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Ralph Loos

Illinois deer harvest report released, crossbow kill freezes for first time

Home Page News, Hunting, Illinois, National Hunting, National News, News /

We now know Illinois bowhunters took 71,226 deer last season – a few clicks short of the state record 75,106 taken in 2020-21 but a tick above the 68,625 harvested in 2022-23.
Of greater interest is the fact that two-thirds of antlered deer taken during the 2023-24 archery season had between 7 and 10 points, while 1.3% had 14 points or more. And the hunters? For the first time since 2017 legislation removed restrictions on crossbows, the proportion of Illinois deer harvested with crossbows (53.4%) versus those harvested with compound bows (45.5%) leveled off.

Illinois deer harvest report released, crossbow kill freezes for first time Read More »

Will Illinois CWD meetings set tone for DNR’s report on disease?

Featured, Hunting, Illinois, News /

The invitation could be seen as cryptic. Or it could be considered proactive. One thing it isn’t is new.
Illinois DNR has, over the years, called a handful of public meetings to discuss CWD in the state’s deer herd. So the eight such meetings recently scheduled in northern Illinois counties between Sept. 23 and Oct. 9 are not unusual. The timing, however, is curious.

Will Illinois CWD meetings set tone for DNR’s report on disease? Read More »

Ralph Loos: Illinois deer hunters still waiting for last year’s harvest report with new season looming

Featured, Hunting, Illinois, National Hunting, Opinion /

Illinois bowhunters are only a couple weeks away from beginning a brand new deer season with absolutely no idea how last season turned out, even though it’s been 249 days – roughly 5,976 hours, give or take – since the last arrow was knocked and released.
It doesn’t get any more Illinois than that. Nobody has ever fully explained how DNR’s system of tracking the state’s deer harvest went awry, but as recently as a few years ago, anyone with a hankering for a hunk of harvest could go to the DNR website and learn exactly how many deer had been taken at any point in the season.

Ralph Loos: Illinois deer hunters still waiting for last year’s harvest report with new season looming Read More »

Another 100-pounder hits the scales at Alton Catfish Classic in Illinois

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Illinois, National Fishing, National News, News /

The roster of 100-pound fish pulled from the Mississippi River at Alton, Ill., continues to grow, much like the massive blue catfish that attract anglers from across the country.
A team competing in the annual Alton Catfish Classic on Sept. 7 joined the list, catching a blue cat that weighed in at 100.03 pounds to win first place. Much of the credit for the area’s monster fish is given to geography – the Mississippi confluences with the Missouri River at Alton, and the confluence of the Mississippi and the Illinois River sits just 20 miles to the north.

Another 100-pounder hits the scales at Alton Catfish Classic in Illinois Read More »

A cinnamon twist arrives in Illinois as hunters get ready for early teal season

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Illinois, National Hunting, National News, News /

The Illinois early teal season has long been a battle for attention between green-winged teal and blue-winged teal, with blues mostly coming out on top in recent years.
But an incident back in the spring brought a third teal into the picture. A male cinnamon teal was spotted with a group of blue-winged teal in Will County.

A cinnamon twist arrives in Illinois as hunters get ready for early teal season Read More »

Largemouth at 8.3 pounds steals crappies’ thunder at Kinkaid Lake in Jackson County, Ill.

Illinois, Lake Profile, Lake Profile /

A 4½-pound crappie or an 8½-pound bass?
Given the choice of which fish they could catch, anglers would likely hem and haw, dance and dodge, and then dilly-dally before answering with an indecisive, “both?”
Kinkaid Lake in deep southern Illinois could be the place to land both, if recent history is any indication.

Largemouth at 8.3 pounds steals crappies’ thunder at Kinkaid Lake in Jackson County, Ill. Read More »

Number of counties in Illinois’ Restricted Archery Zone holds at five

Featured, Hunting, Illinois, National Hunting, National News, News /

While Illinois DNR did expand the length of the Restricted Archery Zone deer season this year, it did not add counties to the special zone it created back in 2018.
When the bow season opens Oct. 1,  hunters in Champaign, Douglas, Macon, Moultrie, and Piatt counties will only be allowed to take antlered deer. Until now, the special season had that “buck-only”requirement until Oct. 15. It will stretch until Oct. 31 in 2024.

Number of counties in Illinois’ Restricted Archery Zone holds at five Read More »

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