Missouri deer hunting season opens today

Today marks the start of Missouri's deer season, which runs until Dec. 21, and as thousands of Missourians gear up in hunter orange to hit the woods, they might want to choose their strategy carefully.

A plentiful crop of white oak acorns, a favored snack of deer, could mean deer have a bounty of food in their immediate vicinity.

Those hoping deer will be moving enough to hunt successfully from a stand might be disappointed, said A.J. Hendershott of the Missouri Department of Conservation.

It's the preferred method to traipsing through the woods because by sitting in one spot and waiting, the deer will be approaching you on their own terms, Hendershott said.

They are more likely to be calm and walking slowly, instead of running.

"Oh, it sure is nice when they come to you," he said.

The weather also plays an important role in how much the animals are moving around.

If the weather isn't overly cold or windy, deer may bed down or lay in the sun, Hendershott said.

"If they've got plenty of food and the weather is nice, there's not a lot of incentive for them to move," Hendershott said.

According to the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., hunters face a 40 percent chance of rain before noon today, with northwest winds between 17 and 21 miles per hour.

Gusts reaching up to 38 miles per hour are also possible, with a high temperature near 41 degrees.

Sunday is expected to be sunnier, with highs near 47 and considerably less wind.

The firearms season is broken down into five portions: teens only, urban, November, muzzleloader and antlerless only.

During opening season for firearms last year, Cape Girardeau County saw a harvest of 573 deer total, with 372 antlered bucks, 33 button bucks and 168 does.

In Bollinger County, hunters took 1,166 deer opening weekends, and 978 were taken in Perry County. Scott County trailed with only 169 deer taken.

"Deer hunting is a big part of Missouri culture," Hendershott said.

The hunting industry pumped millions of dollars into the Missouri economy, he pointed out, not only through the $17 fee for a hunting permit, but the money spent on camping equipment, renting a cabin, campground fees, guns and gear.

"I guess that in our own way, we're stimulating the economy," Hendershott said.

Through the Share the Harvest program, Missouri hunters donated 260,908 pounds of venison to the needy during the 2007 deer hunting season.

The program is administered by the Conservation Federation of Missouri and the department of conservation.

As of February, more than 1.4 million pounds of deer meat was donated through the program, the equivalent of more than 5.6 million quarter-pound burgers.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

388-3635

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