Illinois Deer News
 Rural King recalls deer corn May 17, 2013 Illinois, KFVS ... Deer Corn was distributed to 63 retail stores in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan... it has the potential to be contaminated with aflatoxin... Deer meetings May 6, 2013 Illinois, NewsTrib.com ...The DNR has scheduled public open houses to answer questions and receive information about Illinois’ deer herd. Division of Wildlife Resources staff will discuss deer management, hunting regulations and surveillance/management of chronic wasting disease.... Abingdon taxidermist retains license April 19, 2013 Illinois, Galesburg Register-Mail ... In 2011, IDNR began an extensive investigation into an Illinois deer poaching case that led to the arrest of men from Minooka, Ontario and New York. The men eventually pleaded guilty to their charges and had their hunting privileges suspended... Public Deer Meetings, Wild Things and Out and About April 12, 2013 Illinois, Peoria Journal Star ... The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) has scheduled a series of open houses in June so the public can ask questions and hear about efforts to manage deer in Illinois ... Hours will be from 4-7 p.m. at the following locations and dates: June 3: Rockford Public Library (East Branch), 6685 East State St. June 4: Hickory Hills Discovery Center, St. Charles Park District, 3795 Campton Hills Road, St. Charles. June 5: Champaign County Farm Bureau Auditorium, 801 Country Fair Dr., Champaign. June 6: John A. Logan College, 700 Logan Drive, Carterville. June 11: PASA Park, #1 Pasa Park, Barry. CWD ILLINOIS Evaluation of a wild deer.. April 12, Illinois Bowhunting ... So if I'm reading this right the state killed over 14,000 deer not including what hunters took in these Counties over 10 years to determine 163 deer had CWD. I use to hunt in McHenry County when this whole CWD thing came to life. It is not too different from EWD in terms of seeing the deer population drop. The only problem is the deer herd is being reduced by the state killing the deer to test them. I now hunt in central Illinois and hope CWD and the sharpshooters don't make there way down there. [see article: Evaluation of a wild white-tailed deer population management program for controlling chronic wasting disease in Illinois, 2003–2008 Minooka hunter pleads guilty to poaching charges April 9, 2013 Illinois, Joliet Herald News ... Christopher Kiernan, 46, was a celebrity in the hunting world after he took the 36-point non-typical deer scoring 261 5/8 and valued at $35,000. But Kiernan was branded a criminal in November 2011, when he was charged by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources after an 11-month investigation ... What's in store next time for Illinois' deer herd? April 8, 2013 LaSalle News Tribune ... The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has scheduled a series of open houses for the public to ask questions and receive information about Illinois’ deer herd this June... New Wildlife Website Launched, Living with Wildlife April 8, 2013 Illinois, Alton Daily News Deer, coyotes and raccoons ... a website to educate you about situations where you unexpectedly encounter wildlife ... “It’s a very useful resource for anyone in the state who is interested in how to prevent wildlife damage to their property,” ... Living with Wildlife in Illinois Reporting Deeer Kill, Stocking efforts paying off at Patoka, other lakes April 6, 2013 Illinois, Evansville Courier & Press ... hunters still prefer to check in deer at traditional check stations as 82,151 deer were checked there followed by 53,389 checked in on-line. Only 708 hunters elected to use the newly instilled Tele-Check system, which this year had an unpopular three dollar user fee attached... DuPage County deer test negative for fatal disease April 2, 2013 Illinois, Chicago Daily Herald ;;; 20 additional deer tested for chronic wasting have all come back negative ... an infected animal was found in Mallard Lake Forest Preserve near Hanover Park. It was the first time a deer in DuPage has tested positive for the neurological disorder... Influence of landscape factors on density of suburban white-tailed deer March 27, 2013 RE Urbanek, CK Nielsen - Landscape and Urban Planning, 2013 ... We assessed the influence of landscape factors on density of suburban deer on 40 forest preserves in northeastern Illinois during 1999–2002 ... Patch density of agricultural land within preserve borders (ω = 0.95; β′ = 0.47), the mean nearest neighbor distance between all cover patches within preserve borders (ω = 0.95; β′ = 0.38), the diversity of patch types within preserve borders (ω = 0.66; β′ = −0.24), and the percent core area of forested land within preserve borders (ω = 0.52; β′ = 0.21) were the strongest predictors of suburban deer density. Natural resource managers should limit agricultural practices, reduce core areas of forest patches, and increase diversity of land cover patches within preserve borders to potentially reduce deer densities and limit deer population growth... DNR creative with spending cuts and deer reduction March 24, 2013 Illinois, Rockford Register Star In 1901, Illinois' deer herd was so small the state closed the deer-hunting season. After it reopened in 1957, the deer population grew. By the late 1990s ... a surplus of deer ... Since 2005-06, the deer harvest dropped 10.2 percent because there were fewer deer... Deer-management experts estimate that the size of the Illinois white-tail deer herd at 750,000-800,000 animals ... Public Meetiings Just Public Relations? Miller's Time for the Illinois deer herd March 12, 2013 Heartland Outdoors ... Not a single positive regulation has been put in place by recent IDNR directors that benefits the Illinois whitetail herd. Instead, politicians and greedy special interest groups have directed the course of Illinois whitetail management down a path of slow but steady destruction. Now we have the IDNR, under current director Marc Miller, set to schedule public meetings for input on the management of our deer herd... These public meetings will probably be used as nothing more than an opportunity for IDNR to say that they solicited public input... Seven convicted in deer poaching cases March 8, 2013 Illinois, Washington Times-Reporter Seven men charged in Illinois deer poaching cases have entered guilty pleas ... The charges stemmed from investigations conducted by IDNR Conservation Police officers, along with law enforcement officers from Michigan, Indiana and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011... Deer Hunting Applications Online March 7, 2013 Illinois, ChicagoNow ... Resident Illinois deer hunters can apply online beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Tues., March 12 (through April 30) for the first lottery drawings for 2013 Illinois firearm and muzzleloader-only deer season .... The first lottery drawings for firearm and muzzleloader-only deer permits are for Illinois residents only... Illegal deer hunting costs Kankakee man big bucks February 28, 2013 Illinois, Kankakee Daily Journal ... Weldon "Jesse" Bean pleaded guilty to illegally hunting without permission, illegally taking a white-tailed buck with a rifle, illegally hunting within 300 yards of a dwelling, illegal possession of a white-tailed deer, failure to immediately tag ... Campton Township deer disease testing upsets some February 28, 2013 Illinois, Chicago Daily Herald Campton Township recently gave permission to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to kill up to five deer near Corron Farm and test them for chronic wasting disease. Officials say the study is part of a larger sampling of deer in a 25-mile area ... "I don't think they should test (the deer) at all. There's nothing they can do about it other than slaughter all the deer in the state... " [Township resident John Hubbard] Sunset Hills deer survey will continue until spring February 18, 2013 Illinois, SuburbanJournals ... The committee has taken two of six surveys to count the deer. The surveys are taken at night by car on designated routes ... Erin Shank, an urban wildlife biologist for the St. Louis region of the Missouri Department of Conservation, praised the committee for starting an early approach to detect any deer problems... If 20 deer are measured per square mile, it is ecologically viable for them, she said. They can eat without disturbing the land. However, 40 is the danger zone ... Nature Conservancy land will be offered for deer hunting February 17, 2013 Illinois, Peoria Journal Star ... The Conservancy says it has long considered hunting a management tool, but this is the first time since the Emiquon property was purchased in 2000 that deer hunting will be allowed. Proposals are being accepted for the lease of up to 1,200 acres of the 6,700 acres here... “Hunting has become an industry. There are people who make a profit from it.” [local hunter] ... Tangled Deer Antlers Separated After Illinois Police Officer Shoots Them Apart February 15, 2013 Huffington Post The bucks got stuck last week in Illinois after a bitter duel ... One of the officers was able to shoot the bucks' racks apart, but one deer did have to be euthanized after being freed, while the other one survived ... Illinois deer harvest totals 180,669 February 5, 2013 Paris Beacon News Hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 180,669 deer during all 2012-13 seasons. Illinois deer seasons closed last weekend as hunters concluded the Archery Deer Season ... IL Deer Harvest Largely Unaffected by Drought January 28, 2013 Illinois, Tri States Public Radio ... the ongoing drought did not seem to affect was the number of deer in Illinois... hunters killed nearly 181-thousand deer, only one thousand less than one year ago... The department’s Paul Shelton said ... drought might have affected deer populations in isolated areas by reducing the amount of food or by causing outbreaks of hemorrhagic disease. Illinois DNR reports 180,669 deer harvested this season January 25, 2013, WREX-TV Illinois hunters brought home a total of 180,669 deer during all 2012 - 2013 seasons... Why Do I Hunt? January 24, 2013 Illinois, Bowhunting.Com (blog) ... As I was cutting my bowhunting teeth, I measured success by the number of things I could make dead. Any deer was a good deer to me. Somewhere along the line however, that changed. I suppose it has a lot to do with the fact that as I started to manage my hunting properties and improve the deer herd, I started to enjoy building relationships with specific deer and watching them grow... I silently cringe every time I hear someone say they shot a button buck ... DuPage deer found with chronic wasting disease January 15, 2013 Illinois, Elgin Courier News The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County is working with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to further test for chronic wasting disease after a deer was found to have the illness in the district's Mallard Lake Forest Preserve ... Kraskiewicz said that the forest district’s deer management program already helps control the transmission of diseases such as CWD. Last year, the district culled 250 deer as part of that program, with 85 tested according to IDNR standards. [culling the herd to reduce CWD has been found to be ineffective in other states] An update on the deer archery season from the DNR January 7, 2013 Illinois, ChicagoNow I…. As of January 6, 2013, Illinois archery deer harvest stood at 56,904, compared to 59,176 taken during the same time period last year... Two weeks of hunting remain in the season. Sex ratios of the harvest to date are 49.5% female:50.5% male, and harvest during the past three weeks has been greater than 60% female. Shed collecting pays dividends December 19, 2012 Illinois, ChicagoNow ... Deer grow their antlers beginning within a day or two after they shed the previous year’s growth. ... if an antler is injured it will often grow in a "non‑typical" shape. Even after shedding, the next year's antler and all future antlers are likely to develop in that same pattern... fence crossings are a good place to check for sheds. Illinois deer hunting: Firearm season up, slightly December 5, 2012 SunTimes ... Firearm deer hunters in Illinois took a preliminary total of 99,324 deer during the seven-day ... compares with the 97,820 deer taken during the 2011 firearm season... Preliminary harvest reports show the top five county totals for deer taken during the seven-day firearm season were Pike (3,068), Fulton (2,815), Adams (2,534), Jo Daviess (2,534), and Randolph (2,221)... Warm Temperatures to Blame for Poor Hunting Weekend December 3, 2012 Illinois, WSIL TV ... in Southern Illinois it was a shotgun season to forget ...-deer have a tendency to move around more when it's cold--making it easier for hunters to spot them.... A full moon earlier this week may have also caused the number of kills to decrease... East Central Illinois deer herd decimated by EHD. December 2, 2012 HuntingNet.com ... Every deer brought in over 160" was tagged by a warden and died from EHD, even 1 from a local game farm which was inoculated for the disease, yet died from it... I have hunted in Clark County for 16 years and if you were to tell me that I would see 10 deer(from stand) in 7 days of firearm hunting. I would've laughed at you... EHD is definately no joke,, everyone was worried about CWD and this disease came in and wiped out our deer herd.. Hunters harvesting more deer this year than last November 21, 2012 Illinois, LaSalle News Tribune The Illinois Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday reported that hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 72,111 deer during the opening weekend of the 2012 Illinois Firearm Deer Season, Nov. 16-18... compares with the first weekend harvest of 66,501 deer during the 2011 deer season... Checking in on CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease) check-ins November 17, 2012 Illinois, Chicago Sun-Times ... check stations have disappeared, except for counties where chronic wasting disease has been found... If the hunter agrees, the sampler slits the neck, removes the lymph nodes and obex (brain stem) and puts them in a bottle of Formalin (sent to the Illinois Department of Agriculture lab in Galesburg), cuts off the end of the tongue (sent to the University of Illinois, where Nohra Mateus-Pinillais is studying the DNA/family connections of CWD) and finally pries open the jaws to age the deer by checking the teeth. Illinois Firearm Deer Season Opens This Weekend November 16, 2012 Pontiac Daily Leader ... the Illinois Firearm Deer Season – which begins Friday, November 16 through Sunday, November 18... Hunters in Illinois harvested 98,820 deer during the seven-day firearm deer hunting season in 2011. So far this season, approximately 334,000 permits have been issued. For information on remaining permits, check the IDNR website at this link: www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/deer Don't bait deer with cocaine November 16, 2012 Illinois, LaSalle News Tribune Deer baiting is illegal ... Salt blocks, apples and mineral blocks were being used to attract deer to an area ... said some hunters pour a bag of Deer Co-Cain (that’s right) onto the ground to participate in the time-honored tradition of the autumnal venison harvest. “Deer cocaine” is a generic term used by hunters for various attractants and baits, commercial and homemade, and “Deer Co-Cain” is a commercial attractant. ... Deer hunters move into fields as season opens, deer know to stay in the campsite - November 16, 2012 Illinois, The State Journal-Register With 230 firearm hunters at the Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area this weekend, it might be surprising to learn the safest place for a deer is the site campground. “You drive around the campground in the middle of the night and it will be full of deer, because they know they are OK in there,” said site superintendent Michael Wickens. “When the hunters come back (at night), the deer are right there.” Controversial arrow pointed at crossbow November 16, 2012 Illinois, Peoria Journal Star ... Gov. Pat Quinn signed HB 4819 allowing the use of crossbows during the second half of archery deer hunting season ... The new crossbow rule has been controversial among deer hunters, some who see the crossbow as a different type of weapon entirely ... Hunters successful in taking a deer during the firearm season in most counties must register the deer they harvest online through the IDNR website at http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Pages/HarvestReporting.aspx They're b-a-a-a-c-k November 8, 2012 Illinois, Illinois Times Everybody read about it – a high-tech hunter got video evidence that confirmed the presence in a Morgan County woods of an adult cougar, only the fourth known to have been sighted in Illinois since the 1870s ... Star Bucks November 8, 2012 Illinois, Illinois Times Throughout the nation, deer had been hunted to near extinction by the turn of the 20th century. In Illinois, conservation efforts began in 1853 ... “Immense numbers of deer are killed every year by the hunters, who take them for the hams and skins alone, throwing away the rest of the carcase,” wrote A.D. Jones in an 1838 treatise on life on the frontier that was then Illinois... the deer population didn’t bounce back. By the 1930s, the United States Forest Service and the Illinois Department of Conservation ... were releasing deer into the wilds of southern Illinois from game farms ... Chronic wasting disease control program results for 2011-2012 November 7, 2012 Illinois, The Rock River Times One of the most dramatic examples of the potential of CWD comes from southeastern Wyoming, where more than 50 percent of tested mule deer in the South Converse Hunting Unit (1,224 square miles) had CWD during the 2011 hunting season ... in northern Illinois. The first case was found in a white-tailed deer near Roscoe, Ill., in 2002... In 2011-2012, results were obtained from 8,175 deer tested statewide for CWD. ... 36 deer in seven counties were found to be CWD-positive ... Deer-vehicle collisions high in November October 29, 2012 Illiniois, bcrnews.com According to data collected by State Farm Insurance, the month of November continues to be the most dangerous month of the year for deer/vehicle collisions, with more than 18 percent of deer/vehicle collisions occurring in November ... , if an impact with a deer seems inevitable, the driver should try not to react too quickly and swerve to get out of the way, which can often cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle and cause greater damage ... Deer-killing, insect-borne disease [EHD] reaches area October 11, 2012 Illinois LaSalle News Tribune ;;;[EHD] evidently has spread to the Illinois Valley ... a deer death on the last day of September in Putnam County as a probable epizootic hemorrhagic disease case... Tom Micetich, deer program manager for the DNR ... month-end report indicated more than 2,000 deer in 76 Illinois counties likely had died from the disease, but those deaths were recorded south of the Illinois Valley or in the Chicago metropolitan area... Grand jury indicts Kiernan over alleged deer poaching October 9, 2012 Illinois, Morris Daily Herald ... According to prior reports, Kiernan was one of three men charged in November 2011, following an 11-month deer poaching investigation including multiple states and Canada. More than 40 charges were initially filed against him, related to allegations that he unlawfully took a total of 24 deer in Illinois and Canada over a 10-year period... CWD in Stephenson and Jo Daviess County October 8, 2012 Illinois, Freeport Journal-Standard Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) ... was first found in white-tailed deer in Illinois during 2002 ...Most of the disease cases found to date (>60 percent) have been clustered along the Boone-Winnebago county line ... The most recent report occurred last year at the very southwest corner of Stephenson near Jo Daviess and Carroll counties... Specific information regarding CWD and the testing locations is available on the IDNR website at http://dnr.state.il.us/cwd/ llinois Update on Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) October 4, 2012 ChicagoNow (blog) ... As of September 30, there were 2,043 deer reported as probable EHD deaths, with reports from 76 counties. The highest numbers were reported from Cook (326); Calhoun (181); Coles (138); Macon and Shelby (121). .... Lab testing has isolated EHDV-6 from several Illinois deer from northwest Cook County ... Will County, Forest preserve deer culling program on hold for now October 3, 2012 Illinois, Joliet Herald News The Will County Forest Preserve District’s deer culling program is on hold this fall. District officials are waiting to see if there are any cases of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) among the deer here before proceeding, said Executive Director Marcy DeMauro. If so, the culling program could be reduced or canceled.... The total number of deer recommended for removal in an August report was 217. Ninety-nine were culled last winter and 134 the year before, which was the first year for culling ... Deer-related traffic crashes escalate September 30, 2012 Illinois, Northwest Herald ... Deer-related traffic accidents statewide increased by about 5 percent in the past two years. There were 17,918 in 2011 compared with 17,123 in 2010, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation... Kane County, Forest Preserve District of Kane County 2012 Deer Management Program. Controlled Archery Component. General Information. Program Rationale September 30, 2012 Illionis ... Non-lethal and lethal methods for managing deer populations, and negative impacts on a large scale were evaluated for efficiency, effectiveness, safety and compliance with Illinois laws. Public input was also gathered at two open house meetings, and through online comments, letters and phone calls. The Forest Preserve District already utilizes non-lethal methods where possible (e.g., fencing and repellants). Based upon all of these factors, the two methods identified as safe, effective, state-approved and suitable to the conditions of the areas under consideration are controlled archery hunting and sharpshooting, limited to where they can be done safely.The District is not proposing the use of sharpshooting in 2012 ... How big is the estimated deer herd in Illinois? September 29, 2012, Chicago Sun-Times ‘‘We no longer conduct deer population modeling to estimate each county’s individual population size, and haven’t for some time, as it is very time-intensive and not necessary for proper management... However, based on population trend information from other sources (such as the rate of deer/vehicle collisions), Illinois’ deer population size is down somewhat from its peak when it was in the range of 750,000-800,000. I would have to place it in the range of 700,00-725,000, which would be much more in line with goals ... As recommended by the Task Force, Illinois’ deer population goals are based upon the rate of deer/vehicle collisions (number of collisions taking into account for the amount of traffic). | Search for news and information by keyword above or find links to state news stories organized by topic.
Other useful links: - Living with White-tailed Deer in Illinois, University of Illinois Extension - Fox Valley Wildlife Center - Illinois Environmental Protection Agency - Illinois Deer Hunting Information - Illinois Department of Natural Resources Deer Management Objective: The JTF recommends that the rate of deer/vehicle accidents be used as the objective to guide deer management and to judge the success or failure of the state’s deer management programs. The specific target rate (both statewide and at the county level) was set at halfway between the minimum and maximum rates measured during the period 1994 through 2007. The statewide target rate corresponds to a 14 percent decrease in the accident rate from the statewide peak observed during 2003. From Joint Deer Task Force Final Recommendations, 2009
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