What’s up ducks, geese, deer: Illinois hunting notes

Here’s the weekly collection of notes here and there, primarily from northeast Illinois, on hunting in Illinois.

Muzzleloader season for deer ended on Sunday. When I see harvest numbers, I will post. I expect something relatively similar to last year.

I have not seen an update on bowhunting harvest for a bit. And I wonder what the strong firearm harvest will do for harvest by bowhunters.

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Duck hunting in the north zone ends today. And from most reports, it fizzled to a finish. Very few were shot in the final weekend at William Powers (Wolf Lake) or Heidecke Lake.

Both William Powers and Heidecke remain open for goose hunters as long as there is no ice. Remember for the goose season, Heidecke is in the central zone, where goose hunting lasts until the end of January. The way this winter is going, I suspect ice up will be a long time coming and may not impact goose hunting much.

Braidwood is at its best when everything is iced up. Well, nothing is iced up and the results show that. Over the weekend, 45 hunters at Braidwood bagged only 29 ducks; while 24 hunters at Mazonia South took only two ducks and four geese; and eight hunters at Mazonia North bagged only three ducks.

I hunted Saturday in the central zone for geese, fog and all, and did not see or hear a goose or duck flying.

That can be hunting.

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Common snipe season ends Sunday. And I have yet to know anyone who actually hunts for or actively hunts for snipe.