Elk hunting opens with full legal authority in Missouri for the first time in more than a century. For decades, elk populations dwindled in the state, disappearing entirely according to most by 1865, according to a Missouri Department of Conservation history. This photo shows an elk at Peck Ranch Conservation Area in Fremont.

Based upon content from the book This Day In Missouri History by Ross Malone, author and Missouri historian. Get your copy on Amazon.

Photo credit: Missouri Department of Conservation. https://mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/species/elk