Illinois deer hunters reported a preliminary total of 71,894 deer harvested in the first firearm season, Friday through Sunday, Nov. 21-23.
That compares to 85,490 deer taken during the first season in 2007. Second season is Dec. 4-7.
But there were some monster bucks taken, such as this one by Donny Krull in Randolph County on Sunday. It is expected to net more than 200 inches.
Complete breakdown of the preliminary results from the IDNR is below.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 25, 2008 HUNTERS IN ILLINOIS HARVEST 71,894 DEER DURING FIRST WEEKEND OF FIREARM DEER SEASON SPRINGFIELD, IL – Hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 71,894 deer during the opening weekend of the 2008 Illinois Firearm Deer season, Nov. 21-23, Illinois Department of Natural Resources Acting Director Sam Flood announced today. The second portion of the firearm season will be Dec. 4-7. The preliminary total for the first three days of the 2008 firearm season compares with the first weekend harvest of 85,490 deer during the 2007 deer season. The top county harvest total was in Pike with 2,194 deer, followed by Adams (1,900), Fulton (1,878), Randolph (1,770), and Jefferson (1,650). The preliminary first-season figures reported for each county include those deer taken on special hunt areas within that county as well as on private land. Deer hunters in Illinois once again provided a good deer harvest for the first weekend of the firearm season, said Flood. We offer some of the best deer hunting opportunity in the world here in Illinois, and the firearm deer season continues to be our most popular hunting season. Illinois has issued approximately 350,000 firearm deer hunting permits for the 2008 season. Most hunters register their deer harvest online through the IDNR web site or by phoning 1-866-ILCHECK (1-866-452-4325) by 10 p.m. on the day of harvest. Hunters in Boone, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, LaSalle, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson and Winnebago counties take their deer to county check stations where IDNR conducts sampling for chronic wasting disease. The weather was unseasonably cold to start the season on Friday, but it appears many hunters were in the field enjoying some success on that day and throughout the first weekend of the firearm deer season, said IDNR Forest Wildlife Program Manager Paul Shelton. Most corn had been harvested, although 10 to 12 percent remained in the fields in the northern part of the state. The good news for managers and for deer hunters with permits remaining for the second season is that most of the decline in harvest was a drop in buck harvest, Shelton added. This means that our doe harvest was fairly comparable to last year and that there are plenty of both bucks and does still out there for second season hunters. Approximately 59 percent of the deer taken this past weekend were bucks, compared with 62 percent bucks taken during the first weekend of the firearm season in 2007. The Illinois firearm deer season concludes Dec. 4-7. The muzzleloader-only deer season is Dec. 12-14. The Late-Winter Antlerless-only firearm deer season and the Special CWD deer season are Jan. 16-18, 2009. The state’s 2008-09 archery deer season continues through Jan. 15 (except closed in firearm counties during the second firearm season Dec. 4-7). The table below provides preliminary county harvest totals for the first segment of the firearm season and comparable figures for the first season in 2007. County20072008 Adams21401900 Alexander339335 Bond877632 Boone13390 Brown1135996 Bureau12051030 Calhoun1036889 Carroll921740 Cass665510 Champaign272195 Christian574466 Clark1122896 Clay1177998 Clinton808635 Coles621550 Crawford950831 Cumberland693654 DeKalb213136 DeWitt320303 Douglas212156 Edgar608555 Edwards434354 Effingham923795 Fayette16841480 Ford123115 Franklin979827 Fulton20031878 Gallatin451402 Greene1209989 Grundy354269 Hamilton1036901 Hancock16981553 Hardin907780 Henderson586432 Henry742561 Iroquois548548 Jackson18241612 Jasper1049915 Jefferson19971650 Jersey790670 JoDaviess20551518 Johnson14351385 Kane4843 Kankakee191157 Kendall6753 Knox12441048 Lake2519 LaSalle1127957 Lawrence497420 Lee577446 Livingston498392 Logan401298 Macon252217 Macoupin16771228 Madison995648 Marion16771404 Marshall696607 Mason489484 Massac471369 McDonough902759 McHenry360216 McLean541490 Menard392288 Mercer828632 Monroe910863 Montgomery1149861 Morgan899674 Moultrie251224 Ogle1035730 Peoria13171133 Perry1161964 Piatt184134 Pike26102194 Pope14731301 Pulaski547533 Putnam454361 Randolph18901770 Richland745635 Rock Island806610 Saline734726 Sangamon743598 Schuyler13461166 Scott508374 Shelby11931025 St. Clair868724 Stark258216 Stephenson837643 Tazewell625527 Union15511323 Vermilion719648 Wabash252218 Warren554481 Washington1083864 Wayne14461316 White808699 Whiteside806542 Will287267 Williamson13911176 Winnebago410315 Woodford837753 Total8549071894
