County archers look to continue 12-year deer harvest streak
Archery hunting season opens Sunday (Sept. 15) in Missouri and while it may not generate the fanfare of other openers on the statewide outdoors calendar, it will get the attention of many Jefferson County residents.
For 12 consecutive years Jefferson has been the top archery-harvest county in the Show-Me State. Over the past five years the county has averaged more than 1,500 deer taken by bow and arrow each season. No other county has surpassed 1,400 deer in one season over the same time period.
There are several rule changes in the county and throughout most of the state that hunters will notice as they prepare to head into the woods for the four-month season, excluding the 11 days of the November portion of the firearms hunting season.
Most notable is the elimination of the automatic turkey hunting permits for archers. In the past, hunters received two deer permits and two turkey permits for the fall season. This year hunters may purchase two turkey permits separately that can be used to hunt with bow and arrow throughout the archery season, or to hunt with a shotgun during the fall turkey firearms season in October.
Another change this year is a price increase for the archery deer permit. Resident hunters will pay $20.50 for the two any-deer permits that allow harvest of deer of either sex, with the exception that only one antlered buck may be taken prior to the opening day of the November portion of the fall firearms season. Hunters can purchase and fill an unlimited number of antlerless-only archery deer permits for $7.50 each.
Due to the spread of chronic wasting disease, antler-point restrictions have been removed in several more counties in 2024. Only 25 counties will continue to require antlered deer to have at least four points on one side.
Audrain, Boone, Cole, Howard, Lewis, Maries, Monroe, Osage, Phelps, Randolph, Scotland and Shelby counties no longer have protective regulations for younger bucks. Archery antlerless permits can now be used statewide with the addition of the state's four Bootheel counties this fall.
Archery is the only allowed method for hunting deer on seven state Department of Conservation-owned properties in Jefferson County. Bow-and-arrow hunters can harvest deer at LaBarque Creek, Myron and Sonya Glassberg Family, Pacific Palisades and Hilda J. Young conservation areas and at Merrill Horse Access, Valley View Glades and Victoria Glades natural areas.
Archers may use long bows, recurve, compound bows, crossbows, or atlatls. Illuminated sights and scopes are allowed, but a sighting device that casts a beam of light on game is prohibited.
Archers are invited to participate in the conservation department's annual Bowhunter Observation Survey to aid wildlife biologists' efforts to monitor deer, turkey, furbearers and other animal species. Since 1983 hunters have assisted with collecting data on population trends based on what they see in the woods.
To register for the survey online, bowhunters should visit the department's webpage at mdc.mo.gov/wildlife/wildlife-surveys. Hunters are asked to submit the information after hunting each day online or through an app. Details to provide include date, time, hours, county and numbers of animals seen.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine. If you have story ideas, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com, and you can find more outdoor news and updates at johnjwink.com.