When the final arrow flies this afternoon, closing the last of all deer hunting seasons for 2025-26, Jefferson County will maintain its reign as the top archery harvest county in the state for the 14th consecutive year.
The online Telecheck table totals are not official, and a few more deer will be added between the time I wrote this and the last day of the season on today, but Jefferson County entered the final weekend of the season with 1,501 deer harvested by bow and arrow hunters so far. The final total for 2024-25 in Jefferson County was 1,585.
Neighboring Franklin County was the only other area in the state with more than 1,000 deer checked with a total of 1,228 as of Jan. 9. St. Louis County was just 10 deer from a four-digit finish with 990. The statewide total for the 111-day archery season is likely to exceed 60,000 for the year, compared to last season’s 56,516.
The total for all seasons combined will require a remarkable weekend for archers to get to 300,000 for 2025-26, but hunters will easily eclipse the 275,656 overall total from last year. Harvest totals have remained consistent for decades hovering in the 300,000 range including a statewide record count of 326,026 in 2023-24, exceeding the previous top total of 325,457 in 2006.
All of these numbers appear contrary to an on-going narrative that the state’s deer herd is in some jeopardy based on efforts by the state Conservation Department to manage chronic wasting disease. Missouri began testing for CWD in 2001 and found no evidence of the disease. Since it was discovered for the first time in a wild deer in the state in 2012, extensive efforts to limit its spread were implemented.
Eight additional positive tests for chronic wasting disease have been recorded in Jefferson County this year. The new positives bring the total for the county to 74. Most of those have been isolated in the south central portion of the county where it was first discovered in the 2016-17 season.
Jefferson joins Franklin and Ste. Genevieve counties as the three-county region with the highest totals of positive CWD tests in the state. With 22 additional positives this year so far, the total for the three counties is 332. Still, harvest totals in the three are up overall with 15,141 deer checked this year compared to 13,651 in 2024-25.
All those numbers represent great stories for the hunters involved. The Missouri National Archery in Schools Program (NASP) shared a photo of Wade Conner’s archery hunting trophy. A member of the Hillsboro High School archery team, Wade was the state champion in 2025 in both the bull’s-eye and 3-D target competition.
A pause in the post-season targeted culling activities this year will be the subject of my column next week after the comment period opens regarding proposed changes to deer hunting regulations for the 2026-27 seasons. That online survey will be available beginning Friday.
Other changes that have been proposed to simplify regulations for all hunters include the elimination of CWD management zones, the cancellation of the CWD portion of the firearms season, an increase in the acreage required for CWD management permits, and the removal of antler point restrictions statewide.
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 for the Leader outdoor news page, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com, and you can find more outdoor news and updates at johnjwink.com.