Antler-point restrictions have been eliminated from state deer hunting regulations for the upcoming year. I have never cared for the rule, so I am not sad to see it gone. However, the cause of its demise outweighs any joy I might feel for finally getting my way.
Managing the potential spread of chronic wasting disease in Missouri is behind most of the significant changes for the season that opens Sept. 15 when archery hunters begin their fall pursuits. Because young bucks are most likely to disperse great distances from their birth location, a rule to protect them until they grow into larger adult deer increases the likelihood of CWD expanding its coverage area.
The concept behind the “four-point rule” – as the antler-point restrictions were commonly known – allows that young bucks not harvested this year or next have the potential to be really big deer by the time they are three or four or more years old. As a philosophy that is hard to argue with, but as public policy, I always felt it was unfair to inexperienced hunters.
The regulation had not been imposed during the youth hunting seasons, so those under 15 could take any deer during their assigned weekends, but older newbies were required to pass on the chance to take their first-ever buck if they couldn’t count at least four points on one side. Advocates for deer with record-book racks will not be happy with the change.
Unhappy hunters are responsible for most of the other new rules for the upcoming deer hunting seasons. Post-season targeted culling, which had been used since the first reports of CWD in the state in 2010, was canceled following the 2025 season, and the state Department of Conservation has no plans to resume the approach this year or into the future.
No longer will there be CWD Management Zones, counties clumped together by their proximity to positive test results. Restrictions on placing food and minerals for deer will still exist and will be based locations where the disease has been found. Feeding deer is prohibited year-round in 84 counties, all of which are within 10 miles of a confirmed CWD case, with exceptions for sites within 100 feet of occupied residences.
Jefferson County has recorded 79 positive tests for CWD including the first one found here during the 2016-17 season. That number is the fifth highest county total in the state behind Ste. Genevieve 160, Franklin 108, Linn 90, and Macon 80, according to conservation department data.
This fall the hunting schedule does not include an extended CWD portion of the firearms season as it had in the recent past. Information from the conservation department states that the five-day extension of the main firearms deer hunting season did not significantly affect harvest numbers.
The change that promises to be the most confusing, at least at its outset, is the new program for mandatory sampling. Beginning this year, every county will require mandatory check-ins on opening weekend once every four years. Jefferson County is not among the 27 of 114 counties being tested in 2026. Free voluntary CWD testing is available from Sept. 15 through Jan. 15, 2027, at seven locations throughout Jefferson County including options in Arnold, Barnhart, Dittmer, Festus and Hillsboro.
Hunters who shoot a deer on Nov. 14 or 15 this year must take it to a sampling station on the day of harvest in Andrew, Atchison, Audrain, Benton, Buchanan, Callaway, Carter, Cedar, Dade, Greene, Holt, Iron, Lawrence, Lincoln, Monroe, Montgomery, Nodaway, Oregon, Pike, Polk, Ralls, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon, St. Charles, St. Clair, Warren, and Wayne counties.
The other significant change for the upcoming season affects non-residents hunting on property they do not own. Those hunters may only take one antlered deer in Missouri this year. Residents and non-resident land-owners are still permitted to take one antlered deer with a firearm and one with an archery tag prior to the November portion of firearms season. Resident bow-and-arrow hunters who do not harvest an antlered deer during gun season may take a second buck after Nov. 24.
All changes and rules for the upcoming season are highlighted in the 2026 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet available online at mdc.mo.gov and from permit vendor locations. Additional data and details about chronic wasting disease in Missouri can be found at mdc.mo.gov/cwd.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 35 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
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