Muristek
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