Hunters Harvest 4,697 Deer During Illinois Muzzleloader Season

[Skunk]

Ok, now I know what happened to all the deer in Wisconsin. They went down to Illinois for a vacation and they never made it back.

Hunters Harvest 4,697 Deer During Illinois Muzzleloader Season

by Illinois DNR

December 16, 2009

Firearm and Archery Deer Hunting Opportunities Remain for Hunters in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, IL – Hunters participating in the 2009 Illinois Muzzleloader Deer Hunt harvested a preliminary total of 4,697 deer during the season conducted on Dec. 11-13.  The harvest compares with the 4,310 deer taken by hunters during the 2008 muzzleloader season.

The top county harvest totals for the 2009 muzzleloader season were in Pike (221), Fulton (124), Jo Daviess (114), Hancock (109), and Jefferson (103) counties.

Both firearm and archery deer hunting opportunities are still available for hunters in Illinois prior to the end of the 2009-2010 deer hunting seasons on Jan. 17, 2010.

The expanded seven-day split Late-Winter Firearm Antlerless-only Deer Season and Special CWD Deer Season are Dec. 31, 2009-Jan. 3, 2010 and Jan. 15-17, 2010.  The statewide Archery Deer Hunting season continues through Jan. 17, 2010.  Permits are available over the counter through DNR Direct license and permit agents for each of these seasons.

Hunters are reminded that not all counties are open for the remaining firearm seasons.  For more details on which counties are open for the Late-Winter and Special CWD seasons, and for other deer hunting regulations information, check the IDNR web site at this link: http://www.dnr.state.il.us/admin/deer.htm

The table below includes preliminary county harvest totals for the 2009 Illinois Muzzleloader Deer Season and the comparable county harvest totals for 2008.

County	2008	2009
Adams	70	81
Alexander	34	33
Bond	19	30
Boone	10	7
Brown	83	72
Bureau	77	96
Calhoun	66	91
Carroll	51	56
Cass	28	39
Champaign	22	44
Christian	30	27
Clark	53	62
Clay	51	46
Clinton	19	24
Coles	24	16
Crawford	56	40
Cumberland	24	26
DeKalb	8	17
DeWitt	30	29
Douglas	6	12
Edgar	35	43
Edwards	16	25
Effingham	35	23
Fayette	70	60
Ford	7	7
Franklin	43	48
Fulton	93	124
Gallatin	49	42
Greene	60	57
Grundy	18	23
Hamilton	45	54
Hancock	82	109
Hardin	54	67
Henderson	22	27
Henry	39	56
Iroquois	49	47
Jackson	62	81
Jasper	55	62
Jefferson	136	103
Jersey	24	34
JoDaviess	112	114
Johnson	68	67
Kane	5	3
Kankakee	12	14
Kendall	10	14
Knox	66	85
LaSalle	55	71
Lawrence	21	28
Lee	21	47
Livingston	24	30
Logan	21	19
Macon	37	32
Macoupin	65	56
Madison	40	33
Marion	103	68
Marshall	26	35
Mason	52	34
Massac	15	41
McDonough	38	64
McHenry	20	18
McLean	38	49
Menard	24	25
Mercer	28	50
Monroe	25	24
Montgomery	32	36
Morgan	43	39
Moultrie	32	28
Ogle	46	58
Peoria	57	68
Perry	37	37
Piatt	7	10
Pike	219	221
Pope	47	63
Pulaski	37	36
Putnam	37	37
Randolph	70	82
Richland	25	22
Rock Island	38	43
Saline	44	56
Sangamon	46	45
Schuyler	95	93
Scott	20	27
Shelby	71	53
St. Clair	21	40
Stark	17	22
Stephenson	44	37
Tazewell	20	31
Union	80	79
Vermilion	50	52
Wabash	12	11
Warren	26	29
Washington	28	37
Wayne	81	79
White	69	61
Whiteside	34	50
Will	22	26
Williamson	44	50
Winnebago	29	23
Woodford	49	55
Total	4310	4697

http://dnr.state.il.us/pubaffairs/2009/December/hunters.html

[Graybeard]

How de know dat stuff? Yew guys have to check your deer or sumpin? Down here we just shoot them we don't check them or report them so the best they can do is WAG it it ain't even a SWAG in my opinion.

[Paints-n-cows]

When you harvest a deer, you have to affix a state tag to them.  By 10 pm that night, you either have to call into an automated system or go the IDNR website and report your kill.  They give you a confirmation number that has to be written on the tag on the animal.  That tag has to stay with the animal until it is totally processed.

Its a $75 ticket if you don't write the number on there.

The information they want is antler base circumference (if it is a buck), whether it was an adult or yearling, and then a measurement from back of nostril to the corner of the eye.

They also ask if you have seen any bobcats or turkeys during your hunt.

Also, there is a little notch on the tags that are mailed from the state...it looks like a little triangle.  If you don't cut that triangle out immediately upon attaching it to the animal, that is another $75 ticket.

[GRIMJIM]

We used to have check stations where you would take your deer in and they would take all the information and give you a harvest pin.

I miss those. You could bs with other hunters and see the deer they got. To me it was a big part of the total experience.

[Paints-n-cows]

I agree.  Now the greedy bastards want to charge you $5 for the pin.  I have a lot of pins from a lot of years but since they did that, I don't even bother.

Now the only way you get to see what anyone else has killed is by going to town and driving around or going to McDonald's....or maybe Steve's in Havana.

Next year they are going to raise our tag fees from $15 to $25 and hunting licenses another $2. 

[GRIMJIM]

Charging for more for less service and an easier system to bypass. That sounds like Illinois alright.