KILL NUMBERS DOWN ON FIRST WEEKEND OF DEER SEASON

JEFFERSON CITY -- Warm weather chilled hunting success during the opening weekend of the 1999 firearms deer season. The deer kill Nov. 13-14 was 94,481. That is a decrease of 16,025 from the 1998 opening weekend total.

The Conservation Department received reports of seven hunting accidents during the weekend, including one fatality.

Hunter and deer reactions to the warm weather were likely the biggest factors affecting the opening weekend harvest, according to Hansen, a wildlife research biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation."When it's warm, deer usually have no problem finding enough food," said Hansen, "so they limit their feeding activity, reducing a hunter's chances for seeing them. Hunters also alter their activities when it's warm. They stay afield longer and tend to be more selective about what they harvest, passing up chances to shoot does or young bucks in hopes that a large buck will come their way later."Hansen also suspects that concern about meat spoiling due to the heat prevented some hunters from harvesting does and small bucks. He says under normal conditions a hunter with bonus permits can shoot the first deer that comes along, field dress it and continue hunting. With temperatures hovering around 80 degrees, a hunter must quickly get a deer into storage to prevent the meat from spoiling.

Changes in regulations also may have played a role in lowering the opening weekend harvest. This year, hunters may fill unused any-deer, bonus deer and bucks only permits during the muzzleloader deer season Dec. 4-12. Unfilled any-deer and bonus permits also may be used during the January extension portion of the season, Jan. 8-11. Hansen says those expanded hunting opportunities may have encouraged hunters to be more selective about what they would harvest.

Hansen says hunting conditions in some regions of the state also were affected by disease and food. The deer biologist suspects last summer's outbreak of epizootic hemorragic disease (EHD) may have pared back the herd slightly in North-Central Missouri. And he says a better crop of acorns in the Ozarks probably made it unnecessary for deer to move around a lot looking for food.

Counties with the highest harvest were Macon, where hunters bagged 2,070 deer on the opening weekend, Boone County with 1,742 deer harvest and Montgomery County, where the opening weekend harvest was 1,668.

Regional opening weekend harvest totals were: Northeast, 19,680; Northwest, 16,229; West Central, 13,857; Central, 11,733; East Central, 8,931; Ozark, 7,357; Southwest, 7,321; Southeast, 5,843; Kansas City, 2,193; and St. Louis, 1,337.