KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri hunters took a record harvest during the 2023-24 deer season, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Deer season ended Monday with a record 326,026 deer harvested in the state.
That breaks the old record harvest of 325,457 in 2006 and represents a sharp increase from last deer season, when 299,719 deer were taken.
The addition of a new antlerless firearms season, a chronic wasting disease firearms season and the issuance of more antlerless deer-hunting permits drove the increase, according to the conservation department.
“With deer numbers increasing in most counties, additional antlerless deer harvest is needed to slow population growth and help maintain deer numbers at desired levels,” MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle said in a statement. “It was great to see hunters take advantage of the additional hunting opportunities.”
The largest number of deer were taken in Franklin County (7,395), just west of St. Louis, while Howell (6,346) and Texas (6,181) counties in south-central Missouri had the second and third most, respectively.
Most of the deer harvested were does (149,261) or antlered bucks (147,705) with 29,060 button bucks also taken. The recent deer season marked the first time since 2013 that more does than bucks were taken.
There was a slight decrease — from 56,683 in 2022-23 to 55,396 in 2023-24 — in deer checked during archery season, which brought deer-hunting season to a close Monday.
The MDC reported no firearms-related hunting incidents in 2023-24 and one non-fatal, archery-related incident.
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