Photo by Mike Lambeth.

Consider for a moment the definition of the word "impossible." In one interpretation, Webster's defines it as "very difficult to accomplish."

Perhaps, Webster's could provide a still clearer understanding of the word by defining it as "the attempt to predict where the best deer-hunting areas lie in the state of Illinois."

It's a daunting task, but ponder the chore no more! The staff at Illinois Game & Fish magazine rummaged through tons of data from last season to arrive at the best places to hunt in the Flatland.

The 2006 Season in a Nutshell
In 2006, hunters across all the individual deer-hunting seasons in Illinois combined to harvest 197,287 deer. This is a slight drop -- about 2 percent -- from the record-setting year of 2005 when 202,492 deer were tagged.

With little significance, this decrease is unanimously attributed to the snap of arctic weather that gripped the state during the second shotgun season. The first shotgun season last year brought in 86,075 whitetails, compared with 29,117 animals in the second. A decrease is always expected in the tabulation of the second shotgun season, but this was a deficit of 34 percent.

Still, the 10-year trend data in overall harvest saw last season demonstrate an incredible 33 percent increase in the number -- 132,737 animals -- of whitetails harvested in 1996.

How They Fell in 2006
• Bowhunters brought in 65,170 deer in 2006 -- 33 percent of the total harvest.
• A staggering 86,075 whitetails -- 44 percent of the state's entire harvest -- were taken during the first shotgun season.
• Overall, the shotgun harvest dropped 8 percent -- 115,379 animals compared with 124,560 in 2005.
• Hunter shotgun success was 47.8 percent in 2006, compared with 52.5 percent the year before.
• Muzzleloader hunters brought in an additional 5,939 deer -- 18 percent better than the year before.
• The "Late Winter" and "Chronic Wasting Disease" seasons in the north chalked a record 9,700 animals -- 45 percent better than 2005, marking a 79 percent hunter success rate.

Overall, the state's average harvest/kill density was 3.5 deer per square mile. If we were to apply an average to each county for harvest, it would be roughly 1,934 deer per county. Of course, many counties ended their harvest far above and below this total.

Regional Ratings
Zone 4 -- 10 counties in west-central Illinois -- took top honors again this year for harvest numbers. Taken together in all seasons, 60,722 deer were killed by the region's hunters. This was good enough for an average kill density of 4.3 deer per square mile.

Eleven of the top 25 counties for harvest statewide are in Zone 4.

The total deer kill in Zone 5 was not far behind. The 2006 harvest here -- eight counties smack-dab in the middle of the state -- numbered 59,717 whitetails. Hunters here delivered the highest kill density in the state, with 5.3 deer harvested per square mile. In addition, 10 of the top 25 harvest counties are in the zone.

Zone 1 -- 12 counties in extreme northern Illinois -- always has a good showing in the state's annual deer harvest statistics. In 2006, three of the top 25 counties for overall harvest were located here.

Hunters in Zone 1 brought down 44,287 deer last year, for a kill density of 2.9 animals per square mile.

Zone 3 -- 16 counties in west-central Illinois -- placed none of its counties in the top 25 list for the state's deer harvest. Hunters combined for a total kill of 18,460 animals -- a kill density of 1.7 deer per square mile.

And hunters in Zone 2 -- 14 counties in the northeast corner of Illinois -- combined their efforts for the lowest deer harvest because of dwindling hunting opportunities. Just 5,808 deer were harvested here in 2006 -- a kill density of 1.1 deer per square mile.