Young hunters harvest 15,608 deer during early youth portion
Top counties include Osage, Franklin, and Howell.
Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) shows that young hunters ages 6 through 15 harvested 15,608 deer during Missouri’s early youth portion of the 2021 deer hunting season, Oct. 30-31. Top counties were Osage with youth hunters harvesting 359 deer, Franklin with 329, and Howell with 310. Youth hunters harvested 15,854 deer during last year’s early youth portion.
View additional harvest numbers for the 2021 early youth portion at Telecheck Harvest Numbers (mo.gov).
“Weather can have a big impact on harvest totals during our shorter season portions,” said MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle. “Thankfully, the rain we experienced across much of the state late last week moved out just in time for our youth hunters to have some great conditions over the weekend.”
Missouri’s deer archery season continues through Nov. 12 and resumes Nov. 24 through Jan. 15, 2022. The November portion of firearms deer season runs Nov. 13-23 followed by the late youth portion Nov. 26-28. The antlerless portion of firearms deer season runs Dec. 4-12 followed by the alternative methods portion Dec. 25 through Jan. 4, 2022.
Read more information on deer hunting from MDC’s 2021 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, available where hunting permits are sold and online at https://short.mdc.mo.gov/Zyy
Jase Crumley is the son of Barry and Kim Crumley.
Broseley, MO - 2021 Twin Rivers Junior High 8th Grade Boys Basketball Invitational will be held on Monday, November 1st - thursday, November 4, 2021.
Neelyville earned the #1 seed followed by #2 Twin Rivers, #3 Malden, #4 Naylor, #5 Doniphan, #6 New Madrid County Central, #7 Bernie, and #8 Bloomfield.
Monday, November 1st 5:00 p.m. #4 Naylor vs #5 Doniphan
Monday, November 1st 7:30 p.m. #3 Malden vs #6 NMCC
Tuesday, November 2nd 5:00 p.m. #4 Naylor vs #5 Doniphan
Tuesday, November 2nd 6:15 p.m. #1 Neelyville vs #8 Bloomfield
Semifinal games will be at 6:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 3rd.
Championship game will be at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, November 4th.
Broseley, MO - The 2021 Twin Rivers Junior High Boys Basketball 7th Grade Invitational will be held on Monday, November 1st - Thursday, November 4, 2021 in Broseley, Missouri.
Twin Rivers 7th grade boys basketball team earned the #1 seed followed by #2 Bernie, #3 Neelyville, #4 Malden, #5 Doniphan, and #6 Bloomfield.
Twin Rivers and Bernie each received a bye in the first round.
Monday, November 1st 5:00 p.m. #3 Neelyville vs #6 Bloomfield.
Monday, November 1st 6:15 p.m. #4 Malden vs #5 Doniphan.
Semifinals will be held on Wednesday, November 3rd at 4:00 p.m. and 5:15 p.m.
Championship will be held on Thursday, November 4th at 6:30 p.m.
MDC reports Missouri hunters took 12 Black Bear during first season
Missouri’s first black-bear hunting season ran Oct. 18–27 with 12 bears taken out of a maximum harvest of 40.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports that Missouri hunters harvested 12 black bears during the state’s inaugural bear-hunting season, which ran Oct. 18–27. More than 6,330 hunters applied for 400 permits for the season with the maximum total harvest for the season being 40 bears.
“This was an incredibly successful first bear hunting season for Missouri given that we have a highly regulated season, that bears in the state are widely distributed throughout some pretty rugged wilderness, and that many hunters had never hunted bears before,” said MDC State Furbearer and Black Bear Biologist Laura Conlee. “A harvest of 12 bears in our first season is testament to the hunters. Bear hunting is an extremely challenging endeavor, especially under the framework that we established. This was a new experience for many hunters, and they put in the work to be successful and take advantage of this new hunting opportunity.”
Conlee added that MDC took a conservative approach in developing its bear-hunting regulations.
“Our highly regulated and limited season included a sustainable maximum harvest of 40 bears, which is about 5% of our total bear population,” Conlee said. “We also prohibited baiting and the use of dogs, limited hunting to 10 days, and restricted the number of hunters who could participate. With any new season, it is difficult to predict hunter success, so we took a conservative approach to limiting the number of hunters and length of the hunting season. This was to ensure we didn’t overharvest the bear population in any one zone.”
Bear hunting in Missouri is limited to Missouri residents and restricted to three designated areas of southern Missouri called Bear Management Zones (BMZ). Each permit issued is for a specific BMZ and hunting is limited to public or private property within the BMZ. Permit and harvest quotas for the 2021 bear season were:
BMZ 1: Permit quota of 200 with a harvest quota of 20 bears.
BMZ 2: Permit quota of 150 with a harvest quota of 15 bears.
BMZ 3: Permit quota of 50 with a harvest quota of 5 bears.
The more than 6,330 hunters who applied during May to hunt a specific BMZ paid a $10 application fee. The 400 hunters selected for permits through a random drawing of all applicants then paid a permit fee of $25.
Among those selected for permits, Kelsie Wikoff of Hume harvested a 268-pound boar (male bear) in Zone 1. She said she had spent 48 hours in a tree stand over three days since the season began Oct. 18 and harvested the bear Oct. 21.
Including Wikoff’s harvest, black bears harvested during the first season were from the following BMZs:
BMZ 1: Nine (9) bears harvested.
BMZ 2: Three (3) bears harvested.
BMZ 3: Zero (0) bears harvested.
According to the Wildlife Code of Missouri, the harvest limit is one bear per permit. Only lone black bears may be taken. Hunters may not take bears that are known to be in the presence of others bears, including female black bears with cubs. Bears may not be disturbed, pushed, harassed, or taken from a den. Bear hunters must wear hunter orange, make reasonable efforts to retrieve shot bears, and may not leave or abandon commonly edible portions. Learn more about bear hunting in Missouri at mdc.mo.gov/bearhunting.
Black bears were historically abundant throughout the forested areas of Missouri prior to European settlement but were nearly eliminated by unregulated killing in the late 1800s, as well as from habitat loss when Ozark forests were logged. Over the last 50 years, bear numbers and range in Missouri have grown to around 800 black bears with most found south of the Missouri River and primarily south of Interstate 44. Missouri bear range is expanding. Bear numbers in Missouri are increasing each year by approximately 9% and are expected to double in less than 10 years. As bear numbers continue to increase, MDC will use a highly regulated hunting season as an essential part of population management. MDC’s 2020-2030 Black Bear Management Plan will guide bear management in Missouri for the next decade. Learn more about black bears in Missouri and MDC management efforts at mdc.mo.gov/bears.
TOP PHOTO CAPTION AND CREDIT: Congratulations to Kelsie Wikoff of Hume on her harvest of this 268-pound boar (male bear) in Zone 1 during Missouri’s first bear-hunting season. Photo credit: Kelsie Wikoff
Five Dexter athletes qualified for the MSHSAA Class 3 Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Ironton and 22 total from Stoddard County will go on to compete at the MSHSAA Cross Country State Championship.
"I am very proud of these DHS athletes," stated James DeBerry, Dexter High School Cross Country Coach.
Only the top 30 individual athletes and the top four schools in each class could advance to the State Championship.
In Class 2, District 1 the Bloomfield Wildcats finished fourth qualified for the MSHSAA Cross Country State Championship.
Principia won the team championship, Steelville placed second, and Arcadia Valley won third.
In addition to Bloomfield's entire team headed to state, four runners earned medals for finishing in the top 30. Josh Reynolds was eighth, Connor Scott was 23rd, Caleb Upchurch was 24th and Hunter Moore finished 29th.
Logan Robison from Puxico finished 28th and will head to Columbia for the state competition.
From Dexter were Ben Dowdy who placed 16th, Clayton Bell finishing 26th and Cameron Bell placing 27th.
Taven Owens from Bernie finished 15th and Landon Ellsworth placed 30th. Both will compete at state.
Bell City’s Kennett Rampley, Advance’s Luke Ballin and Richland’s Lennon Cook won all-district medals. Rampley took ninth Ballin was 21st, and Cook was 24th.
Richland’s Alexia Kemp and Bernie’s Mackenzie Hill qualified for the Class 1 girls championship meet. Kemp was eighth in 22:07.27 and Hill was 22nd in 23:47.20.
In girls cross country competition:
Dexter's Gabby Brown placed second in the girls division for Class 3 and Abbie Lloyd placed 20th.
Two Puxico girls qualified for the Class 2 girls championship meet. Lanie Wilkerson finished 11th and Paisley Wilkerson was 17th.
The state championship races will be Saturday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.
The Class 1 boys race will begin at 9 a.m., the Class 1 girls at 9:45 a.m., the Class 2 boys at 11:15 a.m., the Class 2 girls at noon, the Class 3 boys at 1:30 p.m. and the Class 3 girls at 2:15 p.m.
Pictured are: Abbie Lloyd, Ben Dowdy, Clayton Bell, Cameron Bell, and Gabbie Brown of Dexter.
Photo provided by DeBerry.
