TOPIC: Looking for Illinois and Kentucky Ginseng hunting aeras

Hello, I use to go hunting with my grandpa back when I was little and lived in Kentucky, but we moved away. It was great times I had just walking in nature with my gramps, and finding Ginseng and other plants was a bonus for him. I didn't care about money it was fun.

I want to bring my family out to do the same, but I live in up state Illinois now and really don't have great idea where to go. I know down state Illinois somewhere, I'm just not sure about land ownership, public and private. I see woods all over, some say no trespass some don't. Can I just pull over and hunt? in general?

As for Kentucky same questions about how to go about scouting for land to hunt? I mean, just driving to Kentucky and just getting out on a mountain sounds good, but can you just do that? I try using satellite maps to look for good dense area's but not sure if you could hunt there or how to go about getting permission so far away.
What counties would be best for public hunting in these states?

Thank you

Im sorry to say it but theres no way around getting permission you just need to find a likily area then start asking people nicely and hope for the best sometimes finding a place to hunt is harder work then the hunt its self.these days very little public land is open for ginseng if you can locate land belonging to mineral or timber companies you might get permission to hunt larger tracts of land that way it takes a lot of work to do things the right way but its the only way good luck and stay safe

Thank you, for the information. Maybe I try to see if we know anybody back in Kentucky, we might hunt. Or if anyone has land they would be open to let us hunt for a percent. We looking to be out for at least 4 days to about 2 weeks of just hunting 'seng and other plants. Just Pm me.

Always ask permission. I usually offer to give 25% of what I find to the landowner. Sometimes they don't care and don't want a %, other times they demand 50%. Sometimes I find ginseng, many times I don't find a single plant.