Illinois firearm deer season harvest totals hit record high    

[DEC. 15, 2004]  SPRINGFIELD -- Hunters in Illinois harvested a record-setting preliminary total of 114,113 deer during the 2004 firearm deer season, Department of Natural Resources Director Joel Brunsvold announced Monday. The previous record harvest total of 103,961 deer was taken during the firearm season last year.

The preliminary second-season harvest total, for Dec. 2-5, is 41,976, compared with the second-season harvest of 39,780 in 2003. This year's preliminary first-season deer harvest, Nov. 19-21, was 72,137, compared with a first-season harvest of 64,181 in 2003. The figures do not include deer harvested during hunts on state sites where special permits are issued.

"More than 308,000 firearm season permits were issued to deer hunters in Illinois this year," Brunsvold said. "The 2004 firearm deer season was not only successful for hunters and our deer herd management effort, but it also proved to be a safe season as well, with very few tree stand and other hunting-related accidents reported."

Preliminary check station harvest reports for the 2004 firearm season show that Pike County led the state with a total harvest of 4,251, while Adams County was second with 3,281.

"Weather and other hunting conditions were good throughout Illinois for the second portion of the firearm season, helping put the harvest right in line with our expectations," said Paul Shelton, forest wildlife program manager for the Department of Natural Resources. "The numbers and the quality of deer that hunters brought into the check stations are good indicators of the overall health of our deer herd in Illinois. We are also grateful to those hunters who voluntarily participated in our chronic wasting disease surveillance effort at check stations throughout the state during the first weekend of the firearm season and in northern Illinois during the second season."

As part of the check station process in 31 counties during the firearm deer season, more than 4,000 tissue samples were collected from hunter-harvested deer to be tested for the presence of chronic wasting disease. CWD is a fatal neurological disease that can affect deer and elk but is not contagious to humans or livestock. Since the first case was detected in wild deer in Illinois in November 2002, 67 cases have been confirmed in deer taken in Boone, Winnebago, McHenry and DeKalb counties. Results of the testing are still pending on deer sampled during this year's firearm season.

The muzzleloader-only deer hunt in Illinois was conducted Dec. 10-12, while the late winter firearm hunt of antlerless-only deer in 43 Illinois counties will be Jan. 14-16, 2005. Resident landowners with unfilled "property-only hunting" landowner and tenant permits for the firearm season may use those permits to take antlerless deer on their property during the Jan. 14-16 period if the property is located in one of the 43 counties open for the late winter season. All other unfilled firearm season permits will not be valid.

The statewide archery deer hunting season resumed Dec. 6 and continues through Jan. 13.

The table at right includes preliminary county harvest totals for the second portion of the 2004 firearm deer season, the preliminary total harvest for 2004 and the comparable county harvest totals for 2003.

	2004 second season	2004 preliminary harvest total	2003 preliminary total
Adams	1,251	3,281	2,951
Alexander	206	454	357
Bond	402	1,092	927
Boone	119	274	303
Brown	644	1,722	1,452
Bureau	630	1,654	1,510
Calhoun	703	1,841	1,553
Carroll	363	1,145	1,140
Cass	364	975	959
Champaign	99	275	269
Christian	236	653	603
Clark	492	1,428	1,225
Clay	553	1,543	1,419
Clinton	294	1,054	930
Coles	270	760	671
Crawford	446	1,292	1,202
Cumberland	306	848	772
DeKalb	147	322	302
DeWitt	153	379	343
Douglas	72	227	184
Edgar	287	827	684
Edwards	225	653	655
Effingham	411	1,057	980
Fayette	885	2,273	1,992
Ford	59	146	139
Franklin	498	1,320	1,151
Fulton	989	2,734	2,372
Gallatin	251	671	638
Greene	726	2,022	1,805
Grundy	168	457	445
Hamilton	558	1,475	1,412
Hancock	774	2,213	2,034
Hardin	321	1,045	986
Henderson	259	765	829
Henry	335	866	828
Iroquois	256	635	683
Jackson	893	2,545	2,182
Jasper	452	1,301	1,138
Jefferson	909	2,514	2,223
Jersey	495	1,196	1,098
JoDaviess	868	2,471	2,361
Johnson	571	1,868	1,625
Kane	37	87

Kankakee	99	230	195
Kendall	64	126	176
Knox	570	1,693	1,496
LaSalle	509	1,305	1,326
Lawrence	324	861	805
Lee	312	866	839
Livingston	183	553	534
Logan	192	499	409
Macon	95	302	263
Macoupin	830	2,381	2,097
Madison	426	1,058	1,088
Marion	780	2,137	1,903
Marshall	223	769	731
Mason	308	697	537
Massac	277	660	619
McDonough	432	1,195	976
McHenry	230	513	615
McLean	283	760	715
Menard	288	675	600
Mercer	335	934	1,002
Monroe	370	1,223	1,075
Montgomery	516	1,510	1,359
Morgan	486	1,350	1,271
Moultrie	70	192	181
Ogle	614	1,334	1,224
Peoria	581	1,602	1,358
Perry	550	1,603	1,714
Piatt	46	165	158
Pike	1,560	4,251	4,043
Pope	707	2,148	2,065
Pulaski	276	744	712
Putnam	196	549	521
Randolph	811	2,413	2,212
Richland	410	1,055	916
Rock Island	293	727	877
Saline	371	1,023	845
Sangamon	434	1,014	804
Schuyler	600	1,770	1,629
Scott	323	833	668
Shelby	443	1,338	1,143
Stark	121	327	1,029
St. Clair	362	1,140	296
Stephenson	459	978	1,095
Tazewell	286	863	687
Union	758	1,966	1,706
Vermilion	320	771	747
Wabash	163	407	381
Warren	227	712	630
Washington	533	1,515	1,310
Wayne	785	1,978	1,734
White	474	1,156	1,126
Whiteside	625	1,182	868
Will	160	348	271
Williamson	697	1,691	1,534
Winnebago	249	599	582
Woodford	363	1,062	932
Total	41,976	114,113	103,961

[Illinois Department of Natural Resources news release]