I think some people believe the department of natural resources is responsible for managing/monitoring the health of the deer herd statewide and trust that the amount of deer permits issued are based clearly on data that has been gathered by the DNR. If the DNR is only responsible for selling permits and not for influencing the strength of the herd, “because this is a personal responsibility”, then I wish that would be portrayed by the DNR so hunters are not misled. Do you think youth or new hunters contemplate the health of the herd when they have a legal permit to hunt a deer? Do you think veteran hunters in disease impacted areas with late crop harvests know truly how many they should hold themselves responsible for on October 1st? The latest decrease of 22% across the state is awful as everyone can agree. I don’t feel it is truly anyone’s direct negligence. The two years of EHD are unprecedented and were not recorded and reacted upon on time. Moving forward I hope Illinois adopts plans like some of the contiguous states when enduring disease die offs. I am not whining about not seeing deer, my family and I have experienced our best year ever deer hunting, but we realize the herd health is not good or even average.
Small blame goes to EHD. I've said it for several years now, due to all of the permits sold and hunters trying to fill every tag just because they feel they have to. Not blaming the DNR, but they are more or less puppets to the legislature these days. Politicians and special interests heavily influence or basically tell DNR what to do. It wasn't quite that way many years ago under different leadership.
You guys do remember this is Illinois we're talking about right? As residents of Illinois, we are not allowed to think for ourselves. We need the strict guidance of the general assembly via new laws and regulations. If we could get every hunter to shoot only one deer next year this would only infuriate them and an increase of sharp shooting would result. We need to get rid of the politically controlled joint task force, bring in a few certified wildlife biologists and let them survey the deer here itself. Not use deer vehicle collisions as their basis. A blog/article on heartland outdoors made it sound like a whitetails unlimited Illinois branch or the equivalent was already in the works, that will at least get another special interest group into the political arena.
The DNR kinda has to do what they're told. Every time you turn around funding is being cut from the department.
Just messing around crunching some numbers. According to the IL DNR harvest reports 1st season accounts for roughly 70% of the harvest total for the firearm season and 2nd season about 30%. If you look at this years first season numbers IL is on pace to take a total of about 80,000 deer for the Firearm season. Totals for the last five firearm seasons are as follows- 2008- 106,018 2009- 99,755 2010- 98,944 2011- 97,820 2012- 99,541 Record is 2005- 123,792 That puts it down about 19,000 from last year and down 43,000 from 8 years ago when they set their record.
Well it is a great deal of their responsibility (DNR's). It's their job to track the numbers and to manage the deer as a resource to the best of their ability. If a land manager managing a ranch's deer herd overhunted the land and depleted the deer to low numbers the manager would be fired. I get your point but the fact remains they are supposed to be monitoring the situation and issuing tags based on the population and carrying capcities of the state. If that means at some point they feel it's needed to completely close the season then that's the way it should be or issue far fewer tags. This is the reason the DNR were given the responsability in the first place, not to generate revenue by over issuing tags.....
Illinois DNR is not necessarily ran completely by the DNR if that makes any sense. Just like everything else political in this state....it's screwed up.
If this is true, then I wish the DNR would please state that they are not in control. It is misleading.
The DNR is the deer hunting regulatory authority. Doesn't matter who pulls the strings. (farm bureau, ins companies, etc..) They set the number of tags, they are supposed to be responsive to the size/health of the deer herd. If they don't seriously cut tags next year, the fall of the IL herd lays at their feet. ...and yes, IL is monumentally screwed up. Everyone *****es about their state's DNR/DWR/F&W but IL is really as bad (and worse) than most complaints. In my many dealings with the IL DNR, I've noticed there is a serious disconnect between the guys in the field (regional biologists) and the folks in the offices who make the rules. (All my meetings/interactions had to do with fishing ad rule changes/legislative rule changes... and the fishing guys seem to have their act together better than the deer side... so the deer side must be a mess.)
I think you guys are giving the IDNR too much credit in hkw many decisions they actually make. Its like everything here, most are being made by somebody that's probably never seen a deer in the wild looking at how much money deer hunting brimgs to the state. You think they're gonna listen to someone say we gotta sell half the permits and lose half the money.
All I am saying is if "The DNR is not in control of their office", then please tell us who makes the calls regarding the deer herd. Take the presure off of the DNR and put it were it belongs then. I don't feel this is true. I feel the DNR is in control.
Please direct me somewhere, so I can see in writing that the DNR is not in control of their own office. Maybe I am off. I would love to educate myself if I am.
I dot think its not so much they don't control their own office, but that decisions are made with political interests in mind. The deer joint task force was made in the general assembly and implemented into the DNR. The DNR has had their funding raped by the Chicago politicians to put into other areas it was never intended for. If DNR were to cut permits they'd be essentially cutting funding on two levels, within their own offices and budget as well as the areas the pilfered funds have been distributed to. That's why we're seeing OHV stickers being implemented and every other add on to hunting privileges. Reduce the number of permits, you in turn reduce the revenue. Reduce the revenue an already budget lacking agency is even shorter on funds which in turn will create new stamps or increased license and permit fees. Illinois is in no shape to decrease incoming revenue, so any decrease in permit numbers will signal an even larger increase in fees elsewhere.
I think the obvious is to just raise the price of the permits. If they are making decisions with political interests in mind and not the health of the herd I wish someone would start leaking where and who the issue is.
Like this, my Data signal sucks today at work with the doors down, but how many of these places below are open to hunting, both firearm and archery? Will counties population in 2012- 682,518 Will county firearm totals first season, 2013 and 2012 respectively- Will 260 202 Deer culling to start in Will County The Forest Preserve District of Will County will be culling deer beginning next week with a target of removing 206 deer, mostly does, from seven sites, encompassing 10 forest preserves. This is the third year of the program in response to damage being done to native plant communities by deer feeding on them. An overabundance of deer also endangers the overall health of deer herds. The goal of the management program is to control the deer population to 20-30 per square mile. Preserves and the targeted number of deer for removal are: • Kankakee Sands Geologic Area: 21. (Includes Kankakee Sands, Braidwood Dunes and Savanna and Sand Ridge Savanna, all along Illinois Route 113 east of Braidwood) • Raccoon Grove, north of Peotone: 17. • Goodenow Grove, north of Beecher, 30. • McKinley Woods, Channahon, 63. • Hickory Creek Preseve, Mokena, 60. • Lockport Prairie, 5. • Romeoville Prairie, 10.
It starts and ends in Chicago, we(down staters) are Chicago's proverbial teet for funding. Want change? Get a republican co trolled house and senate and oust house speaker Michael Madigan and senate president John Cullerton.
5 deer? I wonder how much money was spent by the bean counters to decide that a handful of deer need killed? Send a few bowhunters in for a weekend. No need to spend tax dollars on sharp shooters for 5 deer. Hell, they can catch them and release them in Marion County. We are down more than 300 deer from last seasons shotgun harvest.
