The ranks of young hunters are swelling as a
result of MDC’s continuing recruitment efforts.
JEFFERSON CITY–
Hunters age 6 through 15 checked 19,277 deer during the first weekend
of Missouri’s youth deer hunt Nov. 3 and 4, a 17.6-percent
increase over last year’s figure.
Top
harvest counties for the early portion of the youth hunt were Franklin
with 417 deer checked, Osage with 400 and Howell with 395.
Resource Scientist Jason Sumners with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) credits several factors for the increase.
“Increasing
participation is probably the number-one cause of the continued
increases youth harvests,” says Sumners. “We have had a youth hunt for
more than a decade now, and we have seen fairly steady growth
in the harvest since then. That’s partly because we have doubled the
length of the season. But it’s also about the growth of a youth-hunting
tradition. That, combined with very good weather conditions and a lack
of acorns in southern Missouri, contributed
to a nice bump up this year.”
Missouri
held its first youth hunt in 2001. The season was two days long, and
the harvest that year was 6,277. For the first seven years, the youth
hunt consisted of a Saturday and Sunday before the November
firearms deer season, and the harvest averaged around 10,000 deer.
Starting with the 2008-2009 hunting season, MDC added a two-day late
portion in January.
The
youth deer season is one facet of ongoing efforts to recruit new
hunters. In 2001, Missouri had approximately 40,000 deer hunters under
age 16. Today they number approximately 70,000. MDC also uses low-cost
permits, partnerships with private mentoring programs, an Apprentice
Hunter Authorization, and outdoor-skills training to encourage
Missourians to take up hunting.
Last
year, more than 114,000 Missourians attended 2,000-plus MDC-sponsored
events with instruction in hunting, fishing, trapping and shooting
sports. Low permit cost is another reason Missouri is a great place
to hunt. Missouri’s $17 Resident Firearms Any-Deer Permit is a bargain
compared to the average of $46.63 for equivalent privileges in
surrounding states. Missouri charges only $8.50 for a resident any-deer
permit for kids under age 16. Resident youths pay
just $3.50 for antlerless-deer permits.
The
Apprentice Hunter Authorization costs $10 per year and allows people 16
and older to buy hunting permits for two consecutive years without
having to complete hunter-education training first. Authorization
users must buy the appropriate hunting permits. They also must hunt in
the immediate presence of a licensed hunter 18 years or older who is
hunter-education certified or exempt from the hunter-education
requirement due to age.
Missouri’s
hunting tradition is essential to managing the state’s deer herd. It
also contributes substantially to the state’s economy. Deer hunters
spend approximately $700 million on their sport annually
in Missouri, generating $1.1 billion in business activity and
supporting 11,000 jobs.
The
Conservation Department makes it easy to create a lasting reminder of a
young hunter’s first deer. An official First Deer Certificate, complete
with congratulations and signature by Conservation Department
Director Robert L. Ziehmer, is available at
mdc.mo.gov/node/10469. To create a certificate suitable for framing, you need only fill in the hunter’s information, print the form and add a photo.
Next
on Missouri’s deer-hunting calendar is the November portion of firearms
deer season Nov. 10 through 20. This portion normally accounts for
approximately 80 percent of the state’s firearms deer harvest.
-Jim Low-
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