Illinois bowhunters stay ahead of the deer-harvest pace of the same time last year.
Signs of the rut built with 61 percent of the deer harvested last week being male.
TheIllinois Department of Natural Resources has added an interesting update the last couple weeks with a breakdown of what type of archery equipment is being used by successful hunters. So far, crossbows are accounting for 39 percent of the harvest, while compound bows account for 60.
Here is the update from the IDNR:
Here’s an update on the Illinois Archery Deer Season from the IDNR Division of Wildlife Resources. ARCHERY DEER SEASON ThroughSunday, November 4, 2018, Illinois archery deer hunters harvested a preliminary total of26,530deer, compared to25,848for the same period in 2017. Harvest for the past week was 8,048, peaking on Saturday with 2,665 deer, and slowing with the widespread rain and wind on Sunday. Harvestto date hasconsisted of55% does and45% males (14667:11863), but males comprised 61% of the harvest during the past seven days. Sixty percent of the harvest has been taken using compound bows; 39% by crossbows; and 1% by traditional bows (longbows and recurves). The top five counties for archery season harvest through November 4 were Pike(890), Fulton (701), Adams (649), JoDaviess (591), and Jefferson (564). County results are included in the attached table.
| Preliminary Illinois archery deer harvest through 11/4 | |||
| County | 2017 | 2018 | |
| Adams | 530 | 649 | |
| Alexander | 61 | 75 | |
| Bond | 168 | 195 | |
| Boone | 68 | 81 | |
| Brown | 393 | 433 | |
| Bureau | 319 | 331 | |
| Calhoun | 261 | 319 | |
| Carroll | 329 | 317 | |
| Cass | 268 | 286 | |
| Champaign | 184 | 159 | |
| Christian | 250 | 255 | |
| Clark | 299 | 312 | |
| Clay | 207 | 225 | |
| Clinton | 205 | 219 | |
| Coles | 304 | 304 | |
| Cook | 51 | 57 | |
| Crawford | 375 | 387 | |
| Cumberland | 207 | 202 | |
| DeKalb | 86 | 86 | |
| DeWitt | 255 | 256 | |
| Douglas | 99 | 83 | |
| Dupage | 11 | 10 | |
| Edgar | 175 | 184 | |
| Edwards | 83 | 71 | |
| Effingham | 204 | 216 | |
| Fayette | 347 | 400 | |
| Ford | 24 | 26 | |
| Franklin | 415 | 415 | |
| Fulton | 730 | 701 | |
| Gallatin | 100 | 67 | |
| Greene | 364 | 361 | |
| Grundy | 136 | 160 | |
| Hamilton | 213 | 238 | |
| Hancock | 352 | 386 | |
| Hardin | 133 | 136 | |
| Henderson | 102 | 107 | |
| Henry | 257 | 252 | |
| Iroquois | 161 | 183 | |
| Jackson | 451 | 421 | |
| Jasper | 237 | 297 | |
| Jefferson | 576 | 564 | |
| Jersey | 221 | 248 | |
| JoDaviess | 561 | 591 | |
| Johnson | 235 | 253 | |
| Kane | 141 | 136 | |
| Kankakee | 133 | 153 | |
| Kendall | 78 | 77 | |
| Knox | 434 | 435 | |
| Lake | 126 | 137 | |
| LaSalle | 341 | 364 | |
| Lawrence | 184 | 168 | |
| Lee | 214 | 226 | |
| Livingston | 119 | 134 | |
| Logan | 142 | 152 | |
| Macon | 225 | 193 | |
| Macoupin | 493 | 484 | |
| Madison | 362 | 400 | |
| Marion | 406 | 368 | |
| Marshall | 151 | 164 | |
| Mason | 173 | 171 | |
| Massac | 97 | 80 | |
| McDonough | 229 | 263 | |
| McHenry | 239 | 272 | |
| McLean | 253 | 253 | |
| Menard | 174 | 172 | |
| Mercer | 264 | 260 | |
| Monroe | 172 | 144 | |
| Montgomery | 263 | 330 | |
| Morgan | 265 | 283 | |
| Moultrie | 166 | 146 | |
| Ogle | 314 | 329 | |
| Peoria | 459 | 438 | |
| Perry | 305 | 321 | |
| Piatt | 82 | 82 | |
| Pike | 840 | 890 | |
| Pope | 281 | 289 | |
| Pulaski | 71 | 77 | |
| Putnam | 91 | 115 | |
| Randolph | 464 | 414 | |
| Richland | 169 | 153 | |
| Rock Island | 375 | 354 | |
| Saline | 210 | 198 | |
| Sangamon | 360 | 380 | |
| Schuyler | 438 | 433 | |
| Scott | 105 | 100 | |
| Shelby | 357 | 401 | |
| St. Clair | 292 | 306 | |
| Stark | 69 | 67 | |
| Stephenson | 271 | 273 | |
| Tazewell | 272 | 309 | |
| Union | 282 | 313 | |
| Vermilion | 406 | 402 | |
| Wabash | 91 | 70 | |
| Warren | 117 | 133 | |
| Washington | 234 | 206 | |
| Wayne | 369 | 289 | |
| White | 146 | 132 | |
| Whiteside | 273 | 262 | |
| Will | 316 | 375 | |
| Williamson | 438 | 422 | |
| Winnebago | 250 | 256 | |
| Woodford | 250 | 258 | |
| Total | 25848 | 26530 | |
