Missouri’s 21-day regular spring turkey season closed with 41,830 checked. This was 3.7 percent fewer than 2008.
Top harvest counties for the three-week season were Franklin with 915, Texas with 839 and St. Clair with 678. Regional harvest totals were: Central, 6,311; Southwest, 6,129; Northwest, 5,820; Ozarks, 5,671; Northeast, 5,472; Kansas City, 4,801; Southeast, 4,197; and St. Louis, 3,430.
Hunters 15 and younger checked 2,883 turkeys during the youth spring turkey season April 4 and 5. This, brought the overall spring turkey harvest to 44,713. The record spring turkey harvest, including the youth and regular seasons, occurred in 2004, when hunters checked 60,744 turkeys.
The Conservation Department recorded four firearms-related turkey hunting incidents during the regular turkey season. One was fatal and involved a 56-year-old man pulling a loaded shotgun from his vehicle by the barrel. He was struck in the chest when the trigger caught on an object, causing the gun to discharge. The other three incidents involved shooters who either mistook victims for game or fired at movement. (From Jim Low/MDC news release.)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 5:37 pm and is filed under Hunting, MDC Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.