Illinois 2nd Firearm Season

[Jason Lewis]

A couple of years ago, there was a young hunter down around Carbondale that got an elk. He was hearing an elk and saw it numerous times. There had been a "breakout" at an elk farm a few years before, and apparently, they were breeding. He tagged it with his deer tag, but was told by DNR that he didn't need to have tagged it at all, since elk are not indiginous to Illinois.

elk are indiginous to illinois, they've just been extirpated by our forebears. but since they are not "supposed" to be in IL, they're no laws against shooting one. they'll be a native population before long. kentucky has had a huntable population for i believe the last decade or so. it's just a matter of time before they spread. can't wait for elk season someday.

 

[luieb45]

We used to have a good number of elk, buffalo, bear, and wolf around 1800. Wolves were the only ones that I just mentioned that lasted until the 1870s. I imagine southern illinois will get some elk maybe someday. I know southern missouri will get some in a couple of years. But my part of the state isn't really what I would call "elk country" and they would never risk the destroying of our crops up here. Western Illinois is too productive of farm land to playing with those kind of risks.

 

[Maynerd62411]

I stand corrected. Not in my lifetime , yet , tho !!

 

[Jason Lewis]

we both might be old, but they will be here. when the herd starts in the southern part of the state it will slowly move north, just like the reintroduction of white tails did.
agrcultural risk has nothing to do with the spread of a species. more people are worried about hitting them with their cars then crop loss.

 

[luieb45]

But in our county the land lies mostly flat but some areas have a few hills. Only in the general area of creeks and along the Mississippi do we have hills and large draws. Other than that it's just flat prairie with crops on it and small clumps of trees. Whitetails can thrive almost everywhere which is why the did what they did.

 

[Jason Lewis]

no, they reitroduced whitetails so we could hunt them. it took along time for the herd to become large enough to be hunted. for instance, my dad as a kid in the 60's and 70's rarely saw a deer when out hunting, once in awhile he might see a track but seeing a deer was a rare treat. before that in the 40's and 50's people used to go see the deer in pens in giant city state park during the initial restocking programs this was for PR purposes mostly.

elk being reintroduced to illinois gets proposed every few years or so and gets shot down by people concerned about whacking them with cars, which is a valid concern.

terrain isn't any more of a concern to elk than too whitetails, there is more than enough bedding areas in this region, and lord knows especially along the river there is enough bottomland hardwoods to support them.

 

[buttonbuck]

I had the paper falling out issue with the first batches of remington caps I was about to shoot a deer back in 1998 and click, I look on the stand and see the little green paper I say a few choice words while the deer walked off. I bought my tc renegade that season for next year. I used cci's and they were ok then I got a bunch of remingtons on clearance and well still have a bunch that go off flawlessly.

 

[Jason Lewis]

yeah, i shoot the remingtons and don't think i've had a problem since i was a kid with the old ones.