The statewide fall firearms deer season that ended Tuesday fell about 34,000 from last year — a drop of 15 percent below the five-year average, said the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) shows that deer hunters in Missouri harvested 159,120 deer during the November portion of firearms deer season, Nov. 16-26. Of those, 82,613 were antlered bucks, 13,203 were button bucks and 63,304 were does.
Texas County placed second place in the state firearms deer season.
Hunters killed 2,935, well below the 2023 total and falling by about one-third.
The breakdown shows: Antlered deer, 1,445; button bucks, 250; and does, 1,240.
Last year, hunters harvested 4,208 in Texas County.
Franklin County placed first place with 3,530. Third was Howell County with 2,741 during the 10-day season.
Other top counties: Pike (2,484), Macon (2,476), Callaway (2,474) Jefferson (2,364) and Benton (2,323). See extra.mdc.mo.gov/widgets/harvest_table
This year’s harvest total was lower than last year’s November portion harvest total of 193,885 deer and was about 15% below the five-year average. For more harvest information from past years, visit mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/species/deer/deer-reports/deer-harvest-summaries.
According to MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle, the drop in harvest this year was due to a combination of factors.
“The November portion started about a week later this year due to the calendar shift,” said Isabelle. “When this happens, we can expect a drop in harvest because the November portion occurs further from the peak of the rut which is about the 10th of November.”
Less than ideal hunting conditions throughout much of the November portion were another factor that contributed to this year’s lower opening weekend harvest total according to Isabelle.
“We had a few nice days sprinkled throughout the November portion, but there a number of days with warm temperatures or high winds,” he said. “These conditions likely affected deer movement and also hunters’ desire to be in the woods.”
Another factor that Isabelle believes significantly affected this year’s harvest total is a bumper acorn crop.
“Throughout much of Missouri, there are a lot of acorns in the woods this year,” said Isabelle. “When that happens, deer don’t need to move as much to find food and they frequent fields and other open areas less often because of the abundance of food in the woods.”
He noted that the counties with the largest decline in harvest were in the more heavily forested portions of the state where acorn abundance has a more significant effect on deer movement.
“Many northern and western Missouri counties were either up from last year’s harvest total or were down slightly,” said Isabelle. “As would be expected, with the good acorn crop we have this year, harvest was down the most in the more heavily forested Ozark counties.”
ADDITIONAL HUNTS
The Late Youth portion runs Nov. 29 – Dec. 1 followed by the Late Antlerless portion Dec. 7-15 in open counties and then the Alternative Methods portion Dec. 28 through Jan. 7. The archery deer season reopened Nov. 27 and runs through Jan. 15.
