Illinois hunters harvested hearly eight percent more deer during the firearm deer season than during firearm season last year.
Relatively good hunting weather likely helped, but I also wonder if the rise of rifle use may have helped with the spike.
Here is the word from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources:
SPRINGFIELD – Hunters in Illinois took a preliminary total of 82,496 deer during the seven-day 2024 Illinois firearm deer season that concluded Dec. 8. Comparatively, hunters harvested 76,494 deer during the 2023 firearm season.
The preliminary harvest for the second segment of the 2024 firearm season Dec. 5-8 was 27,835 compared with 22,883 deer harvested during the second part of the 2023 season.
The preliminary harvest for the first segment of this year’s firearm season Nov. 22-24 was 54,661 deer.
The county-by-county breakdown is below.
County First 2024 Second 2024 Total 2024 Total 2023 ADAMS 1414 877 2291 2141 ALEXANDER 225 105 330 299 BOND 594 274 868 763 BOONE 80 53 133 104 BROWN 629 359 988 870 BUREAU 628 338 966 982 CALHOUN 499 305 804 752 CARROLL 387 164 551 522 CASS 434 264 698 637 CHAMPAIGN 165 106 271 196 CHRISTIAN 412 207 619 582 CLARK 783 420 1203 1005 CLAY 1118 434 1552 1356 CLINTON 735 277 1012 799 COLES 523 207 730 589 CRAWFORD 788 350 1138 1022 CUMBERLAND 575 281 856 733 DEKALB 97 48 145 125 DEWITT 261 160 421 350 DOUGLAS 129 56 185 166 EDGAR 407 186 593 574 EDWARDS 309 172 481 430 EFFINGHAM 763 365 1128 947 FAYETTE 1298 669 1967 1683 FORD 86 41 127 119 FRANKLIN 879 462 1341 1350 FULTON 1317 673 1990 1834 GALLATIN 301 153 454 429 GREENE 660 438 1098 1014 GRUNDY 204 116 320 285 HAMILTON 838 376 1214 1073 HANCOCK 1102 614 1716 1521 HARDIN 366 188 554 624 HENDERSON 318 131 449 459 HENRY 300 159 459 464 IROQUOIS 338 214 552 486 JACKSON 1355 677 2032 2010 JASPER 851 390 1241 1081 JEFFERSON 1406 677 2083 1912 JERSEY 475 246 721 648 JODAVIESS 936 442 1378 1368 JOHNSON 759 327 1086 1079 KANE 24 14 38 33 KANKAKEE 139 64 203 190 KENDALL 34 36 70 65 KNOX 715 394 1109 1178 LAKE 7 3 10 4 LASALLE 392 209 601 701 LAWRENCE 476 251 727 618 LEE 424 231 655 548 LIVINGSTON 323 116 439 392 LOGAN 252 136 388 318 MACON 156 87 243 210 MACOUPIN 1200 635 1835 1528 MADISON 549 199 748 655 MARION 1272 551 1823 1669 MARSHALL 462 195 657 599 MASON 239 150 389 393 MASSAC 235 156 391 386 MCDONOUGH 530 244 774 758 MCHENRY 152 85 237 256 MCLEAN 407 263 670 598 MENARD 260 156 416 380 MERCER 542 292 834 827 MONROE 798 321 1119 1100 MONTGOMERY 707 353 1060 879 MORGAN 435 271 706 667 MOULTRIE 182 94 276 239 OGLE 418 275 693 662 PEORIA 554 297 851 858 PERRY 918 492 1410 1326 PIATT 100 45 145 120 PIKE 1136 813 1949 1817 POPE 895 284 1179 1314 PULASKI 206 106 312 296 PUTNAM 229 136 365 336 RANDOLPH 1565 734 2299 2183 RICHLAND 533 238 771 705 ROCK ISLAND 480 228 708 713 SALINE 605 314 919 872 SANGAMON 358 186 544 493 SCHUYLER 914 442 1356 1301 SCOTT 216 136 352 378 SHELBY 921 387 1308 1237 ST. CLAIR 595 207 802 740 STARK 131 85 216 195 STEPHENSON 307 174 481 535 TAZEWELL 371 199 570 510 UNION 798 408 1206 1184 VERMILION 392 239 631 606 WABASH 156 82 238 178 WARREN 352 166 518 492 WASHINGTON 802 363 1165 1041 WAYNE 1113 620 1733 1413 WHITE 532 306 838 832 WHITESIDE 391 256 647 611 WILL 150 76 226 231 WILLIAMSON 1165 593 1758 1748 WINNEBAGO 174 117 291 279 WOODFORD 528 324 852 714 Total 54,661 27,835 82,496 76,494