JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) shows that young hunters ages 6 through 15 harvested 3,477 deer during Missouri’s late youth portion of the 2021 deer hunting season, Nov. 26-28. Of the 3,477 deer harvested, 1,470 were antlered bucks, 383 were button bucks, and 1,624 were does.
Top counties for the late youth portion were Osage with 86 deer harvested, Franklin with 82, and Miller with 68.
Last year’s harvest total for the late youth portion was 3,967 with 1,467 being antlered bucks, 524 button bucks, and 1,976 does.
“After a breezy and cold Thanksgiving Day, we had some pleasant conditions for our young hunters to be in the woods during the three-day late youth portion,” said MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle. “This year’s harvest total was the second-highest on record and nearly 20-percent above the five-year average.”
For current ongoing preliminary harvest totals by season, county, and type of deer, visit the MDC website at https://extra.mdc.mo.gov/widgets/harvest_table/.
For harvest summaries from past years, visit https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/species/deer/deer-harvest-reports/deer-harvest-summaries.
Archery deer season runs through Jan. 15, 2022. The antlerless portion of firearms deer season runs Dec. 4-12 followed by the alternative methods portion Dec. 25 through Jan. 4, 2022.
Find more information on deer hunting from MDC’s 2021 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, available where permits are sold and online at https://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/2021FDT.pdf.
