In Vermillion County, there are three public hunting areas with a total of 5,031 acres available. They are Middle Fork Fish and Wildlife Area, Kickapoo State Recreation Area and the Harry ìBabeî Woodyard State Natural Area.

Hunters took 2,221 deer in this county with 1,041 being does and 1,180 being bucks.

ZONE 7
In the far southwest corner of Illinois is Zone 7. A sparsely populated area of bottomlands, it is best known for waterfowl hunting opportunities. But the swamps and grain fields produce some excellent deer hunting. In 2008, hunters harvested 20,976 deer, which is down slightly from the 22,549 harvested in 2007.

Randolph County produced 3,855 deer of which 1,903 were does and 1,952 bucks.

Public deer hunting is available at 14,000-acre Kaskaskia River Fish and Wildlife Area and the 2,250-acre Turkey Bluffs (2,250 acres) area. Muzzleloader hunting is to be found on the 800-acre Fort de Chartres Historic Site, and archery hunting is permitted in Randolph County Conservation Area (140 acres).

A significant amount of Jackson County is included in the Shawnee National Forest (277,645 acres), with the remaining part in agricultural and state park land. The forest extends across parts of nine counties in southern Illinois. In addition to the national forest property, one can hunt deer in the 3,400-acre Oakwood Bottoms and the 3,700 acres at Kincaid Lake, both of which are near Murphysboro. Another 2,256 acres of public hunting land is to be found at Giant City State Park near Carbondale.

Jackson County deer hunters harvested 3,411 deer, which breaks down to 1,640 does and 1,771 bucks during the 2008 season.

Union County came in third in the deer sweepstakes with 2,963 deer harvested. Of those, 1,458 were does and 1,505 were bucks.

In addition to that portion of Shawnee National Forest within Union County, there are an additional four state public hunting areas totaling 9,100 acres. The county is bottomland and forest with few towns.

ZONE 8
Zone 8 was the second-best harvest of all zones with a total harvest of 33,103 whitetails. This is down from the 2007 figure of 35,577. This cluster of counties in the southeast corner of the state contains significant public-land hunting opportunities. The bulk of the 277,645 acres of the Shawnee National Forest lies in this area of the state. In addition, there are some 23,000 acres of public land at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge near Marion. There are also public hunting areas operated by the DNR spread throughout the zone.

The best harvest data last year came from Jefferson County, where hunters took 4,471 deer. There were 2,350 does and 2,121 bucks taken.

Public hunting in this county is limited to the Rend Lake area. There are 7,740 acres of federal land and 7,690 acres of state land. In addition, the Mt. Vernon Game Bird Propagation Farm has 650 acres open to bowhunting only.

Just north of Jefferson County is Marion County where hunters took 3,573 deer. It breaks down to 1,718 does and 1,855 bucks. The only public hunting is the 2,580-acre Stephen Forbes State Park.

Wayne County to the east has only one public hunting area that offers archery and late-season firearms deer hunting. It is the 950-acre Sam Dale Lake Conservation area. Wayne County hunters still turned in a harvest of 3,382 deer, with 1,734 does and 1,648 bucks.

There you have it, a look at the top harvest counties in each of our stateís eight hunting zones. Surely one is near where you hunt!