MDC releases final deer harvest total Linn County Leader The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has released the final totals for Missouri's 2020-2021 deer-hunting season, which ended Jan. 15 with MDC reporting a preliminary total deer harvest for the season of 296,516. Of the deer harvested, 140,468 were antlered bucks, 28,587 were button bucks, and 127,461 were does. Top harvest counties for the overall deer season were Franklin with 5,786 deer harvested, Howell with 5,367, and Callaway with 4,989. Hunters harvested 285,873 deer during the 2019-2020 deer hunting season with 134,092 being antlered bucks, 27,970 being button bucks,and 123,811 being does. “Although harvest was down slightly during the November portion of firearms deer season, when most of the deer harvest occurs, increases in most of the other season portions contributed to about a four-percent increase in this year’s total deer harvest over last year’s,” said MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle. “The increased harvest is largely a reflection of increasing deer numbers throughout much of the state.”