I have friends who lease several Ill farms west of Peducah. They routinely harvest quality deer. Lots of agriculture and open farmland, which can make hunting challenging. Last I knew, archery license was over the counter. Gun and muzzleloader tags via lottery. Gun/ML seasons tend to overlap and actually shared a weekend last I hunted in Ill. The fact gun season and ML shared a weekend, yet are separate tags was a rip off. All three are separate fees. You'll be close to $1000 for all three and either sex for 3 deer total unless you can get a bonus antlerless tag.
Another acquaintance hunts the WMAs in that area and said they don't get much pressure during archery, but the towns turn orange for gun season.
I bow hunted on a private farm about 8 yrs ago and its exactly how you explain it, it was really challenging because of the large agriculture fields, we saw lots of deer and some good bucks but never could close the deal, once they get in those fields its tough, I saw a stud my first morning on stand in a hardwood strip, only problem is he was chasing a doe and he never got into now range, he stayed about 100yds out and when she decided to leave that was it......still was a lot of fun though.
