Hunters record fourth-highest deer harvest during firearms season

Deer harvest numbers during Missouri's November firearms season were down 9 percent over last year's numbers, but overall hunters had a good season.

The 214,494 deer processed were the fourth-highest number recorded in Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Last year's harvest of 235,409 set the record.

Some speculated before the season began that this year could be another record harvest because the late spring freeze hurt acorn production, forcing deer to move out of the woods to find their food. But in Missouri the weather was unseasonably warm and windy, conditions that make deer less inclined to move about, according to the Department of Conservation.

Missouri hunters did set one record: There were only three hunting-related injuries during the November firearms season this year, setting a new standard for safety. None of the injuries was fatal.

In the Southeast Missourian coverage area, hunters in Bollinger County killed the most deer, 2,237, followed by Perry County at 2,011, Cape Girardeau County at 1,288, Stoddard County at 1,060 and Scott County at 377.

The best deer hunting, in terms of quantity, could be found in Texas County, in south-central Missouri, where 4,043 deer were killed.

"Our deer herd is healthy and fairly stable throughout most of the state," said Department of Conservation deer-management expert Lonnie Hansen in a news release. "With our deer population at a plateau, we are going to see some years when the harvest is up and some when it's down, but every year's harvest is going to be around a certain number."

Hunters have harvested between 201,000 and 235,000 deer every year since 2000. Two more weeks of firearms seasons (muzzleloading and antlerless) remain.

In Illinois, hunters harvested 85,490 deer in the first weekend of hunting. The second portion of the firearm season in Illinois is Nov. 29 to Dec. 2.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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