Outdoor living
Good hunting weather over the weekend in much of the state helped young deer hunters take more than 9,000 deer in the statewide Youth Hunt.
The two-day total was 9,054 which was 1,474 more than last year. Leading counties were Pike with 210 deer checked and Osage with 197. There were no hunting related accidents again this season.
In the Kansas City Region, there were 1001 deer checked. St. Clair led the counties with 149 deer checked followed by Benton with 143 and Henry with 104. In the Southwest Region 1,151 deer were checked with Jasper the leading county with 105, Newton 99 and Laclede with 98.
Hunters we talked with said they had seen more deer than ever which helped give hope to hunters for the regular firearm season that opens on November 15.
Ben Jefferson, Sedalia, said, "There are more deer in Missouri than ever and hunting should be great this season."
Meanwhile other hunters were busy last weekend as the quail and pheasant seasons opened and the waterfowl season in the Middle Zone got underway with hunters having good hunting in areas like Four Rivers, Montrose and Schell-Osage Wildlife Areas.
Although the youth deer hunters and duck hunters in the Middle Zone were having good hunting, quail hunting wasn't as good for most hunters..
Harry Sexton, Kansas City, was hunting in Carroll County at a farm where he has hunted for more than 30 years.
Sexton said, "I saw many more turkeys than quail last weekend. I used to flush three or four coveys in the same area where I only had one covey to work on Sunday. Things have really changed."
Although many quail hunters didn't find as many birds as they have in the past, some hunters like Kent Perry, Joplin, found more birds than last season.
Perry said, "I was a little surprised to flush several coveys of quail while hunting near Nevada. Last year we didn't find many birds, but there were more quail there this year than we have seen in several seasons. It isn't like it was 20 years ago, but it was better than the last two seasons and it gives us hope things will keep getting better."
All in all, hunters had a great start to the hunting seasons that are getting in full swing this month.