MO Department of Conservation reports record deer harvest for 2023-24
(KBSI) – Missouri’s 2023-2024 deer-hunting season ended Jan. 15 with the Missouri Department of Conservation reporting a preliminary record-setting total deer harvest for the season of 326,026.
This new harvest record surpasses the one set in 2006 of 325,457.
Of the deer harvested:
- 147,705 were antlered bucks
- 29,060 were button bucks
- 149,261 were does
Top harvest counties for the overall deer season:
- Franklin with 7,395
- Howell with 6,346
- Texas with 6,181
Hunters harvested 299,719 deer during the 2022-2023 deer hunting season:
- 140,735 were antlered bucks
- 27,028 were button bucks
- 131,956 were does
Deer hunting ended with the close of the archery season.
Preliminary data from MDC showed that hunters checked 55,396 deer during the 2023-2024 archery deer season.
Top counties for the archery deer season:
- Jefferson with 1,440
- Franklin with 1,194
- St. Louis with 1,022
Hunters checked 56,683 deer during the 2022-2023 archery deer season.
Increasing deer numbers and regulation changes that added a new early antlerless firearms portion, a new chronic wasting disease (CWD) firearms portion, and an increase in the number of firearms antlerless deer hunting permits in most counties led to additional hunting opportunities and contributed to a record harvest, according to MDC.
MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle says deer numbers are increasing in most counties. He says additional antlerless deer harvest is needed to slow population growth and help maintain deer numbers at desired levels.
This year was the first since 2013 that more does were harvested than antlered bucks, according to MDC.
“Prior to the severe hemorrhagic disease outbreak in 2012 that reduced deer numbers and resulted in regulation changes to reduce antlerless harvest, doe harvest exceeded antlered buck harvest each year for about a decade,” said Isabelle. “Now that the deer population has rebounded and regulations have been liberalized, it’s nice to see the much-needed increase in antlerless harvest given our desire to slow the growth of the increasing deer population to maintain deer numbers at socially acceptable levels.”
This year’s antlered buck harvest is also the highest on record, according to MDC.
Isabelle attributes the increase primarily to the new Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) portion of firearms deer season that was open in CWD Management Zone counties.
“Hunters play a major role in helping to manage CWD and increasing the harvest of both bucks and antlerless deer in the CWD Management Zone will help reduce the spread of the disease,” said Isabelle.
Increasing deer numbers, changes in hunter preferences, and removal of the antler-point restriction (APR) in counties that enter the CWD Management Zone have also contributed to an increasing antlered buck harvest trend over the past decade, according to Isabelle.
Tap here to view deer harvest totals by season, county, and type of deer.
Tap here to see deer harvest summaries from past years.
MDC reported one non-fatal, archery-related deer hunting incident and no firearms-related hunting incidents during the deer season.
