Can anyone give me an idea of the bird population in Ripley County, MO? I've got a lead on some land that I'm going to check out to buy and it will be hard to make a decision based upon a few trips. It doesn't appear to be historically a leading county in MO, but also hard to draw conclusions from harvest rates also.
Any locals or hunters that can share some info please do or PM me.
What major towns are near there? I am having trouble figureing out where ripley county is.
Doniphan.
Look on MO. web site.They have great info. on sping and fall kills and more.
I don't hunt that far south but hunt south of St. Louis and down to the bootheel. One thing you have to remember is that most of the top turkey killing counties are located in close proximity to major cities like St. Louis, Kansas City, and Sprinfield. I'd think down by Ripley the hunting pressure is more spread out. If you have fields on the property it might be a gold mine
It is heavily timbered with fields interspersed. I figured the harvest reports are misleading as they seem to center around the major cities. Thanks for all the info...can't wait to try it out.
I live in ripley county and we seen to have more birds this year than in years past. Out 160 west twords gatewood and up c and j highway they are gobbling now. Lots of hardwoods and some fields.I hunt over at west plains on private property and have some lease property over by alton. I've talked to several people who are seeing strutters and hearing several gobbles. Hope this helps.
That area should be OK, but I've never hunted that far south in Missouri. I agree that harvest totals skew the comparison a bit. It probably varies farm to farm more than county to county.
We don't have the large number of harvested birds but I think it's because of the lack of hunters. There is a tremendous amount of conservation land to hunt on, more land than hunters. When you find some birds you will find several. They are a little spotty, but I have managed to fill my tags for years here. Now i travel and play with those evil field turkeys.