JEFFERSON CITY, MO. ? The urban portion of Missouri’s firearms deer season will be twice as long this year and will include 11 counties in four areas of the state.

Last year the Conservation Commission approved Missouri’s first-ever urban deer hunting season. It lasted two days in the deer management units around St. Louis and Kansas City.

This year, the event has been expanded to four days (Oct. 8-11) and includes:

• St. Louis and St. Charles counties in the St. Louis area
• Platte, Clay, Jackson and Cass counties in the Kansas City area
• Greene, Webster and Christian counties in the Springfield area
• Boone and Cole counties in Central Missouri.

These counties all have large human populations and high deer population density. As a result, deer-automobile accidents, damage to landscape plantings and other human-deer conflicts are increasingly common.

“Finding ways to control deer numbers in and around cities is one of our biggest deer management challenges,” said Missouri official Lonnie Hansen.

Last year, hunters could only use historic hunting methods — muzzleloading rifles, crossbows or bows — during the urban hunt. This year, they can use modern firearms, too.