January 20, 2009 Jefferson City, MO — Bowhunters checked 44,434
deer during the 2008-09 archery deer season, setting a record and
boosting the combined firearms and archery deer kill to 283,253.
Missouri’s archery deer season begins Sept. 15 and runs through Jan.
15, with an 11-day hiatus during the November Portion of Firearms
Deer Season. Archers checked approximately 400 deer per day during
the 111 days of bowhunting season. Slightly more than half the deer
taken by archers (22,409) were does. Mature bucks made up 37 percent
(16,434) of the archery harvest, and button bucks accounted for 13
percent (5,591) of archery kills. The previous archery deer harvest
record, set in 2006-07, was 42,322.
Top archery deer harvest counties were Jefferson with 976, Jackson
with 913 and St. Louis with 909.
Bowhunters also checked 2,484 wild turkeys during the archery
season. That is down 339 from the previous year. Top archery
turkey-harvest counties were Texas with 54 turkeys checked, Franklin
with 52 and Wright with 51. |