In Brief

Missouri Outdoor Recreational Access Program

Program offers additional opportunities for outdoor recreation, including small game and quail hunting

Hunters looking for new locations to pursue small game and quail should consider properties that are part of the Missouri Outdoor Recreational Access Program (MRAP). The program is a partnership between MDC and private landowners who agree to give wildlife watchers, anglers, and hunters additional opportunities for outdoor recreation. MRAP properties are well marked with signs.

Under MRAP, private landowners receive incentive payments from MDC in return for allowing walk-in access to property designated for outdoor recreation uses. The recreation allowed on each property varies and is determined by landowners.

To find MRAP properties that host your intended activity, search online at mdc.mo.gov/mrap. For small game and quail hunters, there are 28 properties that allow small game hunting, totaling approximately 15,000 acres. Fourteen of these sites are designated for small game and turkey hunting only.

In northern Missouri, you can visit one of our newer small game properties, Slater Branch. This property is 80 acres of grassland, forest, and riparian areas. While in southern Missouri you can visit a much larger property, 354 acres, that is a mix of grassland and forest.

MRAP properties are not the same as public lands. While MRAP tracts must contain minimum amounts of wildlife habitat, many of the properties also include areas with limited wildlife value, such as pastures and hayfields. In addition, visitors shouldn’t expect to see many of the amenities that are common on MDC areas, such as mowed walking paths, wildlife food plots, and gravel parking lots. Unless designated otherwise, parking is often along public roadsides.

For more information on MRAP, property open for public use, and the specific types of uses allowed on individual tracts, visit short.mdc.mo.gov/Zcs.

CWD Info to Know for Deer Hunters

MDC reminds deer hunters of voluntary and mandatory sampling to test their harvested deer for chronic wasting disease (CWD).

CWD is a deadly, infectious disease in deer and other members of the deer family (cervids) that threatens Missouri’s deer population, hunting culture, and economy. There is no vaccine or cure. CWD has been found in Missouri, and MDC continues efforts to limit the spread by finding new cases as early as possible and managing the disease to slow its spread.

During the opening weekend of the November portion of firearms deer season, Nov. 16–17, hunters who harvest a deer in designated CWD Management Zone counties must take the deer (or its head) on the day of harvest to a mandatory CWD sampling station. The CWD Management Zone consists of counties where CWD has been found and those within 10 miles of where CWD has been found.

MDC also offers free voluntary CWD sampling and testing of harvested deer during the entire deer season at select locations throughout the state, including some MDC offices and participating taxidermists and meat processors.

For added convenience, MDC has self-service freezer drop-off locations within the CWD Management Zone for hunters to deposit harvested deer heads to have tested for CWD. Instructions, packing supplies, and information tags are available at the sites.

Hunters can get their free CWD test results online within about four weeks or less from the time of taking tissue samples from the deer.

Get more information on CWD requirements online at mdc.mo.gov/cwd, or from the 2024 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, available online at short.mdc.mo.gov/ZVo and wherever permits are sold.

Share the Harvest

MDC encourages deer hunters to share their harvests by donating extra venison to the Share the Harvest program. The donated deer meat goes to local food banks and food pantries to help feed hungry Missourians. To get Share the Harvest venison, contact local food banks or food pantries.

To donate, take harvested deer to an approved meat processor and let the processor know how much venison to donate. Meat processing fees are covered entirely or in part by numerous local sponsors, along with statewide sponsors.

The program, administered by the Conservation Federation of Missouri and MDC, has provided nearly 5 million pounds of lean, healthy venison to food banks and pantries since 1992.

The National Institutes of Health state that children need protein in their diets for proper growth and development, and adults need it to maintain good health. Unfortunately, many Missourians cannot afford or cannot get to good sources of protein. Through Share the Harvest, Missouri hunters can help provide those in need with high-quality protein in the form of naturally lean, locally harvested deer meat.

Deer harvested from CWD Management Zone counties may only be donated to Share the Harvest if they are tested for CWD. The CWD Management Zone consists of counties where CWD has been found and those within 10 miles of where CWD has been found. Hunters can take their deer to a processor participating in the Share the Harvest CWD Testing Program or have their deer sampled at another location prior to donation.

Deer harvested outside of the CWD Management Zone do not need to be tested for donation to Share the Harvest and may be taken to any Share the Harvest processor.

For more information on Share the Harvest, visit us online at mdc.mo.gov/share.

Honor Missouri Conservationists

MDC is seeking nominations for the Master Conservationist Award and Missouri Conservation Hall of Fame. These recognitions honor Missourians who make or have made outstanding contributions to conservation in Missouri. The deadline for nominations is Dec. 31.

The Master Conservationist Award was created in 1941 to honor living or deceased citizen conservationists, former MDC commissioners and staff, and employees of other conservation-related agencies, universities, or organizations who made substantial and lasting contributions to Missouri’s fisheries, forestry, or wildlife resources, including conservation law enforcement and conservation education-related activities in the state. The award has been given to 69 individuals since its creation.

Get more information, including a list of award winners, criteria, and nomination form, at short.mdc.mo.gov/4Re.

Established in 1988, the Conservation Hall of Fame honors living or deceased citizen conservationists, former employees of MDC, and other conservation-related government agencies, universities, or organizations (including conservation law enforcement and conservation education-related activities) who changed the landscape of conservation in Missouri in the fields of fisheries, forestry, or wildlife resource management.

A total of 47 people have been inducted into the Missouri Conservation Hall of Fame, which is in Runge Conservation Nature Center in Jefferson City. Inclusion in the hall is Missouri’s top conservation honor.

Get more information, including a list of award winners, criteria, and nomination form, at short.mdc.mo.gov/4Rh.

Submit nominations online using the provided links by Dec. 31. Contact MDC Executive Assistant Julie Love with questions at Julie.Love@mdc.mo.gov.