Hunters hot in cold weather in Missouri deer opener

Maybe all Missouri deer hunters needed was a good shot of winter-like weather.

Hunters shivered through an opener Saturday in which snow fell, temperatures dipped into the 20s and a blustery wind blew.

But they shot deer.

Hunters took 58,035 deer Saturday on the opening day of the Missouri firearms season. Last year, they took 61,446 deer for the entire weekend.

Here are a few of Saturday’s highlights:

▪ Franklin County in east-central Missouri was the state’s leader with 1,092 deer checked in. Its neighbor in the region, Callaway, ranked third with 1,057 deer registered.

▪ As expected, the Ozarks also had a strong showing. Howell County ranked second in the harvest totals with 1,133 deer checked in. Texas was fifth with 1,016, and Wayne was sixth with 859.

▪ Cass led the Kansas City-area counties with 399 deer checked in. Platte ranked second with 178, Jackson third with 166, and Clay fourth with 140.

▪ Macon and Benton counties, two perennial deer-hunting strongholds, had good openers. Macon ranked fourth in the harvest figures with 1,056 deer checked in. Benton ranked eighth with 905.

This story was originally published November 15, 2014 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Hunters hot in cold weather in Missouri deer opener."