DEER HUNTERS WILL BENEFIT FROM CHANGES IN REGULATIONS

JEFFERSON CITY -- Deer hunters with disabilities and those who use muzzle-loading firearms will benefit from some of the regulation changes recently approved by the Missouri Conservation Commission.

Muzzleloader hunters will get a chance to take part in an antlerless-only deer hunt on designated portions of Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge Jan. 23 and 24, 1993. Hunters with bonus antlerless-only tags will be allowed to take an additional deer during this hunt. The Jan. 9 and 10 deer hunt at Swan Lake will remain an any-deer hunt.

Designated portions of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land around Truman Reservoir will be open to modern firearms deer hunting by persons with disabilities Nov. 21 and 22 this year. Designated portions of Shaw Arboreum will be open to hunting antlerless deer with muzzleloaders Jan. 9 and 10 and Jan. 16 and 17. An additional deer, which must be antlerless, may be taken at Shaw Arboretum by holders of bonus antlerless-only deer permits.

Knob Noster State Park and Pershing State Park, which have hosted any-deer hunts during modern firearms deer season in the past, will hold antlerless-only hunts in January.

Another change in deer hunting regulations permits the use of any pistol or revolver firing center-fire ammunition with expanding-type bullets. In the past, the Code has limited the use of handguns for deer hunting to those firing .357 magnum or larger cartridges.

New regulations also exempt trappers from restrictions on firearms they may use during firearms deer season. In the past, trappers could use only shotguns with shot not larger than No. 4 the same as hunters pursuing game other than deer during the firearms deer season. Now, trappers can carry handguns or other firearms more appropriate to their needs.

The Commission liberalized rules for hunting deer with muzzle-loading firearms by allowing hunters to carry more than one muzzleloader. In the past, muzzleloader hunters were limited to one firearm. This made it difficult to dispatch wounded deer quickly.

One change that will affect many deer hunters deals with the procedure for tagging deer. Under the new regulations, detaching the transportation tag from a deer hunting permit before taking a deer renders the permit void. This change is intended to prevent illegal use of permit tags on deer taken in excess of legal limits.

"Conservation agents will take special circumstances into account when a transportation tag is accidentally detached from the tag," said Bob King, chief of the Missouri Department of Conservation's Protection Division. "This regulation provides a way of dealing with people who intentionally abuse their hunting privileges."

The Commission also liberalized deer regulations to allow donations of commercially processed deer meat to not-for-profit charitable organizations for distribution to the needy. Also, commercial meat processors will be required to purchase $25 Commercial Deer Processing Permits and keep accurate records of all deer meat processed and stored.

Some regulation changes apply only to special hunts on particular areas. For instance, hunters will be restricted to muzzle-loading firarms during the annual special deer hunt at Caney Mountain Refuge. In the past, archery hunting was permitted during that hunt also.

Full details of deer hunting regulations will be explained in the 1992 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Information guide. That publication will is available from permit vendors.