The Illinois Department of Natural Resources or IDNR announced hunters took a total of 71,675 deer during the 7-day 2021 Illinois Firearm Deer Season that concluded December 5th. A total of 77,160 deer were hunted during 2020.
IDNR Spokesperson Tim Schweizer says that there are still some hunting opportunities available.
The preliminary harvest for the second segment of the firearm season for 202 from December 2-5th was 21,375 compared with 29,432 during 2020. There were 50,300 deer harvested for the first segment of the firearm season that took place November 19th-21st.
Schweizer says it’s unclear why numbers were down this year.
In Christian County, there were 569 deer hunted as opposed to 613 in 2020. In Shelby County, there were 1202 deer hunted as opposed to 1248 in 2020. Montgomery County was the exception as there 851 deer hunted, as opposed to 816 in 2020. Randolph County saw the most deer hunted this year with 2,162 deer harvested.
