Deer Harvest Numbers Down at the Beginning of 2016 Season

Deer Harvest Numbers Down at the Beginning of 2016 Season 

Deer numbers are down compared to this time last year !

From October 1, 2016 to October 12, 2016 archery deer hunters in Illinois took 6,235 whitetail deer.  This is 2,633 fewer deer then this time last year.  Below you'll see a county by county break down comparing 2015 to 2016.  Top counties included Adams, Jefferson, JoDaviess and Pike.  71% of those deer harvested were does and 29% bucks.

Again if you are interested in seeing and tracking harvest numbers you can do that by county and by public hunting site here at this IDNR website. http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Pages/IDNRHarvestQuery.aspx

Some say numbers are down due to  the warm weather Illinoisans had at the beginning of October, while others say the deer herd is still down from past EHD, CWD outbreaks and over harvest.  Regardless Illinois archery season is well underway, only time will tell if the downtrend will continue with months to go in the 2016 season. 

What do you think? 

County	2015	2016
Adams	170	159
Alexander	21	13
Bond	61	30
Boone	21	15
Brown	96	74
Bureau	112	72
Calhoun	104	72
Carroll	92	94
Cass	92	68
Champaign	67	55
Christian	98	55
Clark	91	82
Clay	69	56
Clinton	48	23
Coles	95	61
Cook	25	11
Crawford	116	87
Cumberland	49	30
DeKalb	35	21
DeWitt	112	70
Douglas	24	18
Dupage	5	0
Edgar	62	31
Edwards	23	18
Effingham	67	54
Fayette	108	78
Ford	10	10
Franklin	166	123
Fulton	235	167
Gallatin	34	13
Greene	89	69
Grundy	65	39
Hamilton	94	59
Hancock	87	78
Hardin	45	27
Henderson	37	13
Henry	55	66
Iroquois	69	39
Jackson	160	114
Jasper	74	51
Jefferson	239	151
Jersey	85	51
JoDaviess	177	140
Johnson	116	82
Kane	45	30
Kankakee	50	36
Kendall	37	21
Knox	149	104
Lake	41	27
LaSalle	136	98
Lawrence	54	34
Lee	85	48
Livingston	51	20
Logan	58	33
Macon	74	51
Macoupin	128	88
Madison	135	99
Marion	146	89
Marshall	49	43
Mason	60	30
Massac	29	22
McDonough	61	61
McHenry	74	76
McLean	95	50
Menard	54	31
Mercer	75	50
Monroe	62	33
Montgomery	121	84
Morgan	69	62
Moultrie	59	43
Ogle	126	99
Peoria	148	119
Perry	122	84
Piatt	28	16
Pike	297	228
Pope	87	40
Pulaski	28	22
Putnam	51	33
Randolph	180	126
Richland	51	34
Rock Island	122	95
Saline	89	45
Sangamon	106	85
Schuyler	99	77
Scott	33	14
Shelby	121	97
St. Clair	108	70
Stark	16	16
Stephenson	65	56
Tazewell	109	66
Union	149	84
Vermilion	170	113
Wabash	33	16
Warren	37	31
Washington	68	40
Wayne	122	77
White	63	34
Whiteside	68	74
Will	120	105
Williamson	184	120
Winnebago	67	55
Woodford	104	62
Grand Total	8868	6235

Source:  Archery harvest off 2015 pace: Illinois deer hunting