Outdoor digest

Deer total tops 257,000

The weather was good -- so was the deer harvest. Missouri hunters posted a record-setting deer harvest of at least 257,910 during Missouri's 2001-02 firearms and archery deer hunting seasons.

Reports from check stations statewide show that bowhunters bagged 21,767 deer during the split archery hunting season Oct. 1 through Nov. 9 and Nov. 21 through Jan. 15. That figure, combined with 205,867 deer checked during the November firearms hunt, 8,662 during the muzzleloader hunt Dec. 1-9, 14,668 during the January segment of firearms deer season and 6,277 during the Youth Deer Hunt Oct. 27-28, created the record year.

Officials with the Missouri Department of Conservation attribute the strong harvest in part to warm and ry weather.

KC man wins NRA award

Gary Davis of Kansas City, Mo., was awarded the National Rifle Association's Jay M. Littlefield Memorial award, presented to activitists who demonstrate efforts in defense of Second Amendment rights.

Davis is a longtime civil and victims' rights advocate.

-- From staff reports