A total of 104 kids took part in last fall's youth-only deer hunt at two local outdoor recreation areas. Nearly one of every four youth hunters was successful.

The youth-only hunts were held at the Busch and Weldon Spring outdoor areas. A total of 25 deer were killed (15 at the Busch area and 10 at Weldon Spring.)

Three of 25 deer were killed by girl hunters.

Lia Bollman is a wildlife biologist at the Busch recreation area. She kept track of the number of kids who participated and the number of deer killed.

Bollman said 87 boys and 17 girls took part in the Busch and Weldon Spring hunts. The boys killed 22 of the deer and the girls the other three.

That represents a success rate of 24%, Bollman said.

Last October, Young Saint Louis.com did an advance story about some of the local kids who won lottery spots for the deer hunt. (To read that story, just click here.)

In addition to the Busch and Weldon Spring hunts, the conservation department conducts other youth-only hunting events statewide. Missouri hunters 15 and under bagged 7,580 deer in the second annual statewide hunt during the Nov. 2-3, 2002, firearm season.

In October, 2002, a total of 14,487 turkeys were bagged in a statewide youth-only hunt.

The state conservation department has a lot of other activities for St. Louis area youth. To find out more, visit its website at www.conservation.state.mo.us/areas/stlouis.