ST. LOUIS — This year’s deer hunting totals set a record at 326,026, surpassing the record set in 2006. Missouri’s 2023–2024 deer-hunting season concluded on January 15.
The top harvest counties for the overall deer season were Franklin with 7,395, Howell with 6,346, and Texas with 6,181. The deer hunting season concluded with the archery season, where the top counties were Jefferson with 1,440, Franklin with 1,194, and St. Louis with 1,022.
According to Missouri Department of Conservation, the increased deer numbers were attributed to new seasons, including the early antlerless firearms portion, a new chronic wasting disease (CWD) firearms portion, and an increase in the number of firearms antlerless deer hunting permits in most counties.
For deer harvest totals by season, county, and type of deer, you can visit the MDC website. To access deer harvest summaries from past years, click on this link. MDC also reported one non-fatal, archery-related deer hunting incident and no firearms-related hunting incidents during the deer season.
