Illinois hunters harvested 10,445 more deer during the 2024-25 seasons than during the the ’23-24 seasons or an increase of more than 6.5 percent.
My instincts say that at least some of that increase is related to the mild weather during the bulk of the seasons.
Here are the key points from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources:
The preliminary total for 2024-2025 compares with a total harvest of 160,313 deer for all seasons in 2023-2024.During the 2024-2025 deer seasons, hunters took 46.27% females and 53.72% males. Final harvest totals by season and county can be found in the annual deer harvest report, which will be published later this spring.
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Archery deer hunters took a preliminary total of 73,598 deer during the season that began Oct. 1 and concluded Jan. 19. The total archery harvest during the 2023-2024 season was 71,226 deer.
Youth deer hunters harvested a preliminary total of 4,057 deer during the three-day Illinois youth deer season Oct. 12-14, compared to 4,576 in 2023.
Firearm season hunters took a preliminary total of 82,496 deer during the firearm season Nov. 22-24 and Dec. 5-8. This compares to a harvest of 76,494 deer taken during the 2024 firearm season.
Muzzleloader hunters harvested a preliminary total of 2,832 deer during the muzzleloader-only season Dec. 13-15, compared with a harvest of 3,378 deer during the 2023 muzzleloader season.
Late-winter seasons: The 2024-2025 late-winter antlerless-only and special chronic wasting disease (CWD) deer seasons concluded Jan. 19 with a combined preliminary harvest total for both seasons of 7,775 deer. Season dates for the seven-day late-winter and CWD seasons were Dec. 26-29 and Jan. 17-19. During the same seasons in 2023-2024, a total of 4,639 deer were taken.
The general news release from the IDNR is at https://dnr.illinois.gov/press-release.30891.html.