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Posted on Mon, Nov. 16, 2009 04:12 PM
Deer hunting numbers down in Missouri
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It was a gloomy weekend for Missouri deer hunters.
Plagued by mild temperatures Saturday and heavy rain Sunday, opening weekend of the firearms hunt turned out to be a disappointment for many.
Hunters shot 86,111 deer in the two days, by far the lowest total in the last decade. The previous low of 98,565 came last year. In every other year since 1999, hunters shot at least 100,000 deer on opening weekend.
“With the heavy rain we had Sunday, it kept a lot of hunters out of the woods,” said Kurt Kysar, a law-enforcement official for the Missouri Department of Conservation. “The weather also affected deer movement. When it’s raining hard like that, the deer just tend to bed down.
“So the conditions just weren’t good.”
To show what an effect the weather had on the kill, look at Benton County in the west-central part of the state. Hunters shot 1,116 deer there Saturday, but only 412 Sunday in the steady rain. By mid-morning, many orange-clad hunters were already heading out of hunting centers such as Warsaw, driving home.
“The hunting pressure was very low Sunday,” Kysar said. “A lot of hunters didn’t even go out.”
Texas and Howell counties in south-central Missouri led the state in deer kill. Texas had 1,760 deer checked in, while Howell had 1,759.
Wayne County in the southeast region was third with 1,585, Benton was fourth with 1,528 and Franklin in the east-central region was fifth with 1,488.
There were three hunting accidents, one resulting in a fatality. A Callaway County hunter was killed when a counterpart accidentally discharged his rifle as they were walking back to their vehicles, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.
The weather ruined what promised to be an outstanding opener. Surveys indicated the deer population was in good shape, especially in northern Missouri and parts of the Ozarks.
But wildlife biologists put one caveat on every pre-season prediction: if the weather cooperates. And this year, at least for opening weekend, the weather didn’t.
Still, Kysar put it in perspective.
“I’ve been with the Department of Conservation for 34 years. When I was getting started, hunters weren’t shooting this many deer in an entire season, let alone in just two days,” he said.
Posted on Mon, Nov. 16, 2009 04:12 PM
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