Hunters harvest nearly 300,000 deer for 2020-2021 season, MDC says. Deer season wrapped up Jan. 15, and the Missouri Department of Conservation announced that the preliminary number of deer harvested is 296,516. Of those harvested, there were 140,468 antlered bucks, 28,587 button bucks and 127,461 does.

Missouri has a population of over 1.3 million deer and a lot of public lands open for hunting… almost 500,000 hunters annually …

80,525 deer

During the 2019-20 hunting season, Missouri reported a preliminary total deer harvest of 285,483. This season’s total provided a nearly 4% increase in harvest. According to MDC, of the deer harvested in the 2020-21 season, 140,468 were antlered bucks, 28,587 were button bucks, and 127,461 were does.

Howell County is ideal deer country. It has the thick timber the Ozarks are known for, but clearings and crop fields also dot the landscape. And it has large chunks of public hunting land, such as the White Ranch Conservation Area, managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The use of bait, including grain or other feed placed or scattered to attract deer or turkey, while hunting is illegal. The regulations are in place to help limit the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer and to ensure fair chase.

Texas

Hit some of the state’s central Missouri River corridor counties, such as Callaway and Chariton, for your best shot at a Missouri record buck. February 06, 2019 By Tony Kalna Jr. There are about 500 trophy whitetails entered into the Boone and Crockett record book each year.

Missouri’s 2020-21 deer-hunting season ended Friday, with the Missouri Department of Conservation reporting a preliminary total deer kill for the season of 296,516. Of the deer killed, 140,468 were antlered bucks, 28,587 were button bucks and 127,461 were does, according to an MDC news release.

What’s more, the Brewster buck is also now the largest whitetail ever killed by a hunter anywhere in the world, topping Stephen Tucker’s 47-point Tennessee monarch , a Nov. 2016 buck that scored 312 0/8 inches.

Limits. Only one antlered deer may be taken during the entire firearms season (all portions combined). You may take only two antlered deer during the archery and firearms deer hunting seasons combined. Antler point restrictions apply in some counties.

After 2015, Missouri is going to be a two-buck state. Moving forward, MDC is reducing the limit for antlered deer from three to two during the combined archery and firearms deer hunting season, with no more than one antlered deer taken during the firearms deer hunting season.

According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, a person can legally kill an albino deer in Missouri. Killing an albino deer is illegal in six states, including Illinois.

The value of a healthy deer herd is very important to Missouri.” Missouri residents are also reminded that grain, salt products, minerals, and other consumable products used to attract deer are prohibited year-round in counties that lie within the state’s CWD management zones.

The eight central-Missouri counties are: Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, and Osage.

New firearm designs prompt MDC to rewrite definition of hunting ‘handgun’ If they’re good enough shots, Missouri hunters can legally use handguns to take deer, including during the “alternative methods” season, when rifles and shotguns are not allowed.

Use archery methods only; firearms may not be possessed except any person may carry concealable firearms, as defined in Chapter 571, RSMo, on or about his/her person while hunting. Firearms possessed under this exception may not be used to take wildlife while archery hunting.