Has anybody heard and can confirm that Illinois DNR has been wasting deer by the 1000's in the off season for CWD? Does any one know where do find the information of where they have done this? Deer numbers in my area of Northern Illinois have gone down so much that One piece of property doesn't show deer sign or catch any pictures anymore. All the deer I've been watching and waiting to grow up are all no shows now. Now I'm playing with the idea of driving south to Peoria county just to get away from where the DNR have killed off a deer population.
Absolutely, it's been going on for many years. I hardly ever see deer in the forest preserves anymore.
I know a few years back they killed a lot in Ogle county. I walked one of the properties when they shot them, took the heads for testing & left the carcasses laying in the fields.
Up here in McHenry county I spoke with homeowners that seen them shoot out of helicopters. Doubt you'll ever find that info. I don't understand how they do that but charge me about $500 to shoot one. Why not open it up to hunters and cut the price in half? They'd probably make money.
Just blows my mind there isn't any documentation open to the public and how they do it like black ops. All hush hush, shooting out of birds, ****ing craxy
All CWD information for Illinois is found on the website. You will find the CWD annual reports in the lower right portion of the page on the IDNR website at this location: http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/Programs/CWD/Pages/default.aspx hammerman: Any Ogle County headless deer were likely poached bucks; or road-killed animals which had the head removed for testing. IDNR sharpshooters remove the entire animal from the field and leave no gut piles behind. All animals are gutted, samples removed, at a DNR facility. All carcasses are processed for human consumption: meat from animals testing positive for CWD is incinerated; while venison from those not testing positive are distributed through the Northern Illinois Food Bank. kennyg: Helicopter census of deer numbers in CWD management zones is done annually as adequate snow cover allows. There has never been a deer shot from a helicopter by IDNR staff as part of the CWD surveillance/management program.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...pulation-deer-management-program-deer-numbers This article from 2012 talks about how sharpshooters were hired in certain areas, but I don't think it was as severe as you guys assume.
They are hired, and I agree it's probably no where severe as what it's made out to be. Have a buddy that works for DNR and has been on some of these hunts and the numbers are never what everyone else throw around. More like in the hundred not thousands.
The IL DNR has never shot a deer out of a helicopter. Anyone who tells you they saw this is flat out lying. They use helicopters to survey deer populations in an effort to determine deer density and figure out how many need to be shot to maintain the levels they want. They shoot them with rifles over corn piles, not from helicopters.
The Firebase I work out of is on a WMA just north of the twin cities, it is the wma where the metro deer removers bring the carcasses. I was told by the guy that brought in the most deer last year and the year before it is most effective to bait them into a trap and then shoot them, they get multiple deer at a time that way.
Everyone doesn't do that here???? Oh wait, yea I mean yea just THEY do that. Just ignore all my contest entries haha
I heard they were releasing wolves, mountain lions and a new genetically altered Chupacabra that's bred specifically to kill whitetails.
Funny how every state has some crazy conspiracy theories about their DNR. Black cougars were released here to eat the deer and rattlesnakes were released at night from black helicopters. We have a few that also believe wolves and bears were also released. The part that scares me the most is that the people that believe in these fantasies are allowed to get hunting licenses and carry weapons. And sadly, some of them vote. Always more fun to believe that something covert is going on. "But you can't fool me!" lol
Doe only, right? Otherwise, I have a real problem with these Chupacabra's. The dumb lions have already killed most of the bucks. They like to chew on their antlers to keep their teeth sharp.
Not poached, official DNR signs posted around the property saying not to remove the deer & that it was testing purposes. They had approached the property owner & gotten his permission to do it.
I was told this by a property owner in Alden. He was pretty adamant about this as his 80 acres buts up to conservation. He had some really nice mounts in his garage but said he's been pretty much tag soup the last few years. Beautiful property too.
Kids are in bed and I have a few spare minutes so I wanted to revisit this topic. First, I think "wasting deer by the 1000's" is a bit of a strong term. Let's look at the numbers. In the 16 counties in which CWD testing is conducted in Illinois last year hunters killed 15,603 whitetails. In those same counties the sharpshooting program killed 1,393 deer. If anyone is wasting deer by the thousands it's us. http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/programs/CWD/Documents/CWDAnnualReport20142015.pdf There's no questioning the fact that deer numbers in Northern IL aren't what they once were, but they're also not the dismal levels that many hunters claim they are. I hunt a farm in Lake County where there has been zero sharpshooting within any distance that would affect our deer population, and our deer numbers are considerably down from what they were a decade ago. Habitat loss and an increase in predators is no doubt a major factor. We're lucky to have 1/2 dozen fawns make it through to spring each year on 800+ acres. With abysmal fawn recruitment populations are going to decline. Deer numbers aren't down because of the DNR. Sharpshooting only happens in very localized areas where higher than average populations exist. The DNR isn't simply out there mowing down ever deer in sight. Aerial surveys via helicopter help them identify locations where the deer numbers are far higher than they should be, so they go in and thin the numbers out. Most hunters are very short-sighted and only think about their immediate goals of seeing and harvesting a lot of deer so they immediately get all up in arms about it. Unfortunately their knee-jerk reactions are quite often doing more harm than good. I think the important thing to look at here is whether we like it or not the sharpshooting programs and increased deer harvest in these areas is helping to keep CWD in check. Infection rates in these areas are a fraction of what they are in Wisconsin where the DNR is doing nothing to control disease spread. Our highest prevalence rates approach 15% in isolated hot spots where Wisconsin's numbers are surpassing 40%. Our infection rate in tested adult males as a whole is still under 2% after 13+ years of this program. Does it suck not seeing as many deer as we used to? Sure does! However if it means we're helping to ensure the health of our deer herd for future generations to enjoy I'm willing to deal with it.
