 "Illinois has a great hunting tradition, and the firearm deer season
is a special time for hundreds of thousands of hunters in our
state," said Illinois Department of Natural Resources Director Marc
Miller. "I want to remind hunters to be safe while enjoying the
firearm deer hunt and all outdoor activity in Illinois."
Hunters in Illinois harvested 98,820 deer during the seven-day
firearm deer hunting season in 2011. So far this season,
approximately 334,000 permits have been issued. For information on
remaining permits, check the IDNR website at this link:
www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/deer.
The legal hunting hours for the firearm deer season are a
half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset.
Hunters in most counties who are successful in taking a deer
during the firearm season must register the deer they harvest online
through the IDNR website at
http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/
hunting/Pages/HarvestReporting.aspx or by phoning 1-866-IL-CHECK
(1-866-452-4325). Hunters using the online or phone-in system must
register their harvest by 10 p.m. on the day they take the deer. It
is recommended that hunters using cellphones to register their
harvest wait until they are out of the field and have a clear
cellphone signal before attempting to make the call to report the
deer harvest.
Firearm deer hunters in the 10 counties listed below are required
to register all deer harvested during firearm season at the
check stations between the hours of 8 a.m. and
8 p.m. Biologists will be present to take chronic wasting disease
test samples at the time of registration. Testing is voluntary, but
all hunters with adult deer are encouraged to participate.
Note: Successful Kendall County firearm deer hunters are also
encouraged to bring their adult deer to a check station in one of
the adjacent counties for testing, as IDNR needs additional samples
from this county to properly evaluate the status of CWD.
Check stations
-
Boone County --
Boone Co. Fairgrounds; one-half mile north of Route 76 and
Business Route 20, Belvidere
-
DeKalb County --
Shabbona Lake State Park; 4201 Shabbona Grove Road, Shabbona
-
Grundy County --
Gebhard Woods State Park; 401 Ottawa St., Morris
-
Jo Daviess County
-- Elizabeth Community Building; 210 N. West St., Elizabeth,
one-half mile west of business district on Highway 20, next to
the Elizabeth campus of Highland Community College
-
Kane County --
Shabbona Lake State Park (in De Kalb County); 4201 Shabbona
Grove Road, Shabbona
-
La Salle County --
Buffalo Rock State Park; three miles west of Ottawa on Dee
Bennett Road
-
McHenry County --
Moraine Hills State Park; McHenry Dam Day Use Area, east of
McHenry on River Road, 2.2 miles south of Route 120
-
Ogle County --
Castle Rock State Park; Route 2, three miles south of Oregon
-
Stephenson County
-- Stephenson County Fairgrounds; one mile east of Route 26 and
Fairgrounds Road, Freeport
-
Winnebago County -- Rock Cut State
Park; Loves Park, one mile west of Perryville Road on Hart Road
[to top of second column] |
 Hunters who participate in the CWD sampling can check the status
of their deer (listed by phone number) through the IDNR website at
http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/programs/
CWD/Pages/default.aspx.
Hunters who provide samples from deer that test positive are
notified by the IDNR.
While not believed to be contagious to humans or livestock,
chronic wasting disease is known to spread from animal to animal
among deer and elk. The disease affects the brain of infected
animals, causing them to become emaciated, display abnormal
behavior, lose coordination and eventually die. Illinois expanded
its CWD surveillance effort in 2002 following the discovery of the
disease in neighboring Wisconsin.
Other upcoming firearm hunting seasons in Illinois are the
three-day muzzleloader-only deer season Dec. 7-9, and the seven-day
split late-winter firearm antlerless-only deer season and special
CWD deer season Dec. 27-30 and Jan. 18-20. Hunters are reminded that
10 fewer counties will be open for the late-winter season in 2012-13
(see map at
http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/
Documents/LateWinterDeerSeasonMap.pdf).
For more information on Illinois deer hunting regulations, check
the IDNR website at this link:
www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/deer
___
Hunting safety
Illinois law requires that anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1980,
must successfully complete a hunter safety course before being
issued a regular Illinois hunting license.
The most common cause of hunting incidents in Illinois is falling
from a tree stand.
Of the 14 hunting-related incidents reported in 2011 that did not
involve discharge of a firearm or bow, 13 of them were tree stand
falls.
When using a tree stand, remember the
following:
-
Check ladder
stands before climbing to make sure they are secure.
-
Wear a fall arrest
system/full body safety harness when leaving the ground until
returning to the ground from the tree stand.
-
Use a haul line to raise and lower your
equipment and unloaded firearm or bow into a tree stand.
When hunting with a
firearm, sportsmen should remember three primary rules of firearm
safety:
-
Know your target
and what is beyond your target.
-
Point the muzzle
in a safe direction.
-
Treat every
firearm as if it were loaded.
[Text from
Illinois Department of
Natural Resources
file received from
the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information] |
