, the allotted permits are taken up quickly, so reserving one in advance is essential. The DNR enacted an online reservation service a couple years ago that made doing so a lot easier than the mail in lottery they previously used.
However you feel about controlled pheasant hunting, I must say the DNR does a good job of enforcing good hunting practice and limiting access. At check in you’ll have the opportunity to pick from various hunt starting points. This helps spread out the hunter population and give each group of hunters a reasonably private trip out into the fields. Also, be prepared to show a valid Il FOID card– no one is allowed to hunt without one (as well as obvious hunting license– no pheasant stamp required). Prior to the start of the hunting day (9AM), everyone is required to attend a talk on hunter safety and rules– this is taken very seriously. The limit is 2 birds per hunter. As the day wears on hunters are allowed to use their vehicles to move from area to area, so things do tend to get a little more «social,» although many hunters limit out so quickly and leave it’s less of a problem than one might think.
Overall, I found the experience here to be a good way to get introduced (with the help of experienced hunter friends) to bird hunting. Since those early experiences, I’ve met other hunters here and they’ve all taken hunting seriously– I’ve never met any kill it and grill it meatheads here yet. The pheasants certainly have peculiar behavior, and a day spent hunting them and learning while appreciating the beautiful natural landscape is a day well spent. It’s not a trip to South Dakota, but it’s a lot simpler and a great place to get a kid started hunting and maybe appreciate the need for natural land and habitat preservation!