I was out Friday and Saturday in McLean County. I heard 1 or 2 shots Friday, and none on Saturday. Usually this area sounds like a shooting range on Gun Opener. I did not see anything - out of the same blind where I shot a doe out of a group of 10 or so 2 weeks ago.
A friends dad took a nice massive 18 pointer in west central Illinois opening day. Then the friend took a nice solid 8 Saturday. Have not heard much else out of the people I know around my area.
I didn't gun hunt in IL this year, but I haven't heard of anyone taking a good buck on the ground I bowhunt. I have some close friends who own land near where I hunt and none of them have taken any good bucks this year....bow or gun. While bowhunting this year, I've seen the fewest amount of deer that I ever have in IL. Didn't get many trailcam pics of good bucks this year; maybe 3 bucks that I would shoot compared to at least a dozen last year. It's making me think about not spending close to $500 for an IL tag next year. I might try another state next year....KS, OH, KY or IN.
In brown county I heard fewer shots than ever this weekend. Out of 7 guys hunting our property we only took 4 deer. Luckily I tagged out. I took a doe and a small 7pt. Only saw 6 deer all weekend though. Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2
Seen hardly any chasing this year while in the woods. And I spend a lot of time in the woods. Normally I see deer chasing out in the fields around my property. Zero chasing in daylight in picked corn fields. Didn't hear the normal shooting any where around this year.
My family hunts Iroquois County. We have had a great year for shooting big ones, but the numbers are not there in most of the places. There are pockets of good and bad as far as herd numbers go, there are more pockets of bad that we are seeing. I am also seeing a great in balance of sex ratios, with mostly bucks and younger bucks at that. I actually think it would be better for us to shoot 1 1/2 old bucks this year versus taking does & I have worked hard for years at not shooting the smaller bucks. After talking with the local hunters everyone is pretty much saying the same thing. I am very interested in seeing the numbers this year. My brothers from opening day.
I gunhunt in Southern IL and I don't think EHD hit that hard where im at. The reason I know is because numbers are still looking good and I have 2 Albino Bucks running around. They are both in the 4.5 year old range. Saw them both live and well this past weekend during gun season and have seen them alive for the past few years. I choose not to relinquish the County in order to protect the Albinos.
While this season has been frustrating, I am personally not giving up on the state of IL just yet. When scouting I still see scrapes and deer trails everywhere. It has without a doubt been slow, but there is still time for things to pick up. Worst case, my guess is that this is just a down year and we will be back to being the BEST buck state next fall.
Talking to a friend at work, his brother took a deer to one if the local processors, Magro's. I guess they said this is one of their worst intakes on record. The numbers should be out today or tomorrow, but I'd bet you will get the same response across the state.
