Deer harvest up from last year during Illinois’ firearm season

Illinois deer hunters harvested more deer this year during the firearm season than last year.

SHARE Deer harvest up from last year during Illinois’ firearm season
File photo of a deer check station sign.

File photo of a deer check station sign.

Dale Bowman

Nothing like good hunting weather to increase deer harvest and that certainly appears to have helped Illinois deer hunters harvest more deer during the firearm season this year (76,854} than last year 970,411).

The second portion of the season saw good hunting weather, other than the high winds one day, and harvest was 24,500 well above the 21,477 during the second portion last year.

Here is the word from the Illinois DNR:

2022 Illinois firearm deer season preliminary harvest totals 76,854

SPRINGFIELD – Hunters in Illinois took a preliminary total of 76,854 deer during the seven-day 2022 Illinois Firearm Deer Season that concluded Dec. 4, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

Comparatively, hunters harvested a final total of 70,411 deer during the firearm season in 2021.

The preliminary harvest for the second segment of the 2022 firearm season Dec. 1-4 was 24,500, compared with 21,477 during the second season in 2021. The preliminary harvest for the first segment of this year’s firearm season Nov. 18-20 was 52,354 deer.

Remaining 2022-23 deer season hunting opportunities in Illinois include:

Late-winter antlerless-only deer season and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) deer season, in designated counties only, Dec. 29, 2022, through Jan. 1, 2023, and Jan. 13-15, 2023

Archery deer season continues through Jan. 15, 2023.

Details on the late-winter season are available at https://bit.ly/20222023LWH.

Details on the CWD season are available at https://bit.ly/20222023CWDSeason.

A map showing the counties open to the late-winter and CWD seasons can be found at https://bit.ly/LateWinterCWDMap.

For more deer hunting information, visit https://bit.ly/IDNRDeerHunting.

A table of preliminary firearm deer season harvest totals for 2022 by county, and comparable totals for 2021 is below.

County 1st 2022 2nd 2022 Total 2022 Total 2021

ADAMS 1437 714 2151 1990

ALEXANDER 239 136 375 362

BOND 537 210 747 647

BOONE 71 35 106 105

BROWN 655 334 989 812

BUREAU 609 295 904 895

CALHOUN 465 259 724 650

CARROLL 331 166 497 440

CASS 423 256 679 587

CHAMPAIGN 137 78 215 201

CHRISTIAN 403 155 558 556

CLARK 721 354 1075 1019

CLAY 889 340 1229 1113

CLINTON 606 197 803 666

COLES 487 195 682 658

CRAWFORD 673 263 936 888

CUMBERLAND 542 275 817 760

DEKALB 73 41 114 107

DEWITT 220 116 336 317

DOUGLAS 120 53 173 149

EDGAR 424 163 587 521

EDWARDS 317 141 458 389

EFFINGHAM 653 303 956 914

FAYETTE 1184 529 1713 1569

FORD 86 40 126 109

FRANKLIN 956 458 1414 1234

FULTON 1249 590 1839 1667

GALLATIN 305 136 441 373

GREENE 634 385 1019 954

GRUNDY 172 100 272 235

HAMILTON 741 337 1078 1000

HANCOCK 1128 582 1710 1570

HARDIN 548 188 736 676

HENDERSON 283 146 429 385

HENRY 275 172 447 414

IROQUOIS 257 144 401 417

JACKSON 1484 708 2192 1865

JASPER 794 354 1148 1027

JEFFERSON 1249 572 1821 1818

JERSEY 425 221 646 588

JO DAVIESS 843 430 1273 1235

JOHNSON 874 333 1207 1159

KANE 18 11 29 31

KANKAKEE 114 55 169 186

KENDALL 43 22 65 71

KNOX 737 340 1077 1064

LAKE 5 0 5 3

LASALLE 427 227 654 563

LAWRENCE 399 176 575 539

LEE 314 177 491 444

LIVINGSTON 268 100 368 381

LOGAN 193 114 307 312

MACON 155 75 230 220

MACOUPIN 1120 456 1576 1431

MADISON 509 183 692 637

MARION 1186 467 1653 1399

MARSHALL 412 166 578 547

MASON 249 130 379 352

MASSAC 268 119 387 382

MCDONOUGH 495 260 755 727

MCHENRY 129 82 211 243

MCLEAN 349 168 517 532

MENARD 215 133 348 329

MERCER 509 266 775 743

MONROE 856 282 1138 935

MONTGOMERY 619 254 873 802

MORGAN 442 232 674 580

MOULTRIE 158 66 224 209

OGLE 356 182 538 546

PEORIA 576 299 875 814

PERRY 969 399 1368 1108

PIATT 89 45 134 111

PIKE 1129 711 1840 1633

POPE 1068 365 1433 1220

PULASKI 222 106 328 279

PUTNAM 228 99 327 312

RANDOLPH1518 685 2203 2106

RICHLAND 487 216 703 672

ROCK ISLAND 408 204 612 585

ST. CLAIR 576 199 775 699

SALINE 628 243 871 758

SANGAMON 327 188 515 528

SCHUYLER 904 437 1341 1269

SCOTT 190 147 337 327

SHELBY 883 341 1224 1179

STARK 118 52 170 152

STEPHENSON 342 182 524 480

TAZEWELL 352 177 529 480

UNION 812 383 1195 1144

VERMILION 369 203 572 597

WABASH 122 54 176 163

WARREN 290 170 460 431

WASHINGTON 771 292 1063 924

WAYNE 1015 498 1513 1370

WHITE 553 314 867 713

WHITESIDE 335 238 573 507

WILL 134 76 210 167

WILLIAMSON1287 661 1948 1613

WINNEBAGO 154 72 226 248

WOODFORD 434 197 631 573

Total 52354 24500 76854 70411

The Latest
Joe Lieberman was a Democrat who ran for vice president with Al Gore in 2000 and became an independent and nearly joined the GOP ticket eight years later with Sen. John McCain.
The latest batch of city and suburban mail-in ballots in the Cook County state’s attorney’s race show Eileen O’Neill Burke leading Clayton Harris III by 1,637 votes, up 39 since Tuesday.
Caruso is averaging career highs in points and three-point attempts.
Two new bridges, plus bike paths and landscaping improvements are planned. Cyclists express concern that the plan doesn’t include protected bike lanes.