Unseasonably cold weather and some area of standing corn may be responsible for a slight dip in the opening of the firearm deer season last weekend.
Bow season on the other hand has just edged above both the 2007 and 2006 tallies as of Nov. 24 according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Weather may have cooled the first firearm season according to Paul Shelton, who manages the state’s forest wildlife.
“The weather was unseasonably cold to start the season on Friday, but it appears many hunters were in the field enjoying some success on that day and throughout the first weekend of the firearm deer season,” he said. “Most corn had been harvested, although 10 to 12 percent remained in the fields in the northern part of the state.
“The good news for managers and for deer hunters with permits remaining for the second season is that most of the decline in harvest was a drop in buck harvest,” Shelton added.
Approximately 59 percent of the deer taken this past weekend were bucks, compared with 62 percent bucks taken during the first weekend of the firearm season in 2007, Shelton said.
Jasper Reilly, 11, of Limestone, pictured above, downed a 10-point buck on Nov. 21 hunting a wooded area in Limestone Township with his dad, Adam.
“He was perched in a tree stand when the buck broke cover following a doe into shooting range,” said his dad. “He made a clean shot at 15 yards.”
Jasper has been hunting for two years but this was his first deer.
(more…)
State park closings effective Nov. 30 on orders from Gov. Rod Blagojevich may be sending a mixed message to deer hunters as the state launches efforts to stop the spread of chronic wasting disease in northern Illinois.
But despite the impending park closing, testing centers for Grundy, Ogle and LaSalle counties will remain open for the firearm deer hunt.
Among the parks slated for closing are Gebhard Woods at Morris and Castle Rock near Oregon. Gebhard is the CWD testing center for Grundy County while Castle Rock handles deer taken from Ogle County.
(more…)
Ty Anderson of rural Bonfield, downed this big buck on Saturday afternoon in Fulton County.
—————
Young Ty Anderson of rural Bonfield scored a double last weekend, bagging his first deer during a trip to downstate Fulton County.
Anderson, an eighth grader at Limestone Grade School, was bowhunting with his father Craig when he downed a button buck on Friday and a nice 8-to-10 point buck on Saturday afternoon.
“The deer was a 10-pointer that green scored at 158 inches,” explained Craig Anderson. “It is an 8-point frame with two scoreable sticks.” The buck green scored at 153 3/8 as an 8-pointer.
(more…)
The archery season for wild turkey is off to a slow start statewide according to a report state Forest Wildlife manager Paul Shelton.
“Harvest to date is 515, down from last year’s 564, but slightly ahead of harvest during 2005 and 2006,” Shelton said recapping the season’s first 43 days.
Locally the early turkey harvest is running modestly ahead of last year’s numbers across The Daily Journal region.
(more…)
The Chip & Crack Youth Trapshooting League will begin its winter season at noon on Saturday, Nov. 15, at the X-Line Gun Club.
X-Line is also starting a four-week introduction to trapshooting league on Nov. 21. The introductory league meets on Fridays through Dec. 19.
For more information on either league, contact Jack Miller at 815) 295-1194.
DePatis completes Olympic training
Kelcey DePatis, of Donovan, a member of the Chip & Crack League, has completed Junior Olympic Development training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
(more…)
This year’s flight of endangered whooping crane chicks led by ultralight aircraft will be by-passing the Kankakee area for the first time in eight years.
Fourteen whooping crane chicks led by their surrogate human parents in four ultralight aircraft landed Monday in Winnebago County on their 1,285-mile-long migration from central Wisconsin to Florida.
High winds have grounded today’s flight in Winnebago County where the birds and planes landed Monday.
The flight is designed to establish a new migration route for the endangered birds. “There is one more stop on our traditional route before we start the new one,” said lead pilot Joe Duff in his on-line field journal at the Operation Migration Web site, www.operationmigration.org.
That stopover is planned for LaSalle County before swinging southeast into Livingston County.
(more…)
Hunters have until Friday, Nov. 7, to apply for this fall’s firearm and muzzleloader-only deer season permits.
Applications are being taken on-line through the DNR Direct link on the Department of Natural Resources Web site. CLICK HERE for link.
Archery hunters are seeing more signs afield that the rut is near. Rub marks on trees and brush are showing up more often as cooler weather approaches.
As of Tuesday 27,921 deer had been taken by bow hunters statewide. Will, Iroquois and Grundy counties continue to lead the deer harvest locally.
(more…)
