Well yes you can indeed carry a handgun during firearms deer season. But not during archery as salukipv1 posted! You may also not carry a handgun when hunting the muzzleloader only season. You mentioned a .45 which would only be legal in a revolver and not an automatic.

Here's some info on legal handguns for deer hinting in IL:

Centerfire revolvers or centerfire single-shot
handguns of .30 caliber or larger with a minimum

barrel length of 4 inches.

And legal handgun ammo for IL:

For handguns, a bottleneck centerfire cartridge
of .30 caliber or larger with a case length not exceeding
1.4 inches, or a straight-walled centerfire
cartridge of .30 caliber or larger, both of
which must be available as a factory load with
the published ballistic tables of themanufacturer
showing a capability of at least 500 foot pounds
of energy at the muzzle.Note:There is no case

length limit for straight-walled cartridges.

Now those tracks you posted sure look interesting to me. I can't see the track imprint itself enough to say anything. But I don't believe a dog would usually walk on top of a fallen tree like that. And it looks like whtever was there kinda lept up onto the log from the spacing of the tracks showing very good balance.

I have no doubts that there are cougars in IL. And alot more than people may believe. They are rather secretive and don't roam open fields so not seeing them much isn't anything unusual. They don't put themselves on display. In the next 5-10 years I think peoples opinions will change quite a bit as evidence stacks up.

No black cats? Yep. And no cats in Il either.........

I would agree that there is a rising population of cougars in IL. I have heard a lot of sighting in my area LaSalle/Bureau counties. I would love to get one on camera.

Seriously,there's no such thing as a black mountain lion.They simply don't exist.They don't have the melanistic gene.

Cat's do not show claws in their tracks.

I agree with you, I never said there was a black mountain, even though I think that would be a pretty cool sight!

I'm not saying you did.Uncle Matt was trying to make that claim and I'm simply saying that there's no such thing.That picture is of a house cat.It's not even close to being disputable.

I'm not making the claim that you don't have mountain lions in Ill.There has obviously been concrete proof.I'm just saying people are not really seeing mystical creatures that don't exist.

This guy is something else. Next thing there will be no pink elephants. Holes will be blown in the whole Bigfoot deal. And Obama will be a good president.

I don't think anyone was claiming there was a black mountain Lion, maybe a black panther. There have been reports across the US of people releasing panthers that they thought would make great "Pets" and thought they would fair better for themselves in a state park or a wide open area. This is what I believe to be a lot of sightings of big black cats across the midwest. Thats what was being claimed for the Big Cat that was roaming around 25 miles west of Lawrence KS where I went to school.

Personally, I think that there may be a big black cat or two roaming around down in southern Illinois. There is a forum on a website that only covers S. IL hunting and there are some pretty convincing stories and photos. I don't want to give away locations but the gentleman that I heard it from was within the Saline/Williamson County area in Southern Illinois. Im not sure if thats the general area that Uncle Matt hunts, but again, the gentleman that told me this I trust completely so I believe he is true. Another weird thing that they have told me about the farm which is VERY big is that they never find a deer carcass, ever, and with the HIGH population of deer on this farm, there is something weird about that, plus they RARELY ever see a coyote. Now, Im not saying this proves one way or another but just kind of interesting.

I have seen some BIG black Feral house cats as well. We finally got one we have been chasing for 2 years last year (In Michigan). This cat was known to stalk deer and try to take them down! It never did take one down but this cat thought it was a frickin' lion. I saw it attempt this once, it was pretty insane. When we finally got him in a trap, I couldn't believe his size. Was almost the size of a coyote! Almost a shame to put it down. So personally, I believe there are big black cats like panthers or cougars out there, but I also think that there are some extremely big Feral cats out there as well.

Uncle Matt, by the way that Obama comment made me laught out loud!

I have personally had a bowhunting stalk blown by a ditch cougar ie housecat stalking the same deer, but one the size of a coyote?? C'mon....

Spaniel, believe me, if someone on here said it, I wouldn't believe it either. I wish I would have snapped a picture of it after we "dispatched" it with a .357. It was beyond any typical house cat I have ever seen. Next time I'll be sure to get a picture, but I don't think I'll see anything the size of this thing for a long time.

I have no reason to call you a liar, I'm just trying to imagine a 30+ lb cat.


Maine coon cat perhaps? Males can go 25lb-ish.