There’s more than 1,000 fewer deer roaming the hills and fields of Bureau County, thanks to a productive first half of the 2012 Illinois Firearm Deer Season.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources reported that hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 72,111 deer during the opening weekend of the 2012 Illinois Firearm Deer Season, which was held Nov. 16-18. The second half of the firearm season will be today, Thursday, through Sunday.

The preliminary harvest total of 72,111 for the first three days of the 2012 firearm season compares with the first weekend harvest of 66,501 deer during the 2011 deer season. In Bureau County, hunters harvested 1,014 deer, compared to 905 in 2011.