Lee, Whiteside county hunters harvest more deer this year

SPRINGFIELD – Hunters in Illinois took a preliminary total of 76,232 deer during the seven-day 2023 Illinois firearm deer season that concluded Dec. 3. Comparatively, hunters harvested 76,854 deer during the 2022 firearm season.

The preliminary harvest for the second segment of the 2023 firearm season Nov. 30-Dec. 3 was 22,884, compared with 24,500 deer harvested during the second part of the 2022 season.

The preliminary harvest for the first segment of this year’s firearm season Nov. 17-19 was 53,348 deer.

In Lee County, 541 deer were harvested during the 2023 firearm deer season. A total of 491 deer were harvested during the 2022 firearm season.

In Whiteside County, 591 deer were harvested during the 2023 firearm deer season; 573 were harvested during 2022 season.

Remaining 2023-2024 deer hunting opportunities in Illinois include:

• Late-winter antlerless-only and chronic wasting disease season, in designated counties only, Dec. 28-31 and Jan. 12-14. A map showing the counties open to late-winter and CWD seasons can be found online.
• Archery deer season continues through Jan. 14.

Go online for more deer hunting information.