05/04/2025
Are the glory days nearly over for Illinois quality bucks? Illinois is proposing longer seasons as well as rifle hunting. While EHD and over hunting has most of us seeing less and less deer, Illinois continues its aggressive heard reduction efforts despite what veteran hunters want. Within my circle of friends and other hunters around the state, we see less deer and mature buck numbers have tanked as well. Still the state strives to kill more.
Land owners practicing whitetail management find it's rough when the neighbors have a hand full of tags in their pocket. You better control a lot of ground for your local herd of whitetail, otherwise the outcome ultimately is over harvest. In a solid block of timber, five farms can practice whitetail management but if farm number six kills every deer they see it wrecks the entire effort.
I used to hunt public but now hunting public for a mature buck is more of a quest than a hunt. Compounding the effects, EHD is a mass killer that is sweeping the state year after year. I own some of the best deer habitat in the Illinois. Twenty years ago I could sit in a tree on a cool November morning and count on seeing a two dozen plus deer and at least one being a mature buck. Now I'd have to sit in the same tree for a week and I'd feel lucky to even see a good buck. My strategy for big deer used to be get in the woods and eventually a big boy would show because there were plenty. Now I blanket the timber with cameras in hopes of finding a single shooter then hunt him exclusively till he slips up. I'm starting to actually feel bad when I whack the only shooter left alive. I'm no biologist and you can say what you want about my opinion. For I'm old now and my view is blurrier than it once was but throughout my lifetime when it came to hunting anyways, there's a general rule that I could count on. Good things never last! Hopefully I'm wrong this time....