Missouri’s archery deer and turkey seasons wrapped up Wednesday with a record number of deer taken.
While the season’s final harvest numbers can’t be tabulated just yet because hunters can check until 10 p.m., and the conservation department still has to review all the information, it looks like the total will fall somewhere right around 62,000 deer taken.
That’s well above last year’s record of 52,923.
Preliminary data shows the top counties in the state were Jefferson with 1,616, Franklin with 1,305 and St. Louis with 1,216.
Locally, Southeast Region hunters saw mixed results. In Butler County, bowhunters killed 585 deer over the course of the multi-month season, down from last year’s 622.
In Stoddard County, bowhunters tagged 731 deer this year compared to 565 a year ago.
In Dunklin County, hunters ended the season with 131 deer arrowed, up a bit from last year’s 108.
Wayne County hunters, for the second year in a row, finished the season ranked fifth in the state, and this year, they killed 1,021 deer. That’s better than the 964 they took there during the 2018-19 season.
In the Ozarks region, bowhunters in Carter County tagged 585 deer during the season, down from last year’s 694.
In Ripley County, bowhunters killed 591 deer, which is a bit lower than the 654 they took there last fall.
As far as the archery turkey season, all the pre-season indicators pointed to lower numbers, but Missouri’s bowhunters actually increased their harvest over last year.
That’s especially impressive because the vast majority of the fall archery turkey kills are the result of happenstance as birds wander by those bowhunting deer.
This fall, hunters arrowed 2,406 turkeys across the state, compared to 1,609 last year.
Again, the numbers aren’t final, but they likely won’t change much.
Locally, every county, except Stoddard, was down this fall compared to last year, so the overall increase came from other regions of the state.
In Butler County, the harvest fell from nine a year ago to five this fall. Last year, a single turkey was arrowed in Dunklin County, but none were taken this year.
Wayne County’s archery turkey harvest dropped from 22 last year to 12 this year.
This fall’s harvest of six birds in Carter County is half of last year’s 12, and Ripley County’s kill dropped even further, from nine last year to just four this fall.
Stoddard County was the only bright spot, with 25 turkeys arrowed this fall. That represents a very small increase from last year’s 23.
The archery season closure wraps up deer and turkey hunting in Missouri for the fall and winter.
The spring youth turkey season will run April 4-5, followed by the regular season April 20-May 10. Deer hunting will pick up again with the archery season on Sept. 15.
Duck numbers are hard to gauge across the area because of all the rain from last weekend, which put a lot of sheet water in the fields and spread the birds thin.
Still, birds remain - you just have to cover a lot of ground to find them.
As far as public lands in Missouri’s South Zone, the Little River Conservation Area outside Kennett is holding a mere 4,000 ducks this week. At the Ten Mile Pond Conservation Area, there were around 42,000 birds, but area manager Keith Cordell expects limited access because of flooded roads.
No count was available for the Coon Island Conservation Area in Butler County because biologist Luke Wehmhoff couldn’t access the area.
“The water overflows the spillways between the units at 10 feet on the Poplar Bluff gauge,” Wehmhoff said, but when he went to do his ground count, the level was over 18 feet, restricting access.
The Black River was back below 10 feet by Tuesday, but hunters still will have a hard time getting around the area for a good while.
Wappapello Lake topped out mid-day Monday at around 374 feet after the entire watershed received several inches of rain over the weekend.
“We’re at 373 feet today (Wednesday) and dropping about six tenths of a foot a day,” said Park Ranger Rosie Lemons.
A few facilities remain closed until the water drops, and the current discharge is 8,300 cfs.
At Clearwater Lake, the water continues to rise slowly, but officials expect it to crest sometime over the next day or two. At last check, the lake was around 521.79 feet. The normal level for this time of year is 494 feet, so it is substantially high.
Clearwater staff may increase the lake’s discharge into the Black River in the next day or two, but that decision will come from the Little Rock District office. Currently, the outflow is at 2,010 cfs.
The good news for anglers is Duck Creek’s Pool 1 has reopened to fishing, and until the lakes get back down closer to normal, it may be a fisherman’s best option.
For those already thinking about the spring turkey season, you may want to attend the Reynolds County national Wild Turkey Federation banquet, which is coming up Jan. 24.
The event will begin at 6 p.m. at the Reynolds County Fairgrounds, off Highway O in Redford.
Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling Gary Black at 573-637-2110.