In Zone 1, Stephenson County holds a considerable deer herd, especially in the Pecatonica River basin. Ogle and Lee counties are likewise productive around the Rock River corridor. Bureau County has put up respectable harvest numbers in the past few seasons, with most deer coming from woodland tracts associated with Big Bureau Creek and the Illinois River. Tazewell County, around the Illinois and Mackinaw rivers area, puts up the numbers. And it's surprising that Knox County doesn't score higher, because there's a high harvest total here, with most of the emphasis in the area of the Spoon River basin.

In Zone 3, one hunter told us she owns land in Williamson County, but she's switched to hunting Iroquois County around the town of Gilman because she's seen more deer there than she did while hunting for 10 years in the southern tip of the state. Iroquois County didn't make the top 25 list in any category. But hunters who can get in along the Iroquois River or any timber stands in the middle of the county will find the whitetails thick in there.

Vermilion County always makes the top 10 list for archery, but falls off during the gun seasons in comparison with the rest of the state. Good numbers of deer are present around the Vermilion River and all tributaries.

McLean County holds one of the lowest deer kill densities in the state, but in the Mackinaw River bottoms, deer run rampant. Money Creek and Six Mile Creek around the northwest corner of the county, by Comlara Park, also carry good whitetail herds.

In both zones 4 and 5, just about any county you choose to hunt will offer excellent opportunities for success, but a few standouts aside from the perennial deer factories exist: Sangamon County in the basin of the river of its namesake and Salt Creek enjoy tightly packed deer kill density numbers that go unnoticed when applying harvest totals to the overall county. Mason and Cass counties, along the Illinois River and other small riparian swaths, house high numbers of deer that often miss the formula because of topographical anomalies.

For More Information
For more information on harvest totals per county, or other hunting information, go to the following page of the Web site of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources: www.dnr.state.il.us/pubaffairs/2006/December/2006_firearm_final.htm.

Find more about Illinois fishing and hunting at: IllinoisGameandFish.com