How come Missouri turkey season starts so late compared to other states ?

[ddturkeyhunter]

Being from MN where we can pick only one seven days time period to turkey hunt. It would seen nice to hunt longer like most other states south of us. But with the amount of hunters we have, to good turkey land I sure hope they don't lengthen the seasion, or open state wide. That will kill pockets of turkeys in our state for sure. Sorry I got off on my State, just saying a lot of states have problems. We will not always agree with everything, just hope the people we have in charge use some common sense with there book smart. And hope the anti hunting population doesn't find ways to keep us out of ours woods, long or short, altogether. Thats why they call it hunting. I have a while to wait I went to Florida last year can't afford again this year. Good luck everone where ever you must hunt.

[Hooksfan]

There is a very interesting study that I believe is in its second year (sorry I don't have any links to the study) in the state of Missouri involving some radio tracked birds which preliminary results indicate the percentage of gobblers killed by hunters may be much lower than previously believed.
Here in Missouri, we are truly blessed with suitable habitat statewide.  While MDC is recognized as a premier state agency and did a great job with the reintroduction efforts, I'm not sold on the idea that their conservative approach impacts numbers that much today.

[Ozark870Hunter]

Being born and raised in southern mo and knowing I will spend every spring that I live there, I feel as though I have a right to comment here. I think it is absolutely insane our seasons start as late as they do. I am not a sky is falling and season will be over before it gets here guy, regardless there will be birds that gobble and il find a way to kill them. But if your in the southern part of the state right now and you are excited at what is coming I'd have to question how long you have been hunting turkeys. Monday I listened to birds spread out all over and they gobbled untill I left them at 8 45. I have heard birds gobble early and expect it but they didn't stop when they hit the ground and they were gobbling in all directions hundreds of gobbles from multiple birds. It was February 27th. We have a bag limit that won't change which I am fine with. We have our weeks set up in a form of 1 bird only first week, I'm great with that. If someone could tell me honestly the last season we had where peak breeding was remotely close to the middle of april I'd like to know. Peak breeding will be late march and if its unuasually warm like everyone is forcasting it will be very tough by april 17th. I hate that. I hate having to kill birds with gobble calls the last week and a half of season. It makes no sense at all. If the mdc is praised by you for the protect numbers mentaility then how do they justify our firearms rifle season that will fall very close to peak breeding every year, we offer unlimited doe tags In numerous countys, and we have legalized cross guns from Sept 15th through Jan 15th. How much has the deer harvest changed? Has the population been decimated due to over harvest or disease? It just dosent make sense. In my opinion turkey season has been 2 weeks late for the past several seasons , unlike deer, elk and almost any other game you have no opertunitiy to chase them with alternative weapons and you have to take what you get. I will continue to go to kansas and Illinois and then wait a couple weeks to hunt at home... Bag limits won't change regardless of when the season opens but the way you hunt will, everything is unusually early this year. Water temps are way up, fishing is almost a month ahead of schedule, everything is in bloom if not blossoming and as I type this it's february. I'm not sure you'll be able to see a bird in the woods by April 17th... There is no normal or usually anymore though

I'm a Texas county landowner with a deer lease in Linn county. Hunt all over the state.
MDC has very little outside pressure influencing the turkey population and regulations.
There are full time agriculture and insurance lobbyists who continually pressure MDC to kill more deer, so you cannot reliably compare the two.
You are from southern MO and so you know how great it is. I'm sure you see all the out of state license plates just like I do yet we still have plenty of birds. You said you don't have a hard time finding a bird to work, even if it is late season. And IMO any decent turkey hunter can find and tag a bird in southern MO. Yet Missouri still outranks most of the country in both harvest and total population.
MDC's model for turkey works. And it works better than any other state. Which is why we're the #1 state for turkey.
   

[sevetts]

There is a very interesting study that I believe is in its second year (sorry I don't have any links to the study) in the state of Missouri involving some radio tracked birds which preliminary results indicate the percentage of gobblers killed by hunters may be much lower than previously believed.
Here in Missouri, we are truly blessed with suitable habitat statewide.  While MDC is recognized as a premier state agency and did a great job with the reintroduction efforts, I'm not sold on the idea that their conservative approach impacts numbers that much today.

I agree 100%...

[Andy S.]

Everyone wishes their turkey hunting was like Missouri's but no one wants to do what Missouri does in order to have what they have.

Ditto! Protect the resource so you, and others, can enjoy the resource for many years to come. MDC is doing the right thing and I commend them for it.

[sevetts]

I too am a Texas county land owner, I never said I didn't have birds to hunt. I do, plenty of them. I also have very large deer. The original post was on why missouri seasons opened so late. Which then turned into every other state wishes they had what missouri had, and then into that's the reason we have what we have, and then into I somehow don't apriciate it. I love the Ozark hills as much as anyone who has ever breathe the air in, water dosent taste right unless it's out of my well, knowing there are turkeys gobbling, Bradford pears blooming, and white bass starting to run as I type warms my soul more than a million dollar lottery ticket. I LOVE missouri and missouri turkey hunting period. Nothing can or will ever take that from me. I live in the greatest place in the greatest country on earth. I commented on how late our turkey season opens, it does, it opens too late. I don't remember ever thinking as I was growing up that seasons were late, but especially the past decade it's late and they way birds act and work are different because they are in a different stage than we used to hunt them. I am absolutely not in favor of lengthening season, I am absolutely not in favor of increasing bag limits, I am not in favor of hunting past 1. I however believe that starting our season 10 days earlier would  have zero impact on our population, spring turkey season like deer season has and will always be based on the breeding, that's when they do their thing. When that starts happening the first of march it creates a problem for a season that dosent open untill april 17th. There is great information in the 2013 missouri turkey report for anyone who wishes to see it. It shows population and harvest numbers state wide since season was introduced. Population declined 24% between 1992 and 2012 and has continued that trend the past 5 and it isn't due to harvest numbers. Missouri was created as heaven for the wild turkey by God, it's the habitat that gives us the turkey hunting we have and all missouri turkey hunters are blessed, but that has nothing to do with the fact that our season opens too late imo

[hobbes]

I was under the impression that MO's numbers were down.  Nothing against MO,  I loved it when I hunted it years ago, but I'm pretty sure I've heard quite a few guys crying doom and gloom for MO.  Now I'm hearing that MO is what all states wish they were.  Interesting.

[owlhoot]

North Missouri is way way down, check out the harvest numbers on mdc

[Ozark870Hunter]

I too am a Texas county land owner, I never said I didn't have birds to hunt. I do, plenty of them. I also have very large deer. The original post was on why missouri seasons opened so late. Which then turned into every other state wishes they had what missouri had, and then into that's the reason we have what we have, and then into I somehow don't apriciate it. I love the Ozark hills as much as anyone who has ever breathe the air in, water dosent taste right unless it's out of my well, knowing there are turkeys gobbling, Bradford pears blooming, and white bass starting to run as I type warms my soul more than a million dollar lottery ticket. I LOVE missouri and missouri turkey hunting period. Nothing can or will ever take that from me. I live in the greatest place in the greatest country on earth. I commented on how late our turkey season opens, it does, it opens too late. I don't remember ever thinking as I was growing up that seasons were late, but especially the past decade it's late and they way birds act and work are different because they are in a different stage than we used to hunt them. I am absolutely not in favor of lengthening season, I am absolutely not in favor of increasing bag limits, I am not in favor of hunting past 1. I however believe that starting our season 10 days earlier would  have zero impact on our population, spring turkey season like deer season has and will always be based on the breeding, that's when they do their thing. When that starts happening the first of march it creates a problem for a season that dosent open untill april 17th. There is great information in the 2013 missouri turkey report for anyone who wishes to see it. It shows population and harvest numbers state wide since season was introduced. Population declined 24% between 1992 and 2012 and has continued that trend the past 5 and it isn't due to harvest numbers. Missouri was created as heaven for the wild turkey by God, it's the habitat that gives us the turkey hunting we have and all missouri turkey hunters are blessed, but that has nothing to do with the fact that our season opens too late imo

Wasn't trying to insinuate a lack of appreciation. My apologies if that's how it came out.
My point is if its not broke, (and working pretty good) don't fix it (or be very cautious about any changes to the current model.)
I'm aware of the current gobbler radio collar study, and if good, solid data supports a 10 day bump up without harming the population I'd be on-board. I personally don't see how moving the date up would do anything but lead to more dead gobblers sooner, seeing that they'd be easier to hunt, which would then lead to less breeding activity. (I could be wrong) And with the population in decline in many areas, would right now really be a good time to bump it up?
I personally think the coyotes are a much bigger problem to MO turkeys than hunters.
I enjoy meeting other s. MO turkey hunters. Be glad to buy you a beer after 1pm this spring.
Good luck this year!

[Hooksfan]

I too am a Texas county land owner, I never said I didn't have birds to hunt. I do, plenty of them. I also have very large deer. The original post was on why missouri seasons opened so late. Which then turned into every other state wishes they had what missouri had, and then into that's the reason we have what we have, and then into I somehow don't apriciate it. I love the Ozark hills as much as anyone who has ever breathe the air in, water dosent taste right unless it's out of my well, knowing there are turkeys gobbling, Bradford pears blooming, and white bass starting to run as I type warms my soul more than a million dollar lottery ticket. I LOVE missouri and missouri turkey hunting period. Nothing can or will ever take that from me. I live in the greatest place in the greatest country on earth. I commented on how late our turkey season opens, it does, it opens too late. I don't remember ever thinking as I was growing up that seasons were late, but especially the past decade it's late and they way birds act and work are different because they are in a different stage than we used to hunt them. I am absolutely not in favor of lengthening season, I am absolutely not in favor of increasing bag limits, I am not in favor of hunting past 1. I however believe that starting our season 10 days earlier would  have zero impact on our population, spring turkey season like deer season has and will always be based on the breeding, that's when they do their thing. When that starts happening the first of march it creates a problem for a season that dosent open untill april 17th. There is great information in the 2013 missouri turkey report for anyone who wishes to see it. It shows population and harvest numbers state wide since season was introduced. Population declined 24% between 1992 and 2012 and has continued that trend the past 5 and it isn't due to harvest numbers. Missouri was created as heaven for the wild turkey by God, it's the habitat that gives us the turkey hunting we have and all missouri turkey hunters are blessed, but that has nothing to do with the fact that our season opens too late imo

Great reply and I am with you 100%.
What is interesting are the folks so worried turkey hunters are going to interrupt the breeding that don't realize more folks are out in the woods mushroom hunting during the peak breeding time than would ever be turkey hunting. Until you can show me turkeys can distinguish between a turkey hunter and mushroom hunter,  I ain't buying into that.

[Ozark870Hunter]

What is interesting are the folks so worried turkey hunters are going to interrupt the breeding that don't realize more folks are out in the woods mushroom hunting during the peak breeding time than would ever be turkey hunting. Until you can show me turkeys can distinguish between a turkey hunter and mushroom hunter,  I ain't buying into that.

Mushroom hunters are responsible for zero dead gobblers per year.  Yes they're intruding into turkey habitat, but turkeys live with predators within their habitat on a daily basis.
A dead gobbler has zero chance of breeding.
How can we be positive that the later start date isn't partially responsible for the good #'s we have?

[Rzrbac]

I live and hunt in southern MO.  I think numbers are down in my spots. My personal opinion is it is the darn hogs. I see more hog sign every year and it seems like see less turkey sign.

I know hogs have nothing to do when season opens but I think our numbers have suffered locally and it sure seems like the hogs are getting thicker.  Maybe they don't have the impact I think they do but that's just what I'm experiencing in my areas.

[sevetts]

I think what we fail to realize as missouri hunters is something is broken, and it has nothing to do with our season start date which supposedly produces the turkey hunting we have. We went from a high of an estimated 650,000 birds to last year's estimate of 308,000 birds. That's a loss of an estimated 342,000 birds in less than 25 years. Here is a couple of states who are maintaining there populations with longer seasons and much higher bag limits and also now have a higher turkey population than missouri. Alabama-5 bird limit, 450,000 birds. Georgia 350,000 birds 3 bird limit. Lots of states are close to missouri in population right now. I don't know how the coyotes, and coons, and hawks, and possums, and snakes and everything else that eats baby turkeys are everywhere else but they have them. But it's the weather and predators and not hunters that determine turkey populations. Our highest season harvest was in 2004 with over 60000 birds and was followed by 4 more great years of harvests

[owlhoot]

One thing hunters can do is disturb hens on the nest while out in a later spring time.

[Hooksfan]

What is interesting are the folks so worried turkey hunters are going to interrupt the breeding that don't realize more folks are out in the woods mushroom hunting during the peak breeding time than would ever be turkey hunting. Until you can show me turkeys can distinguish between a turkey hunter and mushroom hunter,  I ain't buying into that.

A dead gobbler has zero chance of breeding.
How can we be positive that the later start date isn't partially responsible for the good #'s we have?

The results of the study currently being done may help to answer that question. As to the dead gobbler comment, every game agency in the nation and every study I have ever looked at all agree that gobbler harvest has very little or no impact at all on the reproductive success.