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Illinois

* From IDOT…

Motor vehicle crashes involving deer were responsible for four fatalities in 2012, a decrease from six fatalities in 2011. Injuries resulting from a motor vehicle – deer crash decreased from 613 in 2011 to 608 in 2012.

The number of deer-vehicle crashes decreased significantly to 15,489 in 2012, as compared to 18,044 in 2011.

The top 10 counties for collisions involving deer in 2012 were:

1. Cook – 460
2. Madison – 456
3. Peoria – 432
4. Will – 370
5. Fulton – 368
6. Sangamon–335
7. Lake - 333
8. Pike – 288
9. McHenry - 279
10. Kane - 276

They’re as thick as flies by my house.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:06 pm

Comments

It’s amazing you can have that many deer crashes and so few fatalities.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:12 pm
Get a hunting license and start blasting away! Their predators are long gone, and when a mountain lion does wander back into IL, it meets an untimely end. (see last week)

Comment by b Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:14 pm
===Get a hunting license and start blasting away!===

I live within city limits.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:15 pm
Many high schools in Southern Illinois do not hold classes on the first day of deer season, because half the students were not showing up. Several counties in Illinois have hunters come from all around the nation to have a shot at a record book buck. So there is a positive “impact” on the communities because of the large deer population in Illinois.

Comment by John A Logan Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:16 pm
Harvest more deer and feed the hungry. Unlimited kills for a few seasons-(years)?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:20 pm
John A Logan , that have a shot at a buck is the major problem in Illinois.

We have way to many doe’s. Too many hunters are just taking buck tags and hunting the males, and the doe’s proliferate.

Il should up its charge for buck tags and give away doe tags.

Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:21 pm
There needs to be an expansion in the number of deer permits and/or ( preferable and) the re-introduction of natural predators

Comment by RMW Stanford Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:22 pm
“I live within city limits.” Dooh! Silencers? I kid.

Comment by b Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:22 pm
“So there is a positive “impact” on the communities because of the large deer population in Illinois.”

Just not for the deer.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:22 pm
Davenport, IA, has licensed deer hunting in special zones within city limits.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:28 pm
DNR, get to the work of figuring out how to manage predators. that cougar kill was not necessary. you know they are out there, start figuring out the use of tranquilizers. your comment that if you used too much tranq you might kill the cat was just idiotic. predator populations are the natural order of things. special note on that for city dwellers who are freaking out about coyotes. more predators, animal and human, managed deer population.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:28 pm
IL should allow rifles for harvesting does…that would help even things out.

Comment by Greatplainser Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:36 pm
== IL should allow rifles for harvesting does…that would help even things out. ==

agree. everyone thinks we are a weird lot using shotguns to hunt them

Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 1:47 pm
===IL should allow rifles for harvesting does===

You realize how flat Illinois is and how far a 30:06 round can travel, don’t you?

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:07 pm
===Get a hunting license and start blasting away!===

===== I live within city limits. =====

Use a cross bow they are quieter.

======IL should allow rifles for harvesting does ===

IL allows rifles, they are called muzzle loaders and shoot a minimum 45 caliber pistol bullet.

Regarding shooting shotguns, I can’t see more than 125 yards in the timber so why shoot a rifle when my shotgun is just fine. I would rather have a slug and expend the energy in the deer than have a 30 caliber bullet go through it.

I use Lightfield slugs and don’t have a problem knocking down a deer at 100 yards.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:15 pm
One of the things I told my daughters when they started driving, that if they were going to hit a deer, to hit it and not try to avoid it. Stand on the brakes but drive straight ahead. They stand a better chance of surviving the crash than if they were to attempt to avoid hitting the deer.

I used to read crash reports and more often than not, injuries and fatalities due to deer crashes were caused by the driver while attempting to avoid hitting the deer.

Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:20 pm
Just a reminder that Cook Co is much more than Chicago proper.

There’s a lot to this state that’s not heavily settled.

I’m all for more predators, protecting coyotes, and even importing wolves and lions where appropriate.

Comment by walkinfool Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:33 pm
Clearly marked “Deer Crossing” signs would help too……;)

Comment by OurMagician Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:38 pm
Lions? In IL, a bit cold for them wouldn’t it be?

I was astonished to see Cook lead the lists, though I do occasionally see deer in the forest preserves. Of course when you have 3 million drivers, you’re probably going to have more deer accidents even if your population of deer is smaller.

I have always assumed that if I hit a deer head on with my compact car, neither of us would survive.

Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:40 pm
Yep, Lightfields are great, and shotguns are fine.

Ghost is right, and one major problem is outfitters. They buy up huge chunks of land and take very few deer. Some don’t allow hunting at all during shotgun season as they bring in big money folks to bow hunt Illinois trophy bucks. Hunting land is getting harder and harder to come by, and if you find some and are near an outfitter, one day in your woods and the deer run to where there is no pressure, the outfitters land. Charging more for buck permits will not solve the problem as most of their clients will just pay the fee, and then still only buck hunt. I get capitalism and all, but I’ve never met an outfitter I didn’t dislike!

Comment by Jaded Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:46 pm
===Clearly marked “Deer Crossing” signs would help too……;)====

IDOT doesn’t put them up because deer can’t read the signs to know where to cross the road.

My sister sat on an urban wildlife committee trying to resolve some of the issues of deer in urban areas. One of the things that they came up with was to hire specially trained sharp shooters to hunt deer in the various forest preserves. Part of the project was to donate the meat to food pantries.

Then there was the project to implant contraceptives in deer. As I recall, most of the deer died of fright when they were trapped.

Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:48 pm
cermak

You might be surprised i have a old sunfire i drive to and from work it’s hit 3 deer still running no damage. It kind of rolls them up on the hood. Still not good for deer but no auto-body work.

As for the deer the simplest fix would be to extend the January seasons (when you can only take does) into 2 weeks instead of doing two weekends. For that matter probably ought to extend all the seasons a couple days. As for deer in the city quite a few cities are opening up bow seasons in town.

Rich

How is Oscar with the deer?

Comment by Mason born Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:52 pm
—
You realize how flat Illinois is and how far a 30:06 round can travel, don’t you
—
So are other states. Its funny how many time Illinois thinks everything about it is so unique.

As to how far it travels… well after 500 Yards it loses about 50-70% of its velocity. Depending on where the zero for the scope is the round could drop anywhere from 12 to 30 something inches over 500 yards.

So.. uh… what is your point exactly?

Comment by RonOglesby Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:52 pm
Oscar is fascinated by deer.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:54 pm
===what is your point exactly===

A DNR hunter safety instructor told me once that was the reason Illinois didn’t allow rifles to be used to hunt deer here.

Enlighten us Ron. What’s the real reason?

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:56 pm
been in woods almost(no less than 4 days wk.) daily since Oct. 1 near DeKalb, LaSalle border, not seeing much, friend from Fulton Co. claims that county herd down 40% from “blue tongue”. They are acclimating themselves to urban life, they are one of the wiliest critters in North America. Whatever, DNR please..please DON’T use night snipers, they decimate the genetic pool, shoot without discetion. Extend firearm season at the front end, pre rut, rut and major temp. and sun/moon phases.

Comment by railrat Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:57 pm
Hey Rich,
Maybe you should hire the guys from chasing tail to come thin out your deer problem. Can be a funny show and worth watching at least one or two episodes.

http://www.history.com/shows/chasing-tail

Comment by Jaded Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:58 pm
how about the top 10 per capita?

Comment by oh deer! Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 2:59 pm
Driving in Wisconsin at 1 a.m. and was getting real drowsy. I woke up real quick when I saw two deer in the road. Drove the rest of the way bright as a bushy tail.

Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 3:00 pm
sorry forgot, counties with high rates of vehicle/deer encounters should consider, for a nominal fee and controlled by each county forest preserve, access for bow and in areas rural firearm deer hunting, some state facilities already manage deer this way… and its a revenue stream……

Comment by railrat Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 3:03 pm
Deer cause four fatalities and we are ready to exterminate them from the landscape.

The cost of cigarettes goes up and up because we have to pay for all the people that get sick because they smoke.

There were 319 deaths in Illinois in 2009 in alcohol related vehicular accidents and the cost to the taxpayer from all alcohol related issues is staggering. But we seem to be ignoring any fix in this problem.

Just a thought.

Comment by Irish Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 3:11 pm
There was a NPR story not too long ago about urban bow hunting for deer in Minnesota. Here is the link to the story transcript:
http://www.npr.org/2013/11/12/244688888/more-deer-lead-to-increased-suburban-hunts

Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 3:14 pm
I can remember a time not that long ago when seeing a Whitetail deer was a rarity. They like the Canadian goose and the coyote are proliferating. As a result people/deer incidents are rising.
Why? Part of the problem is that building a home in a rural woodsy setting is the dream now. But folks want the woods/rural setting without the creatures that live there. Everyone wants a lake or pond in their subdivision and then they are amazed when waterfowl show up.

Also farmers are plowing up and planting every available acre to make more money. Gone are the woodlots, the tree lined creeks and streams. Even the CRP ground is being plowed up to take advantage of the rising crop prices. When the habitat disappears the animals adapt. They move into the only cover they can find. If that is the hydranga bush in someone’s tree filled back yard it means nothing to the deer.

I personally would not like to see rifle hunting allowed in Illinois for deer. The bullets travel farther and have the capability to kill or maim at much greater distances than slugs. Also, when rifle hunting is allowed, as with muzzleloading rifles in Illinois the hunter/acre formula used on public ground actually reduces the number of hunters in the field. I personally would not want to be in the woods or even near woods that rifle hunters are using.
There are a lot fewer deer in the area I live. I started noticing the decline about three years ago. I travel rural roads in areas with a lot of forest and habitat. I used to see several deer every day on my travels. In the Spring it was nothing to see several sets of twin fawns with their mothers, sometimes even triplets. I can now go several days and not see any deer and I haven’t seen twin fawns in two years. I don’t know whether it is the sharpshooting they are doing for the CWD, the increase in deer permits being issued, the droughts, or the EHD. But something is reducing the deer herd in our area dramatically. And since Illinois doesn’t base it’s deer harvest on sampling or counts but on the insurance company requests that more deer be killed we won’t know. It might be that seeing a deer outside the cities will again become a rarity.

Comment by Irish Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 3:41 pm
That’s quite a mix of urban / rural counties. I can understand the high number of accidents in urbanized areas, just from the sheer number of drivers on the road. There must be an amazing number of deer along the Illinois River for the low-population Fulton and Pike Counties to make this list.

Comment by cover Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 3:46 pm
Take em all out. Clobbered one last year around Christmas. Let me tell you, Deer and Volvos don’t mix.

Comment by Give Me A Break Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 4:09 pm
@47th
—A DNR hunter safety instructor told me once that was the reason Illinois didn’t allow rifles to be used to hunt deer here.

Enlighten us Ron. What’s the real reason?
—

Who knows. What is the real reason behind lots of Illinois laws. But to say “illinois is too flat” just is a simple ignorance of geography in other states that allow deer hunting with rifles.

And of course saying “you know how far a 30:06 can travel, dont you?” that is another one. So most probably dont know (because you didnt tell them, maybe you dont either but like to toss out smart comments) so I figured I would talk the actual ballistics of that round. People think a leveled rifle will fire a bullet “a mile” Which is they type of hyperbole you were putting out there.

But the simple physics of ballistics tells us from level it will probably hit the ground in 500-600 yards with certain cartridges having bled down in speed to less than that of an air rifle. Of course some rifles and rounds can go father than others, then dont allow them for hunting deer. Nope. Not in illinois. better to ban ALL!!!

DNR guys and others like to say “why” to things. But the reality is that they weren’t there when the law/rules were passed, so who knows exactly why? maybe cook county is freaked out by guns… No couldn’t be that.

Most folks get bent out of shape about rifles and have little knowledge of them (thus the whole crying about the “powerful” AR-15 5.56 rifle rounds.. which of course are nothing in the rifle world).

It’s easy to make simple adjustments to the hunting laws to allow for specific rifles and specify types of rounds you can use. Or allow rifle in only certain counties (as you have seen in Wisconsin though they are now expanding it).

In Illinois nothing is easy with guns though. A loud minority knows what is best for the entire state. Regardless of how many deer die off and how bad the population gets.

Comment by RonOglesby Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 4:56 pm
Create another hunting season and use the profits from the permits to fund the pension systems.

Comment by State Worker Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 5:08 pm
Happy Deer Hunting Season, Illinois–of a DIFferent sort: “Road Kill”! Never fun for any party involved, although my Pa in Indiana was able to salvage a GOOD chunk of venison off of his innocent victim a few years back–and I’m sure my Kid Brother, who knocked down his nice 8-Point Buch last Weekend the old-fashioned way (Pow!) sure preferred takin’ care of him THAT way rather than behind the wheel of his SUV…!!

Comment by Just The Way It Is One Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 7:16 pm
That was, of course, meant to read above “8-Point BUCK…!”

Comment by Just The Way It Is One Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 7:17 pm
Clearly marked “Deer Crossing” signs would help

Didn’t know that the deer could read……

Comment by Plutocrat03 Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 7:46 pm
In Colorado, driving in mountains north of boulder at dusk. Sure enough, gorgeous, huge, huge, mule deer buck steps out into the road. I was just waitin for that to happen, so I easily avoided him, but for a split second I thought to myself “this is a rental, bag that deer!” but then thought better of it. Lol

Comment by dang Tuesday, Nov 26, 13 @ 8:31 pm
Mason, that surprises me.

I’ve never clipped one myself. But I’ve been awfully close.

Coming south down 12 from Lake Geneva a couple of years ago, I had three in front of me with cars on my bumper going about 70.

I hit my brights a couple of times and, luckily, they bounced. But it was touch and go.

Good luck to those on the deer hunt season. I volunteer to judge the chili cookoff. When it’s good, it’s real good.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Nov 27, 13 @ 12:43 am
I hit one on the expressway in Michigan some years ago. Terrifying. Then there was the time I came around a corner on a two-lane highway in Minnesota, late one night, and found an entire herd just hanging around in the roadway. I had to stop for several minutes until they finally, grudgingly, moved on.

Comment by Soccermom Wednesday, Nov 27, 13 @ 7:29 am
Word

Must admit it surprised me too. But the car is so low in front with that long hood they kind of roll up onto the hood. Of course i have also seen the marksmanship of the 2 of the local police departments. Shouldn’t take 10 rnds of 9mm to kill a doe.

Comment by Mason born Wednesday, Nov 27, 13 @ 8:17 am