Illinois deer hunting questions/I am confused

[Tom Bri]

Hope you can help me out. I have never hunted in Illinois, and I am trying to figure out what I need to do legally. I went to the Il website and read about 20-30 pages of rules and regulations, violations of which result in some severe penalties. I just could not figure it all out.

I guess I need:

A general hunting license.

A habitat stamp (whatever that is)

To somehow get into a drawing for a deer tag.

I want to hunt with a muzzle loader, and if I am reading this all right, I can apply for either the muzzle loader season, OR the regular shotgun season but use the muzzle loader in that. Anyone know if that is true?

How do I get my name in the drawing for the tags?

 

[EatBugs]

good luck figuring that out.
thank goodness I live in Indiana.
Things are a bit simpler over here.

Although I prefer camping in southern Illinois.

 

[scout26]

Tom,

You've got a PM. Give me a call.

Short Version:

You can use any legal firearm during the Firearm (formerly known as Shotgun) Season(s). You can only use a Muzzleloader during the muzzleloader season.

You need to get a Hunting or Sportsman's Combo (which includes Fishing) Licence and State Habitat stamp. If you want to hunt ducks/geese you'll need the state and federal waterfowl stamps also.

You need to get check to see if there are any tags left for the county/special hunt area you want to hunt: http://dnr.state.il.us/admin/systems/06/muzzlist.htm

and then get entered into the Random Daily draws for that county/area. It's too late to mail it in for this year.
https://www.link2gov.com/il/deer/

Then hit your knees and pray that you get a tag. They tend to go quick, however the DNR has a ton of tags available for the CWD areas ( Winnebago, McHenry, Boone counties), if you know of a place to hunt. You do have a place to hunt ???

I applied for mine back on March 9th (the first day the system came up to apply for tags) in the first lottery.

 

[Tom Bri]

Thanks, yes I do have a place to hunt in Winnebago County.

So how do the random daily draws work? Does that mean they assign you a particular day to hunt, at random? Or does it mean they randomly assign a deer tag to some of those people who apply on a given day?

We have so many deer around here they could just make it an open season on ALL deer and have done with it. Might help clear out the diseased ones if we could knock the herd back for a few years. I see dead deer almost every day when I drive. Lots of dead geese on the roads too.

I will try to get into the random daily drawing. I am a Realtor so I can pretty much open up any day I want, if that is the way it works.......

 

[tcrocker]

AL

You need to move to Alabama you can get an buck and a doe aday,
gun season Nov- Jan.

 

[swampgator]

Or Hunt Florida

Two a day limit for antlered deer, no season limit. Can hunt deer from Sept (Archery) thru Jan!

 

[scout26]

Tom,

The random daily draws are just for the tags left over after the 1st and 2nd lottery draws for tags. Each day they draw from the applications received that day, and send them out until they run out tags for that area. The dates you can hunt are below. For Firearm tags you can get Full (both), First Season Only, or Second Season Only tags. Muzzleloader tags are good for both muzzleloader seasons. (well they're not really "seasons" more like weekends.)

Firearm Season Dates:
November 17, 18, & 19 (first season)
November 30, December 1, 2, & 3 (second season)

Application info:
1st lottery deadline - April 28: Residents* only
2nd lottery deadline - August 14: First time applicants, non-residents** & rejected applicants
Random daily drawings - Sept 15 - Nov 8: multiple permits

MUZZLELOADER - ONLY
Season Dates:
December 8, 9, & 10 and the second firearm season
(November 30, December 1, 2, & 3)
Application info:
1st lottery deadline - April 28: Residents only
2nd lottery deadline - August 14: First time applicants, non-residents** & rejected applicants
Random daily drawings - Sept 15 - Nov 8: multiple permits


If you go on-line and complete the application for a random daily draw for Winnebago county there are around 200 Muzzleloader season tags and over 1000 Firearm season tags, so you should be able to get a tag or two. I'd get one of each (Firearm season(s) and Muzzleloader season) that way you can hunt all three seasons with your muzzleloader. I'd apply on-line quickly, because the deadline is coming up and once they're out of tags, you're outta luck.

Again, if you have any questions give me a call, I'm in Wheaton, I sent you a PM with my number. Good Luck.

 

[Tom Bri]

Thanks for all the help!

Tried to apply for the drawings yesterday, but for some reason it would not accept it. Tried with two different browsers too. Tried to call, got stuck on hold for 5 minutes and hung up. Guess I will try again........

 

[scout26]

Tom,

Any luck with getting (a) tag(s) yet ??