Illinois hunters have killed nearly 52,000 deer during the first weekend of the state's firearm hunting season.
The state Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday the preliminary total is 51,830 deer for the Nov. 21-23 weekend.
That's down from nearly 56,000 during the first weekend of the 2013 firearm season. Jackson County had the largest harvest last weekend with about 1,500 deer.
The second segment of the 2014 season is Dec. 4-7.
The DNR is reminding hunters that an additional 20 counties have been closed to the antlerless-only seasons from Jan. 1-4 and Jan. 16-18. The muzzleloader season is Dec. 12-14 and archery deer season continues through Jan. 18, 2015.
