The Missouri Department of Conservation has made some changes to regulations for the upcoming deer season.
The agency has reduced the antlered buck limit for those hunting on nonresident deer hunting permits from two to one. According to MDC, the number of nonresident deer hunters in Missouri has increased by nearly 50% in the last 10 years, and there’s been growing concern from resident hunters about the impact to land access and their hunting experiences. It said the change is meant to address those concerns and alleviate increasing pressure from nonresident deer hunting. Nonresidents who qualify for nonresident landowner permits will maintain an antlered buck harvest limit of two.
Chronic wasting disease management zones have been removed. Most Missouri counties either have had a CWD case confirmed or are within 10 miles of a confirmed case. Because of that, MDC said a designated CWD management zone is no longer needed. And the organization has removed the CWD portion of firearms deer season.
MDC will continue to prohibit placing feed and minerals for deer in counties within 10 miles of where CWD has been found.
There’s also been a change in mandatory CWD sampling. Instead of mandatory sampling in all counties during the opening weekend of deer season, MDC will require it in every county of the state once every four years. This season, mandatory sampling will take place in 28 counties on November 14 and 15, including Cedar, Dade, Greene, Lawrence and Polk Counties.
MDC has increased the minimum acreage requirement for CWD management permits and simplified the application process. It has also removed the antler-point restriction for the remaining 18 counties where it was most recently in place. According to MDC, “yearling bucks, which the APR protects, travel many miles and can spread chronic wasting disease (CWD) long distances. It said that removing the APR will help minimize the disease’s spread while simplifying regulations.
And the agency will not conduct targeted deer removals after the season and has no plans to resume the practice. MDC said it plans to work with hunters, landowners and other partners “to develop a localized approach in which hunter harvest if the primary tool to manage deer numbers and CWD during the regular deer season.”
