The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) announced that hunters checked 5,691 turkeys during Missouri’s fall firearms turkey season, which ran Oct. 1-31. Last year’s fall firearms turkey harvest total was 5,929 birds.
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Top harvest counties for the 2014 season were Greene with 165 turkeys checked, Franklin with 163, and St. Clair with 160.
Daviess had 57 total turkeys taken; eight adult; nine juvenile; 19 adult hens; and 21 juvenile hens.
Adult gobblers accounted for 964 of the harvest, or almost 17%. Adult hens accounted for 1,588 of the harvest, or almost 28%. Juvenile gobblers accounted for 950, or almost 17%, and juvenile hens for 2,189 or about 38%.
MDC sold 14,117 fall firearms turkey hunting permits for this past season, a 5-percent drop from last year.
The central region of the state saw about an 8% increase in harvest from 2013 with 759 birds. The Kansas City region dropped about 1% from 2013 with 681 birds. The northeast region dropped about 3% from 2013 with 588 birds. The northwest region dropped about 13% from 2013 with 477 birds. The Ozark region dropped by about 9% from last year with 784 birds. The St. Louis region harvest increased by about 9% from 2013 with 528 birds. The southeast region fell by about 15% from last year with 687 birds. The southwest region dropped by about 4% from 2013 with 1,187 birds harvested.
Fall archery turkey hunting continues until Nov.14 and then resumes again from Nov. 26 through Jan. 15, 2015.