IL Harvest Way Down

[mshm99]

Illinois harvest numbers way down this year. After taking one deer with the crossbow and one with the muzzleloader I sat out the late doe seasons hoping to leave some seed for next year. During my sits I heard almost no shooting .I saw nothing during the second shotgun season. My observations were confirmed by the IDNR release of harvest numbers. Also , the deer I did see and took were bucks. I only got a glimpse at a one doe during ten days hunting. I would not say I'm worried, but I am concerned. Missouri had a pretty bad year too. Anybody have similar experience?


IL State wide all seasons
year         arch    youth   gun        mz       lw/cw      total
13/14   57290    3012    74355   3546   10366      148569

12/13   59805    3123    99546   3614   14723      180811
11/12   61974    1849    97820   4902    14906     181451

10/11   63570    1544     98944   3328   14884     182270

9/10     64819    2409     99755   4725    17906    189634

8/9       64920   1045     106018   4366   12562    188901

7/8       64156    898      117755    4387    12415   199611

6/7       64770   1100    114722    5973     9676     196241

6/5       66093   1065    123792    4979     5380     201209



Pike County

              arch   youth gun  mz    lw/cw total

13/14   2503   167   2273  191   513   5647

12/13   2842   168   3073  243    913   7241

11/12   2953   103   2958   309   856   7179

10/11   3228   87     3182   159   770   7376

9/10    3575    120    3272   249  950    8166

8/9      3754     55     3356   257  638   8060

7/8      3699     39    3754    23    714    8443

6/7     4210      60    3758    451   554    9033

6/5    4004       66    4173    300   439    8982



Mike

[mrbuck]

Can not keep killing does and expect to keep up the harvest numbers . This year so far NJ has harvested almost twice as many does as bucks . And the deer numbers continue to dwindle and hunters continue to say they are seeing less and less deer . When you remove ( roadkill , damage permits , EHD , coyotes ,legal harvest , a few poached ) more deer than can be replaced ; the population goes down ! Have we forgotten the management strategy that built up the nations deer herds in the early 1900's ? Maybe we have over done the killing of does ?

[quillen52]

I had exactly the same experience in Greene Co., IL. Deer numbers and harvest way down. As a long time non-resident hunter I received a note and short survey from IL DNR and the note indicated they were taking a serious look at deer numbers and their protection. It also stated that left over licenses normally sold after the drawings are completed may not be sold next year - did not know for sure at this time. Sounds like they are looking for ways to reduce the licenses and overall harvest. The non-res license is pretty expensive, don't know how they will replace lost revenue.

[03mossy]

Our harvest is also down. The deer numbers themselves are also way down. We had to many years of intensive harvest (5 deer per hunter) mixed with some extremely hard winters mixed with an absolutely out of control wolf population leads to a poor deer herd. I could go on but its not good for my blood pressure!

[wilmsmeyer]

Wow. Hard to imagine that wolves are doing a lot of damage unless they are really gaining an edge in terms of population. Being a New Yorker, I have never seen a wolf. We have Coyotes but I don't think they do more than getting the gimps left over from hunting season and road kills. Wolves are bad ass. They are big and can get deer when the snow gets deep.

Looking at the stats in Il., it does look like a low harvest. The youth numbers looks higher than years past. That's about the only positive trend I see here.

Bad winters can really put the hurt on the deer herd. This year is an example of what may be a tough year on the deer. Not just Illinois but other states like Ohio, NY, PA. 1 Month of really deep snow and super cold temps will reek havoc on the deer numbers. Sucks to try and live through a winter like this being a deer.

As tough as they are, it still is a challenge to make it thru this very cold season.

When I shot a few does the last day of MZ season in 2 feet of snow, I said that I did them a favor. These animals are tough. But so are others. They just find a way to keep going.

[wilmsmeyer]

Duplicate post

[jims]

The deer harvest in Ohio I think was down about 5%. I have heard quite a few say they did not see many deer. Personally our group saw as many or more than usual, however with the snow/ice cover and cold I could see winter losses or at least weakened deer coming into Spring.
I do not believe coyotes take too many mature and healthy deer but I have been told they get a fair amount of fawns.

[dannoboone]

Feb 16, 2014 18:08:20 GMT -5 wilmsmeyer said:

We have Coyotes but I don't think they do more than getting the gimps left over from hunting season and road kills. Wolves are bad ass. They are big and can get deer when the snow gets deep.

Up to 80% of a coyote's springtime kills are FAWNS!!
They are then feeding their pups and fawns are very
easy prey. One of the best springtime coyote calls is
that of a bleating fawn being killed by a coyote.

The Canadian imported wolves are also wreaking havoc
with the elk populations in certain areas of the west.

[1coyotemaster]

I am in Henry county Illinois and the farmers here are telling me that when they combined they saw lots of dead deer in the beans and corn fields. It ain't the Coyotes and it ain't over harvest, there is something seriously wrong with the herd. Perhaps Blue Tongue after the drought leaving the ponds very low and full of bacteria I am told. I am not a biologist but when I sit for a week and see 2 deer I know something is amiss. In our county the late doe season was canceled, last year was great for me--this year was not.

  I might add the Coyotes wouldn't touch the dead deer found lying--I found 2 myself and they were just rotting away in an area packed with dogs.

[jims]

That is interesting, hopefully it is over and not spreading.

[pposey]

That stinks for you guys, I remember hunting site "M" 15 years ago and seeing 20+ deer in a day, same thing at Clinton Lake,, but you still have us beat, my home county and where I do most of my hunting reported 126 deer killed in 2013,,

[lunchbox]

I usually see a lot of deer and the past 2yrs I have not seen nearly as many. This year was really bad. I was out in the stand for both shotgun seasons and hardly any shooting was going on.

[10ga]

The VA kill up 13% statewide. Also above 10 year average. Locally the kill was more sporadic by certain areas. Some of my hunting grounds were more and some less deer. Thank goodness we don't have the snow cover and cold and predators like you guys up north and west. My personal kill was 10 and that is 2 over my 25 year long term average of 8 per season. Locally there was less hunting pressure and fewer people and fewer hours afield. That was good for us "retired guys" that hunt every day. The five counties I usually hunt in had kills of 1,215 -- 1,696 -- 1,561 -- 1,934 and 2,292. The smallest of those counties has 244 sq. mi. of land area including a good sized town and 20,000 residents and the kill there was the 1,934 deer. The biggest bad thing in this area is the farmers with the 24--365 kill permits, most just gut shoot with 22WMR and 17 HMR so the deer run out the fields to die in the woods and swamps and they don't even have to drag them away. the DGIF is trying to stabilize the growing herd with lots of hunting and full season open doe season. The biggest problem with that is the fragmentation of ownership and the large amount of posted land where it's "don't even think of hunting here" ownership. Lots of deer never have any danger of harvest and death is only by auto or coyote or old age. Hope the lower populations and this hard winter don't put tags out of reach for you guys. If you need to find a place just look south my friends, look south. Hope all well. 10

[valian]

Ohio's deer kill was down 13% overall. Where I hunt on National Forest land I see far fewer deer than I saw in the past. During the week of gun season I now kill the first deer I see because I may not see another for the entire week. Hunting the exact spot for 23 years and it used to be fairly normal to pass up 9 or 10 does on opening day before shooting a deer and would usually see deer every day of the week of gun season. Friends on private land are experiencing the same lack of seeing deer during the gun season. Archery kills are up and there is now a youth gun season for 2 days a week before the regular gun season now.

Wildlife biologists say the decrease this year was expected and they are still working on decreasing numbers in many areas but have adopted a smaller county system rather than a 4 zone system for management now. I think the numbers are lower than they are letting on myself to justify further decreases to appease the Farm bureau.