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Firearms deer hunt has a record haul
Tim Renken, St, Louis Post-Dispatch Outdoors Writer
12/04/2002
If the average Missouri deer yields just 50 pounds of edible meat, more than 11 million pounds of venison will be consumed in the state's households this winter. The state's deer hunters bagged 217,435 deer during the firearms hunt Nov. 16-29. The firearms total was a record, 11,586 higher than the previous mark set during the firearms hunt last year.
Illinois deer hunters, too, are on their way to setting a firearms hunt record. They bagged 67,921 deer in the first segment of their shotgun hunt Nov. 22-24. That's an increase of 8 percent over last year's firearms first segment of 62,761. The final segment of the shotgun hunt is today (Dec. 5) through Sunday.
The kill figures aren't important because they are records -- records are set most years with the expansion and growth of the deer herd. Most important is the continuing enthusiasm for deer hunting despite recent discoveries of the deer disease CWD.
Chronic wasting disease is similar to the mad cow disease that caused a furor in Britain in the 1990s. CWD is not believed to be dangerous to people, but authorities in this country and abroad will not state positively that it is not.
Fear of CWD apparently caused a 20 percent decline in permit sales and deer harvest this fall in Wisconsin, where CWD was found in deer this past summer. The Wisconsin CWD endemic area is in the southern part of the state, less than 50 miles from the border with Illinois. A single CWD-infected deer was found in Illinois less than six miles south of the Wisconsin line. That discovery was made in late October, after all 278,000 of the available deer permits had been sold.
In Missouri conservation authorities attributed the big kill to almost ideal weather through the hunt and to an easing of the rules on the killing of does. This season for the first time any-deer tags could be used anywhere in the state. Previously, any-deer tags were issued for specific zones.
St. Clair County was tops with 4,191 deer checked Benton County had 4,176 and Howell County 4,091.
Eight firearms accidents were reported, two more than last year. None of this year's was fatal, though. Two fatalities occurred last year. Since 1980 the average number of accidents during a Missouri firearms deer season is 13.5 with 1.6 fatalities.
Missouri's antlerless-only firearms deer season will be Dec. 19-22 instead of in January, as in the past. This season will be open in 11 more units this year than last year. The nine-day muzzleloader season will be Saturday-Dec.15.
Tim Renken, St, Louis Post-Dispatch Outdoors Writer
12/04/2002
If the average Missouri deer yields just 50 pounds of edible meat, more than 11 million pounds of venison will be consumed in the state's households this winter. The state's deer hunters bagged 217,435 deer during the firearms hunt Nov. 16-29. The firearms total was a record, 11,586 higher than the previous mark set during the firearms hunt last year.
Illinois deer hunters, too, are on their way to setting a firearms hunt record. They bagged 67,921 deer in the first segment of their shotgun hunt Nov. 22-24. That's an increase of 8 percent over last year's firearms first segment of 62,761. The final segment of the shotgun hunt is today (Dec. 5) through Sunday.
The kill figures aren't important because they are records -- records are set most years with the expansion and growth of the deer herd. Most important is the continuing enthusiasm for deer hunting despite recent discoveries of the deer disease CWD.
Chronic wasting disease is similar to the mad cow disease that caused a furor in Britain in the 1990s. CWD is not believed to be dangerous to people, but authorities in this country and abroad will not state positively that it is not.
Fear of CWD apparently caused a 20 percent decline in permit sales and deer harvest this fall in Wisconsin, where CWD was found in deer this past summer. The Wisconsin CWD endemic area is in the southern part of the state, less than 50 miles from the border with Illinois. A single CWD-infected deer was found in Illinois less than six miles south of the Wisconsin line. That discovery was made in late October, after all 278,000 of the available deer permits had been sold.
In Missouri conservation authorities attributed the big kill to almost ideal weather through the hunt and to an easing of the rules on the killing of does. This season for the first time any-deer tags could be used anywhere in the state. Previously, any-deer tags were issued for specific zones.
St. Clair County was tops with 4,191 deer checked Benton County had 4,176 and Howell County 4,091.
Eight firearms accidents were reported, two more than last year. None of this year's was fatal, though. Two fatalities occurred last year. Since 1980 the average number of accidents during a Missouri firearms deer season is 13.5 with 1.6 fatalities.
Missouri's antlerless-only firearms deer season will be Dec. 19-22 instead of in January, as in the past. This season will be open in 11 more units this year than last year. The nine-day muzzleloader season will be Saturday-Dec.15.
