JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) shows that young hunters ages 6 through 15 harvested 13,759 deer during Missouri’s early youth portion of the 2022 deer hunting season, Oct. 29-30 down nearly 2,000 from the 15,608 harvested during last year’s early youth portion.
Top counties were Franklin with 330 deer harvested, Osage with 310, and Howell with 260.
Ste. Genevieve County youth hunters bagged 109 deer: 73 antlered bucks, eight button bucks, and 28 does.
Perry County youth hunters harvested 100 deer: 50 antlered bucks, nine button bucks, and 41 does.
View additional harvest numbers for the 2022 early youth portion at https://short.mdc.mo.gov/Z3g.
“Saturday’s conditions were fairly comfortable for our young deer hunters,” said MDC’s Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle. “Although the rain we received in portions of the state on Sunday was much needed given the ongoing drought, it did put a bit of a damper on the latter half of the early youth portion.”
Missouri’s archery deer and turkey season continues through Nov. 11 and resumes Nov. 23 through Jan. 15, 2023. The November portion of firearms deer season runs Nov. 12-22 followed by the late youth portion Nov. 25-27. The antlerless portion of firearms deer season runs Dec. 3-11 (in open counties) followed by the alternative methods portion Dec. 24 through Jan. 3, 2023.