All-day hunt likely boosted Missouri turkey harvest

Jefferson City, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Conservation reported that turkey hunters in that state checked in 43,380 birds during Missouri’s 2024 regular spring turkey season, which ended May 5. Youth hunters harvested 3,739 turkeys, bringing the overall 2024 spring turkey harvest to 47,119.

According to MDC, that is a 6% increase in total harvest from 2023 and a 20% increase in total harvest compared to the previous five-year average. It was the third year in a row in which harvest increased for the Illinois neighbor. A new rule allowing all-day hunts on private land may have helped.

MORE TURKEY COVERAGE FROM OUTDOOR NEWS:

Ohio’s opening week of turkey hunting off to fast start

Call like you mean it to attract mid-season toms

Afternoons and evenings can be great times to target turkeys, especially late in the season

“The ability to hunt all day have had a role in this increase,” MDC Wild Turkey Biologist Nick Oakley said. “Successively better hatches starting in 2021 meant there were also likely more turkeys on the landscape as well. We are still looking at the data to see how much of the increase in harvest can be attributed to the new regulation, as well as how many new hunters the regulation change helped to get into the field. A 6% increase in harvest is in line with what we would have expected knowing that many factors play into harvest totals.”