I always figured harvest numbers would be pretty accurate, however the boone and crockett locations I've often wondered how many actual booners have been taken in certain areas?

In some areas I think if a guy shoots a booner he's gonna get it registered, however in other areas I would suspect as little as 50% of people bother to register their booner.

i agree 100 % with you on that

Dunno how wonderful Illinois residents are nowdays for shooting does. Plenty of buck-oriented guys who have little interest in shooting a single doe, let alone a couple in order to reduce the population. At least that is my experience in a part of Illinois where there are relatively few outfitters and we are crawling with does.

Considering how much Illinois rakes in from non-resident permits, it is no surprise that they want to cater to such folks.

Partly off the subject...

I think that instead of raising the prices of resident tags, we should really stick it to the NR's and let them pick up the slack. I would imagine that most hunters who already come into our state to kill a big corn-fed IL deer would pay any price that the state requests.

Hey, and even better yet! Take that out-of-state revenue and pay us Illinoisians to harvest does! They could give us credits towards our turkey tags or fishing licenses!

We all (myself included) gripe about the outfitters and the nonresident hunters, but think about it. If you lived somewhere that you couldn't hunt, wouldn't you be willing to pay to go somewhere so that you can shoot something? It's just something we're going to have to gripe about I guess, and more so as time goes on.

rw

i really dont have problems with outfitters and nr but in moderation, i think they need more regulations and higher fees to obtian an outfitter licenses were im located in pike co. they have litterly changed hunting around here for the worse , ask anybody that came on an outfitted hunt fivr years ago as compared to now chances sre they saw more quility deer five years ago

The real problem is the way the IDNR has pimped out our Deer herd to the highest bidder. In my opinion, you can't blame non-residents for coming here or Outfitters for providing a service, they're just playing the game. It is the sheer number of NR permits that are available that needs to be addressed. It has gotten way out of hand IMHO. Cut the number down to about 25% of what is issued now and start a points preference system for those who do not draw a tag. Illinois could learn a lot from Iowa.

I wish someone would point me in the direction of these "over-populated" Doe areas ?!?

I've only ever hunted 1 area where there were higher populations an thats mainly because t was a large farm that bordered a 3,000 acre non-hunted area. Any average tract I've ever hunted had relatively modest deer numbers and was in NO WAY close to any sort of population problems!

come on up to were i live in pike , i can take u down one road in paticular were we would see around 300 to 400 deer and pry 10 to 15 bucks , im not jokin just take a drive around the highways and your guna see dozens of does hit by cars if you dont believe this problem is around you are more than welcome to come up and we can go for a drive the last late season hunt i was on i saw 26 does and one fork horn . and its a 300 acre farm surronded by ottfitted ground

Yeah, some folks need to get out more. I drive thru about five counties in southeastern Illinois on a regular basis and some evenings it is doe alley in terms of having to dodge the things. My dad has had over 20 does clustered under his stand at times the last couple years and the closest outfitter operation is about 3 miles away. After bothering him for several years i have finally convinced him to pop several does a year and we give them away.

Of course, if you are younger and your only experience has been in recent years with the high populations and associated problems seeming to be normal, then you may see things differently.

I agree, our harvest numbers are probably as accurate as any. The booner numbers is an interesting point though. And, what certification is required for the "booner" numbers, unless they are strictly using the B&C book with the county list. One of my best friends manages for a large landowner, and they haven't registered any of the boones they killed in the last 4 years. By register, I mean they haven't had them officially scored by B&C and entered into the record books.