Missouri is home to some 1,455,244 white-tailed deer. That’s the Missouri Department of Conservation’s best guesstimate, according to Lonnie Hansen, who is the MDC’s resource scientist/wildlife biologist overseeing our whitetail herd.

“Our computer model suggests that we have about 1.4 million deer here in Missouri,” Hansen said. “However, there is really no way to know exactly how many there are.”

The overall combined deer harvest in Missouri last year was 298,196. This number is up 15,427 from the 2008 season.

“Deer harvest numbers were down in most parts of north Missouri in 2009 and up for the most part in southern Missouri last year,” Hansen revealed. “I hope we stay around 300,000 in terms of statewide overall deer harvest this year.

“In general, there are simply fewer deer in northern Missouri now than there were five years ago, mainly because we wanted to reduce deer numbers there. Also, there was some Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease that hit parts of that area.”

Aside from the decline in deer numbers in the north, Hansen assigns some of the blame for the lower deer harvest there last year to the standing corn left by farmers. And that was because of an extremely wet fall.

“Farmers could not get their corn out of the fields until pretty much after firearms deer season,” Hansen said. “Standing corn is great deer habitat and an excellent place for the deer to hide.”

On the flip side of things, hunters in the southern half of Missouri experienced a banner season in deer harvest in 2009.

“Deer numbers in the southern part of the state have been slowly on the rise over the years,” Hansen said. “Also, we had a poor acorn crop in 2009, which made the deer more visible and therefore more vulnerable to hunters.”

Now that you’ve got a general feel for what happened last season, let’s take a close look at each of the eight regions to help you in choosing an area to hunt this year. We’ll give you insider information, such as the estimated number of deer per square mile in each region, last year’s deer harvest, hunter density, and more!

CENTRAL REGION
The 15-county Central Region climbed from our No. 3 position to No. 1 in terms of deer harvest last year, with hunters bagging 48,284 whitetails, an increase of 4,604 deer from the 2008 season.

The top three counties in harvest were Camden with 4,786 deer taken; Callaway 4,754; and Morgan 4,710. Hunters should note that Camden, Callaway and Morgan ranked in the Top 20 counties in overall deer harvest last year, finishing in sixth, seventh and eighth place respectively.

All but four counties in this region had increases in deer harvest. Those with decreases were Boone with a 238 deer harvest decline, Audrain 237; Callaway 110 and Montgomery with only 19 fewer. However, Camden County saw a 1,236-deer increase and Miller was up 1,085 deer.

This territory came in second place statewide in deer density this year with an estimated 25.3 deer per square mile. As far as hunting pressure, the region also ranked second statewide.

“There are some really good deer hunting counties in the central region that have a good diversity of habitat,” said Hansen. “Most of the counties saw increases in harvest, but there were the exceptions like Boone, which saw a decline. Those probably were because of slight declines in deer numbers and the standing corn effect.”

Hansen predicted that the Central region probably would have a similar or possibly a slight decrease in harvest numbers for 2010.

NORTHEAST REGION
The 15-county Northeast Region fell from first place in deer harvest numbers in 2008 to second place in 2009. Hunters there killed 47,151 deer, down 3,652.

Top counties in deer harvest last year were Macon with 4,891 deer; Pike 4,113; and Adair 3,920. Two years ago, Macon led the entire state in deer harvest; last year it fell to a respectable fifth place. Pike County finished 14th statewide and Adair finished 16th.

Hunters should note that every county in the region experienced a decline in harvest last year with the exception of Pike County, which saw an increase of 69 deer. The biggest harvest declines were Macon with 821 fewer deer and Monroe down 494. The region ranks third in the state for deer hunting pressure.

Despite its fall from the top in terms of harvest, the northeast region once again earned top honors for deer density in 2010. The region is home to about 31.4 whitetails per square mile. That number is up 1.1 deer PSM from last year.

“This region might have the best habitat for deer in the entire state,” Hansen said. “I’m not certain why there was such a decline in harvest numbers here, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was due to the standing corn which helped hide deer from hunters. I predict that given the right conditions this year, we will see an increase of harvest in this region.”

OZARK REGION
The 12-county Ozark Region raised its status by moving up from fourth place to third in 2009 in terms of deer harvest, with 41,235 deer taken — an increase of 6,906. That’s the largest increase in harvest numbers in any region last year!

Top counties were Texas with 5,681 deer; Howell 5,111; and Oregon 4,502. Texas County led the entire state last year in overall deer harvest, while Howell ranked third and Oregon ninth.

The region fell from fifth place to sixth in deer density statewide in 2010 with approximately 19.5 whitetails per square mile. Despite that ranking, the region showed a .4 deer PSM increase from 2009. As far as hunting pressure goes, the area ranked sixth out of eight statewide.

“I think the biggest factor in the increase of harvest in this region last year was a lack of acorns, which made for some really good hunting,” Hansen said. “Deer numbers are good in this
region, but I think next year the harvest will be down a little. The big harvest last year could have an impact on deer numbers here this year. It’s the way the Ozark deer harvest works.”