Here are the dove harvest numbers from opening day on Wednesday, Sept. 1, at area public sites and some Downstate Illinois ones, too.
The most unusual mumbers came from Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area, where you have to go back to 2002 for numbers like that. Iroquois County State Wildlife Area lived up to the promise of its fields and deservedly takes the top spot. They had 10 limits out of their 33 hunters.
I would add the caveat that I think some of the numbers might be skewed slightly at some sites because of self reporting in the field, instead of hunters returning to the office or draw spot to report their take.
Site: doves harvested, hunters, dph
Iroquois County SWA: 319, 33, 9.7
Shabbona SRA: 389, 47, 8.3
Des Plaines State Fish and Wildlife Area: 460, 61, 7.5
Matthiessen State Park: 563, 82, 6.9
Green River SWA: 593, 98, 6.1
Jim Edgar/Panther Creek SFWA: 621, 122, 5.1
Silver Springs SFWA: 260, 70, 3.7
Kankakee River SP: 1, 14, 0.1
Chain O’Lakes SP: 0, 11, 0
