whitetailcrazy

Eastern Central Illinois deer herd decimated by EHD... It was a worry of mine earlier in the year when just our group of hunters had found 11 deer dead from EHD. We had stumbled upon the deer going out to our stands, we did not walk creek beds, and check local ponds..
We were initially worried earlier in the year and now after the Firearm Season, our worries were confirmed.. After putting substantial hours on stand and hearing very few shots, we checked the local deer contests and talked with other hunters and spoke with renowned Deer taxidermist Pete Switzer of Hunters Choice Taxidermy. Deer contests which usually had 100+ deer checked in each year, barely broke a dozen. Pete Switzer of Hunters Choice Taxidermy who usually gets 100+ deer a year, is right around 40 for the year, and his best deer being 147". Every deer brought in over 160" was tagged by a warden and died from EHD, even 1 from a local game farm which was inoculated for the disease, yet died from it.. Truly disheartening..
I have hunted in Clark County for 16 years and if you were to tell me that I would see 10 deer(from stand) in 7 days of firearm hunting. I would've laughed at you.. I spoke with a couple out of state hunters from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, who stated that they won't be back for some time after seeing so few deer, which will hurt the local business'...
EHD is definately no joke,, everyone was worried about CWD and this disease came in and wiped out our deer herd.. Now all we can hope for, is this drought to lift and for the deer herd to slowly come back. I believe it will take at least 4-5 years to rebound from this.

NebBuckHunter

Same here in Nebraska. A processor that usually checked in 1300 deer were at 300 last time I checked with them. All the check stations I have heard of are at about half of last years numbers.

snapper1982

i was in south east IL. hamilton county. we was there for 4 days the first week of season and then 10 days satrting the monday before thanksgiving and there was way less deer and deer movment but the out fitter was pretty insistant that it wasnt hit hard by ehd. and i am insistant that he is wrong. biggest buck we seen was a 130 inch 3 yr old 9 point. the out fitter did see and video a 170 inch 11 point while we was there but still doesnt make up for lack of deer.

07superglide

I have to agree!!! I'm in Carroll co. and I hunted every day from the day after thanksgiving till Sunday!! Seen 3 doe! That's unheard of for this area!! I would also have to agree on not hearing many shots either!!! It normally sounds like a shoot out!! But now that it's calm down I'm gonna walk some creeks around my area... Good luck guys!!!

ChicagoTRS

Did not notice any decline in the IL southern counties...I saw more deer in 1st season than I have ever seen in the past.

The opening weekend numbers were ~+10% for the entire state:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/bowman/201...irst_fi_1.html

whitetailcrazy

I have spoke with guys who hunt just outside of Pittsfield Illinois in Pike county, and they said the same thing...
"They have noticed a significant decline in numbers this year..." So, I don't want people to think this is my opinion...

Check local contests in your county, those numbers don't lie.. I wouldn't trust anything that comes from the state of Illinois and I am a resident of the god awful state!

EHD was to have hit the center of the state the hardest, and that was put out by the IDNR.. You can go to their web site and look at their EHD Report.

whitetailcrazy

I feel sorry for out of state hunters who pay BIG money to hunt in this state.. If an outfitter was in an affected area, and worth his SALT as outfitter, should honor those people who payed the money and seen nothing.. I have friends who reside out of state and save up for 2-3 years to hunt here, I feel their pain... I don't feel they should be lied to.

rab123

i hunted in the shawnee in pope co 2nd season.saw 3 deer in 3 days.almost no shooting and there were people hunting.everyone i talked to said they werent seeing any either.i know i wont be going back any time soon.its a shame because i really enjoyed the hunting.

whitetailcrazy

That's disappointing to hear, because a lot of smaller business' rely on the income brought by hunters who come from out of state. It's going to affect Illinois tremendously...., it's going to hurt us, where it hurts the most... the pocketbook.

I have a friend who resides in Cedarville, Michigan and hunts in Jasper County... He was so disappointed he hunted during the first week of November and was on stand for 6 consecutive days, 3 of the days sitting all day on stand and seen 5 deer total. He was so disgusted that he left the outfitter early and vowed to never come back... He no sooner got home and booked a muzzleloader hunt in Iowa for next year.. He was upset that I had mentioned to him about how badly our area was hit with EHD, and Jasper being only 1 county over, he figured the outfitter would have said something to him... Nope..

I think as long as people are honest with one another, there was certainly a chance he would run into a shooter... But at least he would be for-warned about the quantity.. He's been hunting with the same outfitter for 3 years and now that relationship is ruined... Stupid..

I spoke to a gentleman from New Jersey hunting the property across the road, from where I hunt, stating he would never be back... I shrugged my shoulders in disbelief, not understanding what these people are thinking? The outfitter that is..

whitetailcrazy

I feel your pain..