Illinois is coming off a record-breaking youth deer hunting season.
Officials from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources say Illinois youth deer hunters set a record for the season, harvesting a preliminary total of more than 48-hundred deer from October 10th through the 12th.
Twenty-four deer were harvested in Mercer County this year. That figure compares to 20 during the 2025 youth deer hunting season and 18 in 2024.