The conservation department’s agents have looked under 47-hundred oak trees to forecast this year’s deer-kill. A good year for acorns will mean an decent but not record-breaking season for deer hunters. The red oak acorn crop is up two percent from last year and the white oak acorn crop is up nine percent in Missouri. It’s the second straight year for a bumper acorn crop. And deer biologist Lonnie Hanson says that’s likely to mean a second straight season that will require some extra work by hunters. Why? It’s because the deer won’t have to move around as much as they would move if they had to look for food. He says hunters are not as successful in the Ozarks as they are when the acorn crop is down a deer have to do more foraging. In a bad acorn year, deer will go to fields and open areas where they’re more vulnerable to hunters…as was the case in the record kill year of 2004. His advice for deer hunters in acorn areas—The smart hunter should be in the woods where there are a lot of oaks–where acorns are…and therefore, where the deer are. The season for firearms hunters begins Saturday. He thinks it will be good overall because deer numbers are strong—and outstanding in north Missouri where the acorn influence is much less.

This is the first day that Missouri hunters can take to the fields and woods in quest of the cunning quail. But the Conservation Department says the sport is in decline. The department says quail hunting should be improved this year—that quail have made a significant recovery from last year although the bird count is only about half of the long-term average. Last year’s census was the lowest ever recorded. The department expects about 33-thousand hunters in the field this fall and winter. But the department’s Tom Dailey says that’s down about 70 percent from the 40-year average. He says there deer, turkey, and duck hunting are serious competition for quail hunting. In fact, he says deer hunting seems to be the entry level for many hunters because it’s an easier sport and doesn’t require a dog. But Dailey says quail hunters usually do well although they get only about half of the birds available. The season lasts until January 15th. Hunters can kill eight birds a day…but cannot have more than 16 at any one time.