Archery harvest record broken in final days

Despite a late onslaught of cold, rainy weather, bowhunters across Missouri squeaked out a new archery deer harvest record in the final two days of the season.

The 112-day season, which ran from mid-September through Tuesday, ended with hunters taking 54,447 deer. The previous record, from the 2012-13 season, was 53,997, and last year’s overall total was 51,722.

“I’m not especially surprised,” said Department of Conservation Resource Scientist Barbara Keller. “Deer populations are up across the state, and with the allowance of crossbows, we’ve seen an increase in participation.”

Antlered bucks made up slightly more than 39 percent of the harvest, while does comprised 51 percent. The remainder were button bucks.

Crossbows, according to MDC Private Lands Deer Biologist Kevyn Wiskirchen, accounted for 43 percent of the total harvest, up from 38 percent last year. Overall, he said, archery methods account for only 18 percent of the state’s entire deer harvest.

While the majority of deer killed by bowhunters came during the first half of the season, the latter half saw better results than normal, something which could be attributed to deer feeding in the open because of a lack of acorns.

Usually by mid-October, deer begin feeding heavily on acorns in the timber and are much less visible, but during this season they could be seen in fields through the last day. The sheer number of deer killed along area highways the last few months also is a testament to the lack of acorns.

The top counties in the state this season were Jefferson with 1,262, St. Louis with 1,082 and Franklin with 1,068.

Locally, some counties were up substantially over last year, while others were down only slightly.

Bowhunters in Ripley County tagged 669 deer, and those in Carter County killed 717.

In Butler County, where hunters enjoyed their first season with extra antlerless permits available, 638 deer were arrowed.

Stoddard County bowhunters took home 576 deer, and 110 were arrowed in Dunklin County.

Wayne County, as always, led the region with 1,004 taken and ended up in the fifth spot overall statewide.

Bowhunters also took 2,095 turkeys during the archery season, a mark which, to nobody’s surprise, falls short of last year’s 2,426.

Locally, 18 were taken in Butler County, 35 in Wayne County, 29 in Stoddard County, 16 in Ripley County and 16 in Carter County.

On a positive note, Dunklin County bowhunters tagged two turkeys. No birds had been taken there during at least the previous two seasons.

Less than one third of the archery turkey harvest was comprised of juvenile birds, which is well below normal. If you read between the lines, that means the next couple spring seasons are going to be pretty tough.

With all deer and turkey seasons closed for the winter, hunters now will have to focus on waterfowl, small game, predators or their honey-do list at home, and the next hunting season to open will be for spring turkeys in April.

__Hoping for a Change__

Duck numbers across the region have continued to decline from their already low totals.

During a midwinter survey a few days ago, 4,700 ducks were counted at the Coon Island Conservation Area in southern Butler County, while the Little River Conservation Area east of Kennett had a mere 1,350 ducks and the Ten Mile Pond area at East Prairie held 38,000-plus.

This was an aerial survey, so Wappapello Lake and the St. Francis River also were included. At Wappapello, a whopping 12 common mergansers were seen, and on the St. Francis south of Otter Slough, 1,390 ducks were spotted.

Other areas to the north still hold large numbers of ducks, and with an arctic blast predicted for this weekend, fresh birds could be pushed into our region.

Hunters are hopeful for such a change because there are only 10 days remaining in Missouri’s South Zone season, the only one remaining in the state.

__Coon Club__

During last week’s HTX hunt test at the Butler County Coon Club, Tyler Sanders’ dog, Hammer, was awarded a pass.

The club will have another event Friday, a pair of PKC hunts based out of its headquarters building off County Road 607.

The first hunt is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., followed by the second at midnight.

Anyone needing more information can contact Terry Uhl at 573-714-1624.

__Crappie Club__

The Wappapello Crappie Club will host a tournament on the lake Saturday.

The entry fee is $100 per boat, and fishing hours will be 7 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The weigh-in will take place at the Sundowner pavilion.

You can register before the event at Sundowner Marina or do so between 6-6:30 the morning of the tournament.

If you need information, give the folks at Sundowner Marina a call at 573-222-8622.

__Good Catches__

Despite some slightly high but falling water, crappie fishing at Wappapello Lake has been pretty good lately.

“Everybody I’ve talked to has been doing really well,” said Charlie Brotherton at Sundowner Marina.

Good numbers of big crappies, he said, have been caught lately fishing in deep water. That means staying close to the river channel and fishing near structure, like stumps and sunken trees.

As always, small tube jigs, or jig heads tipped with minnows, should do the trick.

As of yesterday, Wappapello had fallen back to about a foot below summer recreation pool and continues to drop about 5 inches daily.