Outdoor Life and Heart Land Outdoors are talking about fewer deer

[ba_50]

One said the IL DNR is pushing doe kills (More income no doubt).
 
Hunters are seeing fewer deer.
 
We used to have lots of deer in our area but not anymore. The limited number of hunters allowed to hunt, took others with them and for other reasons almost wiped out the deer. Now I figure it will take about 3 years to build it back up. I don't want to go into the details.
 
Some are blaming coyotes, but I haven't noticed that. It would be hard to document fawn loss though.
 
With the disappearing habitat, more deer permits being issued, fewer CPO's (we don't have any in our area) , the usual road hunters, and lack of respect for wildlife and land owners, it could wreck the deer population.
 
How many of you are seeing a population decline?

[Empty Quiver]

Seems they have been trying to reduce herd numbers for years. Might be the herd is where they want it. The insurance industry will be happy for sure. I remember deer hunting pre 1980 it ain't that bad is it? I was always happy to see TRACKS, and a real deer , that warranted a phone call home.

[Lon371]

  Guys, I lived in Illinois 70's and 80's. To be real honest, I only remember seeing 2 deer. There may have been more, but I ran around Macon County and do not remember seeing anymore. The couple I remember were always hanging around a little reserve.
 
  But now as far as the total United States herd goes. Reading thru several threads, it is looking like the whole heard is suffering. #'s of sightings are down everywhere.
 
 Lonny

[GRIMJIM]

Maybe a little ot but I think it was a mistake changing handgun season into late firearm. I hardly saw anyone out in the woods during handgun. Now that you can use a shotgun there are a lot more guys out there in January.
I'm sure they just did it to bring in more money but i think the extra pressure isn't helping.
Honestly I got skunked every year until about 2005 and I have gotten deer every year since, hunting the same over pressured public land. I don't know why but I have seen more deer in the last few years than before.

[Glanceblamm]

Seems they have been trying to reduce herd numbers for years. Might be the herd is where they want it. The insurance industry will be happy for sure. I remember deer hunting pre 1980 it ain't that bad is it? I was always happy to see TRACKS, and a real deer , that warranted a phone call home.

I can remember in 1981 firearm hunters took around 19,000 deer state wide and while I have not seen this years take, I rekon that it is over 100,000 again so I have to agree.

[ba_50]

The insurance companies can afford to sway the govt, but not me. I'd rather have a healthy deer herd vs keeping the insurance co happy. I don't believe our rates will come down. If hunters stop seeing deer than they will quit buying permits, meaning less money for Ill which is already $15B in the hole.
 
The only thing I can do is stop all or most of the hunting on our property. (It is tougher when the DNR can't do it's job.
 
I'm sure there are still places with lots of deer like along the Illinois river, but I'm concerned about the future.

[JBlk]

The land that I have owned for the last twenty years has always supplied me with venison.This land is surrounded by land that was stripmined and has hardly changed in that time period.Last year I noticed a marked decline in the number of deer that I saw, but this year it is really bad.I am retired and I have spent many hour bow hunting and have hunted all of the firearms.During that trime period I have seen fewer than a dozen deer.There has definately been a change in the deer population in my area.

[jdinil]

I live, farm and hunt in one of the Golden Triangle counties. Deer numbers are down. There is no question about it. Deer numbers seem to be down in other midwestern states. While I think there is more than one reason, I believe the main reason is the rise of the number of bowhunters over the last decade or so. Lots of young kids, women and city dwellers have taken up the sport. And that's fine. But bowhunting must be accompanied by a lot of practice to insure clean kills. Many of these hunters don't have the opportunity to hone their bow shooting prowess. The result is a lot of lost deer due to bad shooting. I honestly believe the bow kill numbers in Illinois should be at least doubled, maybe tripled, due to the number of deer lost and not recovered. Gun hunters lose some also. But not nearly the numbers bow hunters do. Most farmers will tell you this is true. We find the remains! Sometimes with a combine head. That's not pretty and no fun when it happens either. It's happened to us. And a nearly 4 month long season gives plenty of time to lose a bunch of deer! Just one man's opinion.

[Swampman]

I can remember it being very rare to kill a deer.  I deer hunted 5 years before I even saw a deer.  Killing one would get your picture in the paper.  The auto insurance companies want the herds reduced.  Folks watch too many hunting shows and hunting is so commericalized that nobody is even thankful for a kill.  I recently looked at about a dozen deer heads in the back of some trucks after a church service.  I would have been very happy to have harvested any of them as all were bigger than anything I've ever killed.  The entire time the guys were making excuses for how small they were.

[1sourdough]

 Our sightings were down a good amount, a bit North of Peoria. I plan to be down for the Jan anterless hunt, but mostly taking stands down. I do have a tag or 2 & will hunt some.

[cjclemens]

I havent seen near as many this past season as I have seasons before. However, its been so warm this winter, I'd have to guess its probably because they aren't moving as much or they've gone mostly nocturnal.  Its possible that overall numbers are down, but there are a lot of other factors at play, so its hard to say for certain what's going on.

[bigbird09]

Have notice a slight decrease in deer at least during the day. Seems like nocturnal deer numbers are near the same.    At the same time he have seen a slight increase in the number of coyotes. 

[swiftman]

Bluetongue can cause large die off's Worse during hot dry summers