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Warm Weather Helps Keep Opening Season Weekend Harvest in Missouri Well Short of a Record
MDC
JEFFERSON CITY-Warm weather is one factor being cited by Missouri's deer expert as contributing to a drop in the number of deer shot by hunters during the opening weekend of the November Portion of Firearms Deer Season.
Hunters checked 100,489 deer during the first two days of the season, which runs from Nov. 10 through 20. Last year's figure was 124,324.
The record first-weekend harvest of 133,136 took place in 2004.
Top deer harvest counties were Callaway with 1,984, Benton with 1,962 and Texas with 1,817. Antlered deer made up 50 percent of the first-weekend harvest, compared to 48 percent last year.
Lonnie Hansen, a resource scientist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said weather likely played a role in limiting this year's opening-weekend harvest.
"Hunting conditions were not wonderful," said Hansen. "Saturday morning was okay, but Sunday was windy and warm where I was in north-central Missouri. As a deer hunter myself, I don't like to hunt when the wind is blowing hard. The wind makes it hard to hear deer coming, so you are more likely to spook them and not get a shot."
Hansen said that although warm weather encourages some hunters to stay in the woods longer, deer already have their winter coats at this time of year and don't move around looking for food as much as they do in cold weather. A deer that is bedded down is harder for hunters to find, and it is more likely to detect the presence of hunters than if it is moving around looking for something to eat.
Timing is part of the reason for the weather being warmer than usual during the November firearms deer hunt. The season is set to end before Thanksgiving Day, which falls as early as possible this year.
Hansen said the calendar also might have given hunters a reason to wait one more day before shooting a deer. Veterans' Day, which is a national and state holiday, fell on the first Monday of this year's firearms deer season. Some hunters might have passed up shots at deer on Saturday and Sunday, hoping for something better on their extra day off.
Finally, said Hansen, hunters feel less pressure than in the past to shoot the first deer that comes along. The remaining nine days of the November Portion of Firearms Deer Season, the 10 days of the Muzzleloader Portion and another nine days of Antlerless Portion of Firearms Deer season give hunters ample time to harvest a deer. For those who enjoy the experience of deer hunting as much as the venison it can produce, shooting a deer the first weekend of the season would diminish the enjoyment of the following 27 days of hunting.
The Conservation Departm
ent recorded one firearms-related hunting accidents in the first weekend of the season. Four accidents were reported on opening weekend in 2006.
MDC
JEFFERSON CITY-Warm weather is one factor being cited by Missouri's deer expert as contributing to a drop in the number of deer shot by hunters during the opening weekend of the November Portion of Firearms Deer Season.
Hunters checked 100,489 deer during the first two days of the season, which runs from Nov. 10 through 20. Last year's figure was 124,324.
The record first-weekend harvest of 133,136 took place in 2004.
Top deer harvest counties were Callaway with 1,984, Benton with 1,962 and Texas with 1,817. Antlered deer made up 50 percent of the first-weekend harvest, compared to 48 percent last year.
Lonnie Hansen, a resource scientist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said weather likely played a role in limiting this year's opening-weekend harvest.
"Hunting conditions were not wonderful," said Hansen. "Saturday morning was okay, but Sunday was windy and warm where I was in north-central Missouri. As a deer hunter myself, I don't like to hunt when the wind is blowing hard. The wind makes it hard to hear deer coming, so you are more likely to spook them and not get a shot."
Hansen said that although warm weather encourages some hunters to stay in the woods longer, deer already have their winter coats at this time of year and don't move around looking for food as much as they do in cold weather. A deer that is bedded down is harder for hunters to find, and it is more likely to detect the presence of hunters than if it is moving around looking for something to eat.
Timing is part of the reason for the weather being warmer than usual during the November firearms deer hunt. The season is set to end before Thanksgiving Day, which falls as early as possible this year.
Hansen said the calendar also might have given hunters a reason to wait one more day before shooting a deer. Veterans' Day, which is a national and state holiday, fell on the first Monday of this year's firearms deer season. Some hunters might have passed up shots at deer on Saturday and Sunday, hoping for something better on their extra day off.
Finally, said Hansen, hunters feel less pressure than in the past to shoot the first deer that comes along. The remaining nine days of the November Portion of Firearms Deer Season, the 10 days of the Muzzleloader Portion and another nine days of Antlerless Portion of Firearms Deer season give hunters ample time to harvest a deer. For those who enjoy the experience of deer hunting as much as the venison it can produce, shooting a deer the first weekend of the season would diminish the enjoyment of the following 27 days of hunting.
The Conservation Departm
ent recorded one firearms-related hunting accidents in the first weekend of the season. Four accidents were reported on opening weekend in 2006.
