Round 5 of Deer Archery Numbers Show Increase in Illinois

For the second week in a row deer numbers jump and not by a couple hundred but by thousands.  This round the increase in harvest deer compared to this time last year is 4,718.  I'm sure many of you are wondering why the significant jump in harvest numbers.  Is it because of rut activity?  Could it be the crossbows?  Some say it's both.  Regardless, the increase in harvest numbers all comes before the orange army hits the field in ten days.  Will they see an increase? Time will tell.

Chris of Washington, Illinois sent this buck he took last year

The cumulative harvest sex ratio saw another increase of 7 percent for bucks.  However, if you look at this week's ratio you'll see more bucks were harvested than does.  We're getting reports all arcoss the state that bucks are rutting.  What are you seeing?

Through Sunday, November 5, 2017, Illinois archery deer hunters harvested a preliminary total of 27,703 deer, compared to 22,985 for the same period in 2016.

Cumulative harvest to date has consisted of 52% does and 48% males (14134:12939).  During the past week, harvest sex ratios were 36% does and 64% males as rutting activity increased.

Top five counties were Pike (892), Fulton (771), JoDaviess (613), Adams (596), and Jefferson (588).   

Round 5 of County by County Harvest Numbers 

One can get up-to-date archery harvest figures (for either deer or turkey) by county/state sites can be tracked on the web at http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Pages/IDNRHarvestQuery.aspx