Deer season wrapped up Jan. 15, and the Missouri Department of Conservation announced that the preliminary number of deer harvested is 296,516.
Of those harvested, there were 140,468 antlered bucks, 28,587 button bucks and 127,461 does. The top three counties with the most number of deer harvested were Franklin with 5,786, Howell with 5,367 and Callaway with 4,989.
More deer were taken this season compared to the 2019-2020 season when hunters bagged 285,873 deer. The deer included 134,092 antlered bucks, 27,970 button bucks and 123,811 does.
“Although harvest was down slightly during the November portion of firearms deer season, when most of the deer harvest occurs, increases in most of the other season portions contributed to about a four-percent increase in this year’s total deer harvest over last year’s,” said Jason Isabelle, MDC Cervid Program supervisor, via news release.