The firearms deer hunting season is made up of multiple portions that provide hunters with many opportunities to take deer while helping to maintain a healthy deer population. Each hunter may take only one antlered deer during the firearms deer season. Because female deer produce next year's deer, the harvest of does regulates both the size and growth rate of the deer herd. Population goals are established for each county, and the use of Firearms Antlerless Deer Hunting Permits is established accordingly.
1 November firearms season is set for November 15-25 statewide.
2 Archery season is set for Sept15 thru November 14 , 2008 and then November 26 thru January 15, 2009, notice the slight recess for firearms season.
3 Muzzle loaders can hunt during the firearms season and then from November 28 - December 7 2008.
Hunters Donated 1.4 Million Pounds of Venison through the Share the Harvest Program
The Share the Harvest program in Missouri provides a way for deer hunters to donate venison to the needy. This program is administered by the Conservation Federation of Missouri and the Missouri Department of Conservation. During the 2007 deer seasons, 5,569 hunters donated 260,908 pounds of venison. As of February 2008, this program has coordinated the donation of more than 1.4 million pounds of venison, which equals more than 5.6 million quarter-pound burgers.
Donating is easy. Hunters who want to participate simply take their deer to an approved meat processor and let the processor know how much venison they wish to donate. The processor will package the meat, which will be picked up by the local sponsoring organization and taken to a participating charitable agency for distribution.
The cost of processing the deer is the responsibility of the hunter. There are, however, funds available to help with processing cost when a whole deer is donated. The entire processing cost is paid by the Conservation Federation of Missouri and local sponsors during the urban counties portion of the firearms season for whole deer donations. During all other portions and seasons, the Conservation Federation of Missouri administers a state-wide program that directly reimburses the processor a pre-determined amount for each whole deer donated. That allows the processor to reduce the processing fee to the hunter at the time of donation. In addition, many processors have local money available that allows the deer to be donated free or at greatly reduced cost. Be sure to contact individual processors to determine what funds are available at that particular location.
State-wide sponsors of the cost-reduction program include Missouri Department of Conservation, Shelter Insurance, Bass Pro Shops, the Conservation Federation of Missouri, J.B. Reynolds Foundation, Missouri Chapter Whitetails Unlimited, Missouri Chapter Safari Club International, Missouri Chapter National Wild Turkey Federation and Drury Hotels. Whole deer donations last year approached 5,000.
To learn more about the program or to find out how your organization can become involved, check out our Share the Harvest information. You can also contact the Conservation Department at (573) 522-4115, ext. 3290, or the Conservation Federation of Missouri at (573) 634-2322.
The information in this article can be found by clicking on the following link below, the article originated on the MDC online all credit is due to the MDC ,
http://mdc.mo.gov/hunt/deer/
There is a lot more information on Missouri deer hunting and regulations on this site, special antlerless bonus tags are available in some counties. Be sure to check out this site and get all the facts before you hunt.
So until next time, see ya out there and hope you get a big trophy buck too. Make sure of your target before you shoot. Just make sure to enjoy the "Great Outdoors!"
2 comments:
Good luck to you, Our season here in Connecticut opens November 19th.
Good luck - I can't believe everyone elses seasons are just starting and all mine are over! Gonna be a long winter of hunting coyotes and fishing! Ah, heck, that sounds plenty fun, too - no need to complain anymore!
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