Missouri’s young deer hunters killed 15,608 deer over the two-day youth season last weekend, barely edging above last year’s total of 15,591 taken over the same period.
While the statewide harvest was up slightly, every county in our reader area was down.
In Butler County, youngsters killed 124 deer, down from 157 a year ago.
In Carter County, the youth-season tally also was 124 deer, down from 143 last year.
Dunklin County youths tagged 20 deer, down from 33.
In Reynolds County, the total harvest was 181 deer, which was down from last year’s 228.
In Ripley County, young hunters took home 200 deer this year compared to 252 last year. While the number was down, Ripley County youths led the region.
Stoddard County’s youth-season harvest was 158 deer, which was down slightly from last year’s 167.
In Wayne County, 186 deer were taken, which was down significantly from the 295 taken there a year ago.
The top counties in the state were Osage with 359 deer taken, Franklin with 329 and Howell with 310.
The next firearms deer season will be the regular November portion to run Nov. 13-23, followed by the second youth portion Nov. 26-28.
The Missouri archery season is in full afterburner mode, and with buck activity kicking into high gear, the deer harvest has ballooned over the last several days.
To highlight just how good deer movement is now, some local counties have gained a third of their entire season harvest in just the last four or five days.
In Butler County, bowhunters have taken 205 deer, and in Carter County, they’ve tagged 383.
In Dunklin County, 45 deer have been arrowed, and in Reynolds County, the tally is 309.
Ripley County bowhunters have killed 298 deer, while those in Stoddard County have tagged 330.
Wayne County still leads the region with 482 deer taken by bowhunters.
Those numbers, however, remain well below last year’s season, when most local counties had between 400 and 500 deer on the books and Wayne County had more than 800 at this point.
Statewide, the harvest as of Wednesday morning was at 31,741, which is below the 39,550 at this point in the season a year ago.
Still, even though the numbers are lower, it’s time to get in a stand and put in some time.
Missouri’s fall firearms turkey season, which spanned the entire month of October, ended with a record harvest. Unfortunately, it was a record low.
Hunters across the state managed to take just 1,836 birds during the month-long season.
Last year’s harvest was slightly better at 2,127, and the previous all-time low was set in 2019, when 1,951 birds were killed.
It’s no secret bird numbers are down across the midwest, with Missouri being no exception, and when people don’t see turkeys, they just don’t hunt turkeys.
Another big factor this year, at least in my estimation, was the big acorn crop, which started to fall much earlier than normal. With all that food on the ground, turkeys spent less time in the open fields eating grasshoppers.
Locally, eight birds were taken in Carter County, two in Reynolds County, 21 in Stoddard County and 22 in Wayne County.
And, just for reference, there have been 1,290 turkeys killed by bowhunters in this fall’s archery season.
For bird hunters, Missouri’s pheasant, quail and crow seasons opened Monday.
There may be a very small remnant population of pheasants in the bootheel from stockings decades ago, but any birds will be very few and very far between.
Quail numbers are low, but dedicated hunters with good dogs can still find coveys in the region.
Crows are fun to hunt, especially if you have a decoy or two and an electronic call. They have good eyes, like ducks, so you’ll have to hide well.
Missouri’s long-awaited Middle Zone duck season, which includes the Duck Creek and Otter Slough conservation areas, will kick off Saturday.
The zone will have two season segments this fall, with the first one running Nov. 6-14. The second portion will run Nov. 20-Jan. 9.
As in the recent past, the daily limit will be six ducks, with some species limitations.
The daily limit can include four mallards per day, as long as only two are females, three wood ducks, two canvasbacks, two hooded mergansers, two redheads, two scaup (one after Christmas Day), one mottled duck and one pintail.
Other species, like gadwalls, wigeon and teal, can make up your entire six-bird limit.
For those with a little flair for the weird, you also can take 15 coots daily.
You’ll need a shotgun plugged to hold no more than three total shells, and of course, you’ll need to use steel or some other form of non-toxic shot.
Shooting hours will be one-half hour before sunrise until sunset each day, though some public areas have a 1 p.m. closure.
At the Otter Slough Conservation Area, which is currently holding 21,000 ducks, mostly pintails, there will be 29 hunting positions available on the opening weekend.
There will be a draw at 3:45 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday, and with current COVID restrictions, staff will draw your pill for you.
At the Duck Creek Conservation Area, there are approximately 6,800 ducks on the area and there will be 18 hunting positions open.
The draw time will be 3:45 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
For those hoping to travel to the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge this weekend for some wildlife watching, your options will be limited.
The refuge will host its annual youth deer hunt both Saturday and Sunday, and that means a good bit of the property will be closed to public entry.
The hunt are will include most everything west of Ditch 4 and north of Ditch 11.
The Rabbit Ridge and Mingo Job Corps entrances will be closed, as will Bluff Road just past the boardwalk parking lot.
Those roads will reopen Monday morning.
Red Mill Drive will be open to public entry over the weekend, so you will have a smaller area to explore.
If you aren’t sure about an area, contact the refuge headquarters at 573-222-3589.
I have written about the results of the annual crappie survey on Wappapello Lake, and the plan now is to run that story this weekend, so be on the lookout for it.
In summary, there are plenty of crappies in the lake, they are in good physical shape and there are quite a few in the 10-12 inch range. The only concern the biologist has is the average size of the shad in the lake is larger than normal, which could create a feeding problem for smaller crappies.
Paul Davis is the outdoors editor for the Daily American Republic and can be reached at pdavis.dar@gmail.com.