Deer harvest up in Illinois, down in Scott County

By Editor | February 5, 2025 |

By BETH ZUMWALT & DAVID CAMPHOUSE

Scott County deer hunters harvested 352 deer during the recently completed 2024-2025 deer hunting seasons. That number is down slightly down from last year’s 378.

That dip in the number of deer harvested makes Scott County an outlier. Most counties in the region, and the State of Illinois as a whole, saw an increase in the number of deer harvested this year compared to last

Hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 170,758 deer during all 2024-2025 archery and firearm seasons, which concluded Jan. 19.

The preliminary total for 2024-2025 compares with a total harvest of 160,313 deer for all seasons in 2023-2024.

During the 2024-2025 deer seasons, hunters took 46.27% females and 53.72% males. Final harvest totals by season and county can be found in the annual deer harvest report, which will be published later this spring.

Randolph County was the leader of the deer harvest with 2,299, followed by Adams County with 2,291, Jackson came in with 2,010 and and Jefferson County was just behind Pike with1,912.

Carson Mefford, of Pike County and an avid deer hunter, said he believes the weather was better the first season and more hunters were in the field.

“But by the second season, it was colder and the deer were hitting the food plots,”Mefford said.

Mefford went on to say that the deer population is out of control in Pike County.

“I was out, in the country and saw 65 deer in one area,” Mefford said. “They need to bring back the late winter doe season.”

Most farmers, especially those who farm bottom land, where food and water are both plentiful, agree the deer numbers are out of control.

Brady Borrowman, who lives near the Ray Norbett West Preservation Area, just north of Rockport, says IDNR will not allow any hunting on the preserve and the deer that have found sanctuary there are just destroying acres of crops.

Facing escalating crop damage, the Jasper and Clark County Farm Bureaus hosted a meeting for local farmers and landowners to voice their concerns to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

During the Jan. 21 meeting in Newton, IDNR shared information and answered questions regarding local deer populations and hunting regulations.

“The deer nuisance problem is very serious in my district. It’s something that needs attention,” Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dieterich, told FarmWeek at the start of the meeting. “We’re here today to make sure that those voices are heard and to make sure we’re doing the right thing moving forward on the deer population issue.”

There are two legal ways to remove deer in Illinois — licensed hunting and deer removal permits issued by IDNR. Deer removal permits can be granted if deer are damaging property or threatening public health and safety.

“When it comes to limited quotas (on the harvest of deer per hunter), we see those come into place in the firearm level or season,” IDNR Forest Wildlife Program Manager Dan Skinner said at the meeting. “In Illinois, our management unit for deer is set at the county level. So, we make our management decisions at the county level.”

Skinner said IDNR is reassessing how it calculates an area’s deer population to ensure an adequate number of tags are available. This includes updating and standardizing the deer-vehicle accident (DVA) reporting system used to help decide quotas during the firearm season. In recent years however, Skinner said IDNR has discovered the DVA data “might not be telling the whole story of what’s going on.”

An objective of IDNR’s research with Southern Illinois University, which will begin in July 2025, is to look for additional ways to estimate county-by-county deer population density. Skinner said this research is expected to wrap up in June 2026.

“There is no doubt we are facing devastation in our fields,” Jasper County farmer Bruce Lewis told FarmWeek. “It was very important for IDNR and our representative to be at this meeting and take our ideas to the state to help us control the population.”

IDNR encouraged farmers who are facing crop damage like Lewis to submit photos of the damage to their district biologist. After proving damage, they can receive 10 permits to remove deer from the field. Each Illinois district biologist can be found online at wildlifeillinois.org/idnr-district-wildlife-biologist/.

“Farm Bureau members throughout the state have made it clear that this is a top issue for them, and we have made it a legislative priority this spring,” said Anna McKinley, Illinois Farm Bureau assistant director of state legislation, addressing IFB’s ongoing efforts to find a solution. “We have been working with legislators and stakeholders to introduce legislation that gives landowners more tools for deer management on their own properties, while also encouraging doe harvest during regular hunting seasons.”

2024-2025 deer harvest statistics by season

ν Archery deer hunters took a preliminary total of 73,598 deer during the season that began Oct. 1 and concluded Jan. 19. The total archery harvest during the 2023-2024 season was 71,226 deer.

ν Youth deer hunters harvested a preliminary total of 4,057 deer during the three-day Illinois youth deer season Oct. 12-14, compared to 4,576 in 2023.

ν Firearm season hunters took a preliminary total of 82,496 deer during the firearm season Nov. 22-24 and Dec. 5-8. This compares to a harvest of 76,494 deer taken during the 2023 firearm season.

ν Muzzleloader hunters harvested a preliminary total of 2,832 deer during the muzzleloader-only season Dec. 13-15, compared with a harvest of 3,378 deer during the 2023 muzzleloader season.

ν Late-winter seasons: The 2024-2025 late-winter antlerless-only and special chronic wasting disease (CWD) deer seasons concluded Jan. 19 with a combined preliminary harvest total for both seasons of 7,775 deer. Season dates for the seven-day late-winter and CWD seasons were Dec. 26-29 and Jan. 17-19. During the same seasons in 2023-2024, a total of 4,639 deer were taken. Eighteen northern Illinois counties were open to the special CWD season, which is used to assist in slowing the spread of chronic wasting disease in the Illinois deer herd. And 27 counties were open for the late-winter antlerless season in 2024-2025 compared to 23 counties in 2023-2024. Counties that are at or below their individual deer population goal for two consecutive years may be removed from the late-winter season.