Maternal Erasure: What Missouri Calls “Deer Herd Management

 

In June 2025, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) sent a letter to Joplin City Council congratulating them on the passage of Ordinance 2025-083. The ordinance legalized urban bowhunting of deer within city limits. MDC praised the city’s “proactive approach to herd management.” But what exactly are they celebrating?

Respect Wildlife image with doe fawn and buck.


This ordinance permits hunters to legally harvest lactating does during Missouri’s archery season, knowing full well that unweaned fawns will not survive without their mothers. These fawns aren’t just losing warmth they’re losing the only teacher they have. White-tailed deer fawns stay with their mothers for nearly a year, learning how to forage, avoid predators, and navigate seasonal shifts. Without her, they’re left vulnerable, confused, and unequipped to survive.

This isn’t herd management. It’s maternal erasure. And when the state calls it “responsible,” it’s time to ask: responsible to whom?

“The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.” — Proverbs 12:10

 

An image showing when deer are protected in Missouri

 MDC’s Strategy: Numbers Over Nurture

The Missouri Department of Conservation promotes 30% doe harvest as the cornerstone of deer population control even in urban areas. Their official guidance states:

“To achieve the greatest reduction in a deer herd, more than 30% of your doe population must be harvested.”
— MDC Deer Management Options  

This approach is echoed in their Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) strategy:

MDC provides hunters with additional opportunities to harvest deer to help manage CWD.”
— Maintaining a Healthy Deer Herd in Missouri (PDF)  

But nowhere in these documents does MDC acknowledge the ethical implications of harvesting lactating does or orphaning dependent fawns. Their strategy is built around numbers, not nurture.

 CWD Is Not Eradicated by Deer Removal

MDC’s own materials admit that CWD is caused by a misfolded protein (prion) that can persist in the environment:

“CWD can spread by direct deer-to-deer contact or when deer encounter the misfolded proteins shed in the environment by an infected deer.”
— MDC CWD Management Zone Regulations 

These prions can remain active in:

  • Soil
  • Plants
  • Water sources

Removing deer does not eliminate CWD it simply reduces the number of hosts. But the prions remain, and new deer can still become infected. 

 What Residents Should Ask

If CWD lives in the soil and plants…
If orphaned fawns are left without its mother…
If maternal bonds are severed in the name of “management”…

How is this ethical? How is this responsible?