Round 7 - Illinois Archery Harvest Numbers Continue Above 2016 Season

While many of us were eating turkey, some were out in the woods on this nice beautiful Thanksgiving weekend.  This weeks preliminary archery numbers show an increase of 4,243 from the 2016 season.  You may also note that the buck to doe ratio is down, which indicates to a lot in the deer hunting world that the rut has slowed down or it may be over.   With just a little under 60 days of deer hunting season over, what will the remainder of the season show?

This weekend is the second round of firearm season.  Please remember that those who hunt in Northern Illinois need to bring their deer to a checkin station. Please read about where in each county you can do that.

CWD Samplings

Carl with a nice buck during first firearm season.

Below you'll see the numbers sent out by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Through Sunday, November 26, 2017, Illinois archery deer hunters harvested a preliminary total of 50,742 deer, compared to 46,499 for the same period in 2016.

Harvest to date has consisted of 44% does and 56% males (19898:26601).

Top five counties were Pike (1786), Fulton (1431), Jefferson (1194), Adams (1124), and Williamson (980).

Interested in comparing harvest numbers from 2016 to 2017?  Check out the County by County Sheet -

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