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Illinios deer herd down the drain!

Herd is definitely way down. Out area got slammed by EhD this past year. Combine that with huge harvest numbers the last 10 years and you have a problem. We have done a good job with our management and actually decided to shoot mature bucks and no does the last two years. Our heard is in pretty good shape on out farm but we will probably continue our current trend a few more years.

If the dnr doesn't change then it is up to us as hunters to help the herd in every way possible.
 
I'll second with what jkratz5 said. Plenty of deer in places that aren't shot out. Deer will rebound quickly.Been at this 45 years and it still is better than the old days.
 
I believe this trend is in every State. I left MI, and the same thing was going on. If you read comments up there hunters are saying the same thing. It is really the old conflict between,"Progress", and the natural Countryside. The interests of City folks and country folks. Some Farmers are city folks too. Wild land gets covered with malls and housing. Farms are sold off. Deer are considered pests, and people losing their lives in crashes never helps the deer image. This push and pull will go on, and I'm afraid the interests of development and $$ will always win the day. I am just glad I am as old as I am.
 
loneranger said:
I believe this trend is in every State. This push and pull will go on, and I'm afraid the interests of development and $$ will always win the day. I am just glad I am as old as I am.
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If this is the trend and the deer numbers continue to diminish, makes you wonder what the future of rec ground values will be.
 
Rec ground will hold and/or increase. Rec ground is wanted for more than hunting. It's used for a simple get away, fishing, atv, snowmobile, etc.
 
It's a pessimistic outlook for our deer herd when it gets to be "the golden years" & then politics, insurance, uneducated hunters flock to the sport, government $ is king, etc - we've seen the result over and over in history.
The only hope when a place gets to that tipping point is to either have enough voices out there who aren't going to be lazy & sit on the couch & speak OR if guys have enough $ to buy 1,000 acres to manage their selves.
I totally agree with this article, I've hunted IL for 5 years and I have many buddies who own land or hunt there. Couldn't get me back there ever with its current hunting. Now, a place like MI is 1000x worse than IL but it's a shame what has happened to IL. A lot of the same going on here in Iowa, that's for sure. We better have a lot of people get off their butt otherwise we got trouble when only a few people speak up about "those stupid deer" (which is how many folks think if they don't have enough people speaking up to educate, petition, call in, write articles, etc).
 
Good post. I'm with you guys; and, like goatman, I've been doing this awhile, since '73 anyway. It is a much changed and different world than back then. We bowhunted to get away from the politicians and all the crap while policing ourselves. Now,it seems, we all have to take a bite out of the sh*t sandwich they're serving up on a daily basis. I'm grateful for people like Don, who can articulate what the game is. I am a member of the Iowa Bowhunters Association and I believe the IBA, through its membership, has and will continue to be a strong voice for us on the hill while each of us does our part to conserve and protect our resource.
 
This is the first year I've felt like Kentucky slid down the hill some. Very few big bucks killed and harvested numbers down 25 to 30 percent across the state........
 
I agree the herds in several states are facing similar situations, but "progress" doesn't have as much to do with it as the politics in Illinois. Like just about everything else in Illinois, the deer have been prostituted for the sake of $. Iowa is in so much better shape than Illinois, the two shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence. It isn't going to get better here until we get some help from the DNR. Hopefully Rauner will get it started.
 
Missouri is definitely on the decline as well. Basically unlimited tags plus 4.5 weeks of a gun season (2 weeks rifle right in the middle of the rut so every young buck pretty much gets wacked, 1 week anterless aka poachers favorite week, along with 1.5 week of muzzleloader) has decimated the herd. It's frustrating living in a state like Missouri.
 
I guess southern Missouri doesn't get the same seasons that you do.

We get 10 day rifle season
10 day ml season, long archery season and no special antlerless season.

I thought the rifle season and ML season were statewide.
 
10 Day rifle, 10 Day Muzzleloader, and a 10 day antlerless season... I was mostly rounding for dramatic effect haha.

Southern Missouri doesnt have the antlerless season?
 
MObowhunter10 said:
10 Day rifle, 10 Day Muzzleloader, and a 10 day antlerless season... I was mostly rounding for dramatic effect haha.

Southern Missouri doesnt have the antlerless season?
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Not anymore. We get 2 antler less tags for archery and 1 for rifle/alternative weapons. If you are a landowner you get more. I think I have 3 landowner antler less tags for alternative season.
 
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