The Missouri Department of Conservation reports that hunters checked 91,460 deer during the opening weekend of the 2014 November portion of firearms deer season last weekend. Top harvest counties for the opening weekend were Franklin with 1,839 deer checked, Howell with 1,793, and Callaway with 1,791.
The 2013 opening weekend firearms deer harvest was 61,446. Other recent prior-year harvest totals for firearms opening weekend were: 2012: 69,614, 2011: 89,728, 2010: 97,856, and 2009: 86,202.
The department also reports that there were three deer-hunting incidents over the weekend. Two were fatal.
One fatality was in Ste. Genevieve County where a heater in a hunting blind exploded, killing the hunter. The second involved a fall from a tree stand in Crawford County.
A third non-fatal incident involved a hunter in Phelps County shooting himself in the leg while loading his rifle.
Outdoors on 11/20/2014