Hello, my name is Michael and I am an avid 24yo public land hunter. I have hunted Missouri public land since the age of 10 and have loved it. Over the past several years, the number of out of state hunters has been increasing at an exponential rate. The number of bucks, and especially big mature bucks has been dropping every place I go (and I hunt all over the state, north south and central), yet at the same time the doe population is often overwhelming.

     This past weekend, November 8-10, I was hunting a piece of northern Missouri public land and saw about 25 other vehicles. Only ONE had a Missouri plate. Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New Mexico, Wisconsin just to name a few. I have no problem with people hunting here, but when it is so unregulated and easy to get a tag, and all these people want to do is shoot young bucks, it is ruining hunting for us locals and it is destroying our deer population.

     Another aspect of the non-resident rush is private land. You take a drive down a county road come rifle season, and you will see handfuls if not more hunting on leased property. The extreme demand for these deer leases are driving up prices to ridiculous amounts making it less and less attainable for us residents who don’t currently have access to private land. 

     Our neighboring states of Illinois, Kansas and Iowa all have a lottery system set up to limit tag numbers, and their tags cost twice or more than Missouri’s. Why are we resident hunters seeing a price increase every single year when the out of staters could be? Why are so many of our conservation areas being managed less and less each year? Less crops, less road upkeep, not even keeping trails brush hogged? If funding is the issue, which I believe it is, why not raise out of state tag prices instead of our resident’s? Make it a lottery like Kansas where you have to buy a license to even apply?

     Also, we can increase and encourage doe harvesting by making those tags cheaper for everyone and maybe consider setting up a “doe day” like several other states where doe can be harvested and the meat donated to shelters. So much of the state is overpopulated with does and anyone with a basic understanding of population balance knows this is an issue.

Missouri has some incredible deer hunting and beautiful habitat, let’s keep it that way. 

-MM

Attached article with citations showing non-resident hunters have more than doubled from 2004-2020: https://www.komu.com/news/state/hunters-increase-in-missouri-as-state-has-big-hunting-year/article_11ac1286-5ac1-11eb-8e49-633c607fbfd1.amp.html