Annual Missouri trip

[slave601]

This will be about my 12th year heading back to Missouri to hunt public land. I've noticed the numbers of birds decline every year. Only hope is I did see a lot of jakes last season. Anyone else have any input on Missouri and their numbers for this year?

[Dtrkyman]

I will be there for the second week, last year bird numbers were up in the area I hunt,still well below the good ole days but we saw lots of birds in the fields.

I hunted 2 days and killed 2

One public one private.


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[Greg Massey]

Good lucky guys, i always enjoyed hunting Mo. out of Alton Mo.. we hunted the Irish Wilderness off the Eleven point river..

[slave601]

I'd say the numbers were a little down in the area I hunt but I hunted the last week and heard a good bit of birds the last day of season with zero shots around me. Plus the numbers of jakes I saw gave me even more hope!

[stinkpickle]

We hunted in north-central MO for youth season last weekend, and we saw (and heard) quite a few jakes.

[slave601]

Jake sightings are always good news!

[Neill_Prater]

I live in southwest Missouri and numbers are definitely down. I'm fortunate in that I hunt primarily private property. That said, I have scouted a property I  hunted for the last 6 or more years two days this week. Not a gobble. Not a single bit of sign. Normally is inhabited by a minimum of 2 gobblers, often as many as 3.

Drive by a river bottom on a regular basis. Have for the past 25 years. Part is public land, but only open to archery methods. Saw birds year round on a regular basis, until a couple of years ago. Haven't seen a single bird since probably 2019.


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[Turkeytaker203]

I live in Southeast Missouri and was involved in the poult count during June - August 2020. During my poult count for 2018 and 2019 I had very few entries. Rarely saw any poults at all, I would see hens but most had no young with them. Summer 2020 was much better. I saw multiple groups of hens with poults. The hatch appear to have been more successful than the previous two years. That should translate to more jakes for 2021 but obviously it will not help the number of mature gobblers. Our gobbler numbers need a couple more years of good hatches.

[jhoward11]

Headed there next week. The info I got from the private property I hunt, is hardly anyone hunted last year from out of state with covid, so they stated they have seen numerous birds on the property. Southern part of state Cross Timbers/Wheatland to be exact. Not for sure about public land.

[Kansan]

Numbers are definitely way down in NW Missouri.

[turkey harvester]

Numbers are down everywhere. Especially in the southern part

[Ozarks Hillbilly]

According to the MDC southern Missouri numbers are down again this year. They indicated that northern parts of the state were a little more stable and some northern areas maybe a slight increase over last year.  I am in south central Missouri we've had several wet springs in a row that maybe hurting nesting along with pult survival rates.  Saw several hens in early summer last year without any pults. Hopefully things will turn around before the turkeys end up like our quail.

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[slave601]

According to the MDC southern Missouri numbers are down again this year. They indicated that northern parts of the state were a little more stable and some northern areas maybe a slight increase over last year.  I am in south central Missouri we've had several wet springs in a row that maybe hurting nesting along with pult survival rates.  Saw several hens in early summer last year without any pults. Hopefully things will turn around before the turkeys end up like our quail.

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I sure hope it turns around for the best myself man. I've been hunting there for close to 15 years and it's sad to see what's slowly happening in Missouri.