Click player below to listen to the interview (note - the interview was conducted in late 2022) - The Missouri Department of Conservation is instituting changes for the 2023-24 Deer Season, which includes the addition of more hunting dates and regulation changes....
The Missouri Department of Conservation has confirmed 24 new cases of chronic wasting disease in the state. The findings - in nearly 27,000 tissue samples - bring the total number of deer confirmed with the disease to 140 since 2012. According to the Department,...
The state’s firearms portion of deer season gets underway Saturday – marking the 75th anniversary of the popular activity in the Show-Me State. Thousands of hunters are expected to get an early start tomorrow. Joe Jerek with the Missouri Department of Conservation...
Many hunters are headed to Missouri’s woods Saturday for the start of the firearms deer hunting season. Highway Patrol Sgt. Eric Brown says the opening day makes today a busy time on the roads, especially mid-morning through the early evening hours. “We will see a...
The primetime of a lucrative industry in Missouri is quickly approaching. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service estimates the economic ripple effect of hunting on the state is $1.6 billion. The Missouri Conservation Federation pegs deer hunting's economic impact...
The state Department of Conservation says an adult female deer in southern Missouri’s Oregon County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease. The department was notified after a landowner found a dead deer on their property and contacted MDC officials. This...
The Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City is considering whether the state Conservation Department can impose regulations on deer hunting and breeding businesses. The decision ultimately issued by the high bench could have a major bearing on the private land...
The Missouri Department of Conservation has reported numerous new cases of a deadly disease in deer just as its attempted regulations are being litigated. The state agency says 15 free-ranging Missouri deer have tested positive for chronic wasting disease out of...
A Missouri House Committee will hear testimony Thursday at the Statehouse in Jefferson City about numerous topics, ranging from deer hunting season to pesticide complaints to an October column in the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" about Bass Pro Shops. The Missouri...
Representative Robert Ross (R-Yukon) said he’s tried to work with the Missouri Department of Conservation on several issues, but called the relationship "tense." Ross’s comments are in response to Conservation Director Robert Ziehmer’s resignation, announced for...
The discovery of Chronic Wasting Disease in Arkansas concerns officials in Missouri. Bill Wise reports.
Missouri officials are now closely monitoring deer in southern Missouri for chronic wasting disease. Bill Wise reports.
The Missouri Department of Conservation is increasing testing of deer for chronic wasting disease after the discovery this spring of 86 cases in Northern Arkansas. No CWD cases had been found there until this year. MDC Biologist Barbara Keller says the department...
The discovery this spring of 86 cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in northern Arkansas has led the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) to increase sample collection for testing of the disease. CWD is a disease that is spread from deer to deer and is...
The discovery of another deer infected with a disease deadly to the species could lead to more special enforcement in the state, near where it was killed. Franklin County is the fourth county in Missouri from which a deer has tested positive for chronic wasting...
A disease that threatens the state's deer population has been found in a fourth Missouri county. The latest deer to test positive for Chronic Wasting Disease was shot by a hunter in Franklin County, just west of St. Louis. Since 2012 the disease has also been found...
Missourians who plan to go deer hunting next year can expect changes in regulations. The firearms deer season in November 2016 has been reduced in Missouri from eleven to nine days. Jason Sumners with the Department of Conservation says the deer population in...
Hunters in 19 counties in northern and central Missouri are being encouraged to kill more deer this fall and winter. The Missouri Conservation Commission has lifted the antler-point restriction and is increasing the number of antlerless permits available per hunter...
A central Missouri man is charged with breaking federal law by transporting white-tailed deer to Florida. Federal prosecutors say 54-year-old Charles “Sam” James of Columbia loaded 11 deer into a rented box trailer and drove them from Missouri to a deer farm in...
A Senate committee has approved legislation that would set up a task force to look for ways to revitalize Missouri deer hunting areas affected by chronic wasting disease. Senator Brian Munzlinger presented the bill and said he has met with the Department of...
The November portion of the firearms deer season is about to kick off, and the Department of Conservation is reminding hunters of a change in the number of deer they can kill. In all parts of this season combined, hunters this season will be able to take only one...
Missouri hunters already have started thinning the state's deer herd. The serious hunting starts in less than a month. Archery hunting season and the urban deer season kick off a series of seasons that last until early January. Still ahead is the firearm season,...
The Conservation Commission could approve the final regulations for captive deer herds later this week. The legislature tried to take that rule-making authority away from the Conservation Department earlier this year. But the Governor vetoed the bill, campaigned...
Tomorrow is the deadline for Missourians to comment on the Conservation Department's new regulations for farmers who want to raise deer. But an important political decision could make the regulations moot. The legislature will consider next month whether to...
Governor Jay Nixon (D) has vetoed two agriculture omnibus bills because they contain language that would transfer regulatory control of captive deer to the Department of Agriculture. The sponsors of those bills say those vetoes will be easy overrides in September....
Governor Jay Nixon (D) has vetoed two agriculture bills that, among other provisions, would have added captive deer to the definition of "livestock" in state statute, thereby putting them under the control of the Missouri Department of Agriculture rather than the...
Kelly Straka, state wildlife veterinarian for the Missouri Department of Conservation, joins me on this final installment of our Google Hangout chats during the month of June. For the past four weeks, we've focused on deer management and deer health. In this...
In our third of four installments of Google Hangouts with the Missouri Department of Conservation, we visit with Deer Biologist Jason Sumners. We continue our discussion on wildlife management and health, and what the responsibilities of the department are to...
The Missouri Department of Conservation manages nearly one million acres for conservation and public use in Missouri and right now the department is focusing in on monthly area management plans that are posted on their website. Amy Buechler, Public Involvement...
Public opinion is an important part of Missouri Department of Conservation's deer management efforts and the Department will once again be holding public meetings around the state, starting next week, to inform citizens of its deer management efforts and to gather...