Rut, even more signs in Illinois: Archery harvest stays up

By Dale Bowman

Nothing quite like a couple decent weather weekends over the peak of the rut to balance out the deer harvest in Illinois, well, make that about anywhere.

Not sure bowhunters want to hear this, but it bodes well for gun hunters, too, with Illinois’ first firearm season opening Friday.

(The photo above is from firearm season two years ago, best of several bucks resting just out of my range.)

Plenty of signs in the harvest report of the rut impact.

Here is the archery update from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources:

ARCHERY DEER Through Sunday, November 13, 2016, Illinois archery deer hunters harvested a preliminary total of 39,370 deer, compared to 38,076 for the same period in 2015. Harvest to date has consisted of 44% does and 56% males (17386: 21984). During the past week, harvest consisted of 69% males with strong rutting activity ongoing. Top five counties were Pike (1562), Fulton (1116), Adams (936), Jefferson (894), and JoDaviess (807). A table of county results is attached. Up-to-date archery harvest figures (for either deer or turkey) by county/state sites can be tracked on the web at http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Pages/IDNRHarvestQuery.aspx Paul Shelton, Manager Forest Wildlife Program

Here is the county-by-county breakdown:


County	2015	2016
Adams	866	936
Alexander	113	107
Bond	253	260
Boone	96	88
Brown	538	645
Bureau	460	479
Calhoun	503	454
Carroll	425	445
Cass	400	422
Champaign	201	223
Christian	301	334
Clark	447	534
Clay	316	389
Clinton	226	235
Coles	368	387
Cook	67	54
Crawford	514	587
Cumberland	251	287
DeKalb	108	131
DeWitt	339	316
Douglas	121	102
Dupage	16	13
Edgar	269	277
Edwards	130	138
Effingham	269	325
Fayette	447	512
Ford	33	36
Franklin	641	637
Fulton	1126	1116
Gallatin	199	156
Greene	452	496
Grundy	235	214
Hamilton	376	426
Hancock	491	554
Hardin	257	280
Henderson	189	185
Henry	336	324
Iroquois	250	244
Jackson	687	679
Jasper	319	369
Jefferson	848	894
Jersey	377	350
JoDaviess	850	807
Johnson	416	451
Kane	173	148
Kankakee	166	200
Kendall	134	118
Knox	680	659
Lake	230	134
LaSalle	509	541
Lawrence	281	332
Lee	318	311
Livingston	179	152
Logan	200	197
Macon	304	290
Macoupin	673	681
Madison	570	539
Marion	630	648
Marshall	235	265
Mason	219	230
Massac	178	189
McDonough	328	390
McHenry	397	359
McLean	317	347
Menard	246	249
Mercer	408	340
Monroe	222	255
Montgomery	428	457
Morgan	362	382
Moultrie	205	199
Ogle	532	541
Peoria	571	614
Perry	498	544
Piatt	94	95
Pike	1518	1562
Pope	492	586
Pulaski	130	143
Putnam	190	188
Randolph	674	694
Richland	221	270
Rock Island	511	505
Saline	324	288
Sangamon	451	479
Schuyler	634	673
Scott	140	149
Shelby	459	510
St. Clair	409	381
Stark	83	92
Stephenson	367	386
Tazewell	362	343
Union	496	500
Vermilion	576	568
Wabash	126	138
Warren	212	190
Washington	333	343
Wayne	521	558
White	317	325
Whiteside	341	364
Will	444	464
Williamson	651	653
Winnebago	346	352
Woodford	335	362
Grand Total	38076	39370

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Rut, even more signs in Illinois: Archery harvest stays up

Rut, even more signs in Illinois: Archery harvest stays up