I started hunting 4 years ago. It was preached to me that there are way too many does. Kill 1 and you take 3 from the farm fields and road accidents. I believed what I heard until last year when I started noticing there were fewer and fewer deer to be seen. This year has been terrible. Many days of hunting where I haven’t seen a single deer. I hunt public land quite abit and when talking to the rangers even they say the numbers are down and getting worse. The site I hunt requires a doe first before you can shoot a buck. This is making it even worse.

Posted by spanky32354 on November 30

Wow - Last year I started the same topic with the same opinions on AT and just got blasted page after page from greedy hunters imho. Only a few saw this happening. Most have the opinion of “if the state of IL is giving me X number of tags to fill, then I have to fill every single one”.
These a re the same guys that gripe and moan about our IL goverment, yet when it comes to their own agenda and greed they look the other way that the sate MUST be right.

Posted by dextee on November 30

I’ve noticed a steep decline in numbers in my area.  Four years ago I’d see between 75-100 deer come to the fields to feed every night next to my home.  Now I’m lucky to see 2-3.  I’d already decided I wasn’t taking any does for next several years, but everyone around me shoots everything that moves come gun season.  I believe my situation is due more to poaching that occurs as the deer move up closer to the roads after dark.  I’ve caught several people spotlighting, but they take off before I can get to them.  Also reported it several times to DNR, but they don’t pay too much attention to the doe’s.

Posted by DewittCoDeerStalker on November 30

Hunters have to be managers, plain and simple. If you count on the DNR to do your management you need to understand that they are mostly reactive, not pro-active. There is always a 2 year lag time as the data is collected and broken down, then at least another year for any regulatory change. Those are the absolute minimums for the state to make management changes and the reality is usually double that. Then you need to accept that the state’s goals and the individual hunters goals are not always the same.

The DNR does set the tone and mentality for many though. DNR programs such as “I took a doe so the herd won’t grow” almost unlimited gun permits/ unlimited bow permits and “Sportsmen Against Hunger” give many hunters the excuse for killing, that they need. In their mind, management is not part of hunting- all they need as an excuse to kill is that the state says kill more does, or I donate them all to SAH or I have a fist full of tags to fill.

For those fortunate enough to have private lands to hunt or have land of their own it is simple, do your own management, do what your observations and instincts tell you is right. 1:1?, 2:1? wildlife management is not an exact science but if you just go with your conscience and not your ego you will be a pretty good wildlife manager for your property.

Posted by The Colonel on November 30

On our 240 we have an awesome doe herd, We will take 5-6 does early then we leave them alone as of dec 1, Its no problem too see 25-30 in the food plots everynight…

Posted by WhitetailFreak on November 30

It has been my experience the last few seasons that the doe populations vary greatly depending on location. For example, I see 20-30 does/fawns per hunt on a farm in Fulton County, but on the 3 farms I hunt in McDonough County, I see very few does anymore. I would gladly shoot a doe or two on that Fulton County farm, but I have been afraid to shoot any does on the other farms I hunt. I have passed on does for 3 years and still see very few of them. 

Let’s face it, the state is not going to manage our herd. Treehugger is right, its all up to us.  Some places have too many does, and some not enough.

Posted by phelpsy80 on November 30

Illinois’ deer herd is definitely getting worse. I shot my first doe in almost a decade, last year. I passed up every doe this year along with several bucks in the 120-140 range. Even though I’m a head hunter, my philosophy is this; take the oldest animals out if possible and leave the younger, stronger animals to maintain a healthy herd. Shooting younger animals removes the strongest. A mature buck will eventually get old enough where it’s difficult for him to protect himself, thus leaving him destined for a miserable death either by harsh winters or being eaten alive by predators. Contrary what many believe, the B&C club was started for animal conservation using this very method, and not for bragging rights. Treehugger is right, we must take the herd control in our own hands! I have no problem eating tag soup each year with does, or bucks, and the results do surface in just a few years. If you have an abundance of small bucks and no does, I also think it would be better to take a buck for the freezer if you are having difficult closing the deal on a mature buck. FYI, I eat mature bucks all of the time and they taste great! There is a way to prepare them though, but it mainly just consists of aging them for a few days!

Posted by Marc Anthony on November 30

Not only small bucks here. My dad shot a nice 3.5 yr old 8 pointer this year only to find that 3 tines were broken 1-2 inches above the main beam. The 2 biggest breaks were on the far side antler so my dad couldn’t see that this buck had broken head gear before the shot. He was pretty massive…well, would have been massive if he had all his head gear. Now I’m after whatever caused it!

Posted by Walston on November 30

Treehugger and others, Hunting as we had in the early part of the century is over.  As one of the posters stated, people that arent hunting seriously and just listen to the media and other kill mongers want to kill everything and actually have biologist giving them the excuse to do so.  I too have heard to shoot every doe you see crap out of them and i personally think it makes them sound retarded.  Does do not do what bucks do when scared,  they do not go noturnal, they only become more alert and this does no help for them to survive gun season.  They are frankly sitting targets.  I have NEVER shot a doe and have seen this coming since i was a 18 year old kid.  As KC how much ive hated doe shooting for years, hes one of the few that has seen my posts for years.  Back when i was a “radical”.  I am happy about tree hugger posting its the hunters fault.  Usually hunters make up some lame excuse about disease or sharp shooters or natural trends or poor fawn crop.  If we have 800,000 deer in illinois currently which is a high estimate, and kill and report 200,000 deer in illinois per year through hunting, and i would bet since ive found 5 bucks this year already that have been killed with archery gear and lost that likely 75,000 are lost a year as an estimate.  WHen you add natural mortality, car kills, and poaching to the mix, it doesnt take long for the herd to die.  What i will say is that this isnt on me but its on most other hunters.

Posted by clintharvey on November 30

pimp whatever.. i agree with your point…

just because you dont see deer, doesnt mean their not there…

but it is pretty consistant, people are seeing fewer deer… and i think some hunters are hurting our herd more then they know!

ive seen it, hunting and guiding, deer know where stands are, and they avoid when possible… patterns change, stands that use to be hot 5 years ago, arent as good as they once were.

people mention the crush… they plant 100’s of acres of foodplots, thus increasing their carrying capacity, and they dont shoot little bucks, and they manage big pieces of land in iowa with little pressure… so its not really comparable to here in illinois… illinois in general is pressured far more than iowa!!

our society wants it,  here and now, and deer hunting is not that way!!

Posted by foodplotPhil on November 30

There may be a lot of different things happening, but how do they all get addressed. Not blaming gun hunters but someone takes up deer hunting (shotgun) they buy the best gun & ammo as advertised. They shoot a deer it runs off and goes more than 30-40 yards they probably think they missed and wait for another one. They think between the gun and ammo there is no way the deer was hit This goes back to Treehuggers article about tracking. Something like that should be with every gun AND bow that is sold. Guy’s that just gun hunt don’t really care what a bow hunter thinks he only has a few days to hunt and wants his (can’t blame them) but they think we are pulling their leg when we say they are not as many deer. Like stories that I have read, they see a small herd in a field and open up fill their tags not knowing that may be the only deer in that area. I think yotes are causing more damage than we all think. I also think they are staying out in the open more and moving more at night. Mature doe’s may not be as smart as mature buck’s but they didn’t get old by being dumb either. The Farm Bureau & Insurance Industry needs to stay out of hunting.

Posted by berlin on November 30

most people are seeing fewer deer so that means that if they hav sat in the woods 20-30 times in a season and are only seeing the same 2-3 does every time chances are that they are going to shoot one and hurt the deer herd that much more just because they want the meat which is understandable and i am even guilty of it but i just shoot what i will eat and NO MORE! but it is hard to reach the people that actually need to see this article because they have no interest in listening and even though they can pick the mag up for free in a ton of places they will skip right over this story because it says nothing about big bucks and the whole hunting world is to blame for that but for the select few of us that do care it makes us feel helpless because even though we are not over hunting none of us control enough land to keep the deer from naturally roaming in to the WARZONES that all these small properties hav become and i hunt public ground exclusively so with all the pressure most guys are in the mind set that the first thing they see they hav to whack it and stack it instead of enjoying the HUNT and just seeing nature in its rawest form and taking lots of good memories home instead of a 50 pound doe fawn just because they dont want someone else to shoot it… crappy philosophy but thats what is has came to and then the nieghbors to the state parks alot of us hunt are bad for the herd to bacause they overhunt also just so the SMALL GUY that cant afford what they hav cant kill “THEIR” deer and im not saying they all do but like i said the few that do will never see this so the problem continues and everyone preaches to introduce new hunters to our world but thats hard to do when they come out with the attitude that they are gonna see a ton of deer cuz thats how tv makes it look and the dnr makes it sound and they go out at the start only to be disappointed when they sit till the weather turns cold and hav not gotten one of the millions of deer that illinois is supposed to hav and end up selling their stuff after shooting just to sight it in and u cant change their mind and then they spread to other prospective new hunters how bad it sux and in turns prolly sways a few of them away from it all together….sorry for getting off subject a few times but these are a few of the biggest problems we face as true hunters in my opinion so all we can do is just keep being positive and do what we do but im afraid that a small group of us as we are dont hav the power to change anything happening and until the people with that power get what they want it shall remain as is….. sadly

Posted by bucksntrucks on November 30

Good article. I’ve hunted the same farm the last 3 seasons and each year I’ve seen less does.  This year has really been alarming. What’s strange is the area I hunt does not have a lot of pressure and it’s some of the finest deer habitat in Illinois. I feel the decline is a combination of different factors and there are way too many “killers” these days, not “hunters”.

Posted by mgehant on November 30

I’m frustrated this yr as well. Where I hunt it seems a drought yr
Iike this yr is to blame
for fewer deer sightings , I still know there should be deer in the bottoms that i can’t see. But everyone I talk too are reporting then same thing….. Where are the does? I love to shoot does- maybe more than bucks but there are fewer to be seen. if we re-wind a cpl yrs when we had serious floods would we all agree we saw more deer? I think the rivers in Central/West Central Illinois are a huge factor. But I don’t want to say too much double speak- We control our herd!!!!!! Our state does not.

Posted by Mallardmike on November 30

Then going another way, this has been a very dry fall with a lot of creeks dried up and limited water sources. I have always heard that deer can get by with out water for 3 or 4 days, and how often does a yearling have to have water? But could the deer be moving into areas that water is more available with out having to travel so far. Another thing, and I may be wrong on this also, is that when the farmers put Anhydrous Ammonia on the fields it seems to me the deer move out of that area for a while, not saying that the deer will leave completey or not move through that area. I have stands that I see a lot of deer, andhydrous is worked in and the deer seem to move. I have even noticed this going back & forth from work before in fields. Some have wrote that the doe’s were there last year, and most know who is hunting in their general area & what deer are taken, or have a pretty good idea anyway. So either they were poached, taken by predators or moved on and changed there habits. I do agree that less doe tags be issued, and the the Late Winter hunt be done away with.

Posted by berlin on December 01

I think there needs to be limits on does and bucks, for each hunter and not just per season, something maybe like a hunter can only take a total of 2 bucks and 2 does or maybe less for all seasons combined.  I love hunting public land for the reason that , you can’t manage the deer there. Not that managing deer is wrong but I’ve always wondered who appointed us(hunters) as managers of the deer. Did hunters long before us do the same or did they see a deer come by and first thought in their head was food.  I think the though of shooting lots of does so your buck heard can grow bigger and better or healthier as they say is just a sugar coated way of saying “shoot the does, we want more, bigger racked bucks to shoot”  But hey, tv/advertising-sex sells, hunting-antlers sell.

Posted by bowfisher1 on December 01

Bowfisher, the answer to your question about hunters in the past. Deer had to be brought back into Illinois for the most part just like Turkey were. How many of you remember when 4 bucks were allowed? That didn’t last long thank the Lord. And I agree that our herd is down from a few years ago, but there are still a lot of deer. I started bow & gun deer hunting back in 1979 or 1980 and let me tell you there were stretches where locally here you might not see a deer for weeks hunting or driving (vehicles) and sometimes feel lucky to see a track. I feel safe saying that pretty much I have a good idea of the deer taken in my area at a 2 to 4 mile radius,easy, and like the rest of you I am seeing more bucks and less doe’s,I know it’s not over hunting, and I know some get poached but not many because I would hear about it. I know after this season is over 3 or 4 of us are killing some coyotes to see if this helps, nobody hunts or traps them around here anymore. And dare I say the dreaded DNR word, Cougars! It wouldn’t take one long in a certain area to kill a bunch of deer in a few years time.

Posted by berlin on December 01

Well said HIGHSTAND.

Posted by Treehugger on December 01

pretty much everything in life is cycles… from animals, women, and the earth… in all seriousness…. for a few years rabbit do well, then coyotes.then the rabbits drop off..then the yotes drop off.. and the cycle continues, same with most ecosystems…

our job with deer cycles as stewards of the land is to, even these out!!

Posted by foodplotPhil on December 02

Thanks for this topic Treehugger.  One thing we can all count on is this…the state is not going to correct this mess.  The government, whether state or federal has wrecked this state.  Look at the articles in today’s paper.  Lawmakers failed AGAIN to act, and now huge companies like Sears and Cat aren’t sure they want to stay here.
I whole-heartedly believe the reason we aren’t seeing the deer we once did is this…we shot too many for too long!  Many get tagged, but this call in system allows thousands to go untagged.  I’ve said for years the total number of deer the state reports as harvested is probably 15-20 low, not counting those never found.  It’s a mess, and it’s only going to get worse.
FYI - The Crush hosts control like 6000 acres, so 100 does isn’t that many.  Don’t know if you guys are aware of that.

Posted by full draw on December 02

Just wanted to go on record I saw 8 does in the first :50 min and 2 bucks a spike and a basket rack 8.  I had an awesome hunt Thursday and the freezer is full.

Posted by PIMPSTAFFER HATER on December 07