Hunters Prepare For Second Firearm Deer Season in Illinois December 4-7
December 2, 2008
Hunters in Illinois Harvest 71,894 Deer During First Weekend of Firearm Deer Season
SPRINGFIELD , IL – Hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 71,894 deer during the opening weekend of the 2008 Illinois Firearm Deer season, Nov. 21-23, Illinois Department of Natural Resources Acting Director Sam Flood announced today. The second portion of the firearm season will be Dec. 4-7.
The preliminary total for the first three days of the 2008 firearm season compares with the first weekend harvest of 85,490 deer during the 2007 deer season. The top county harvest total was in Pike with 2,194 deer, followed by Adams (1,900), Fulton (1,878), Randolph (1,770), and Jefferson (1,650). The preliminary first-season figures reported for each county include those deer taken on special hunt areas within that county as well as on private land.
“Deer hunters in Illinois once again provided a good deer harvest for the first weekend of the firearm season,” said Flood. “We offer some of the best deer hunting opportunity in the world here in Illinois , and the firearm deer season continues to be our most popular hunting season.”
Illinois has issued approximately 350,000 firearm deer hunting permits for the 2008 season. Most hunters register their deer harvest online through the IDNR web site or by phoning 1-866-ILCHECK (1-866-452-4325) by 10 p.m. on the day of harvest. Hunters in Boone, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, LaSalle, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson and Winnebago counties take their deer to county check stations where IDNR conducts sampling for chronic wasting disease.
“The weather was unseasonably cold to start the season on Friday, but it appears many hunters were in the field enjoying some success on that day and throughout the first weekend of the firearm deer season,” said IDNR Forest Wildlife Program Manager Paul Shelton. “Most corn had been harvested, although 10 to 12 percent remained in the fields in the northern part of the state.
“The good news for managers and for deer hunters with permits remaining for the second season is that most of the decline in harvest was a drop in buck harvest,” Shelton added. “This means that our doe harvest was fairly comparable to last year and that there are plenty of both bucks and does still out there for second season hunters.”
Approximately 59 percent of the deer taken this past weekend were bucks, compared with 62 percent bucks taken during the first weekend of the firearm season in 2007.
The Illinois firearm deer season concludes Dec. 4-7. The muzzleloader-only deer season is Dec. 12-14. The Late-Winter Antlerless-only firearm deer season and the Special CWD deer season are Jan. 16-18, 2009. The state’s 2008-09 archery deer season continues through Jan. 15 (except closed in firearm counties during the second firearm season Dec. 4-7).
The table below provides preliminary county harvest totals for the first segment of the firearm season and comparable figures for the first season in 2007.
| County |
2007 |
2008 |
| Adams |
2140 |
1900 |
| Alexander |
339 |
335 |
| Bond |
877 |
632 |
| Boone |
133 |
90 |
| Brown |
1135 |
996 |
| Bureau |
1205 |
1030 |
| Calhoun |
1036 |
889 |
| Carroll |
921 |
740 |
| Cass |
665 |
510 |
| Champaign |
272 |
195 |
| Christian |
574 |
466 |
| Clark |
1122 |
896 |
| Clay |
1177 |
998 |
| Clinton |
808 |
635 |
| Coles |
621 |
550 |
| Crawford |
950 |
831 |
| Cumberland |
693 |
654 |
| DeKalb |
213 |
136 |
| DeWitt |
320 |
303 |
| Douglas |
212 |
156 |
| Edgar |
608 |
555 |
| Edwards |
434 |
354 |
| Effingham |
923 |
795 |
| Fayette |
1684 |
1480 |
| Ford |
123 |
115 |
| Franklin |
979 |
827 |
| Fulton |
2003 |
1878 |
| Gallatin |
451 |
402 |
| Greene |
1209 |
989 |
| Grundy |
354 |
269 |
| Hamilton |
1036 |
901 |
| Hancock |
1698 |
1553 |
| Hardin |
907 |
780 |
| Henderson |
586 |
432 |
| Henry |
742 |
561 |
| Iroquois |
548 |
548 |
| Jackson |
1824 |
1612 |
| Jasper |
1049 |
915 |
| Jefferson |
1997 |
1650 |
| Jersey |
790 |
670 |
| JoDaviess |
2055 |
1518 |
| Johnson |
1435 |
1385 |
| Kane |
48 |
43 |
| Kankakee |
191 |
157 |
| Kendall |
67 |
53 |
| Knox |
1244 |
1048 |
| Lake |
25 |
19 |
| LaSalle |
1127 |
957 |
| Lawrence |
497 |
420 |
| Lee |
577 |
446 |
| Livingston |
498 |
392 |
| Logan |
401 |
298 |
| Macon |
252 |
217 |
| Macoupin |
1677 |
1228 |
| Madison |
995 |
648 |
| Marion |
1677 |
1404 |
| Marshall |
696 |
607 |
| Mason |
489 |
484 |
| Massac |
471 |
369 |
| McDonough |
902 |
759 |
| McHenry |
360 |
216 |
| McLean |
541 |
490 |
| Menard |
392 |
288 |
| Mercer |
828 |
632 |
| Monroe |
910 |
863 |
| Montgomery |
1149 |
861 |
| Morgan |
899 |
674 |
| Moultrie |
251 |
224 |
| Ogle |
1035 |
730 |
| Peoria |
1317 |
1133 |
| Perry |
1161 |
964 |
| Piatt |
184 |
134 |
| Pike |
2610 |
2194 |
| Pope |
1473 |
1301 |
| Pulaski |
547 |
533 |
| Putnam |
454 |
361 |
| Randolph |
1890 |
1770 |
| Richland |
745 |
635 |
| Rock Island |
806 |
610 |
| Saline |
734 |
726 |
| Sangamon |
743 |
598 |
| Schuyler |
1346 |
1166 |
| Scott |
508 |
374 |
| Shelby |
1193 |
1025 |
| St. Clair |
868 |
724 |
| Stark |
258 |
216 |
| Stephenson |
837 |
643 |
| Tazewell |
625 |
527 |
| Union |
1551 |
1323 |
| Vermilion |
719 |
648 |
| Wabash |
252 |
218 |
| Warren |
554 |
481 |
| Washington |
1083 |
864 |
| Wayne |
1446 |
1316 |
| White |
808 |
699 |
| Whiteside |
806 |
542 |
| Will |
287 |
267 |
| Williamson |
1391 |
1176 |
| Winnebago |
410 |
315 |
| Woodford |
837 |
753 |
| Total |
85490 |
71894 |
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Vermont Moose Hunting Application Deadline is June 3
May 20, 2008
Waterbury, VT - The deadline to apply for Vermont moose hunting permits is Tuesday, June 3.
Applications must be postmarked no later than June 3, or delivered by 4:30 p.m. on that day to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, 103 South Main Street, Waterbury, VT 05671-0501.
Applications are available on the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department’s website at www.vtfishandwildlife.com
. Under Hunting and Trapping, click on Lottery Applications. Applications are also available at license agents statewide, or they can be obtained from Fish & Wildlife at 802-241-3700.
Lottery applications are $10 for residents and $25 for nonresidents. Winners of the permit lottery will purchase resident permits for $100 and nonresident permits for $350.
Bonus points are awarded for hunters who apply but don’t receive permits. If you applied in 2006 and 2007 and did not get a permit, you already have two bonus points. The bonus point system will assign you one additional point for each consecutive year you apply and do not receive a permit. Each point gives you an additional chance at a permit. To keep your bonus points, you must apply each year. Anyone who has held a Vermont moose hunting permit in the last three years may not apply for a moose hunting permit or a bonus point this year.
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department will issue 1,260 moose hunting permits, including five during an auction to be announced later. Hunters are expected to take 650-700 moose during the hunting season to be held October 18-23 or October 25-November 2, depending on the permit.
We are managing Vermont’s moose population to keep it in balance with available habitat, said Cedric Alexander, Vermont’s lead biologist on moose. Carefully constructed hunting regulations enable us once again to enjoy having moose in Vermont on a sustainable basis, while their numbers are maintained at levels that fit habitat capacity and the needs of people.
Wildlife biologists estimate Vermont’s growing moose population at about 4,700 statewide.
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