Illinois's deer harvest has dropped about 15% since 2005, but that headline leaves out how the last twenty years unfolded. The decline was uneven: harvest reached a deep low during 2013 before recovering part of the loss. Behind those totals, chronic wasting disease continues expanding its reach, from a few counties to 28.
KEY FINDINGS
- The statewide take went from 184,848 in 2005 to 156,338 in 2024, a net decline of 15%. It followed a V-shaped course, reaching a deep low at 128,572 during 2013.
- Confirmed CWD now spans 28 counties. IDNR reported prevalence reaching as high as 9.2% in 2025. The CWD-season take in 2024 (1,553) exceeded the 2005 total (233), although it varies sharply from year to year as sampling and check-station requirements change.
- The low reached during 2013 lines up with the hemorrhagic disease (EHD) outbreak of 2012. Harvest has recovered since then, though only partway.
IA V, not a slide
What the headline leaves out
Across twenty years, harvest lost 15% through a steep decline followed by a rebound that recovered only part of the loss. Through the late 2000s, totals hovered around 180,000. Then, within a few seasons, a sharp fall brought harvest to its 2013 low of 128,572, roughly 30% less than the 2005 total. A recovery followed, reaching 156,338 by 2024. The 2024 Illinois total remained below 2005, although it was higher than the low recorded in 2013.
IIThe disease front that keeps widening
Why pressure on antlerless deer remains heavy
The trend with greater consequences is the expanding reach of CWD. In the mid-2000s, only a handful of counties in northern Illinois had CWD. Today, the disease is present in 28 counties and is still spreading southward. For areas sampled in 2025, IDNR reported prevalence as high as 9.2%. To reduce prevalence, IDNR has combined targeted sharpshooting, expanded hunting opportunities and restrictions on baiting. According to the agency, a relatively small rise in local harvest can help maintain low prevalence. Deer killed under CWD-season provisions provide a measure of that work, though an uneven one. Changes in check-station rules and sampling requirements make that count fluctuate; it does not directly measure disease prevalence.
Harvest totals vary alongside weather, permit levels and disease outbreaks. The spread of disease follows a separate trend. CWD has kept turning up in additional counties.
IIIHow the deer are taken changed too
Archery takes a growing portion of the harvest
Within the overall harvest, the breakdown by method changed steadily. Archery's portion of Illinois' total kill rose over twenty years, from about 35% in 2005 to 47% by 2024. Firearm hunting still supplies the bigger portion, though archery's share has increased. In 2017, Illinois expanded access to crossbows by permitting them during any archery season. That breakdown gives readers of county harvest figures a practical comparison: how much of the county's take comes through archery versus firearm seasons.
IVWhat the statewide number hides
County harvest patterns differ much more
Illinois' statewide V-curve combines the harvest totals of 102 counties whose trends differed greatly. Losses across the western Golden Triangle counties exceeded 15% by a wide margin (Working Paper 06); several counties in the east-central part of the state changed very little. Our record lists 5 counties that reported CWD-season harvest in 2005 and 18 in 2024. Those figures describe reporting for management seasons. The official tally for CWD detections covered 28 counties as of 2026. For Illinois, the county provides the useful scale for analysis, rather than the state. This explains why the County Report (Working Paper 01) shows such widely scattered results from that same twenty-year record.
NOTES AND SOURCES
- Illinois Chronic Wasting Disease program. As of 2026, detections had been recorded in 28 counties. dnr.illinois.gov/programs/cwd.
- The documented Illinois outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) in 2012 is consistent with harvest reaching its low in 2013. Source: IDNR's deer program.
- Using IDNR records, divide the statewide archery harvest by the statewide total harvest to calculate archery share. Limits: harvest recorded for CWD seasons and the measure “counties reporting CWD-season harvest” indicate management activity under sampling, check-station and special-season rules. Neither directly measures disease prevalence, so neither should be interpreted as a trend in prevalence.
Fully Drawn Research is an independent data analysis desk, not affiliated with any state wildlife agency, transportation agency, mapping provider or outfitter. Harvest data are IDNR public records analyzed independently by FDR; figures current to the 2024 season. Informational only, not hunting, wildlife-management, or investment advice.
Keep reading
FDR Scout puts county harvest history like this on the map of the ground you hunt. Open Scout →