The future of deer hunting is in some very small hands, but it is the adults who must make a commitment to growing the sport and encouraging participation. The first of two youth-only hunting seasons open Saturday, Nov.1.
The schedule for the two-day opportunity has not changed. The bag limit has been adjusted, but more on that later. The timing is what gets the most attention annually. This year the kids get their chance the day after Halloween night. While that is not optimal, it’s better than what waits ahead in 2026 and 2027, unless an adjustment is made.
Every year the first youth season precedes opening day of the November portion (what everyone refers to as deer season) of firearms hunting season by two weekends. In the next two years that schedule presents a choice of candy, costumes and all of their friends on Saturday and Sunday respectively, or early mornings and long days in the field.
The state Department of Conservation recently collected comments from residents about its deer management practices. I had written about the opportunity a few weeks ago and encouraged Leader readers to add their voices regarding chronic wasting disease and any other issues (or praise) they might have with how the white-tailed deer herd is monitored and maintained in Missouri.
My opinions on CWD are well documented, so when I completed the online survey, I focused on another aspect that I know will affect the deer and deer hunting in the decades to come. Encouraging new hunters to discover the sport goes far beyond the conservation department, but the agency could expand youth-only hunting even more.
The November portion is well placed with an opening weekend that best matches the peak of deer breeding season without conflicting with the Thanksgiving holiday. Any changes to that would cause chaos for a half million hunters, so it should be left alone.
The second youth-only portion, which is now the Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving, is also a good group of dates for the kids to have a season of their own. The family gatherings that usually coincide with the holiday of harvest are great times for generations to make plans and preparations. That long weekend is also much better than the original second youth season, which was offered in bitter January.
As an avowed archer I have previously argued against the youth season being scheduled on the weekend prior to the main deer hunting season. Like many of my fellow bow and arrow shooters I considered those high holy days sacred for those of us playing with the disadvantage of requiring extreme proximity for a good shot.
But now I’m willing to share the days with young hunters, if that’s what it takes to improve and expand their chances. Actually that is not the recommendation that I made in the survey, but I would consider it as part of a compromise if necessary.
My suggestion was to allow youth-only firearms hunting every weekend in October or more frequently than just the Saturday and Sunday that often conflicts with Halloween. Any two-day season can be destroyed by a late fall low pressure system that ushers in all day rain or a cold and continuous wind, so multiple chances to get fair weather for the kids would be much better.
The change for this year’s season allows young hunters to take more than one deer this weekend. They can still only shoot one antlered buck anytime in the firearms season, but now they can take additional deer with available antlerless-only hunting permits. I actually have heard people complain about that expansion of limits for the kids, but whatever we can do to motivate them and excite them for the sport seems like a logical idea.
The other concept that makes sense to me is for young hunters to take their deer heads for voluntary chronic wasting disease testing, especially in proximity to places where the disease has been found. There is no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans, but gambling with the health of those who hopefully have long lives ahead of them seems short-sighted.
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.