Missouri’s most-anticipated hunting season of the year will open Saturday, and about a half million deer hunters will head to the woods in search of success.
The November portion of the firearms deer season will run 11 days and wrap up Nov. 23.
Shooting hours during the season are one-half hour before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset each day (though I almost always hear somebody shoot well before legal time and well before they can even see their hand in front of their face).
As in all firearms seasons, hunters are required to wear a hunter orange cap or hat and a vest or jacket. The only exception is for someone bowhunting on a firearms permit in an area closed to rifle hunting, such as at the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge.
Be sure to read the regulations booklet so you understand what permits you need and what weapons are legal (hint: if you insist on using an AR-15 for deer, you’ll need to use no larger than a 10-round magazine because weapons used for deer cannot hold more than 11 rounds total).
Two extra firearms antlerless permits are available in Ripley County and one can be purchased and used in Stoddard and Reynolds counties. No antlerless firearm permits are usable in Butler, Carter, Dunklin or Wayne counties. There was a lot of confusion on that a few years ago when antlerless permits first became available in more local counties, but … read the regulations.
If you do kill a deer, make sure to Telecheck it by 10 p.m. the same day.
I will point out MDC agents are very watchful for permit violations during deer season, so just do the right thing in the first place. Don’t purchase a permit, then check a deer 15 minutes later. That sort of thing throws up a big red flag in MDC’s computer system and you will get paid a visit.
Last year, Missouri hunters killed 176,604 deer during the November firearms season, and the Department of Conservation, in a Tuesday news release, said it expects this year’s harvest to be a bit larger.
A potential hiccup for hunters will be visibility. As of yet, very few leaves have fallen, and visibility could be somewhat limited in the woods, meaning something could get by you without you noticing it.
The acorn crop in some areas also could be a factor in success. Two places I hunt are loaded with acorns, so the deer just don’t have to move much to feed, and if other areas are similar, seeing deer could prove tougher than normal.
The weather looks good for opening weekend, though it will be a bit windy, so the hunt may be more about keeping a sharp eye out if there’s too much wind noise.
Remember, above all else, to be safe while you’re out there. Make sure you positively identify your target and what is beyond it — twice — before pulling the trigger.
The first half of Missouri’s archery deer season wraps up Friday, and so far, bowhunters across the state have taken 44,752 deer since Sept. 15.
That’s still down from the same point in the season a year ago, when 47,862 deer were on the books, but the gap has closed.
Locally, the harvest continues to lag behind last year’s in every county, though some are fairly close. Unfortunately, some are dramatically down.
In Butler County, 296 deer have been arrowed. In Carter County, the tally is 493.
Dunklin County bowhunters have taken 63 deer, and those in Reynolds County have tagged 423.
In Ripley County, the harvest so far is 390 deer, and in Stoddard County, it is 463.
Wayne County’s 634 deer seems pretty good and it leads the region, but it is down one third from last year, so there’s that …
The second half of the archery season will open Nov. 24 and continue through Jan. 15. Success certainly will be harder to come by then, but you’ve got to keep trying.
The annual youth deer hunt at the Mingo National Wildlife refuge was held last weekend, and deer numbers were down quite a bit.
In a typical year, Refuge Manager Ben Mense said, youth hunters average 19 to 25 deer during the two-day hunt.
This year, they took eight deer.
“There’s just so many acorns in the woods, and that’s what we think it is,” Mense said of the reason for the low harvest. “With that much food, they just don’t need to move much.”
The refuge will host its annual muzzleloader managed deer hunt Dec. 4-5.
The goose hunting season in Missouri opens Thursday, with Canada, white-fronted and snow geese, plus brant, all legal game.
At the moment, it appears there are quite a few specklebellies (white-fronted geese) in the area, and they’ve been here a good while, arriving the first week in October.
Any Canada geese you come across at this point will be locals, and I haven’t yet seen or heard of any snow geese in the region.
The daily limit for Canada geese and brant will be three, while hunters can take two white-fronted geese and 20 snow and/or Ross’s geese daily.
Like all waterfowl seasons except the early teal season, daily shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise until sunset.
The first portion of the Middle Zone duck season in Missouri, which opened Nov. 6, will close at sunset Sunday.
After a one-week hiatus, the season will reopen on Nov. 20 and remain open until Jan. 9.
In the meantime, MDC’s in-season reservation system will continue to operate.
I asked Mingo Refuge manager Ben Mense about the status of Pool 8 for the second portion of the Middle Zone duck season and he said, at this point, refuge staff will continue to monitor the trees and soil temperature in the pool to determine when they might be dormant enough to start flooding the area.
As of now, Mense said, everything seems to be behind schedule, with a lot of trees still green.
“Once we think the trees are dormant, we’ll shut the gates and start the process of flooding Pool 8,” he said.
Gate closure and flooding, he said, typically begins around Thanksgiving, but this year, he hopes to have it started by Dec. 1.
Missouri’s furbearer hunting and trapping seasons will open Monday (coyote hunting is open all year).
Those with hunting permits can take badger, bobcat, gray fox, red fox, opossum, raccoon and striped skunk through Jan. 31.
Those with trapping permits can take those same species, plus rabbits and mink, through Jan. 31.
River otters and muskrats can be trapped Nov. 15-Feb. 20, and the trapping season on beavers and nutria runs Nov. 15-March 31.
Bobcats and river otters taken by hunters or trappers must be tagged by a conservation agent before they can be sold to a fur buyer or taxidermist, and the deadline to do so is April 10.
Paul Davis is the outdoors editor for the Daily American Republic and can be reached at pdavis.dar@gmail.com.