IL antlerless season
 

Any IL hunters going out this weekend?

Yep me and a buddy are going tomorrow to Crawford Co. down by Robinson.

Marshall county here.

can an unused shotgun permit still be used for a doe only during this season? not finding info saying that a shotgun permit is valid for the late season?

Okay rechecked and found it. Unused gun tag from an earlier season CAN be used for a doe during the late season...

guna be out with the bow .

Just saw rest of your post. Was going to tell you what you already found out. Good luck!

hey is there a bag limit in the non unlimited units? ie Jo Daviess? 1 per permit? or one per person total this season?

like can you take 2 does if you have 2 unused shotgun tags? or is the season total just 1 doe per person?

Should be 1 per permit. So if you have 2 unfilled tags, you can shoot 2 Doe's.

Well we got a mix of snow and ice late last night early this morning, then ran into thick fog so it took 3 hours to get to Robinson in what is usually 1hr 45 min. Get set up in my climber and 30 min after daylight 8 Doe's come walking in...I pick out the biggest one, look into my scope and when she stops at 50 yards, BOOM...done. Dropped her in her tracks, those Hornaday SST's are wicked.

Opinion from Wisconsin.

Watch yourselves, and your DNR. At first the idea of numerous doe tags sounds great. However, when you do this for a few years you'll see a significant reduction in the numbers of deer that you see. Take this along with the rest of your DNR tactics, such as using snipers to reduce populations, and you have yourself a recipe for harder hunting.

When this happens, don't place all the blame on the DNR, because in the end, it is hunters that fill all those tags given out.

Not every county has unlimited Doe tags, most are only 1 tag, and some are 0. Plus there isnt that much participation in late season Doe only season.

That is exactly how it started for us. Counting on little participation in any hunting period is a mistake.

Up in Jo Davies' county you are only allowed to shoot one more antlerless deer regardless of how many permits you have.

http://dnr.state.il.us/admin/pdf/lat...ountiesmap.pdf

Its been this way for awhile, this isnt the 1st year of late season here.

So I was talking to another hunter from your state, and he told me about the increased doe tags, the DNR using "snipers" to reduce deer, and the increased number of doe tags being sold or given out.

Having hunted here in Wisconsin for many years the one thing that I know is that this is exactly how the hunting has declined here. We now see fewer deer each year and our DNR is still pushing for us to kill more, all in the name of CWD.

So, regardless of what happens down there, you have history of what went wrong to look upon to prevent this from happening to you. Take it or leave it.

S

Yes it is easier to get tags. But most counties are 1 per person. Never heard of "snipers". Trust me, not many hunter participate. Opening day of our regular season sounded like Somalia in the movie Blackhawk Down...the meat locker had about 200 deer piled up. Opening day of late season I heard 5-6 shots and the meat locker had about 20-25 Doe.

I hear what your saying, but I dont think it will ever get to the point of it reducing our deer numbers enough for us to notice it.

Neither did the 550,000 hunters here in Wisconsin:wink:

The majority of IL counties that allow late Antlerless-Only season are eforcing a 1 deer limit. Only 11 counties are approved for UNLIMITED.

I'm sure that the brutal sub zero temps kept the majority of hunters at home this weekend. I know we seen very few vehicles at any spots we passed this weekend and most friends that I asked about it said, "NO WAY"! lol !

That being said, we managed to get out and fill a few tags and the coolest thing was that both my sons (ages 9 & 10) were able to fill their last 2 tags on the 1st and 2nd evening. We found that the deer just couldn't resist our Buck Forage Oats plots! It was an great weekend in my opinion.

Here's one of my favorite pix from this weekend. MY 10 year old son, Nick, with his Muzzleloader Doe. One shot from 50 yards dropped her in her tracks.

I may be wrong, but the one permit and unlimited permits are for over the counter permits in participating counties restricting how many you can buy. If you have unfilled tags from the firearms or muzzleloader season you can still use those as well making it possible to shoot more than one. I would check for yourself and not rely on my post.

I suppose it is no surprise there are unlimited antlerless permits in all the big buck counties reflected in red on the map uncle matt provided a link for in his post.

I don't know that I would call them snipers but in a few of the nearby counties such as Cook and DuPage, they do a form of "deer management" where they bait the deer into areas where a few certified sharpshooters are awaiting and then they quickly turn on the big bright lights and blam, blam, blam!

Keep in mind there is very little hunting in these counties to control the herd due to no hunting, limited suitable property, etc...

Here is some info from DuPage county's website.....

White-Tailed Deer

Perhaps the most recognizable animal in DuPage County, the white-tailed deer needs little introduction. White-tailed deer are herbivores that eat both woody vegetation, like trees and shrubs, and herbaceous vegetation, like wildflowers and grasses. They can breed at a young age, and many produce more than one offspring a year, every year. Adult females will usually have twins, but when nutritious food is plentiful, triplets or even quadruplets are possible.

White-Tailed Deer and Ecosystem Management

For thousands of years, humans had little effect on the region’s population of white-tailed deer. In the 1800s, though, an influx of settlers from the eastern United States began to replace forests with lumber yards and prairies and wetlands with farms. By the second half of the 20th century DuPage County farms were offering a convenient, abundant source of nutritious food, and white-tailed deer populations multiplied annually; without natural predators, they did so unchecked. As accelerated development converted open land into subdivisions, strip malls, and roads, only a few thousand protected acres remained for DuPage County wildlife.
Because of this complex chain of events, parts of DuPage County are now experiencing unnaturally high concentrations of deer — far more individuals per square mile than the land can support while maintaining significant biodiversity. This has led to increases in deer-vehicle collisions, damage to private landscaping, foraging of sensitive forest preserve plant communities, and animal-to-animal contact, which dramatically increases susceptibility to disease.
The Decision to Manage Deer Populations

After much consideration, Forest Preserve District ecologists came to the conclusion that the county needed a deer-management program to protect the area’s biodiversity. They evaluated several removal methods on the basis of effectiveness, practicality, and humane treatment and came to the difficult conclusion that lethal removal was the best option. Numerous agencies throughout the United States and Canada have reached the same conclusion, and the District’s program has received endorsements from 27 environmental and conservation organizations, including a local animal-welfare group.
Problems With Relocation and Sterilization

Studies have shown that the stress-related effects of capturing, handling and transporting deer increase mortality, even with precautions to minimize stressors. More importantly, other areas of the state and country have their own deer dilemmas: If the Forest Preserve District did capture deer for relocation, there would be nowhere to take them. And while researchers have tried to develop chemical means to prevent deer from reproducing, to date, there have not been any practical successes.
Elements of the Deer-Management Program

Each winter, Forest Preserve District ecologists conduct aerial surveys to estimate the number of deer in the forest preserves. During the spring and summer, they study plant communities and document the extent of deer browse, especially on rare or protected plants and plant communities. If they can attribute a loss of diversity to high deer densities, they may determine deer-removal efforts are necessary at a given forest preserve.

The District’s deer-management program operates in late fall and winter under stringent safety guidelines. The District posts warning signs at major forest preserve access points and sends letters to nearby residents.
All activity takes place at night, when the forest preserves are closed, in designated safe zones that the Forest Preserve District and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources carefully select and preview. Only District and U.S. Department of Agriculture employees participate. All shots are taken by IDNR-certified sharpshooters from elevated positions, which multiple team members approve in order to ensure ballistics remain within the safe zone. The program avoids areas closest to roads and residences, but neighbors may still hear isolated gunfire originating from within the preserve or see District vehicles, lights or related activities.
The meat is inspected and processed at a licensed facility and donated to area food pantries. On average, the District donates over 15,000 pounds of ground venison each year.
Results

When the deer-management program started in 1993, deer had consumed much of the vegetation within their reach in several forest preserves. Ecologists established small, experimental plots at these preserves and installed fences to prevent deer from reaching the vegetation inside each plot. Inside the fenced areas, vegetation grew thick; outside, the deer grazed plants down to the ground. Today, plant growth inside and outside fenced areas are similar, several species have started to recover, and forest preserves are once more becoming diverse ecosystems.
The Program’s Future

The Forest Preserve District’s deer-management program has had successes, but work remains. At some forest preserves, populations are still too dense to promote biodiversity. At others, populations have stabilized but require maintenance to keep ecosystems in balance. Without natural predators to keep populations in check, the deer-management program will likely be a long-term necessity to ensure the health of DuPage County’s natural areas.

Here is the way they used to do "deer management" in DuPage county. Sorry to have to use news and a video provided by "huggers" or PETA-types but it is for informational purposes only.

http://www.sharkonline.org/?P=0000000429

Green Valley & Waterfall Glen are both just a few miles from my place.

i live in pike co. and u can get unlimited doe tags . i wish it wasnt like this . after a dew years i think its really guna have a negative effect on our deer population . they need to set a limit

Here is some info covering the program that I think is very intresting. The first is only about a 5-10 minute read, specifically on DuPage and well worth the time IMO.

The second is good too and more expanded in scope.

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/vi...dm_wdmconfproc

http://www.wildlifeconflicts.org/jou...le_102_109.pdf

But in general I don't think IL is going to wind up in a boat like WI did.

yes that is right. u can use youre unfilled friearms tags, and still get an extra.

i dont like it for the fact that there were probably some bucks killed and tagged with an archery tag

They need to implement at least a "Earn a 2nd buck tag program" these outfitters etc...can't be harvesting 30 bucks and no does or 1 doe....

shoot a buck, shoot a doe is my view!