The tag systemwas consistently abused when they had check stations and it will continue to be abusedif they bring it back.And yes, I am all about population control. Not to be harsh, but the people who want to keep things the way they are generally arent the same people who have to deal with crop and property damage from too many deer. I dont really care about the the whole trophy state thing. It is funny that folks like the idea of Illinois being a trophy state, but then complain bitterly about outfitters, leasing, and high land prices that result from the trophy hunting mentality. You see a significant reduction in the deer population, including bucks, and those problems start going away.

The funny thing is that I used to think my way of thinking on the topic was way out of the ordinary. However, over the holidays, I discussed the situation with several folks in my part of Illinois who are pretty hardcore deer hunters and who like to go after the big bucks. Surprisingly, they tended to agree with me. And I know that the majority of large landowners in my area (many of whom don't even hunt) agree with me.