They’re off and shooting
Rutting activity, wind factors on opening day of firearm deer season
Mike Pelc watched three bucks chasing one doe early Friday, then bagged one of the biggest bucks taken at Des Plaines Conservation Area.
‘‘ I had to shoo [ the others] away,’’ he said.
An even bigger buck, a wide- rack 10- point, never came open enough for a good shot. His 10- point was on an 8- point frame ( a split tine and a nubber made 10).
Many hunters noted rutting activity as Illinois’ first firearm deer season opened Friday. It runs through Sunday. The second firearm season is Dec. 1- 4.
The other factor on opening day was the weather. Hunting near Granville in Putnam County, Gary Bloom noted temperatures near 70 degrees and emailed, ‘‘ Too warm.’’
That changed as storms and shifting winds came with a cold front. Some areas expected snow by Saturday.
The wind mattered all day. It was best described by Frank Internicola, who was hunting in eastern Will County.
‘‘ It was a wild ride,’’ he said. ‘‘ It was very wavy and windy with gusts of 22 to 28 mph. It made it tough, especially when I am 28 feet in the air.’’
I checked two check- in stations. Illinois used to have check- ins in nearly every county. But with the advent of electronic reporting, that changed to having check- ins only in counties with positive reports of chronic wasting disease ( CWD).
I started with a couple of hours in the morning at the Will County check- in at the Des Plaines Game Propagation Center, near Wilmington. The deer’s sex and age ( wear and stains on teeth) were checked. Pelc’s was 2 ½ years old. Hunters were asked if they saw any wild turkeys, bobcats or feral hogs and were given a deer pin.
Regional forester Tom Gargrave led a three- man crew. District fisheries biologist Frank Jakubicek did the initial checking in and placement of the orange leg tag. Carl Handel, a district wildlife biologist from Randolph County, did ‘‘ the surgery,’’ if hunters allowed.
With animals older than 1 ½ years, the crew asked to take a sample for CWD testing. Those keeping trophies rarely allow sampling because the cuts high on the neck make any mount other than a European ( skull and antlers) impossible.
Whoever is cutting removes the retropharyngeal lymph node from below the jaw and the obex ( base of brain). Those are put in Formalin specimen containers for CWD testing. Tongue tips were cut and put in numbered plastic bags for an ongoing DNA study. All samples go to the University of Illinois.
Hunters who allowed sampling showed on a map where their deer was killed. If a deer tests positive for CWD, the hunter is notified.
The best buck I saw at Des Plaines was a beautiful wide- rack 10- point, which was shot by Charles Umbaugh at Joliet Training Center.
In the afternoon, I went to the Kankakee County check- in at Kankakee River State Park. It was manned by district wildlife biologist Bob Massey and wildlife biologist Bob Bluett, who came up from Springfield.
Massey expected 40 deer on the day. They had 14 by 4: 30 p. m. He said the best bucks checked in were a 16- point on a 10- point frame and a nine- point on a 10- point frame.
‘‘ You could tell he’d been battling,’’ Massey said of the nine- pointer.
When David Hines checked in a small buck, I read his license plate: ‘‘ N Rut 1.’’ It seemed apt for opening day this year.