I saw the post on here about guys asking about thow they display their deer pins. On that note, I heard that Illinois DNR might be doing away with the round deer pins. They are thinking about going to the gold Illinois pins, much like the ones that you have to buy when you bag a turkey. I know its just a pin, but some of us hunters have been collecting them for a long time. Hope they dont do away with this.

Have'nt heard that one...........But it would'nt suprise me.

yea it really wouldnt suprise me either tell you the truth. Plus now that you can just go and pick up as many as you want i dont think they have the same meaning since even if you didnt kill a deer you can still go get a handful of em. I miss the checkin stations.......lol

The first year they did the online ordering for the pins I sent in for one and never even got it. I've lost more than half of mine over the years anyway, and never really saw the value of keeping them to begin with.

I got both mine, one for first and second season. They came in a little envelope with a bubble wrap inside. I can't see where they saved much money with the cost of the special envelopes and postage. I miss the check stations too, it was nice going in and check other hunters harvests.

I agree, I miss the check station atmosphere more than anything, gave us a place to talk about our kills and meet with other hunters! This sort of thing just doesn't happen anymore. Unfortunately, the DNR is looking to find more and more ways to save money in order to make more. Although, at the vendors here, we must present the confirmation number to get the pins, thats how I got three of mine last year.

I don't necessarily miss the check-in stations but feel that they should regulate the pins because you're exactly right, it means something to many of us and there are many people out there who grab a handful and didn't even hunt. They should make it so that they send one either after you've checked the animal in or they send one with your permit. I have one in my collection (2013) that has a zero written on the back, I have others with 2-3 written depending on how many deer I harvested (between shotgun and muzzleloader) because I didn't want to take more than one. I am missing two for years that I harvested deer but I haven't found many places to purchase them that aren't outrageous. You can go on ebay and find them all day, probably from those people who grabbed handfuls at their local Walmart, etc., and are now making a profit on them. Just my $0.02.

I have one from 1999 and cherish it. 10pt Bow Kill, Hardin IL.

HJ