Young hunters ages 6-15 harvested 15,591 deer during Missouri's early youth portion of the deer hunting season this past weekend, according to preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Top harvesting counties were Franklin with 336 deer killed, followed by Howell with 324 and Osage with 320.
In Central Missouri, youth hunters killed 110 deer in Cole County, 166 in Boone County, 178 in Maries County, 213 in Miller County, 131 in Moniteau County and 199 in Morgan County.
Last year, youth hunters killed 18,289 deer during the early youth portion of the season.
"This year's harvest total is about on par with the average over the last few years," MDC cervid program supervisor Jason Isabelle said in a news release. "Whenever you have a short season portion like the two-day early youth portion, you can expect variability in the harvest total from year-to-year. This year's harvest of about 15,600 deer puts us about in the middle of the range when compared to harvest totals from the past five years."
Missouri's deer archery season continues through Nov. 13 and resumes Nov. 25 through Jan. 15. The November portion of firearms deer season runs Nov. 14-24 followed by the late youth portion Nov. 27-29. The antlerless portion of firearms deer season runs Dec. 4-6, followed by the alternative methods portion Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.