Illinois deer hunting: Harvest in muzzleloader-only season up slightly from 2019

Deer harvest during Illinois’ muzzleloader season, Dec. 11-13, was up from harvest in 2019. I suspect it had to do with weather as much as anything, but I don’t discount the possibility that hunters had more time to spend in the field with the pandemic.

Deer harvest was up for the firearm seasons, too, and the harvest by bowhunters is headed toward a record, so Illinois should end with a higher overall harvest at this rate for 2020-21.

Here is the breakdown of the muzzleloader-only deer season from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources:

County by county numbers are below

County 2019 2020

ADAMS 80 107

ALEXANDER 24 27

BOND 13 19

BOONE 2 7

BROWN 39 58

BUREAU 44 49

CALHOUN 42 49

CARROLL 20 22

CASS 28 28

CHAMPAIGN 19 16

CHRISTIAN 27 32

CLARK 59 57

CLAY 29 35

CLINTON 22 28

COLES 22 20

COOK 0 0

CRAWFORD 29 24

CUMBERLAND 31 29

DEKALB 8 6

DEWITT 24 19

DOUGLAS 9 7

DUPAGE 0 0

EDGAR 28 31

EDWARDS 19 17

EFFINGHAM 28 24

FAYETTE 52 59

FORD 5 5

FRANKLIN 65 64

FULTON 69 74

GALLATIN 14 15

GREENE 52 53

GRUNDY 11 10

HAMILTON 41 47

HANCOCK 83 94

HARDIN 44 37

HENDERSON 17 14

HENRY 21 23

IROQUOIS 28 31

JACKSON 77 61

JASPER 37 49

JEFFERSON 99 99

JERSEY 21 28

JODAVIESS 37 68

JOHNSON 44 41

KANE 2 2

KANKAKEE 11 5

KENDALL 6 3

KNOX 45 43

LAKE 0 0

LASALLE 25 25

LAWRENCE 30 36

LEE 21 20

LIVINGSTON 5 15

LOGAN 20 16

MACON 31 32

MACOUPIN 53 50

MADISON 26 23

MARION 41 60

MARSHALL 19 26

MASON 15 18

MASSAC 16 16

MCDONOUGH 39 48

MCHENRY 5 17

MCLEAN 27 33

MENARD 20 25

MERCER 26 39

MONROE 20 26

MONTGOMERY 22 33

MORGAN 20 26

MOULTRIE 8 12

OGLE 18 22

PEORIA 28 39

PERRY 58 63

PIATT 9 11

PIKE 142 140

POPE 68 55

PULASKI 10 13

PUTNAM 12 18

RANDOLPH 72 111

RICHLAND 24 25

ROCK ISLAND 22 29

SALINE 38 41

SANGAMON 27 29

SCHUYLER 55 59

SCOTT 13 15

SHELBY 45 51

STARK 10 8

ST. CLAIR 17 18

STEPHENSON 12 21

TAZEWELL 19 16

UNION 51 62

VERMILION 37 36

WABASH 8 16

WARREN 13 18

WASHINGTON 32 36

WAYNE 50 75

WHITE 50 56

WHITESIDE 13 22

WILL 14 23

WILLIAMSON 60 57

WINNEBAGO 11 7

WOODFORD 22 23

Total 3076 3447