 The IDNR is also asking deer hunters to provide input, through an
online survey, on a proposal to end the recent practice of selling
remaining firearm deer permits over-the-counter through the end of
the firearm season, except for youth under age 16."The IDNR
manages deer by county and state population goals, and as a result
of our two-year review, we're making changes for many counties. In
these counties our strategy is shifting from deer herd reduction to
maintaining or increasing deer populations," said IDNR Director Marc
Miller. "I am committed to professional management of our wildlife,
and as always, we want to hear from hunters, landowners and all
other stakeholders on our deer management program."
Current Illinois deer management objectives were adopted as a
result of recommendations of the state's Joint Legislative Task
Force on Deer Population Control. Those recommendations called for a
14 percent reduction in the statewide deer herd from peak levels in
an effort to reduce conflicts between deer and people, such as
deer-automobile accidents, agricultural crop damage and to ensure
the continued health and well-being of Illinois' deer herd. The
statewide objective was met in 2012, although a number of counties
still remained above their individual objectives.
IDNR biologists have determined that some counties' deer
population objectives can be increased, particularly in counties
with smaller deer populations, while still meeting the statewide
goal. Biologists have identified 41 counties for which IDNR can
adjust season regulations and permit quotas to reflect higher
population goals.
As counties reach their individual population objective, the IDNR
takes steps necessary to lessen deer harvest pressure in those
counties so that deer populations can stabilize around the objective
level. During the past two years, 11 counties have been closed to
the late winter antlerless deer season because their objectives had
been achieved. Based on analysis of the 2013 deer population and
harvest data to be completed later this spring, further county
closures for the 2014-15 late winter deer season and permit quota
reductions in other firearm seasons may occur as a result of changes
in county objectives or county deer population levels
The review of IDNR deer management included a series of public
meetings conducted throughout the state in 2013, along with surveys
of hunters, landowners and other Illinois citizens regarding their
attitudes about the state's deer population and the IDNR deer
management program. Illinois' deer population objectives are
intended to reflect the best effort to balance the interests of all
Illinoisans — including hunters, wildlife observers, farmers,
homeowners, outfitters, nursery owners, conservationists, motorists,
businessmen and many others. Each of these groups can have a very
different perspective on the desired size of the deer population in
Illinois. The IDNR takes the diverse, and often opposing, public
input and works to develop a deer population objective that is
acceptable to the majority of people in a given area.
An online survey available through the IDNR website asks hunters
whether the recent practice of selling remaining firearm permits
over-the-counter through the end of the season should end for all
hunters except youth under age 16. The
survey
is available to hunters at
www.dnr.illinois.gov.
[to top of second column] |
Data from the 2013-14 Illinois deer hunting seasons will be
incorporated into planning for the 2014-15 deer seasons. Hunters in
Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 148,569 deer during all
2013-14 seasons, compared with a total harvest of 180,811 for all
deer seasons in 2012-13. Illinois was among a number of Midwestern and Great Lakes region
states in which deer harvest declined in 2013-14. Others were
Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. Biologists cited a number of
factors for the decline, especially during the November-December
firearm seasons, including adverse weather, herd reductions to
achieve management goals and, in some locations, deer mortality due
to outbreaks of epizootic hemorrhagic disease.
Hunters in Illinois took a preliminary total of 74,355 deer
during the 2013 Illinois firearm deer season, Nov. 22-24 and Dec.
5-8. The harvest totaled 3,546 deer during the 2013 Illinois
muzzleloader-only deer season, Dec.13-15, and 3,012 deer during the
Illinois youth deer season, Oct. 12-14.
During the 2013-14 Illinois archery deer season, Oct. 1-Jan. 19,
hunters in Illinois took a preliminary total of 57,290 deer,
compared with the archery deer harvest of 59,805 in the 2012-13
archery season.
The 2013-14 late winter antlerless-only and special CWD deer
seasons, Dec. 26-29 and Jan. 17-19, had a combined preliminary
harvest total of 10,366 deer, compared with a harvest of 14,723 deer
taken during those seasons in 2012-13. Hunters in Boone, DeKalb,
Grundy, Jo Daviess, Kendall, LaSalle, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson and
Winnebago counties and Kane County west of Illinois Route 47
participated in the CWD season, while another 55 counties were open
for the late winter season. The special CWD season is used to assist
in controlling the spread of chronic wasting disease in the Illinois
deer herd.
Tables with preliminary county harvest totals for all the 2013-14
Illinois deer seasons, as well as comparable figures for the 2012-13
seasons, are available on the IDNR website at this link:
http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/news/Documents/
IllinoisPreliminaryDeerHarvestTotalsJan2014.pdf.
For additional information on the IDNR deer management program,
public meetings and hunter-citizen surveys, go to the IDNR website
at this link:
http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/conservation/
wildlife/Pages/DeerOpenHouse.aspx.
[Text from
Illinois Department of
Natural Resources
file received from
the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information]
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