Wow !! The 2012 deer results are in and Illinois harvested about 5,000 more deer this year than was harvested in 2011. The top county, again, was Pike with a harvest of 2, 018. The top five rounded out to be Fulton, Adams, JoDaviess and Randolph.

There were 334,000 permits issued this year and the ratio for bucks was about 60 percent. Bureau County was up by slightly over 100 more than last year. If the weather is decent for the next four-day season, Illinois could top the 100,000 whitetails mark this year.

Locally, I received information that two Bureau County residents did well this first season. While having a cup of coffee with Peanut Isaacson, he pulled out his telephone and showed me a picture of his son, Aaron, and his buck. Whoa, I had to find out more about this one. It seems that Aaron had taken the week off to archery hunt and look for this big buck he saw on his trail cam. He passed on several shots during the week waiting for the big boy. Didn’t see him.