Illinois Department of Natural Resources
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firearm and muzzleloading deer permits typically
occurs during the month of April each year.
Hunters may apply for both firearm season per-mits
and special muzzleloader season permits
during the lottery. Permits are issued using a
computerized lottery, and successful applicants
receive their permits in July.
Second Lottery – Non-residents/Residents: Indi-viduals
who were rejected for a deer permit dur-ing
the first lottery, who are applying for their first
permit, or who are non-residents may apply for
firearm and muzzleloader deer permits through
August 15th. Applicants may apply for one either-sex
deer permit and one bonus antlerless-only
deer permit to be allocated from permits remain-ing
after the first lottery. Illinois residents have
preference over non-residents in this lottery.
Random Daily Drawing: Residents and non-res-idents
may apply for remaining permits to be al-located
in random daily drawings that begin Sept.
13 for additional firearm or muzzleloader permits
left over from the county quotas. Last date to apply
is October 3. Hunters are encouraged to apply
early, because drawings are conducted from the
pool of permits received each day.
Over-The-Counter Sales Period
Permits remaining after the Random Daily
Drawing will be available over the counter (OTC)
from license vendors throughout the state be-ginning
October 18 on a first-come, first-served
basis. Permits will be sold until quotas are ex-hausted,
or until the close of the firearm deer
season, whichever occurs first.
Permit Limit
No hunter may receive, or attempt to receive,
more than one either-sex permit and one antler-less-
only permit for the firearm deer season prior
to the Random Daily Drawing in September.
Harvest Reporting & Transportation
...in counties being surveyed for Chronic
Wasting Disease (Boone, DeKalb, Grundy,
Kane, LaSalle, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson,
and Winnebago Counties)
Successful hunters must take their deer either
whole or field-dressed to a designated firearm
deer check station on the same day it was killed.
Daily check station hours shall be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
A permanent harvest tag will be attached to the
leg of the deer upon registration at the check sta-tion.
If a hunter is not able to locate a harvested
deer in sufficient time to enable checking the deer
by 8 p.m., the hunter must take the deer to the
appropriate check station upon its opening at 8
a.m. the following morning, or immediately
upon retrieving it if that occurs later than the
opening of the check station. If this situation oc-curs
on a Sunday (e.g., the check station will not
be open on Monday), the hunter must contact the
appropriate regional DNR Law Enforcement
Office by 10 a.m. Monday morning for instructions
on checking in the deer.
If the head/antlers are delivered to a taxidermist
for processing, the temporary harvest tag must
accompany them and be kept with the head/
antlers at the taxidermist.
If the carcass is taken to a meat processor, the
permanent harvest tag must remain attached to
the leg of the deer until it is processed, then
must remain with the processed deer until it is
at the legal residence of the person who legally
took or possessed the deer.
Persons delivering deer/parts of deer to a tanner
for processing must supply the tanner with their
deer permit number to verify lawful acquisition. In
the absence of a permit number, the tanner may
rely on the written certification of the person from
whom the deer was received that the specimen
was legally taken or obtained.
...in all other counties (no Chronic Wasting
Disease surveillance)
Successful hunters must register their harvest by
10 p.m. on the same calendar day the deer was
taken by calling the toll-free telephone check-in
system at 1-866-452-4325 (1-866-ILCHECK) or
by accessing the on-line check-in system at
www.dnr.state.il.us/vcheck. They will be provided
with a confirmation number to verify that they
checked in their harvest. This number must be
written by the hunter onto the temporary harvest
tag (leg tag). If the condition of the tag precludes
writing on the tag in the appropriate space (i.e.,
bloody, etc.), the confirmation number shall be
written elsewhere on the tag, or onto a piece of
paper and attached to the deer along with the
temporary harvest tag. The deer must remain
whole (or field dressed) until it has been checked
in. In instances where deer are checked in while
the hunter is still afield, the deer may not be dis-membered
while afield beyond quartering the an-imal.
If quartered, all parts of the carcass (except
the entrails removed during field dressing) must
be transported together and evidence of sex
must remain naturally attached to one quarter.
Evidence of sex is:
A) For a buck: head with antlers attached to car-cass,
or attached testicle, scrotum or penis.
B) For a doe: head attached to carcass, or at-tached
udder (mammary) or vulva.
The temporary harvest tag (leg tag) and confir-mation
number must remain attached to the
deer until it is at the legal residence of the per-son
who legally took or possessed the deer, the
deer has been checked in, and final processing
is completed.
If the head/antlers are delivered to a taxidermist
for processing, the confirmation number must be
recorded on the ‘head tag’ portion of the permit
and both must remain with the deer while at the
taxidermist.
If the carcass is taken to a meat processor,
the temporary harvest tag (leg tag) with con-firmation
number must remain with the deer
while it is processed, and until it is at the legal
residence of the person who legally took or
possessed the deer.
Persons delivering deer/parts of deer to a tanner
for processing must supply the tanner with either
their deer permit number, their confirmation num-ber,
or a written certification by the person from
whom the deer was received that the specimen
was legally taken or obtained.
MUZZLELOADING RIFLE DEER
HUNTING SEASON INFORMATION
Legal Firearms
Muzzleloading rifles as described under the
Firearm Deer Hunting Season Information
(page 16).
Blaze Orange Clothing Requirements
It is unlawful to hunt deer with any firearm when
not wearing a solid blaze orange cap/hat and an
upper outer garment displaying at least 400
square inches of solid blaze orange material. NOTE:
Camouflage blaze orange material does notmeet
the requirement.
Harvest Reporting & Transportation
Harvest reporting and transportation requirements
are as described under Firearm Deer Hunting
Season Information “in all other counties (no
Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance)” section.
In counties where Chronic Wasting Disease sur-veillance
is occurring during the firearm deer sea-son,
successful hunters using their muzzleloading
rifle deer permits during the second weekend of
the firearm season may, at their option, register
their harvest at a designated firearm deer check
station by 8:00 p.m. on the day the deer was killed.
Permit Applications
Apply on-line at www.dnr.illinois.gov or with a
hardcopy application form. To receive applica-tion
forms for a muzzleloading rifle deer hunt-ing
permit, please contact your Department of
Natural Resources Regional Office or call the
Permit Office in Springfield at (217) 782-7305.
Permit Requirements and Application Periods
Muzzleloading rifle deer hunters must have a cur-rent,
valid Muzzleloading Rifle Deer Season Per-mit,
or an unused Property-Only Landowner/
Tenant Deer Permit valid for that year’s Firearm
Deer Season. Unfilled Property-Only Firearm
Deer Permits shall be valid only on lands
owned/leased by the permit holder, and the
holder must use a muzzleloading rifle. The appli-cation
periods for muzzleloading rifle deer per-mits
are the same as for the firearm deer permits.
Permit Limit
No hunter may receive, or attempt to receive,
more than one either-sex muzzleloader permit
and one antlerless-only permit for the muzzle-loader
deer season prior to the Random Daily
Drawing in September.
ARCHERY DEER HUNTING
SEASON INFORMATION
Legal Archery Equipment
A long, recurve, or compound bow with a mini-mum
pull of 40 pounds at some point within
a 28-inch draw. Minimum arrow length is
20 inches, and broadheads must be used.
Broadheads may have fixed or expandable cut-ting
surfaces, but they must have a minimum
