Late youth portion of deer hunting season second-highest on record, MDC says
Numbers are a skosh down compared to the previous year for Missouri's late youth portion of the 2021 deer hunting season, but it came in at second place.
Missouri Department of Conservation released preliminary data earlier this week that showed young hunters six to 15 years old harvested 3,477 deer between Nov. 26-28. Of the 3,477 deer harvested, 1,470 were antlered bucks, 383 were button bucks, and 1,624 were does.
Top counties for the late youth portion included Osage with 86 deer harvested, Franklin with 82 and Miller with 68.
Last year’s harvest total for the late youth portion was 3,967 with 1,467 being antlered bucks, 524 button bucks and 1,976 does, per MDC.
“After a breezy and cold Thanksgiving Day, we had some pleasant conditions for our young hunters to be in the woods during the three-day late youth portion,” said Jason Isabelle, MDC Cervid Program Supervisor. “This year’s harvest total was the second-highest on record and nearly 20-percent above the five-year average.”
For current ongoing preliminary harvest totals by season, county, and type of deer, visit the MDC website at https://extra.mdc.mo.gov/widgets/harvest_table/.
Archery deer season runs through Jan. 15, 2022. The antlerless portion of firearms deer season runs Dec. 4-12 followed by the alternative methods portion Dec. 25 through Jan. 4, 2022.
Sara Karnes is an Outdoors Reporter with the Springfield News-Leader. Follow along with her adventures on Twitter and Instagram @Sara_Karnes. Got a story to tell? Email her at skarnes@springfi.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Late youth portion of deer hunting season second-highest on record
