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Illinois deer harvest drops during gun season, despite addition of rifle hunting

According to DNR, Illinois hunters harvested 76,232 deer during the two firearms weekends in November and December. The seven-day total was below the 76,854 taken last season. (Stock photo courtesy of USFWS)

Southern Illinois again dominated the list of top-harvesting counties during this year’s firearms deer season, but a slight drop in the number of deer taken overall puts to rest a notion that allowing single-shot rifles would dramatically increase harvest statewide.
It also brings up a decades-old question asked by hunters each time the harvest slides: how many deer are there in Illinois?

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