Illinois Deer Hunting Closes with Preliminary Overall Harvest of 189,277

Archery Deer Harvest Down Slightly; Late-Winter/Special CWD Harvest Increases with Expanded Season

Email to a Friend  Print this Article

SPRINGFIELD – Hunters in Illinois completed the 2009-2010 deer hunting seasons by taking a preliminary total of 189,277 deer during all seasons. Deer hunting closed on Jan. 17 with the end of the 2009-2010 Archery, Late-Winter, and Special CWD deer hunting seasons.
“Illinois deer hunters taking to the field for the last three days of hunting last weekend enjoyed some excellent conditions,” said Illinois

Department of Natural Resources Forest Wildlife Program Manager Paul Shelton. “For mid-January weather, this was about as good as it gets – and a good way to close out another successful season.”
Hunters in Illinois took a preliminary total of 64,845 deer during the 2009-10 Archery Deer Season (Oct. 1, 2009-Jan. 17, 2010), compared with the archery deer harvest of 64,920 in 2008-09.

The combined preliminary harvest total of both the Late-Winter Antlerless-Only and the Special Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) deer seasons was 17,826, compared with a harvest of 12,552 deer taken during those seasons last year. The Late-Winter and Special CWD seasons were expanded to a seven-day split season for 2009-10 (Dec. 31, 2009-Jan.3, 2010 and Jan. 15-17, 2010). Hunters in Boone, DeKalb, McHenry, and Winnebago counties and Kane County west of Ill. Rt. 47 participated in the Special CWD season, while another 70 counties were open for the Late-Winter Antlerless-Only Deer Season. The Special CWD season is used to assist in controlling the spread of chronic wasting disease in the Illinois deer herd, while the Late-Winter season provides additional harvest opportunities as a deer population management tool.

Hunters took a preliminary total of 99,493 deer during the 2009 Illinois Firearm Deer Season (Nov. 20- 22 and Dec. 3-6), 4,704 deer during the 2009 Muzzleloader-Only Deer Season (Dec. 11-13), and 2,409 deer during the 2009 Illinois Youth Deer Season
(Oct. 10-11).

The total preliminary deer harvest for all seasons of 189,277 compares with a total harvest for all seasons of 188,901 in 2008-09. In this year’s deer harvest, hunters took 50.5 percent does and 49.5 percent males. Illinois’ record deer harvest occurred in 2005-06, when 201,301 deer were taken.

Preliminary county harvest totals for all the 2009-10 Illinois deer seasons are detailed below, followed by a table of comparable figures for the 2008-09 seasons.

Reader Comments

Would you like to comment?

Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).