Missouri Opening day turkey harvest another record
04-28-2003, 06:41 PM
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Spike
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Missouri
Posts: 55
Missouri Opening day turkey harvest another record
Source MDC.
Cloudy, windy weather can' t stop Show-Me turkey juggernaut.
JEFFERSON CITY--Hunters bagged 10,100 turkeys on the opening day of Missouri' s 2003 spring turkey season, raising the bar another notch for the rest of the nation.
In spite of less than ideal weather, Missouri hunters topped last year' s record opening-day harvest by 596 birds. The Missouri Department of Conservation recorded no hunting accidents the first day of the season.
Central Missouri led opening day harvest totals with 1,519 birds taken to check stations. Northwestern Missouri was second with 1,517 birds checked, followed by the Ozarks with 1,345, the Kansas City region with 1,311, southwestern Missouri with 1,256, northeastern Missouri with 1,231 and southeastern Missouri with 1,072.
The St. Louis region was last with 849 birds checked, but Franklin County, on the western side of the region, topped county harvest totals with 227 birds checked. Texas County was second with 219, followed by Howell County with 196.
Year-old male turkeys, commonly called " jakes," made up 18 percent of the opening-day harvest. Conservation Department Wildlife Research Biologist Jeff Beringer said this confirms what field observers reported about last year' s turkey hatch.
" In most recent years, jakes have made up about a quarter of the spring turkey harvest," said Beringer. " A smaller proportion of young birds generally is evidence of below-average survival of young the year before. This year we are seeing a nice buffer of adult birds from good hatches two and three years ago. Missourians really like to hunt those mature birds that gobble readily."
Beringer said the record opening-day harvest bodes well for the season. " Opening day was dreary at best, and in some areas the wind was really troublesome to hunters. It looks like we are due for some perfect hunting weather during the rest of the first week of the season. With decent weather, we are on track for another strong harvest."
Missouri' s turkey harvest leads the nation. The spring harvest has topped 50,000 every year since 1999. Last year' s spring harvest was 57,043. The closest states were Pennsylvania with a harvest of 44,500 turkeys in 2002, Mississippi with 40,000, Wisconsin with 39,336 and New York with 39,000. The average turkey harvest in the 43 other states that reported their harvest numbers to the National Wild Turkey Federation in 2002 was 12,760.
- Jim Low -
Cloudy, windy weather can' t stop Show-Me turkey juggernaut.
JEFFERSON CITY--Hunters bagged 10,100 turkeys on the opening day of Missouri' s 2003 spring turkey season, raising the bar another notch for the rest of the nation.
In spite of less than ideal weather, Missouri hunters topped last year' s record opening-day harvest by 596 birds. The Missouri Department of Conservation recorded no hunting accidents the first day of the season.
Central Missouri led opening day harvest totals with 1,519 birds taken to check stations. Northwestern Missouri was second with 1,517 birds checked, followed by the Ozarks with 1,345, the Kansas City region with 1,311, southwestern Missouri with 1,256, northeastern Missouri with 1,231 and southeastern Missouri with 1,072.
The St. Louis region was last with 849 birds checked, but Franklin County, on the western side of the region, topped county harvest totals with 227 birds checked. Texas County was second with 219, followed by Howell County with 196.
Year-old male turkeys, commonly called " jakes," made up 18 percent of the opening-day harvest. Conservation Department Wildlife Research Biologist Jeff Beringer said this confirms what field observers reported about last year' s turkey hatch.
" In most recent years, jakes have made up about a quarter of the spring turkey harvest," said Beringer. " A smaller proportion of young birds generally is evidence of below-average survival of young the year before. This year we are seeing a nice buffer of adult birds from good hatches two and three years ago. Missourians really like to hunt those mature birds that gobble readily."
Beringer said the record opening-day harvest bodes well for the season. " Opening day was dreary at best, and in some areas the wind was really troublesome to hunters. It looks like we are due for some perfect hunting weather during the rest of the first week of the season. With decent weather, we are on track for another strong harvest."
Missouri' s turkey harvest leads the nation. The spring harvest has topped 50,000 every year since 1999. Last year' s spring harvest was 57,043. The closest states were Pennsylvania with a harvest of 44,500 turkeys in 2002, Mississippi with 40,000, Wisconsin with 39,336 and New York with 39,000. The average turkey harvest in the 43 other states that reported their harvest numbers to the National Wild Turkey Federation in 2002 was 12,760.
- Jim Low -
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