dear season doomed and for many more to come.....

It's really weird about the drought and such. A lot of the reports seem to be coming from the north of I-72 areas which earlier this spring had record flooding. If this truly is EHD causing this, is t really drought conditions we need to worry about?

It seems during drought the area water holes dry up and the ones remaining become stagnant and harbor the infected gnats and what have you's. but technically wouldn't a surplus of water create the same stagnant water sources as breeding grounds? I really don't know enough about EHD.

What's the life cycle on EHD, anyone know? From the time the deer is infected to demise. By climatological standards we didn't hit drought standards this year like we did last.

 

I've noticed (in no scientific way) that wet springs but dry late summers lead to more EHD. It probably is because of those flooded waterholes turning into midge filled stagnant puddles during the drier months. The worst year for midges I remember was the one three (four?) years ago where we had major floods in the spring. However we didn't have the dry late summer to dry up the waterholes... it just made for lots of breeding areas for the biting gnats. (I remember the midges because they were so bad they were biting me. )

I tried to find out more about EHD/Bluetongue but couldn't find much real info about it online. From what I've read, the midges all die off when it freezes. The larvae do not carry the disease Deer infected but surviving are not supposed to be carriers. The info I read indicated that biologists were not sure how the disease overwinters if it's not in the deer and the midges are dead. :-/

 

Illinois has sucked in many, many ways for multiple years now. And yeah, I can't wait to get back to Utah. But it was good to see my friends here. (and I did see several deer in Jersey County when I crashed Jmbuckhunter's place)

 

IDNR crop dusters

Hear a lot of people mentioning seeing a lot of fawns/yearlings as well. I'm sure much like domestics the deers milk provides some immunization with it?

I've mentioned it before as well, but not knowing what I'm talking about wasn't sure how feasible it actually was. But it seems a lot of older bucks always fall victim. Not knowing the cycle time of EHD, have wondered whether that is due to the antler growth taking away so many nutrients and such from the bucks? I haven't really heard the death ratios of bucks to does with it. Maybe older does lose some through lactation as well?

 

From most I've talked to John's one of the few with deer in the county lol. Game Warden who checked us Saturday even said he was surprised by how little was being killed in the area.

 

The deer hang out on his place because they know they're safe there. bwahaahahaha!




(kidding John!!!)

 

I did a presentation on EHD in school a couple years ago. I would be inclined to agree with Christine that a wet spring paired with summer drought would lead to the worst cases for outbreak. The water levels are higher and when water recedes it leaves even more mud for the midges to lay their eggs. Once a deer is bitten by an infected midge it doesn't take long for the disease to progress and they are usually dead within about a week after exposure and just about every case is fatal.

 

Never had EHD, Blue Tongue or CWD here and hopefully never do DNR here has reduced the population too much already. Some nice bucks being produced, if you see any!

 

Its not just EHD, though its a contributor. As mentioned above by others, unlimited amount of archery doe tags, two bucks allowed, and an unGodly amount of firearm tags. Yes, leftover tags are available at Wally World or were right up until firearm season.

I am ready for a one buck allowed per season limit as in Indiana. Aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnndddddddddd, I thought I'd never say this but I am ready for archery/firearm proficientcy tests before an individual is allowed to purchase deer tags. Don't want to stir up a hornet's next but I swear after listening to several hunters stories locally that more deer are wounded these days than in the past. Archers especially need educated on their limitations.

 

A one buck state would be my way of thinking as well as going back to the old firearm seasons (and saying adios to the late cwd seasons). The fact we can buy more gun tags OTC is a joke. Let's be realistic here though.....it's the Illinois government we are talking about here, little is likely to change.

 

Illinois needs to make some changes to their idea of deer management.
I seriously doubt the state will as it needs all the money it can get. Unfortunately selling out the deer herd is one of the ways.

First I think number of tags should be reduced. Starting with non resident permits being reduced and going with a preference point system to get a tag.

Remember the days in the late 80's when resident chose in the spring to apply for either archery or firearm permits? Then wait until fall for what was left to apply for the other .
Lets go back to that . Made the herd grow once didn't it ?

Do away with all the late season hunts .....They are only there for the state to make more cash.
Also lets go to a one buck state........one buck per season regardless of method of harvest.

I have been thinking for the past several years the herd and quality of hunting in Illinois was on the decline.
When the state started to allow a person to buy as many tags as they wanted I started seeing reduction in numbers in the areas I hunt. Throw in loss to disease and the numbers got pathetic . Each year the number of deer seen per sit got fewer . The number of shots in gun season got fewer. Each year it also seemed the size of the bucks harvested was getting smaller. Visiting local taxidermy shops it was easy to see this trend in size .

Illinois needs to make some changes. How ever I doubt they will. One day the state will issue more tags than there are deer .

The only positive I see perhaps happening is perhaps fewer outfitters and perhaps drops in lease prices .

 

It hit south central Iowa pretty bad last year. I remember hearing from people having 30+ dead deer on their land. Ours we only found 1 but its easy to tell even to this season deer numbers are still down. Iowa dnr reported deer numbers shrinking since 2006 and last year did not help one bit for us hunters. Hopefully nature steps up its A game and we can turn that trend around.