NEBO, Ill. — Matt Brunet sees lots of big bucks as he tends game plots or monitors trail cameras at Harpole’s Heartland Lodge during the summer.

“One of the deer we have been watching is one we call ‘frog spear.’ I have his sheds from the last couple of years and last year he was right at 200 inches and is looking like from the early pictures … is going to be even bigger this year,” Brunet said.

Brenda Middendorf of Pittsfield tracks “big bucks” of a different variety — focusing on the money that comes into the region due to hunting and outdoor recreation.

As coordinator for Access Illinois Outdoors, Middendorf has a study showing that hunting and other outdoor…