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JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri^s fall firearms turkey harvest decreased by 1,421 birds this year, but officials with the Missouri Department of Conservation say the decrease doesn^t mean that the state^s turkey population is declining.
Missouri hunters checked 13,230 turkeys during the two-week season in October, compared to 14,651 in 1999. The 1998 harvest was 15,253.
The zenith of fall turkey hunting^s popularity was 1987, when hunters bought 52,922 fall firearms turkey hunting permits and bagged 28,139 birds. Since then, the number of fall turkey hunters has declined steadily.
Decreasing participation explains part of the decrease in the fall turkey harvest, but not all of it. Sales of fall turkey hunting permits fell by 2.4 percent this year, while the harvest dropped by nearly 10 percent. Permit sales increased slightly from 1998 to 1999, but the number of birds killed dropped 4 percent.
Mike Hubbard, wildlife research biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation, says the only logical explanation for the continuing decline in turkey harvest is decreased enthusiasm for the fall sport.
"Population surveys and continuing increases in spring turkey harvest show that our turkey flock is doing great," says Hubbard. "Fall turkey hunting enjoyed a honeymoon period when it was new and everyone was excited about it. But as the novelty wore off, people began drifting away. There are a lot of things competing for hunters^ time in the fall, and a lot of guys hunted turkeys for a few years and then went back to bowhunting and other activities."
Hubbard noted that while fall turkey hunting can be exciting, many hunters find it easier to get excited about pursuing turkeys in April and May, when toms are gobbling, other hunting seasons are closed and spring is in the air. In the 2000 spring turkey season more than 110,000 hunters bagged nearly 57,000 gobblers.
"Annual fall turkey hunting permit sales have hovered around 33,000 for the past few years," says Hubbard. "We^ve got a core of fall turkey hunters who still buy permits every year, but even they aren^t as excited about it as they once were. They don^t hunt as hard as they once did, and the difference shows in the total harvest."
Laclede County led this year^s fall turkey harvest figures with 351 birds checked. Macon County was second with 339, and Henry County came in third with 294. Northeastern Missouri led regional totals with 2,500 birds, followed by the northwest region with 2,376, west-central with 2,241, east-central with 1,339, southwest with 1,214, central with 1,051, Ozarks with 954, southwest with 950, Kansas City with 399 and St. Louis with 206.
The Conservation Department recorded four firearms-related fall turkey hunting accidents, none of them fatal. That^s twice the number of fall turkey hunting accidents recorded last year.
Three of the accidents resulted when the shooters mistook other hunters for turkeys. The fourth involved a shooter who caught a hunting companion in his line of fire when shooting at a flying bird.
- Jim Low -
Uploaded: 11/15/2000
Uploaded: 11/15/2000