Not a bad first weekend on firearms deer season

The Conservation Department reports more than 80,000 deer have been harvested during the opening weekend of deer season.

That exact number is 80,525 as hunters entered the woods Saturday for the 1st round of firearms dear season. More than 48,000 of those deer were antlered bucks and almost 25,000 were does. Top areas for harvest for opening weekend were Howell County in southern Missouri, Bollinger County in southeastern Missouri, and Franklin County in Eastern Missouri. Last year’s totals for the 1st weekend were slightly higher. More statistics are available at the Conservation Department website.