MORE DEER COVERAGE • 2004 Deer Outlook, Part 1 • 2004 Rut Report in North American Whitetail Forums

By P.J. Perea

It seems difficult to think that this upcoming season can top the 2003 record-breaking deer harvest, but this season is different in many respects. The 2004 season features more permits and more options for hunters to kill deer in Illinois.

In Part 2 of this series we will be looking at the most recent season and analyze long-term trends in the firearm, archery and muzzleloader deer harvest and permits. Part 2 will also discuss the changes in the 2004 season and the effects they may have on the harvest. Analyses of harvest data will reveal areas in our state that have consistently produced good numbers of deer and highlight some places that may be overlooked.

"We are very pleased with the results of the firearm deer hunting season," said Department of Natural Resources director Joel Brunsvold. "It was a very safe one, with very few accidents reported during first season and none reported during second season. A lot of hunters were excited about the new regulation allowing the use of handguns during the firearm season."

Top counties in 2003 for numbers of deer killed during firearm season were Pike with 3,691, Adams with 2,737, Jackson with 2,608, Randolph with 2,534 and Jefferson with 2,333.

A few counties that stood out in 2003 with double-digit percentage increases in harvest compared to the 2002 kill were: Kendall, 35 percent; St. Clair, 28 percent; Marshall, 25 percent; Cass, 22 percent; Rock Island, 21 percent; Ford, 20 percent; Champaign, 19 percent; Putnam, 18 percent; Grundy, 18 percent; Bureau, 17 percent; Knox, 17 percent; Boone, 17 percent; Carroll, 17 percent; Henderson, 16 percent; Livingston, 16 percent; Lee, 16 percent; La Salle, 15 percent; Mercer, 15 percent; Whiteside, 13 percent; Iroquois, 13 percent; Logan, 11 percent; Menard, 11 percent; Woodford, 11 percent; Jo Daviess, 10 percent; Edwards, 10 percent; and Pike, 10 percent.

Historically strong counties such as Jo Daviess County in Zone 1, Bureau and La Salle counties in Zone 2, Fulton and Hancock counties in Zone 3, Pike and Adams counties in Zone 4, Jefferson, Randolph and Fayette counties in Zone 7, and Jackson and Pope counties in Zone 8 continued to produce excellent numbers of deer.

Photo by BillKinney.com

• Firearm and muzzleloader permits: Hunters were allowed to apply for both firearm and muzzleloader-only season permits during the same application period.

• New firearm hunting opportunities in northeastern Illinois: Firearm deer hunting will be allowed west of Illinois Route 47 in Kane County. In recent years, landowners and other residents of Kane County have asked to be able to participate in the state's firearm deer hunting seasons in the more rural, western portion of the county. With attractive deer habitat and a growing deer population in western Kane County, it is expected that this added opportunity in northeast Illinois will be popular. Previous regulations allowed only archery deer hunting in Kane County.

• Restricted archery deer hunting zone: Regulations changes for archery deer hunting include an easing of the October hunting restrictions in the state's Restricted Archery Zone in Champaign, De Witt, Macon, Moultrie and Piatt counties. Archery hunters in the five-county zone have been limited to taking two deer per season, and they could harvest only antlered deer from Oct. 1 to Oct. 31. The new regulations will remove the two-deer bag limit and will reduce the antlered-only restriction to 15 days. The archery harvest restrictions in place since 1999 in the zone have been working in terms of restoring the deer population in those counties. DNR wildlife managers will continue to monitor the deer population in the five counties in hopes of removing the restrictions altogether during the next few years.

• Non-resident archery deer hunting permits: The DNR will provide up to 15,000 archery deer hunting permits to non-residents, effective with the 2004 season. The non-resident permit quota has been 12,843 since the 2001 season. Demand for the permits has exceeded the number available each year. The increase in permits, combined with the state's growing deer population, will provide added opportunity for hunters. The non-resident archery combination permits - allowing the harvest of one antlered and one antlerless deer - will continue to be issued through a toll-free telephone reservation system. Non-residents buying a combination permit will also be able to purchase additional antlerless-only permits.

• Archery permits for resident hunters: Archery permits for resident hunters will continue to be sold over the counter with no quota by DNR license and permit vendors. While more non-resident archery permits will be available in 2004, resident hunters continue to account for the vast majority of Illinois deer hunters. Last year, Illinois issued approximately 490,000 permits for all deer hunting seasons, more than 95 percent of them to Illinois residents.

• Expanded opportunity for January surplus deer season: This January a new season will allow hunters participating in the surplus deer hunting season - traditionally known as the "handgun-only season" - to use a handgun, shotgun or muzzleloader rifle. In 2005, the season dates will be January 14-16. The season is open to Illinois residents only, and hunters are permitted to kill antlerless deer only. For the 2004 season conducted January 16-18, more than 10,600 permits were issued. Open counties included Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Clark, Crawford, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Jasper, Jefferson, Jo Daviess, Lawrence, Macoupin, McLean, Morgan, Ogle, Perry, Pike, Randolph, Richland, Schuyler, St. Clair, Wayne, White, Whiteside and Williamson.

Paul Shelton, head of the DNR white-tailed deer program, talked about some of the current conditions of the Illinois herd. "Overall the deer population in Illinois is in very good shape, with approximately 750,000 to 800,000 deer in the state," he said.

Shelton expects a good deer harvest for the 2004 season - barring bad weather - with the increases in available permits and season options.

"Look for the muzzleloader and late-winter antlerless season, formerly the handgun season, to increase, although their harvests have tended to be rather trivial in the past," said Shelton. "And in certain parts of the state, we need to really work on increased antlerless harvest, particularly during the firearm season, which, because of its high participation levels, remains our primary management tool for the gun seasons."

The multiple years of near-record and record kill may be reaching their peak as deer herd conditions statewide show some similarities to 1995.

"After the record firearm harvest in 1995, we saw a number of years in which harvests did not differ significantly," he said. "However, in the past few years, populations in many areas have begun to trend upward again, and we can't allow that to continue. We have to make a concerted effort to stop that growth, so I expect increased harvest pressure to cause stabilization, and declines, over the next few years."

Shelton talked about any downward trends in populations in select areas of the state.

"We have witnessed downward trends in parts of east-central Illinois, and even some southern Illinois counties, during the past 10 years," he said. "However, those trends have been reversed, and currently we are not seeing any major areas that fit this category. One exception would be parts of the northern Illinois counties affected by chronic wasting disease, where we are working to control it."

He noted that some west-central and southern Illinois counties are showing significant increases.

To accomplish this, the average harvest of each county for the past seven years was divided by the square miles of the county. Now the harvest picture is a little clearer and not necessarily biased by area.

The top 20 counties statewide for firearm harvest show some interesting trends over the past seven years. Most notably, tiny Calhoun County, at 254 square miles, is the top harvest county in the state with 5.72 deer killed per square mile. In fact, the top five counties - Calhoun (5.72 deer harvested/square mile), Pope (5.45), Brown (5.31), Hardin (5.11) and Johnson (4.80) - are all less than 400 square miles. While small in area, these counties are great places for hunters to kill numbers of deer.

The perennial trophy-deer powerhouse counties of over 400 square miles - Pike, Union, Jackson, Randolph, Schuyler and Jo Daviess - were also well-represented in the top 20 for deer harvest.

Examining individual zones reveals a mix of expected and unexpected deer hunting areas not always considered hotspots by many hunters.