http://www.dnr.state.il.us/pubaffairs/2008/November/harvest.html

All counties but one went down statewide, the one being a tie with last season. I am not seeing anywhere close to the amount of the deer this season that I have in the past. Your thoughts?

we have 3000 acres in Brown County, I seen while stand 9 differnt shooters (from130" thru170")during my bow hunt, none in range. Seen lots of deer while bowhunting and gun hunting, but I must admit I heard alot less shooting this year versus last year

I hunted a new area this year so I can't compare the amount of shots. I did see more deer than I had ever seen before, but I was also hunting a LOW pressure area. I probably saw 30+ does and 7 different bucks over 6 pointers. With how good the weather was for hunting and how the rut seemed to be on full swing, I can't see how these numbers aren't higher. Ive heard from a lot of people though that they weren't seeing the deer they were last year.

Looking at the totals, where we hunt (Jodavies) the harvest was down 25%. Could be many factors for this, the one that comes to the forefront is the amount of corn that was still up last weekend.

Your DNR must be in league with Wisconsin's DNR. Registered deer numbers dropped by as much as 50 percent in many areas of my state.

I think it could be due to the fact that there is minimal amounts of ground available for local hunters. With thousands of acres of hunting ground being leased and outfitted, it leaves many local hunters scrounging for what small parcels they had and public ground access is minimal in IL. The outfitted and leased acres, not all the time but often times, is not being properly managed, i.e. harvesting does to keep the ratio down. When you consider the thousands upon thousands of acres that locals hunted using the "brown its down" management technique, that they are not able to hunt due to outfitting/leasing, overall harvest numbers are bound to drop.

I know ofa neighboring 1000 acre prime hunting area that only harvested one doe this entire bow/gun season.....how is that helping the Illinois deer heard?

These are only my opinions and I am sure there are outfitters and folks that lease big farms that manage properly and harvest does, but in my experiences with some of the local outfitted farms......it is nothing to see 30-40 does in a field on these very areas.......which screams improper management techniques.

they probably do. wisconsin dnr have had some problems this year not just with deer population

I was hunting Macoupin county and heard plenty of shots on opening day. Sounded like all the neighbors around me was killing deer. I saw more deer 2 weeks before gun season opened.

Maybe the number is lower because more hunters want big bucks. Personally I try to get the bigger bucks during bow season. Gun season is when I fill my freezer with meat. I gotta go back second season this year.

I even gave away my Willie Nelson tickets so I could hunt second season. If I don't see anything like first season I will be pissed!!!

I actually had a better than average gun season. I had a couple almost shot opportunities on 140" but they both turned away where it was too thick for a shot.

Overall It has been a different year I will say that.