SPRINGFIELD – Hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary statewide total of 882 wild turkeys during the 2025-2026 fall archery turkey season, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The total compares with last year’s record harvest of 1,045 birds and the five-year average of 824 birds harvested.

This season 26,787 permits were sold, excluding landowner permits, compared with 27,422 permits sold during the 2024-2025 season. The fall archery turkey season dates were Oct. 1, 2025, through Jan. 18, 2026, and all 102 counties in Illinois were open for hunting.

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Harvest reports were 60% male birds and 40% female birds, compared with 51% males and 49% females reported during the previous season. A total of 67% of hunters used crossbows, 33% used compound bows, and less than 1% used traditional bows.

The top five counties for fall archery wild turkey harvest this season were Fayette, 33; Jefferson, 32; Marion, 24; Macoupin, 22; and Jackson, 20. The table below shows the preliminary 2025-2026 county-by-county fall archery turkey harvest results with comparable totals for 2024-2025.

County

2025-2026

2024-2025

Adams

12

15

Alexander

8

1

Bond

11

21

Boone

5

5

Brown

3

9

Bureau

7

15

Calhoun

9

16

Carroll

8

12

Cass

12

17

Champaign

2

6

Christian

10

9

Clark

11

4

Clay

10

19

Clinton

12

13

Coles

5

13

Crawford

12

8

Cumberland

6

4

Dekalb

2

3

DeWitt

2

3

Douglas

1

2

Edgar

6

4

Edwards

7

6

Effingham

15

16

Fayette

33

37

Ford

0

0

Franklin

13

7

Fulton

17

14

Gallatin

3

3

Greene

3

6

Grundy

2

5

Hamilton

5

8

Hancock

13

17

Hardin

4

7

Henderson

6

2

Henry

11

10

Iroquois

10

17

Jackson

20

7

Jasper

6

9

Jefferson

32

28

Jersey

9

9

Jo Daviess

16

23

Johnson

15

16

Kane

1

0

Kankakee

0

11

Kendall

1

0

Knox

13

12

Lake

0

3

LaSalle

13

15

Lawrence

2

4

Lee

9

22

Livingston

1

4

Logan

7

3

Macon

5

6

Macoupin

22

19

Madison

12

18

Marion

24

24

Marshall

4

8

Mason

9

15

Massac

2

5

McDonough

5

2

McHenry

7

17

McLean

11

9

Menard

4

9

Mercer

8

10

Monroe

7

10

Montgomery

16

21

Morgan

7

6

Moultrie

7

6

Ogle

6

17

Peoria

17

18

Perry

8

14

Piatt

2

3

Pike

12

25

Pope

8

6

Pulaski

5

3

Putnam

9

3

Randolph

13

19

Richland

6

3

Rock Island

12

5

Saline

10

7

Sangamon

13

22

Schuyler

13

11

Scott

2

1

Shelby

10

15

St. Clair

9

13

Stark

1

1

Stephenson

6

20

Tazewell

6

12

Union

14

5

Vermilion

11

10

Wabash

5

3

Warren

2

2

Washington

13

8

Wayne

19

13

White

4

5

Whiteside

10

18

Will

9

15

Williamson

16

14

Winnebago

11

17

Woodford

9

12

Total

882

1,045

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