About five times this past week I have heard what I thought were fireworks in my neighborhood. “Weird,” I thought, “Maybe people stock up on the Fourth of July so they have something to fire off on every major holiday.”
Then, I was about three miles east of my house when I heard either a car backfire or a very loud gunshot.
I remembered that while I was looking at wildlife cameras at the Farm Supply shop, I overheard the gun salesman say it was deer season. I did think it was a little late in the year, but then I went home and did research right before bed and I learned a number of things.
However, as I say, it was right before bed. If I am wrong, I am sure someone will let me know. These are the things I think I learned:
1. Missouri has a number of deer seasons, each with its own rules. During one deer season, you can use deer calls and deer lures like food, but those same things will be banned during a later deer season.
2. Sometimes you can use a rifle, sometimes a bow and arrow, and evidently in late December you can only use a musket or something that you load through the barrel. That would explain the loud noises I’ve been hearing.
3. You can’t just walk in to someone’s backyard and shoot a deer. You have to ask first, and then if they say yes it’s good form to give them part of the deer you killed. If you aren’t sociable, there is an assigned location three miles from my house at the Busch Wildlife Area where you can shoot all kinds of deer without asking.
As I say, it was late and I was sleepy. I guess I will know if I was right if someone arrives at my front door carrying a musket and asking if I want to share some venison.
2 responses to “Deer Season”
I… don’t think I’d like living in Deer Season Territory. Not opposed to venison, but “if I go all the way to the back of the yard while wearing brown someone might accidentally shoot at me” is distinctly unappealing! (maybe the places people are shooting are farther away than they sound like they are, though? I don’t actually know how far that sound travels. Still, this sounds Exciting in the wrong ways.)
KC -we live in the suburbs, but large wooded areas are less than a mile away. There’s a spot about two miles away where we routinely see deer at dusk. It’s on farmland, but right by a road so I think no one could even think of hunting there.