Missouri’s archery deer and turkey seasons wrapped up Saturday evening, and both harvests were slightly below last year’s.
After 112 days of hunting, which kicked off in mid-September, bowhunters managed to tag 60,834 deer across the state, which is down about 10% from last year’s record harvest of 67,487.
This year’s total ranks third among the state’s all-time archery season harvests, with the 2019 season ranking second.
The state’s top archery-harvest counties are no surprise, with Jefferson leading the way with 1,563 deer taken, St. Louis with 1,368 and Franklin with 1,274.
Locally, the harvest fell quite obit short of last year, with every county down significantly.
In Butler County, bowhunters tagged 383 deer, down a whopping 48% from a year ago.
In Carter County, hunters arrowed 586 deer, down 24%.
Dunklin County bowhunters came closest to matching last year’s harvest with 93 this year, and that still was down 17%.
Reynolds County bowhunters fared fairly well this year, taking home 623 deer, but that also was down 21% from a year ago.
Reynolds County saw a pretty big drop in its archery harvest, at 36%, as hunters there killed 482 deer.
Stoddard County was one of the better areas to hunt, apparently, with hunters there arrowing 604 deer. That still represented a 19% drop from last year, though.
Wayne County is normally expected to have the highest harvest in the region, and it did again this year, but the 788 deer taken there by bowhunters still was down 40%. Last year, Wayne County ranked fourth in the state for archery harvest, and this year it was eighth.
Overall, there were 293,670 deer taken across all seasons this year. That lags slightly behind last year’s 297,214, but, according to the Department of Conservation, is about 3% above the previous five-year average.
I finished out the archery season in a tree stand Saturday evening as rain and snow fell all around. I saw four deer, including a 6-point buck, but they never got close enough for a shot. Still, it was good to get back out, and it’s always pretty cool to hunt in the snow, a rare occurrence.
As far as the archery turkey harvest, it also was a bit behind last year’s, but that should be no surprise.
Statewide, bowhunters took 2,523 turkeys, down from 2,905 last year but better than the 2,406 taken in 2019.
The turkey harvest locally was down significantly, except in Dunklin County, which doesn’t have a large turkey population or much good habitat except for the Crowley’s Ridge area. Hunters there took three birds, up from two a year ago.
In Butler County, hunters took six birds, down from 13 last year, and in Carter County, the tally was 10, down from 21.
Reynolds County bowhunters took 13 birds, down from 23 last year, and in Ripley County, they tagged eight turkeys, down from 27.
Stoddard County had the region’s highest harvest with 25 birds arrowed, but that still was down from 35 a year ago.
In Wayne County, hunters took 19 birds, a whopping drop from last year’s 46.
Duck numbers across Southeast Missouri have fallen on the managed public wetlands, and the amount of water available now has spread out the remaining birds.
Only the South Zone remains open through Jan. 31.
At the Ten Mile Pond Conservation Area, an estimated 13,000 ducks are holding on the area this week. That’s a little more than half of what the area was holding.
At the Coon Island Conservation Area, there are an estimate 7,000 ducks, which actually is slightly more than a week ago.
The last managed wetland in the South Zone is the Little River Conservation Area near Kennett, and staff there report only 2,600 ducks this week.
Private areas could still offer decent hunting, and if the area rivers get out of their banks again, those backwaters should be the hot spots.
I was talking with MDC’s head waterfowl biologist Andy Raedeke Tuesday, and he doesn’t expect any more birds to migrate from the north to our area because most all managed wetlands across the northern portion of the state have lost all their birds already. Some remain, but there should be no big pushes.
The next few days look to be pretty cold, so ice could become an issue for hunters. It might keep some people at home, but if you can break a hole in it, the hunting can be fantastic.
The good news is there is another option: goose hunting. There are large numbers of snows and white-fronted geese across the region, and the season on them is open until Feb. 6.
Crappie fishing at Wappapello Lake has been more hit and miss this winter than any I can recall.
Randy Hastings reported a fantastic fishing trip late last week, but a subsequent outing earlier this week resulted in almost nothing.
On his first trip, he said, he had to quit at 26 fish because he had to stay within the 9-inch quota and everything he was catching that afternoon would put him over. On that day, he reported the water was very clear.
A few days later, the water was dingy and a total of nine fish were caught.
I guess it’s just a matter of luck, depending on the day you go and if you can find the fish.
Wappapello Lake has come up a little bit and currently is holding at around 357.25 feet.
Paul Davis is the outdoor editor for the Daily American Republic and can be reached at pdavis.dar@gmail.com.