You've heard hunters talking about the vast numbers of wildlife they saw while hunting in seasons past and how easy it was to fill a limit back in yesteryear. Those good ol' days bring back many good memories for most of us old timers. While those fond thoughts of seasons past might apply to rabbits, quail and other species, it does not apply to whitetails. The "good ol' days" are right now when it comes to deer hunting in Missouri.

With an estimated fall population of just over one million deer in Missouri, hunters today are experiencing the best times of their hunting lives when it comes to seeing and harvesting numbers of deer. When I cut my teeth as a young deer hunter in the early 1970s, you could spend all nine days of the firearms season in the woods and be lucky to see a few deer. Today, it's not uncommon for hunters to see five to 25 deer or more per day depending on what part of the state they are hunting.

Whether they know it or not, Missouri deer hunters are also experiencing history in the making when it comes to deer management in the Show-Me State. Major changes have taken place that will dramatically affect deer hunting as we know it today.

Sometimes you have to take a step back and look at the past before you can get a clear look at the future. Read on to learn a little about Missouri's deer management history, today's history-making management changes, and more about our state's deer herd.

DEER MANAGEMENT THEN AND NOW
For years, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) managed the whitetail deer herd in the Show-Me State for quantity of deer not quality, and for good reason. As recently as 50 years ago, there weren't many deer anywhere in Missouri and the MDC had to manage the herd to multiply in numbers. This was done by first closing deer season all together and eventually limiting the number of does harvested.

When I first began deer hunting in 1972, the first seven days of the firearms season was bucks only. The final two days of the season were for any deer. Protecting does means more fawns and more fawns mean more deer the following season.

The MDC's plan to increase the Show-Me State's deer population was a resounding success. Missouri's deer numbers soared from 15,000 deer statewide in 1944 to over one million today! Folks in the Show-Me State hit about 9,000 deer each year with their automobiles, which is more than hunters tagged during the entire firearms season back in the early days of modern deer hunting in Missouri.

With high numbers of deer/vehicle collisions and agricultural/residential crop and plant damage by deer, the MDC had to start reducing deer numbers in certain parts of the state, namely the agricultural areas north of the Missouri River and in major metropolitan areas.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING
In 2003, the MDC first announced the initial shift in management goals from unregulated buck harvest and restricted doe harvest to regulated buck harvest and increased doe harvest where needed. These changes are intended to produce a more balanced deer herd sex ratio and age structure, increase hunter satisfaction with deer management, and overall public acceptance of deer.