Hunter across Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 50,173 deer during the first weekend of the firearm deer season November 22 thru the 24th. That is less than the 58,836 deer taken during the first firearm season in 2018. The seven day firearm deer season will conclude this Thursday December 5th through Sunday December 8th. According to figures from the Department of Natural Resources there were 348 deer taken in Lawrence County during the first weekend of hunting in 2019 down from 468 deer taken the initial weekend of 2018.