Bi-county area sees decrease in deer harvested

By Jared Lankford Special to the Montt Monthly

More than 70,000 deer were harvested by Missouri hunters in the opening weekend of firearms season, an increase from last year but sharply lower than average totals from the previous five years.

The Missouri Department of Conservation reported Monday that 70,173 deer were harvested during the opening of the November portion of firearms season on Nov. 15 and Nov. 16.

Barry County checked in with 1,384 deer harvested, of which 838 were antlered bucks. In Lawrence County, 1,214 deer were checked into the Conservation Department, 703 of which were antlered bucks.

Both counties were down in deer taken compared to 2024. Last year, Barry County reported 1,671 deer taken, while Lawrence County recorded 1,424 harvests.

The top harvest counties were Franklin with 3,609 deer, followed by Howell with 2,974 and Wayne with 2,713.

While the number of harvested deer surpassed the 68,057 recorded during the opening weekend of 2024, totals were significantly lower compared with years prior.

The state regularly averaged between 89,000 and 90,000 deer, reaching as high as 99,470 harvested in 2018. Conservation officials told state media outlets that warm temperatures likely factored into the state’s low deer totals this year.

Opening weekend deer harvest totals since 2018:

2025: 70,173

2024: 68,057

2023: 90,253

2022: 93,355

2021: 89,939

2019: 88,760

2018: 99,470