Illinois deer hunters take a look

[jonsimoneau]

Many of you are concerned about the changes that have taken place in the last 10 years, and rightfully so.  Here is the latest article from Don Higgins (North American Whitetail) on his views of the subject.  

 http://www.prairiestateoutdoors.com/index.php?/pso/article/higgins_article/

[waknstak IL]

Jon, the article is for the most part right on the money! I only have public land to hunt on and I find I see more non residents in the lots than residents anymore. I'm not against out of state hunters, But more reasonable limits need to be put in place so that all can enjoy a safe and pleasurable experience. Our deer herd has been increasingly exploited over the past 10 years. The permits keep getting more plentiful, but the access unfortunately isn't keeping pace. Unfortunately deer hunting is big business now, So how do we change it???

[jonsimoneau]

Wakandstack, that's just it.  The DNR is trying to cut down on doe numbers more.  They just keep giving out more and more permits.  But the areas where we have doe problems are this way mainly due to the fact that so much of the land is not accessable anymore.  So because there are more permits out there, public lands are being degraded more and more, but the problem areas are seeing no changes at all.  Many people think that our numbers of mature bucks, and the age class has been declining, and I tend to agree with this. Adding another gun day to November will do nothing to improve, and will only hurt things. Adding more days to the late season antlerless only hunt will only add to more bucks being killed.  I think they said that 24% of the harvest at this time is actually bucks.  So much for the antlerless only thing. I think that antlerless season needs to be held in September in order to see any results.  Also, I would rather see the gun hunters get 10 continuous days in a row in December than the 7 that they currently get in November. Mostly, I'd like to see our DNR go about management the way Iowa does it.  But that's just me.

[jonsimoneau]

Also, we in Illinois must realize that we do have a great deer herd, but that it is declining due to poor management decisions in the last 10 or 15 years.  We must strive to stop this from happening so we can maintain a good thing.  Some people just don't get "If it aint broke don't fix it."

[Tall Paul]

Now THAT is an excellent article!

The Illinois DNR is in a "Death Spiral".

[Wary Buck]

An excellent article, and much of it unfortunately reminded me of some of the knee-jerk or "where the heck did that idea come from" management that we've seen in my state of NE.  

And if your DNR has anything in common with your Gov. Blago, I do feel sorry for you guys.  When politics outweighs common sense, as it nearly always seems to, we are the losers.

[suzie_shooter]

the article is very true i live in pike county and actually had given up bowhunting for two years because i had lost my hunting ground to an outfitter. it seems like everyday there are two or three more outfitters in the area. and the ground that isnt leased by an outfitter is owned by a non-resident further limiting the resident hunter.  you can tell a major decrease in our trophy class bucks as well. Yet another thing attributed to outfitters.  several of them are great people and manage the herd correctly but alot are in it for the money and allow to many of our up and coming bucks to be shot.  It has also made an impact on the youth of our area.  with no where to take their kids hunting the number of new and young hunters is declining rapidly.

[Brian Krebs]

It does not appear that the Illinois fish and game is working for the average Illinois hunter.

 I see this in other states; I think that we need to work on the level of involvement in our situations.

 This is a government for the people; of the people and by the people - and our fish and game department employees work for us.

 They seem to not have a grasp of that.  

[Fletcher]

So, how many of you IL guys are members of the UBI or IBS who are working these issues and can use the support of all Illinois bowhunters?