Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation shows that deer hunters in Missouri harvested 94,977 deer during the opening weekend of the fall firearms deer season Nov. 11 and 12.
That number was a little more than one thousand fewer than the opening weekend of last year. Of this year’s total, 54 thousand were antlered bucks, over 95 hundred were button bucks, and over 31thousand were does. Top harvest counties for opening weekend were Howell with 2,095 deer checked, Franklin with 2,060 and Texas with 1,855.
Among Green Hills counties, the number of deer harvested during opening weekend were as many as 937 in Linn County. Others ranking next highest on down were Harrison at 911; Sullivan at 897; Putnam at 821; Daviess at 792; Livingston at 716; Mercer County at 653 and Grundy county with 542; and Caldwell at 527. For Grundy County, the total of 542 harvested was just ten fewer than opening weekend last year.
The November portion of fall firearms deer seasons continues through November 21. Archery deer season opens again on the 22nd through Jan. 15th. The late youth portion of firearms deer season runs Nov. 24-26. The antlerless portion of firearms deer season runs Dec. 1-3 and the alternative methods portion will run Dec. 23- Jan. 2, 2018.
