The good ole days of hunting SEMO are certainly gone. I can hunt several days in a row without hearing a gobble. There were so many days of hearing 8-9 birds a morning back in the 80s and 90s. Even up until early 2000's you would still hear multiple birds.
I think the non-resident hunters have thinned out a bit in my spots. Used to see plates from about every state in the southeast. Last year I did see one NY rig. I've never had any problems from any non-residents. I don't live in the county I hunt and I've had problems with some locals. Got shot at about 6 years ago. I walked a long way to get to a bird. Never heard anybody calling at all. Called the bird up the ridge and shot him. It was a pretty short hunt once I got to his ridge. While the bird was flopping somebody shot over my head twice. I hung around waiting for a confrontation but I never saw anyone. There weren't any rigs parked anywhere on the road I was parked on. That's about the worst that's happened to me. I've had several locals meet me by my truck and complain about it being crowded. I even had one guy tell me this was his last year hunting during season. He was gonna go back to killing his birds before season. I guess there's good and bad no matter where you go. I think the lack of birds has led some folks to abandon courtesy. As far as MO goes, I think it will only get worse. I've been thinking about a TN hunt, I would like to hunt somewhere that had a decent population.
