MO Missouri Porch

Deer

Deer hunting in Missouri

Missouri deer hunting is all about white-tailed deer, and there's a season for nearly every style — bow, modern firearm, muzzleloader, even youth-only weekends. The plain-English version: get the right permit, know your season and your limit, tag your deer and report it the same day, and wear hunter orange during firearms season.

A quick vocabulary note. An antlered deer (a "buck") has at least one antler 3 inches or longer. Everything else — does, button bucks, and spikes under 3 inches — counts as antlerless. A tag is the permit you notch and keep with the animal. A portion is one of the dated chunks of firearms season below.

Seasons

Deer dates — 2026 / 2026–27

Season Dates
Archery Sept. 15 – Nov. 13, 2026 and Nov. 25, 2026 – Jan. 15, 2027
Firearms — Early Antlerless Oct. 9–11, 2026 Open counties only.
Firearms — Early Youth (ages 6–15) Oct. 24–25, 2026
Firearms — November Portion Nov. 14–24, 2026 The main firearms portion.
Firearms — Late Youth Nov. 27–29, 2026
Firearms — Late Antlerless Dec. 5–13, 2026 Open counties only.
Firearms — Alternative Methods Dec. 26, 2026 – Jan. 5, 2027 Muzzleloaders and a few other tools — no modern rifles or shotguns.

Dates change every year — confirm on MDC Seasons.

How many deer

Your limit on bucks and does

Bucks — residents Residents may take no more than two antlered deer all year (archery and firearms combined), only one antlered deer during the entire firearms season, and — with a bow — only one antlered deer before the November portion.
Bucks — nonresidents For 2026, nonresidents may take only one antlered deer (reduced from two). Nonresident landowners keep two.
Antlerless deer (does) Archery permits let you take any number of antlerless deer in any county. Firearms antlerless deer are capped by a limit each county sets — look yours up in the current booklet.

No statewide point rule this year. The statewide antler-point restriction (the old "4-point rule") has been removed for 2026–27. Do not assume a point rule anywhere — confirm in the current booklet.

Permits

Deer permit prices

Permit Resident Nonresident Nonres. landowner Youth
Firearms Any-Deer $19.50 $360 $225 $9.75
Firearms Antlerless Deer $7.50 $34 — $3.75
Archer's Hunting $22 $360 $225 $11
Archery Antlerless Deer $7.50 $34 — $3.75

Resident landowners get no-cost deer and turkey permits on their own land. Full list: MDC Hunting Permits.

Legal methods

What you may hunt with

  • Firearms portions: centerfire rifles and pistols with expanding bullets, shotguns with slugs, muzzleloaders .40 caliber or larger, big-bore air guns (.40+), plus bows, crossbows, and atlatls.
  • Alternative Methods portion: muzzleloaders, centerfire pistols/revolvers, big-bore air guns, bows, crossbows, and atlatls — no modern rifles or shotguns.
  • Archery season: longbows, recurves, compound bows, and crossbows.
  • Never legal for deer: bait, dogs, electronic calls, night vision or thermal optics, buckshot, fully automatic guns, or shining a light on the animal.

Tag & report

After you shoot a deer

Telecheck is how you report a deer, turkey, bear, or elk after you take it — by 10 p.m. that day, online, by phone, or on the free MO Hunting app.

Species Right away Report / check Keep with the meat
Deer Notch your permit (month & day) Telecheck by 10 p.m. the day you take it Keep the confirmation number with the meat

How to Telecheck: MDC Tagging & Telecheck.

Where it gets local

County rules change the picture

Missouri's deer rules are not the same everywhere. Three things to look up for the county you hunt:

Is my county different?

CWD sampling counties

Extra deer rules (mandatory testing on opening weekend, carcass-movement rules, and a feed/mineral ban near CWD). The list is set each year in the Fall Deer & Turkey booklet — there is no durable list to memorize.

This list changes every year, so there is no durable list to memorize — look up your county in the current MDC booklet before you hunt.

Check the current MDC source →

Is my county different?

Firearms antlerless permit limit by county

Each county caps how many firearms antlerless permits you can fill. The tiers change yearly — look up your county in the current booklet.

This list changes every year, so there is no durable list to memorize — look up your county in the current MDC booklet before you hunt.

Check the current MDC source →

Is my county different?

Kansas City Urban Deer Zone

Parts of the metro have their own deer rules: all of Clay and Jackson counties, the part of Platte County south of Hwy 92, and the part of Cass County north of Route 2.

  • Clay
  • Jackson
  • Platte (south of Hwy 92)
  • Cass (north of Route 2)

Check the current MDC source →

Safety

Hunter orange during firearms season

Everyone hunting during any firearms deer portion must wear hunter orange — a hat and a shirt, vest, or coat, in bright orange visible from all sides. Camouflage orange doesn't count.

Looking ahead: Proposed for 2027 (not yet in effect): a $165 Nonresident Public Land Deer Hunting Permit, with public comment in July–August 2026.

Before you hunt

Missouri Porch explains; the MDC decides.

Data current for the 2026 / 2026–27 season. Last checked against MDC: 2026-06-18. Dates, prices, quotas, and county rules change every year. Confirm with MDC before you hunt.

This is a plain-English summary, not the law. Always check the current MDC regulations before you hunt. As MDC puts it, the booklet is NOT a legal document and regulations are subject to revision during the year.

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