Missouri deer hunters set first-weekend record

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri hunters shot a record number of deer during the opening weekend of the fall firearms season.

Hunters reported killing 133,136 deer on Saturday and Sunday, breaking the 2002 record of 127,251 deer killed on the season's opening weekend, Jim Low, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Conservation, said Tuesday.

He attributed the record partly to favorable weather.

"We had terrific weather this time," Low said, "weather that's cool enough to encourage deer to move around but not so cold and rainy that it drives hunters out of the woods."

Last year, with a warm and rainy opening weekend, Missouri hunters shot 110,995 deer.

Missouri's deer population remains strong -- estimated at 1 million -- and new department policies encourage the shooting of more does this year by allowing cheaper, unlimited anterless deer tags in many parts of the state.

The leading deer-kill counties for opening weekend were Callaway, Texas and Howell, each of which reported more than 2,500 deer killed, Low said.

The firearms deer season runs through Nov. 23. Hunting is allowed from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset each day.

Low said two self-inflicted hunting accidents were reported during the season's opening weekend, neither of which were fatal.