Deer in Missouri

The Missouri Department of Conservation's policies for hunting deer tries to strike a balance between hunters and those who are affected by the state's deer population, which has stabilized at about 1 million in the past few years. The department wants enough deer to allow for good hunting, but it also is concerned about the impact deer have on farmers' crops and on motorists who want to avoid running into a deer on the state's highways.

The conservation department is holding a series of 16 meetings statewide where hunters will have an opportunity to discuss the possibility of longer hunting seasons, which likely would result in the harvesting of more deer. The first of those meetings was in Springfield, Mo., last week.

By the 1940s, Missouri's deer population had dwindled to just a few thousand. There were areas of the state that had no deer population at all. The state began releasing deer where their were none and carefully controlled hunting once deer populations were re-established.

As a result, there is something of a contentious dynamic between hunters who tend to be more successful with a booming deer population and those who are affected negatively by deer.

In the Cape Girardeau area, the deer population has grown so much that it is common to see groups of deer wandering through yards in heavily developed areas of the city. Flowers and shrubs are regularly decimated by the deer, and motorists cite frequent encounters with deer, particularly during the annual rutting season.

To be fair, the conservation department should invite nonhunters as well as hunters to its meetings if it wants to get a comprehensive overview of what Missourians think about having a million white-tailed neighbors.