IDNR selling deerherd to high bidder
Illinois
HB2783 flew through committee today 12-0
This bill will allow high power rifles into the IL gunseason.
ALSO...HB2778 passed easily 12-0
This bill expands the first 3 days of the gun season to 4 days.
These 2 bills combined should bring the harvest # back to historic high levels. Too bad the deerherd is about 60% of what it was then.......8^(
https://www.capitol-outdoors.com/p/blog-page.html?fbclid=IwAR198o9lOgHYT4lqcoyOGt3iMk9PkowyCunwtisf12yTNJ_US-cOa7LSib4&m=1
Don't worry, Iowa DNR is also selling their deerherd down the river & the NRA is once again behind the takeover......
https://www.nraila.org/articles/20190322/iowa-house-passes-bill-to-improve-hunting-opportunities?fbclid=IwAR0UwT9R2N4d7alBi0S5MOHtAD5YWrESmyh4krw399io223DexHFE3E6clk
Guess what position our IDNR took on these 2 bills that would severely increase harvest #'s
'No position'.........surprise, surprise, surprise.....
DozRdeer2.....can you explain how IDNR is anything other than oppose to bills that would again severely increase harvest, when the IL herd is well below DVA goal the IDNR & Legislature agreed to abide by ?????
Why am I not surprised? Just scheduled to go shoot my new Savage 20 gauge at the Kingsbury range with the step daughter. Now it will be obsolete before I even hunt with it. Wonder what politician got greased this time to further exploit the resource for personal gain. Turning Illinois into another Michigan for buck quality. Pathetic. Will be making some calls today on this.
Typical!!! Today's dnr is a joke and has been for years.
Really? How many counties are under 500,000 population in Illinois? Also still has to be approved by county ordnance. Indiana has been doing this for years. Don’t think their herd is suffering, but I’m no expert like you guys.
All are under 500k but 5.
" Indiana has been doing this for years. Don’t think their herd is suffering, but I’m no expert like you guys."
Since I am now an IN resident here, thought I'd educate myself on this. Looked it up and their rifles are limited to what appears to be very large cartridges on public land. New last year was almost any rifles for use on private. Seems like this IL bill has no limit on calibers, which would likely make a huge difference. So with the recent IN change there's not enough time elapsed to observe the long term consequences. But I doubt they are good. Look what two weeks of rifle rut hunting has done to Michigan.
"Rifles chambered for cartridges that fire a bullet of .357-inch diameter or larger, have a minimum case length of 1.16 inches, and have a maximum case length of 1.8 inches are legal to use only during the deer firearms, youth, reduction zones from Nov. 17-Jan. 31 (in zones where local ordinances allow the use of a firearm), and special antlerless seasons. These rifle cartridges can be used on public and private land.
Some cartridges legal for deer hunting include the .357 Magnum, .38-.40 Winchester, .41 Magnum, .41 Special, .44 Magnum, .44 Special, .44-.40 Winchester, .45 Colt, .454 Casull, .458 SOCOM, .475 Linebaugh, .480 Ruger, .50 Action Express, .500 S&W, .460 Smith & Wesson, .450 Bushmaster, and .50 Beowulf. Full metal jacketed bullets are illegal.
A State law that allowed certain rifle cartridges to be used for deer hunting on private land was amended earlier this year to clarify requirements. During the firearms, reduction zone from Nov. 17, 2018-Jan. 31, 2019 (in zones where local ordinances allow the use of firearms) youth seasons, and special antlerless season (where open), rifles that fire cartridges meeting the following requirements may be used to hunt deer on private land only:
The cartridge must have a minimum case length of 1.16 inches and a maximum case length of 3 inches. The cartridge must fire a bullet with a minimum diameter of .243 inches (same as 6 mm). A hunter must not possess more than 10 of these cartridges while hunting deer. Full metal jacketed bullets are illegal."
All this being said, I'm sitting here with my brand new shiny Savage 20 gauge debating if I should shoot it at the range today, or box it back up and sell it. It appears the only place it would be an advantage to use is if I draw special public hunts in Indiana. That's pretty much it.
I may have to buy a gun tag and take my 264 out this year. :)
Grab the Bow Oct.1.and go enjoy the woods. If you know what you are doing, you will have harvested venison b4 they begin the orange army season. F'em!
SB201 (Lead-Free Ammo) could be the whole driving force behind this. We know how much the liberals hate lead. It is possible that they have enough sense to realize that the majority of shotgun slugs contain (a whole bunch of) lead, so if they really want to get the lead out, let them use rifles.
Or it could be about money - Pritzker has plans to spend a lot of it - gotta come from somewhere.
Shocking either way that Illinois would ever let it's subjects use evil rifles to harvest deer. Disregard that so many of us already were - just 20 gauge or 50 cal rifles.
Something more important than hatred for guns has occurred.
Either way, I'm excited about it. I have been waiting for this a long time, thinking it would probably never happen. The guns I hunt deer with are plenty good & about the only difference changing to a rifle will make for me is much cheaper ammo - the price of sabot slugs is ridiculous. Where I hunt, 150 yards is pretty much as far as I can shoot.
And for the 'sky is falling' inclined among us, how many hunters do you know now who can't fill there tags because they weren't using a centerfire rifle (deer too far out)? Most hunters I know, kill deer until they don't want any more. Or waited for Mr. Big Buck, who never showed up.
I think we will see, like most states, that rifles being legal made little difference.
Hunters who take shots that they shouldn't are among us now & always will be. RIfles may extend the range these shots are taken at, but it will happen either way.
What’s amazing is the abundance of folks out there that think each one of these liberalization of hunting regulations have no incremental consequence to the deer herd and buck quality. Eliminate real NR quotas, allow cross guns for everyone 3 months/year, increase gun season days in the rut, now allow the use of rifles. People seriously don’t think there’s a price to pay for this? I strongly suggest you visit Michigan, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia for a public land deer hunt and see how you like it.
While I have hunted some on public land, I never expected it to be good & it wasn't. Too many hunters with not enough places to go - on the public land I've seen. And I live 1 mile from the closest - which ironically used to be a deer check station, until that was done away with.
But again, I never expected the government to provide me with a place to hunt and then also have it to myself.
So, yes my experience is from hunting on private ground where the changes may have far less or no impact.
Zim, I'm sure with your communication skills, you could find lots of private ground to hunt on.
Or better yet, buy your own ground - you are saving a ton of money Not living in Illinois, right? Surely enough to cover the land payment.
I was able to realize the dream of owing land a couple years ago, and I just wish I'd done it sooner.
kx500, I agree buying land that has a little income is the best decision I ever made. 10 years ago when I was 28 years old when I bought my first 45 acres and since then I bought a little more for a total of 70 acres. With the tillable and CRP my annual income is around $4,000 a year, so it pays for itself.
As for rifles during gun season I'm kind of a traditionalist and like using slugs so I would not be in favor of rifles. The only negative I can think of is some itchy trigger finger boys down south road hunting taking shots into the woods where hunters are.
If the first season is 4 days I would like to know sooner than later so I can figure things out with work.
KX, Don’t think private land quality is immune from these bad management policies. It most certainly is not. It’s just that it craps up public land worse.
I had 45 acres of prime habitat owned free & clear at age 30. But thanks to liberal state politicians it was all stolen and redistributed to a lazy worthless ex who they did not want to support with their unsustainable welfare programs.
You watch once the greased politicians pass 4 gun rut days 5, 6, 7, 8........then 16 like Indiana & Michigan will be next. It’s not the DNR’s who are shoving this crap down our throats.
Just one of these crappy rule changes alone (crossguns) decimated the deer harvest numbers at Kingsbury in the last 6 years from a harvest of 200 deer/year to 100. That change made it nice for the gun liberals for one year, but ultimately screwed all the hunters, including the gun proponents. They now lie in their own beds.
I am not opposed to the use of high powered rifles for deer hunting in Illinois based on conservativation, but I do oppose them from a safety stand point.
Sureshot,
What are your safety concerns? Based on the comparative data I found, IL deer hunters with slug guns and MLs are no more safer than WI deer hunters with centerfire rifles.
There is alot more open spaces around residential areas in Illinois than in Wisconsin.
It depends on where in WI you are. The whole state isn't the north woods.
HB2783 allows the same cartridges that were legal for handguns, to be legal in rifles. So .30 cal bottleneck up to 1.4" case length and .30 cal & up straight wall cartridges.
I/we may have missed this or it may be an amendment.
So really nothing any longer range than what we already have. Add a magazine limit of 3 or 5 and we're good.
Of the cartridges this would make legal, I've seen .357 Mag, .44 Mag & 300 Blackout for sale locally. I predict a huge surge in .300 Blackout sales. And one of the next discussions will be is the .300 Blackout enough?
So no more long range/dangerous than what we already have, cheaper & potentially easier to shoot.
This may the only 'common sense' gun law I've ever seen.
On the downside, yes our beloved Savage 20 gauge slugs guns will plummet in value. But the sabot slugs mine likes are about $13-$14 for a box of 5. A box of 20 in 450 Bushmaster is around $20 and it has basically the same ballistics as my muzzleloader. Not a hard choice. But nice to have choices.
Sureshot- if any caliber can be used for coyotes, why not deer?
Why can't any caliber be used for coyotes during the traditional firearm deer seasons now?
I am not certain, but I would imagine to keep you from harvesting deer, and if you got checked by an officer not using coyote hunting as the reason your carrying that weapon with you. Then it would be at his discretion if your being honest or not just out deer hunting with it. But I may be totally wrong and there be another more definitive answer to your question.
Coyote season is closed during gun season except if you have an unfilled deer tag.
At least they are smart enough to sell it to the HIGHEST bidder
Yeah, and that money will never go to the DNR programs that it's for, just like all the gas and property taxes we pay for our roads which resemble a WW1 "no man's land"!!!
Yea Illinois is gonna tax all of its residents outta here. I am considering what Zim started about a lifetime license an habitats stamp, if that’s true you can apply for permits at a resident price an live out of state that would be great. Move to Iowa. If not oh well Iowa seems to be sensible with managing and conserving it’s deer herd. Or even buy 40 acres in southern Illinois an always be a landowner an come back hunt that way.
Windmill- they changed the lifetime license rules right after Zim snagged his. The new rules make it useless to buy as long as the current rules apply with essentially unlimited deer tags.
O.k., I got ya. Thanks Boone for the correction. I thought that it sounds too good to be true.
Looks like this bill didn't go that far in the Senate after passing the House. Might be dead, may be on life support - who knows?
If you can't kill a deer with a shotgun out to 100 yards and rifle ain't going to help. Maybe in the instance of big big at fields then a high power rifle will help but I don't think it's going to kill off the herd. They should make straight wall cartridges legal like Ohio and Iowa.
Re-referred to agriculture whatever that means. I tried looking up procedure. To say the least pretty confusing. The bills are presented and read three separate times that is if they don’t get amended and referred to a committee. Or sent back to the sponsor to repurpose or amend then re-preseted. That’s is both House and then Senate. This bill aside...It’s a wonder anything gets done. Long and dragged out process.
