Some Illinois Deer Harvest Numbers..

ribbuster, could it be possible that there are other factors to be considered besides management techniques when examining the total deer harvest figure from one state to another? Have you considered the fact that you're comparing apples to oranges when you are drawing conclusions?

1 Illinois land mass - 57,918 sqare miles
Indiana land mass - 36,420 square miles

Quite a big difference wouldn't you say?

2 Much of Illinois soil contains far more of the minerals conducive to growing large deer

3 Illinois was stocked with a different strain of deer during the reintroduction program (a larger, more northern gene pool)

Bottom line, you cannot possibly compare any one states harvest data to any other and make the claim that one is pursuing the wrong management techniques.

Why are you lauding an Anti Firearms state as to herd management when their deer hunting is more predicated by the restriction of firearms than hunting. While I haven't bothered to check this year I have checked several years in the past and found that even with their anti firearms agenda that Illinois gun hunters usually kill more bucks than Indiana does. which would lead one to believe that there are more deer and more hunters in Ill than in Ind. Which in turn proves nothing and is not worth the time or effort to say that it is better. Just be happy with what you have and quit trying to take away from others anymore than what has already been taken away by special interest groups.

Actually a state that has almost not quite 400,000 more deer is 1/3 the size larger in land mass and has right at 425,000 hunters last I heard should kill more bucks than we do but by percentages we acutally kill more bucks than they do per hunter! This is why they take more and allways should .I mean they have almost twice the deer numbers we have and 2/3 more hunters.

Yes ? We also kill more deer per hunter by percentage and more deer per sq mile .That drives home the points I made that we here in IN are not running our gun seasons right at all . If we were the OBR would not of even been an after thought .The fact that IL blows us away in mature bucks numbers taken yearly and book entries speaks this clearer than I ever could on the changes we need here .Oh ya one last fact they are a 2 buck a year state they are not suffering ill affects from it at all .they are flourishing as a matter of a fact. We need to shorten and move our buck gun season back a week or more imho.

Just because we as a state have been doing something as far as the regs go does not make it right or well advised .Just because we need to shorten and move the time frame of our gun buck season that dose not mean we need to shorten the time we are allowed to take does .Besides the fluff that the state wants us to beleive that there are too many deer in our state is pure rubbish and pushed on us by insurance companies and soccer moms and teenage girls that hit deer because they are talking on the cell phone and not watching what they are doing while the drive .This is shared by more than just MHO !!!

One buck is QDM, so is the 2 buck limit that Illinois uses. both are working well to bring about good deer management. Really hard to compare two states with so many differences in both habitat and management policy.

Yes they are but other than size and numbers which are by percentage hunter per acre per deer are very similar the habitat is all but identical in form and function to our lovely state of Indiana .I just think that the rules of IL. are a better compromise for those who like to hunt and are good at it rather than ill advised hunting bag limit restrictions we had placed on us .There is no reason that the type seasons that IL. ,IA and other enjoy cant be considered that we can and should have the best of both worlds!

With just some tweaking of seasons instead of more poor thought out rules and declines in opportunity that slows or detour's hunting and hunters .They want us to manage the doe herd yet they are very aware that hunters who already may have taken a buck and maybe a doe are 10 times less likely to go back to the woods to just take another doe .Yet they persist in the thought process that somehow spreading the wealth rules /theory will work .Truth is the reason that the same 25% of the folks take the same 75% of all deer killed year in and year out . They are simply better hunters or have far better hunting land than the other 150,000 tag holders that eat tag soup almost every year.I know this seems harsh but is very accurate and as true a statement as I can ever state .I guess I am not much for PC . or mincing words .But by allowing the hunters who seem to get r done every year a reason to keep going they are 10 times more likely to take additional does while pursuing a buck they may or may not take!

Just a thought if spreading the wealth was working everyone would be killing deer and taking big bucks over the last 8 years wouldn't you think??? Nuff said .

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Ky. is considered a tropht deer state and they hunt with rifles 21 days and ML's for 11, all during the rut and with a one buck limit. They compare very well with Indiana in alnd mass and habitat and number of hunters. Ohio and Illinois do not compare well with either Indiana or Ky. Different states use different techniques to achieve the same results.....which is a balanced deer harvest suffienct enough to keep the herd in check and to provide enough quality to keep hunters in the field.

Your right not with the current set up here .But to think a desirable change is not attainable with change is defeatist at best . You will never meet anyone anymore cynical at times than I am because people will always do their worst when looking out only for their personal intrests IMO.

That said its time to take this deer hunting thing here in IN. a different direction in a year or two change is needed to get to the point all hunters are happy not just trophy hunters or outfitters ..Life is short not to push for what we all can live with and still make improvements in herd size ,buck numbers ,and hunter satisfaction.

Great post, mrfixit, but Indiana is going in the opposite direction. Can't agree with the Kentucky comparison or denying that Ill or OH season structure would work here. What is scary, outfitters are looking to lease up and lock down huge chunks (at bargain prices) to get around our firearms season structure.