Table 3.- Number of deer trapped on the Rock 
Illinois, and relocated by counties, 1947-1951. 
River range in Ogle and Winnebago counties, 
County 1947-48 1948-49 1949-50 1950-51 Total 
Carroll -- 2 -- -- 2 
Gallatin -- 12 7 -- 19 
Hardin S = == Wi 
Jo Daviess 2 >= =e 
Lee 4 3 -- 
Perry -- -- 6 
Pope 31 26 = 
Total 42 43 13 
Table 4. - Number of deer trapped on the island of the Horseshoe Lake Game Refuge, Alexander 
County, Illinois, and relocated by counties, 1947-1953. 
County 1947-48 1948-49 1949-50 1950-51 1951-52 1952-53 Total 
Alexander -- = -- 13 == 7 20 
Fayette -- -- -- -- 5 ce 5 
Gallatin Ui == == 28 9 4 48 
Hamilton -- -- =e 5 14 ee 19 
Hardin | 14 = -- -- -- -- 14 
Jackson -- 9 -- -- -- >= 9 
Massac | -- | -- -- 20 4 6 30 
Perry | -- -- -- -- 5 ea 5 
Pope 33 == -- = == >= 33 
Saline -- -- -- -- 8 -- 8 
Union 4 -- -- 1 -- -- 5 
Total 58 9 0 67 45 17 196 
Geographic Distribution 
That the Illinois area occupied by deer has 
been greatly expanded in recent years is denoted 
by the incteasing numbers of counties in which the 
animals have been found. Reports of conservation 
officers for 1947 indicate that in that year deer 
were to be found in 45 of the 102 counties of the 
state. Reports from the same source show that by 
1949 deer were present in 62 counties, by 1950, 
in 68 counties. Data obtained following the last 
conservation officer report, that of 1950, indicate 
that deer were present in at least 74 counties early 
in 1953, fig. 10. To a large group of counties in 
east-central Illinois, deer have not returned, This 
group is in the intensively farmed black prairie 
region, and very little habitat which might be 
considered suitable for deer exists in this area. 
Although deer are widely distributed in 
Illinois, the reader should not assume that all the 
acceptable deer ranges in the state are fully 
occupied, fig. 11. In northern Illinois, only some 
portions of the Rock River range, fig. 12, which 
is located along the Rock and Kishwaukee rivers 
10 
and their tributaries in De Kalb, Lee, Ogle, and 
Winnebago counties, are tatrying a capacity pop- 
ulation of deer. While most suitable ranges in the 
state contain some deer, the populations of many 
of these ranges can increase severalfold before 
carrying Capacities are reached. 
For example, much of the land not suitable 
for cultivation along some of the larger rivers in 
Illinois appears capable of supporting much larger 
deer herds than are now present there. Of major 
importance are such areas as the Mississippi 
River bluffs in Joe Daviess, Carroll, and Whiteside 
counties, the riverbreak country along the Illinois 
River in Bureau, Putnam, and Marshall counties, 
and the Kaskaskia River bottoms in Fayette, 
Clinton, and Washington counties. 
By far the most promising deer range in [1linois 
is to be found in and adjacent to the Shawnee 
National Forest in southern Illinois, fig. 12. Nine 
counties are represented in the Shawnee’s 
1,500,000 acres of forest and potential forest land. 
Much of this land is primarily suitable only for 
growing trees, because the fertility of the soil is 
low and the slopes are steep. The deer herds 
