Has anyone heard of the Illinois DNR issuing cull permits to farmers having problems with deer. I know someone that operates a vineyard and winery and the deer wreak havoc with his vines. He has asked the state from the right to shoot some of them. Instead, they told him to just build a fence. Yeah, a deer proof fence around 40 acres of hilly ground.[:-]

They don't issue those permits anymore that I'm aware of. Most the nurseries around here had to build the fencesto save their young trees and bedding plants. Do they allow hunters in the fall? I'm not sure when grape season is in but maybe they could make a dent in the population by hunting it??

His harvest is over long before deer season opens. He has a lot of outfitters surrounding him, so he is up to his neck in does and young bucks.There are just too many deer in that area, but the state is raking the money in from permits, so they are not in a hurry to lower the numbers. One of these days folks will wake up and realize how much crop damage is ocurring and something will get done. Until then, he has to deal withbureaucrats who think that you can fence in 40 acres, when local folks are spending a lot of time, money, and effort to try, often unsuccessfully, to keep deer out of 1 acre truck patches.

Does he get a few free permits from the state? I know I hunted a farm a few years ago in Illinois and he had 8 extra permits that the state gave him. All anterless permits, but we were told bythe farmernot to let does walk until they were all filled. Heavy deer problem. I think with 40 acres he may be eligible for 2. Im not sure though, I don't have acreage in Illinois. I'm sure he could get someone to help take out some of the does. If it was within a few hours of me, i'd def. help. Just taking out3 maturedoes this fall could eliminate around9 deer that would around next year. Good luck to your buddy, it always seems like when I am hunting I don't see any deer and then the people who don't hunt have too many!!

I have a hard time following all the deer hunting laws and regulations in Illinois. Since he has the minimal requirement of 40 acres, he qualifies for free landowner permits, but i don't know how many he can get. I think that with his problem, it is a matter of needing to kill a dozen or more deer instead of taking 3 or 4. He actually deer hunts, but can only devote so much time and freezer space to killing, cleaning and storing deer meat during the season. Would be better if he could kill the deer that are making a nuisance of themselves on his land this time of the year.

If i was in his shoes, i would put 3 or 4 stands on the place and let lots of people come in and take as many deer as is legal. Then it would certainly be much less of a problem. However, when you have 40 acres surrounded by hundreds of acres of land where outfitters are only havesting a pretty small number of bucks, the issue is if you can really reduce the population.

LCC, I understand what you are saying. Some of those outfitters don't even look at Does so it makes it tough to reduce the herd. I don't know if it exists, but it would be nice to havea place where you could bring deer to be processed and donated to charity. Its tough to take a deer to a butcher and pay the $70 for it to be processed and then give it to Charity. That cost will run up on you quick. So much food could be given. I have no problem shooting and gutting a deer for charity. Heck, I'll even quarter it if it is necessary.

I think you got the right idea with the 3 or 4 stands. Just get a few people in there after opening day and shoot any deer they see. I don't know anyone that would havea problem hunting and helping out a farmer at the same time.

I think it has more to do with land prices than permit sales, butthe permits salesdo make a difference. The recreational sector is what is driving the land prices up there, is it not?

Actually, the land prices have levelled off and even dropped this past year. In southeast Illinois it was rare (for the last several years) to find ground for less than 2000 an acre. However, I just recently bought some ground for $1650 and acre and elsewhere on the board you can see some really good ground with mature timber on it for sale for under $2000.

Dunno that land prices have much to do with the deer population though. The real issue is that the population keeps rising and harvest rates aren't keeping up, especially since more and more people are just interested in bagging a big buck.