Anybody heard if all day hunting will be allowed this Spring in MO.? All I've seen is season dates so far.
Man I sure hope all day did not go through
Quote from: Fullfan on December 16, 2016, 04:55:58 PM
Man I sure hope all day did not go through
Me too. MDC website says hours 1/2 before sunrise to 1pm.......for now
Quote from: jakesdad on December 16, 2016, 04:59:08 PM
Quote from: Fullfan on December 16, 2016, 04:55:58 PM
Man I sure hope all day did not go through
Me too. MDC website says hours 1/2 before sunrise to 1pm.......for now
I'm with you guys.
Well I'll start the fight. I for one hope they would let us hunt all day. Too many reason I would like it but to each their own JMO.
I don't mind the hours, but that one bird for the first week is annoying.
We hunt MO in the morning and KS in the afternoon.
there's several reasons MO has maintained good hunting. 1:00 is one of those. Besides that the harvest report has been a steady decline for the last few years, so why would you want more pressure?
The mushroom hunters start stomping around in the afternoons, so nests are getting disturbed, anyway.
I am in the camp hoping it is changed. Complete nonsense, IMO.
It appears it will remain 1 pm for 2017; however.
Too many mornings with possible tornadoes, mushroom hunters in the afternoon and not much time to work is a few of my reasons. Now if I had the chance to hunt multiple states and many weeks, well then I might not care as much
I'm not a MO resident but I am in the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" camp.
Too many people want to ruin a good thing. Seems to me that Missouri hunters don't have any problems stacking over 20k birds per spring despite the the short season, 1 bird the 1st week rule and the 1 PM cut off. Make greater sacrifices to be in the woods more if turkey hunting is that important to ya or be more aggressive about improving your hunting abilities.
:emoticon-animal-005:
I am out of state like hunting mo. Please leave it at 1:00
I would rather a hunter tag his bird during the afternoon of Day #1 and be done than leave at 1:00 and stomp back in there the next day.
Disclaimer: I am from Arkansas and have not yet hunted Missouri.
That being said, if I was a Missouri resident I would want them to leave it as it is now. I can tell you this- I love to travel and hunt turkeys but having to quit at 1 and only being able to kill 1 bird the first week is a big part of why I haven't hunted Missouri yet. If I was from Missouri that would be something that I am all for.
I am from MO and would prefer it to be left at 1:00. Would like the 1 bird the first week to change tho.
don't know why it's never mentioned, one can ''hunt'' turkeys without a gun anytime.. :camohat:
Quote from: saltysenior on December 21, 2016, 02:17:40 PM
don't know why it's never mentioned, one can ''hunt'' turkeys without a gun anytime.. :camohat:
True, so let's call it "shooting hours". ;)
I am a native of Missouri with 40 years of experience chasing turkeys here, and in a handful of other states. I've heard all the arguments for, and against, the 1:00 closing time. I think the last time I failed to tag out in our Spring season was some time back in the 90's, so I am perfectly capable of killing a bird before noon. That said, I love hunting other states, such as Alabama and Kansas, that allow all day hunting, and have probably bagged over 50% of my birds in both states in the afternoon.
Missouri's approach to game management has always been ultra conservative. Nothing wrong with that, especially when compared to some of the super liberal bag limits and season lengths in some states, but I, personally, think there would be no real problem if we went to all day hunting. I recall when, after years of a 2 week, one bird per week season, the regs were liberalized to allow both birds to be killed the second week, if you failed to score the first. The sky did not fall. Then, eventually, in the late 90's, if I recall correctly, our season was expanded to 3 weeks, albeit with the 1 bird the first week caveat. Many thought the sky would certainly fall when that happened, but, it didn't.
Of course, a liberalized season is going to result in a higher overall harvest. However, if the participants are all honest, we only have a 2 bird limit, no matter how long the season or daily hunting hours, so those guys that normally bag 2 birds anyway, are not going to kill any more simply because of extended hours. What it would do is allow some people, especially younger family guys and gals with little vacation time, to be able to get involved in Spring turkey hunting. It also would allow parents to be able to introduce their kids to the sport more easily, something I think we all agree is important for the future.
From what I have read most biologists agree there is no real basis, from a biological standpoint, for not allowing all day hunting. I also, personally, think the 1 bird the first week limit is a crock. It was perhaps justifiable when our spring hunting was in its infancy, but I think the idea is now archaic. The reasoning, I assume, is that it gets successful hunters out of the woods thereby reducing hunting pressure. In my opinion, allowing hunters to take the second bird as soon as possible would get more guys out of the woods sooner. Now, the first weekend, on public land, is insane in some areas because virtually every nonresident who hunts MO will show up Friday night because they don't want to hunt starting the first Monday, bag a bird and have to wait a week to hunt again. If, instead, we simply allowed a bag limit of 2, one per day, a goodly portion of those hunters would be happily back home well before the weekend ever gets here.
It's been years since I hunted MO, but my previous home state of IL is still 1 PM quitting time. It never bothered me to quit then. I prefer mornings anyway. However, allowing all day hunting won't make a dimes worth of difference. I've hunted afternoons in multiple states and killed birds then, but the majority of folks, myself included, will still prefer cool crisp mornings when you can hear the majority of birds gobbling on their own from multiple directions.
Quote from: Neill_Prater on December 27, 2016, 08:46:59 PM
I am a native of Missouri with 40 years of experience chasing turkeys here, and in a handful of other states. I've heard all the arguments for, and against, the 1:00 closing time. I think the last time I failed to tag out in our Spring season was some time back in the 90's, so I am perfectly capable of killing a bird before noon. That said, I love hunting other states, such as Alabama and Kansas, that allow all day hunting, and have probably bagged over 50% of my birds in both states in the afternoon.
Missouri's approach to game management has always been ultra conservative. Nothing wrong with that, especially when compared to some of the super liberal bag limits and season lengths in some states, but I, personally, think there would be no real problem if we went to all day hunting. I recall when, after years of a 2 week, one bird per week season, the regs were liberalized to allow both birds to be killed the second week, if you failed to score the first. The sky did not fall. Then, eventually, in the late 90's, if I recall correctly, our season was expanded to 3 weeks, albeit with the 1 bird the first week caveat. Many thought the sky would certainly fall when that happened, but, it didn't.
Of course, a liberalized season is going to result in a higher overall harvest. However, if the participants are all honest, we only have a 2 bird limit, no matter how long the season or daily hunting hours, so those guys that normally bag 2 birds anyway, are not going to kill any more simply because of extended hours. What it would do is allow some people, especially younger family guys and gals with little vacation time, to be able to get involved in Spring turkey hunting. It also would allow parents to be able to introduce their kids to the sport more easily, something I think we all agree is important for the future.
From what I have read most biologists agree there is no real basis, from a biological standpoint, for not allowing all day hunting. I also, personally, think the 1 bird the first week limit is a crock. It was perhaps justifiable when our spring hunting was in its infancy, but I think the idea is now archaic. The reasoning, I assume, is that it gets successful hunters out of the woods thereby reducing hunting pressure. In my opinion, allowing hunters to take the second bird as soon as possible would get more guys out of the woods sooner. Now, the first weekend, on public land, is insane in some areas because virtually every nonresident who hunts MO will show up Friday night because they don't want to hunt starting the first Monday, bag a bird and have to wait a week to hunt again. If, instead, we simply allowed a bag limit of 2, one per day, a goodly portion of those hunters would be happily back home well before the weekend ever gets here.
:z-winnersmiley:
I agree with every word you said and you managed to say it a lot nicer than I could have---which is exactly why I kept my original reply so short.
Quote from: Neill_Prater on December 27, 2016, 08:46:59 PM
I am a native of Missouri with 40 years of experience chasing turkeys here, and in a handful of other states. I've heard all the arguments for, and against, the 1:00 closing time. I think the last time I failed to tag out in our Spring season was some time back in the 90's, so I am perfectly capable of killing a bird before noon. That said, I love hunting other states, such as Alabama and Kansas, that allow all day hunting, and have probably bagged over 50% of my birds in both states in the afternoon.
Missouri's approach to game management has always been ultra conservative. Nothing wrong with that, especially when compared to some of the super liberal bag limits and season lengths in some states, but I, personally, think there would be no real problem if we went to all day hunting. I recall when, after years of a 2 week, one bird per week season, the regs were liberalized to allow both birds to be killed the second week, if you failed to score the first. The sky did not fall. Then, eventually, in the late 90's, if I recall correctly, our season was expanded to 3 weeks, albeit with the 1 bird the first week caveat. Many thought the sky would certainly fall when that happened, but, it didn't.
Of course, a liberalized season is going to result in a higher overall harvest. However, if the participants are all honest, we only have a 2 bird limit, no matter how long the season or daily hunting hours, so those guys that normally bag 2 birds anyway, are not going to kill any more simply because of extended hours. What it would do is allow some people, especially younger family guys and gals with little vacation time, to be able to get involved in Spring turkey hunting. It also would allow parents to be able to introduce their kids to the sport more easily, something I think we all agree is important for the future.
From what I have read most biologists agree there is no real basis, from a biological standpoint, for not allowing all day hunting. I also, personally, think the 1 bird the first week limit is a crock. It was perhaps justifiable when our spring hunting was in its infancy, but I think the idea is now archaic. The reasoning, I assume, is that it gets successful hunters out of the woods thereby reducing hunting pressure. In my opinion, allowing hunters to take the second bird as soon as possible would get more guys out of the woods sooner. Now, the first weekend, on public land, is insane in some areas because virtually every nonresident who hunts MO will show up Friday night because they don't want to hunt starting the first Monday, bag a bird and have to wait a week to hunt again. If, instead, we simply allowed a bag limit of 2, one per day, a goodly portion of those hunters would be happily back home well before the weekend ever gets here.
100% agree!
It has been proven by many states that all day hunting has no negative impact on the hatches. It is simply greedy to want to keep someone out of the woods in the afternoon because you prefer morning hunting. I myself have enjoyed some very rewarding afternoon sits across the country and applaud those states who use actual scientific data in setting their hunting hrs.
Gslam, you and Neil are both spot on with your assessment. There is absolutely no biological reasoning behind such a conservative regulation in Missouri. The only argument that could possibly hold water would be an argument over quality of the hunt being affected, although I don't buy that either, especially on private.
I am a High school teacher with lots of opportunity to take kids hunting. One of my goals every year is to help someone get their first turkey. After being in Missouri for 19 years and getting to know lots of people, the number of farms I have access to has grown significantly. Doing away with a 1 pm closure would expand the opportunity to take others greatly.
Sadly, I believe at least some of the opposition to changing it stems from greedy folks not wanting others to shoot "their" turkeys.