Bo Hunter

Well, all of the people who were whining about needing a bag limit on total deer per season may get their way.

http://dnr.state.il.us/legal/650-proposed.htm
"add language indicating a season bag limit consists of 4 deer, of which no more than 2 may be antlered deer and applies for all seasons"

I just don't get this. Our density in IL, and most midwestern states, is too high, statewide and per MOST counties, as it is. Why limit the number that can be harvested by an individual simply because another individual, for one reason or another, can't harvest the same number? Dumb.

IL_BOW_MAN

I can't say that I disagree with this that much, nor can I say I agree with it 100%. I understand your point of view. But I think the "KILLING" should be stopped. And what I mean by killing is, I am sick of people shooting 6-10 deer just to say that they did. They give all of the meat away and are out there just for blood. If someone needs that much meat and they will use all of that meat, I don't have a problem with it. Will this law stop these individuals from doing this?? In my opinion no, they already use other peoples tags, so it will not make a bit of difference.

Always adding Deer Cam picts. Check often.
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ILL BUCK

Bo hunter, I dont know whaer in ILL your from but in my area the 4 deer limit will be a welcomed thing. Ever since the unlimited doe with a bow tag system was put into place I have seen a decline in the number of deer. Once where you could take a 5 mile drive thru some good deer country this time of year and see maybe 50 to 80 deer, you would be lucky to see 20 now. I know some areas of ILL have alot of deer but mine does not. The best way to manage the herd would be by zones or better by county but the DNR apposes doing it like that. They are trying somewhat by the 5 county area by me where you cant shoot a doe the month of October but the state needs to be managed on a county by county basis. That would please the most people. In my area no way anyone needs to shoot more than 4 deer, PERIOD !!!!!

ahunter55

I may be a whiner but I am & have always been concerned with our deer population. I pushed for the two buck limit when they had a no limit on bucks & I think this is a good move also. If you just want to kill em I feel sorry for ya. I would like to see a "ONE" BUCK per season no matter how it was taken. Bet that frosts ya too!!!
I just bowhunt (since 1957) & 1 is plenty(bucks). Oh, can I have cheese with my WHINE? Oh, by the way-I could take several every year too, so I guess that leaves me out of the Can't get as many as the next fella.

always thankful

Tal/IL

It's never made any sense to me that they figured there were enough deer to allow some to kill 6 or 8 deer under various combinations of tags while others get turned away with no tags in the firearms draws.

Bo Hunter

ahunter55: Don't be moronic. Discuss what I wrote,not what you think I meant.

I never said or implied killing for the sake of killing. I talked about deeer density statewide. For clarification, I am talking about having a statewide, and county-wide, deer density that makes more biological sense. Not loads of deer everywhere just so we can see them or hunt them easily, but a density that is more in line with best management practices. It is likely that deer populations (and definitely densities) are at historical highs, is that necessarily a good thing?

Why do people have such a thing for the number of bucks harvested per year? I am all for controlling the number of permits of each type that are made available each year, but most of the time, people are more concerned with the number of bucks they see everyday vs. the number that SHOULD be in the population. As long as we have a healthy buck:doe ratio, locally and overall, properly managed by controlling the number of permits of each type, what does it matter?

One other thing, if you think IL deer are really managed by archery permits, then we should probably just stop this conversation. It's true, archery does have an impact. But, when compared to the impacts of the firearms season, archery harvests have very little effect.

Il Bow Man: I hear what you're saying, but as long as the meat isn't wasted when it's given away, someones using it. Why is that bad? I don't see anything wrong with people hunting for the sake of hunting, as lomg as the meat is ALWAYS used. Besides, if they are using others' tags, that's already illegal and they should be prosecuted.

IL Buck: 20 deer per square mile is a good bit of deer. 50-80 in a 5 mile linear drive is even more. That's a lot, just about wherever you are.

ILL BUCK

5 to 6 mile long stretch, 2 miles wide zig zaging back and forth through the area. Probably more like 10 to 12 square miles.Trust me we have NEVER had 20 deer per square mile.This is also a very wooded river bottom area, get out of it to the north and its nothing but fields. So in Jan and Feb every deer for god knows how far should be in the area. One guy I know has a video of a 5 to 6 mile stretch where he's got 150 plus deer on it. 3 bucks!!!! Guess where he is from???? Over around pike, where alot of the paying customers wont shoot a doe!!

ahunter55

My concern on the bucks is that WE DO have good Genetics & excellent deer. To many Buck kills will eventually get into that Good Gene pool (sometime down the road). I agree on harvest what is necessary to get the proper population "BUT" every section of this state is different when it comes to population.
I don't always trust our DNR when it comes to Population counts, thou I think all around they do an excellent job. There must or should be some kind of "Quanity" & as you say-it has to be by COUNTY to balance densities. I am not trying to be a smart A--, just have a true concern about our deer population. I could take more than 1 deer (most) years but elect not to. As far as archery being a controll factor-in the hands of a FEW it can be very effective.
I still go for the 1 Buck & whatever does(quota) each county necessary.

always thankful

Sven

This is one of those topics you can talk about until you're blue in the face and not get any where. East central Illinois, except for a few areas, needs more than quotas an deer. Driving between Bloomington and Champaign on I74 you can count on one hand the areas with quality wildlife habitat. Most farmers are farming road ditch to road ditch because they have no incentive not to. As big farms get bigger, fence rows and timber stands are turning into tillable ground.

Don't get me wrong. I grew up farming, and I know the farmers are trying to make some money in hard times, but it hurts to see a fencerow disappear for a couple extra acres, or quality timber on ultra erodible hillsides clearcut in favor of tillable ground.

In the areas of declining deer herds, more than just regulating the number of permits available needs to be done. I do agree that some sort of regional management may be needed instead of trying to manage the whole states herd with general regulations. We have 5 regions designated by the DNR. I think that if they could come up with some type of quota system with in those regions for bowhunting they would do a better job managing the herd on a more local basis. I can't see how Champaign County and Pike County could possibly require the same management programs. I don't know if the deer populations could be on more opposite ends of the spectrum between these 2 counties. Granted there are always going to be small areas within these areas the are above or below the region average, but this would have to be better than managing the state as one.

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Live - Urbana, IL
Hunt - Knox Co., IL

jkhunter

In my area we have plenty of deer with a fairly good ratio but the catch is getting permission to hunt them. We have Temple Smith Farms which owns 1/8 of the county and no hunting. It is OK to kill them by car though. About 100 a year. And there are some pretty big deer around here. John

keep'em in your sights