JEFFERSON CITY – Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) shows that young hunters ages 6 through 15 harvested 15,608 deer during Missouri’s early youth portion of the 2021 deer hunting season, Oct. 30-31.
Top counties were Osage with youth hunters harvesting 359 deer, Franklin with 329, and Howell with 310.
Perry County’s young hunters harvested 151 deer: 75 antlered bucks, nine button bucks and 67 does.
Ste. Genevieve County’s young hunters harvested 147 deer: 90 antlered bucks, 10 button bucks and 47 does.
Youth hunters harvested 15,854 deer during last year’s early youth portion.
View additional harvest numbers for the 2021 early youth portion at Telecheck Harvest Numbers (mo.gov).
“Weather can have a big impact on harvest totals during our shorter season portions,” said MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle. “Thankfully, the rain we experienced across much of the state late last week moved out just in time for our youth hunters to have some great conditions over the weekend.”
Missouri’s deer archery season continues through Nov. 12 and resumes Nov. 24 through Jan. 15, 2022.
The November portion of firearms deer season runs Nov. 13-23 followed by the late youth portion Nov. 26-28.
The antlerless portion of firearms deer season runs Dec. 4-12 followed by the alternative methods portion Dec. 25 through Jan. 4, 2022.
Read more information on deer hunting from MDC’s 2021 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, available where hunting permits are sold and online at https://short.mdc.mo.gov/Zyy.