MISSOURI, USA — Missouri turkey hunters once again over-performed their previous year's best this spring, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).
A total of 43,380 turkeys were harvested during the 2024 spring turkey regular season, MDC said on Monday. Top harvest counties were Franklin with 940 turkeys harvested, Callaway with 822, and Texas with 780.
The total is the third year in a row that spring regular season harvest totals have increased from the previous year, according to MDC Wild Turkey Biologist Nick Oakley. The number is up from 2023's spring harvest total of 41,977 and 2022's at 33,359.
The consistent harvest increases are encouraging to hear for conservationists hoping for a sustainable turkey population in Missouri, especially since harvest numbers have gone up and down between 2017 and 2021.
"Successively better hatches starting in 2021 meant there were also likely more turkeys on the landscape as well," Oakley said.
"We are still looking at the data to see how much of the increase in harvest can be attributed to the new regulation, as well as how many new hunters the regulation change helped to get into the field. A 6% increase in harvest is in line with what we would have expected knowing that many factors play into harvest totals.”
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