Inside the Numbers
A look at several details of the 2010 deer season provides some interesting—and perhaps surprising—results.
In 2010, the Conservation Department issued archery deer and turkey permits to 177,061 people. Firearms deer hunting permits were issued to 487,533 people. Factoring in hunters who bought both archery and firearms deer hunting permits leads to a total of 507,068 individuals who received some type of deer hunting permit.
During the past deer season, 18 percent of archery hunters harvested one deer, 3 percent harvested two, and 1 percent harvested three or more. Firearms hunters had a higher success rate with 36 percent harvesting at least one deer, 6 percent harvesting two, and 2 percent harvesting three or more. Of the 507,068 individuals with a deer hunting permit, 38 percent harvested at least one deer, 7 percent harvested two deer, and 3 percent harvested three or more deer.
Buck harvest is always a topic of great interest to Missouri hunters. Missouri has a three-buck limit, meaning that hunters may harvest two bucks on archery permits and one buck on a firearms permit. In 2010, 19 percent of deer hunters harvested a buck. Fewer than 4,500 harvested two bucks, and only 194 harvested three bucks.
Doe harvest, however, is the real key to managing deer numbers. As we reach our management goals of stabilizing or reducing deer numbers in many parts of rural Missouri, some changes to the availability of antlerless permits may be necessary. The pattern of antlerless permit use is extremely informative in predicting how antlerless harvest might change with reduced permit availability. Unlimited archery and firearms antlerless permits are available to hunters in a number of Missouri counties. Despite the unlimited availability of antlerless permits only 1 percent of archery hunters and 2 percent of firearms hunters harvest three or more deer.
Of the 9,270 individuals harvesting deer on archery antlerless permits, 93 percent harvested two or fewer antlerless deer. Of the 65,026 individuals harvesting deer on firearms antlerless permits, 95 percent harvested two or fewer antlerless deer. Hunter densities and harvest patterns vary from county to county. Yet, if we take a broad-scale look at the harvest impacts of reducing antlerless permits from unlimited to one, we would predict a 10–15 percent decrease in total antlerless harvest. If we went from unlimited antlerless to two antlerless permits, we might expect a 5–8 percent decrease in total antlerless harvest. As we continue to investigate ways for managing deer numbers, an additional category of antlerless permits could provide a finer degree of control than what is currently provided by no, one, or unlimited antlerless permits.
