McHenry County Conservation District

FIREARMS DEER HUNTING PARAMETERS

MCCD offers two options for firearms deer hunting: first and second seasons.

Firearm Rules

Firearm Changes

Firearm Dates

Firearm Stats

Firearm Application

First Season – November 18-20

Rush Creek Conservation Area: number of zones not to exceed ten(10).
Pleasant Valley Conservation Area: number of zones not to exceed six (6).

Rush Creek and Pleasant Valley Conservation Areas will be closed to public use during this firearms deer hunting season.

Second Season – December 1-4

Glacial Park: number of zones not to exceed twenty-one (21).

Glacial Park will be closed to public use during this firearms deer hunting season.

Hunters may indicate which site they perfer on their application.

General Information for All Seasons

Zones
District staff will set zones within each site. Zones will be set so they remain at least 1,000 feet from any occupied dwelling. The State statute for this distance is 900 feet.
Stands must be placed within the zone according to the instructions on the zone map, unless the hunter is in a zone with a District-supplied stand. All hunter-owned stands must be portable elevated stands and must be set up and removed by the participant.
Ten of the 21 zones at Glacial Park will have district-supplied elevated stands that the hunter can use. The hunter may also provide his/her own stand to set up elsewhere in the zone.
Each zone will be limited to one participant, except for an adult hunting with a youth. Participants may request that two adults share a zone for mentoring/teaching purposes.

Applications
Firearms Deer Hunting applicants may apply for one or both seasons. You may apply with a youth partner who will be placed in the same zone. If you want to hunt with an adult, you may request on your application to be placed in an adjacent zone to the other hunter.

Participant Selection
Participants will be selected through a lottery. Each zone can accommodate a single participant, except in the case of an adult with a youth hunter.
Lottery point system: During the 2010 season, a hunter received one point for each female deer harvested. An applicant who was not chosen in the lottery for the 2010 season will receive five points. This point system will be used in the 2011 lottery to give preference to hunters who harvest does and those who did not get into the program the previous year.