Hunting in Missouri, explained

New to hunting in Missouri, or just need the big picture? Here's the five-minute version. Missouri's rules are run by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) — the state agency that sets seasons, prices, and limits. This page walks you through how the whole thing fits together so the detail pages make sense.

Some states sell one "hunting license" that covers everything. Missouri doesn't. Instead, you buy the permit — the document that gives you legal permission to hunt a certain thing — that matches the animal you're after. Want deer? You buy a deer permit. Want ducks? You need a different set. The table below shows the common hunts and what each one takes.

For almost everything, you just buy the permit and go — that's over-the-counter. The exceptions are bear and elk: you don't buy those, you apply in May and a random drawing picks who gets to hunt. Here's how the draw works.

Hunting runs all year, but it has a rhythm. Here's the shape of it:

• Spring: turkey is the headliner, then frogs open as the weather warms.
• Summer: squirrel and frogs — the quiet, easygoing months.
• Fall: the big one. Deer, turkey, ducks, geese, doves, small game, furbearers, bear, and elk all have fall seasons. This is when most hunting happens.
• Winter: the tail end of deer and waterfowl, plus trapping, runs out the year.

The exact dates move every year, and some seasons split into pieces or open only in certain counties. Never plan a trip off this rough sketch — check the current dates on MDC Seasons before you go.

1. Hunter education. You must finish an approved hunter-education course to buy firearms permits (or to act as a mentor) if you were born on or after January 1, 1967. It is one-time and honored in all 50 states. Telecheck and hunter orange, below, are the other must-knows.
2. Wear hunter orange. During any firearms season for deer, bear, or elk, you must wear bright "hunter orange" so other hunters can see you. Camouflage orange doesn't count.
3. Telecheck your animal. If you take a deer, turkey, bear, or elk, you must report it to MDC — that's called Telecheck — by 10 p.m. the same day you take it.
4. No bait. Putting out food (bait) to draw in deer, turkey, bear, or elk is illegal in Missouri.
5. Stay off the road. You can't take game from a public road, or shoot across one.

These are the highlights. For the full set of do's and don'ts, read the rules of the woods, and for who needs which permit and what it costs, see licenses & permits.

You don't need to own land to hunt in Missouri. There are three main places to go:

• Conservation areas: MDC manages around a thousand of them, open to the public.
• Mark Twain National Forest: over a million acres of federal land across southern Missouri.
• Private land: with the landowner's permission — many people knock on doors or join a "walk-in" program that opens private ground to hunters.

See where to hunt for how to find a spot near you.