Illinois Shotgun Deer Hunting Reminders and CWD Check-ins Locations

Illinois Shotgun Deer Hunting Reminders & CWD Check-in Locations

This cool weather has shotgun deer hunters licking their lips.  The Illinois Department of Natural Resources wanted to remind where and how to check in their harvested deer.  Pay attention to the counties below for CWD testing.  

Illinois’ most popular hunting season, the seven-day firearm deer season, begins on Friday through Sunday, Nov. 18-20, and will conclude on Thursday through Sunday, Dec. 1-4. 

The Illinois Firearm Deer Season legal hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset.

Hunters who take a deer during the firearm season in most Illinois counties must register the deer they harvest online, or through a toll-free phone check-in system. The online deer registration is available through this link: http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Pages/HarvestReporting.aspx

The toll-free phone deer registration line is 1-866-IL-CHECK (1-866-452-4325). Hunters registering deer through the online or phone systems must do so by 10 p.m. on the day they take the deer.

In a number of northern Illinois counties where chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been detected in deer, hunters are required to register all deer harvested during firearm season by taking them to a check station (listed below) between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Biologists will be present to take CWD samples for testing at the time of registration. Testing is voluntary, but all hunters with adult deer are encouraged to participate. The counties where hunters are required to check in their deer at check stations are:

• Boone:
•  Boone Co. Fairgrounds, 1/2 mi. north of Rt. 76 and Business Rt. 20, Belvidere 
• DeKalb: 
•  Shabbona Lake State Park, 4201 Shabbona Grove Rd., Shabbona 
• Grundy: 
• Gebhard Woods State Park, 401 Ottawa Street, Morris 
• Jo Daviess:
• Elizabeth Community Building, 210 N. West St., Elizabeth, IL, 1/2 mi. west of business district on Hwy. 20, next to the Highland C.C. Elizabeth campus 
• Kane: 
• Use Boone, DeKalb, Kendall, or McHenry check station 
• Kankakee: 
•  Kankakee River State Park Visitor Center, 4 mi. northwest of Bourbonnais at 5214 W. State Rt. 102 
• Kendall: 
•  Silver Springs State Fish and Wildlife Area, 4.5 mi. west of Yorkville at 13608 Fox Road 
• LaSalle:
• Buffalo Rock State Park, 3 mi. west of Ottawa on Dee Bennett Road 
• Livingston:
•  Pontiac Sportsman’s Club, northwest of Livingston Co. Fairgrounds at 18663 4-H Park Road, Pontiac 
• McHenry:
• Moraine Hills State Park McHenry Dam Day Use Area, east of McHenry on River Rd., 2.2 mi. south of Rt. 120 
• Ogle:
•  Castle Rock State Park, Rt. 2, 3 mi. south of Oregon, IL 
• Stephenson:
• County Fairgrounds, 1 mi. east of Rt. 26 and Fairgrounds Rd., Freeport 
• Will:
•  Des Plaines Game Propagation Center, east of I‐55 at 30550 S. Boathouse Road, Wilmington 
• Winnebago:
• Rock Cut State Park, 6425 Hart Rd., Loves Park, 0.9 mi. east of N. Perryville Rd. on Hart Rd. 

Caityln with her first deer.

Hunters participating in the CWD sampling can check the status of their deer (listed by phone number) through the IDNR website. Hunters who provide samples from deer that test positive are notified by the IDNR. For more information on CWD in Illinois, check the website at:
www.dnr.illinois.gov/programs/CWD. 

For a detailed information sheet on firearm deer hunting in counties with check stations for chronic wasting disease sampling, go to the IDNR website at:
https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/news/Documents/DeerCheckCWDCounties2016.pdf