Weather and standing corn are assumed to be the reasons that the pace of harvest by Illinois bowhunters continues to drop off the record one it was on in October. Through Sunday, bow harvest of deer in Illinois was 49,546, off the pace of the three-year period of 2005-07.
Here are details from forest wildlife program manager Paul Shelton:
Preliminary archery deer harvest totals through Sunday, November 15 stand at 49546, compared to previous year totals of 45844 (2008), 50462 (2007), 50396 (2006), and 52075 (2005). Although farmers were working hard last week when conditions were favorable, significant amounts of corn remain unharvested. Hunting conditions were good until Sunday when rain settled in throughout much of the state. Top five counties are Pike (2830), Fulton (1424), Jefferson (1129), Adams (1122), and Peoria (1053). . . .Daily harvest rates increased to 1586 deer/day during the period Monday-Friday (1153 previous week), and 2339 deer/day during the weekend in spite of the rain Sunday (1969 deer/day previous week). Overall harvest rates for the week were only slightly below the previous four-year average. Harvest sex ratios for the week were 32.6% does to 67.4% bucks. Overall sex ratios for the season to date are 50.6% does: 49.4% bucks.
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