General Hunting Blog

Opening week archery hunting

*Last Minute Late Season Archery Hunt Dates Available! E-mail Zach@HeartlandLodge.com or call 217-982-4039 for special pricing!! These spots will not last long!” * If you can’t make it to the lodge this year, now is the time to reserve your 2024 whitetail hunt. Most all of our peak dates sell out so don’t wait to

Family Hunting Vacation Trips

Are you looking for a family friendly hunting trip for your next family vacation? Harpole’s Heartland Lodge specializes in creating family-friendly hunting memories that you and the rest of your family will cherish for seasons to come! For nearly three decades, Heartland Lodge has offered family hunting vacations including deer, upland, waterfowl and turkey hunting

First doe harvested with archery equipment

Over the last 28 years of whitetail outfitting many things have changed in the whitetail hunting world, one thing has stayed the same: hunters love to eat venison. At the lodge we have seen more and more interest in harvesting does for meat to bring home, whether it be for the holiday tradition or for

Illinois Firearm Season Buck

Rifle Hunting in Illinois Deer Hunting Laws The new rifle hunting laws in Illinois allow for a “single” shot or a rifle with the ability to only hold one shell and no other multi-shell magazines be in possession of the hunter. The list of legal rifles in Illinois can be found HERE >> on the

gun hunting the post rut

Hunting the peak of the rut in Pike County, Illinois is at the top of most die-hard bowhunters wish-list! With a high deer density, good buck to doe ratio and sheer number of trophy whitetails throughout the region, you never know what size of buck could be following a doe! It’s not unusual for mature

Pre rut deer hunting in illinois

Pre-Rut Whitetail Hunting Using Calls & Deer Decoys Hunting whitetails during the pre-rut can be a great time to get a shot at a mature deer. Cupple the right weather conditions, trail-camera scrape monitoring, a good food source, and you have all the right ingredients for a high-quality pre-rut hunt. Hunting Scrapes Monitoring social scrapes

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Thank you for staying with Harpole’s Heartland Lodge! Please leave a review at one or more of the following link options below:   Google >> Facebook- Hunting >> Facebook- Resort >> Yelp >> Trip Advisor >>   We appreciate your business and can’t wait for you to return! -The Heartland Family        

Early October Buck Down!

Early season whitetail hunting comes with its fair share of challenges, hot weather, mosquitos, long daylight hours and sporadic deer movement. However, with a good understanding of a buck’s tendencies a hunter’s odds can be improved. The whitetail’s necessities may shift with the seasons but can often be simplified to “food, water, and shelter (bedding)”.

Duck Hunting River Guides Illinois

Couples Hunting Packages Harpole’s Heartland Lodge is the perfect destination to enjoy a couples hunting vacation package! We have a variety lodging and all-inclusive hunting packages for you and your significant other to enjoy. Whether you’re enjoying one of our private luxury cabins or a luxury suite in one of our 5-star lodges, you will

Illinois Firearm Season Buck

After a long history of being a shotgun only deer hunting state, Illinois is the most recent state to join the movement by allowing straight walled/single shot rifles to be used in the pursuit of whitetail deer. While the ammunition industry has advanced shotgun slug technology significantly in the last thirty years, the slug’s abilities