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The increase reflects another year of improved nesting success.
JEFFERSON CITY–An increase in Missouri’s 2012 fall firearms
turkey harvest confirms population gains that turkey managers predicted
and hunters hoped for.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) Telecheck database
recorded a harvest of 8,498 turkeys during the fall firearms turkey
season Oct. 1 through 31. Top harvest counties were Webster with 225
turkeys checked, Laclede with 223, and Greene with 216.
This year’s fall firearms turkey harvest is 1,421 more than last year, a
20-percent increase. MDC Resource Scientist Jason Isabelle credits
weather in part for the jump in fall turkey harvest.
“As far as production goes, our turkey population struggled through
several tough years,” said Isabelle. “2008 was the wettest year on
record in Missouri, and 2009 and 2010 weren’t much better. All that took
a toll on turkeys and other ground-nesting wildlife.”
Isabelle said the hatch of 2011 was considerably better than the
previous four, and it bolstered turkey numbers throughout much of the
state. This year’s hatch, with a statewide poult-to-hen ratio of 1.7
poults per hen, was identical to 2011, which was the
best since 2002.
MDC sold 16,413 fall firearms turkey hunting permits this fall, an increase of 9.3 percent from 2011.
Isabelle said he is encouraged by the increased fall turkey harvest
and optimistic about prospects for the 2013 spring turkey season.
“The last two years have provided a much-needed improvement in turkey
production,” said Isabelle. “We have always known that turkey numbers
would rebound with favorable conditions. In parts of Missouri, our
turkey numbers are still well below where they were
five or 10 years ago, but the hatches of the last two years have
certainly been a step in the right direction. 2011’s hatch should result
in the largest group of 2-year-old gobblers we’ve had in quite a few
years, which should make the 2013 spring season exciting
for a lot of hunters.”
According to Isabelle, it is unlikely Missouri will ever see the numbers
of turkeys it had immediately following restoration. That high-water
mark was the culmination of a restoration program in which turkeys were
reintroduced into areas where they had been
absent for decades. Turkey populations expanded rapidly until they
encountered “biological resistance” from factors that limit their
numbers. From that peak, turkey numbers decreased to levels that are
likely more sustainable in the long-run.
Isabelle says what the state’s turkey population has experienced over
the course of the last several decades is not unique to Missouri. There
are quite a few other states that have experienced similar trends in
their turkey numbers as well.
“As long as we have enough habitat, Missouri will have a great turkey
resource,” says Isabelle. “But wildlife populations have peaks during
periods of favorable conditions and valleys during less favorable years.
In the coming years, fluctuations in our turkey
population can be expected. We’ll have our higher years and we’ll have
our lower years. That’s just the nature of a species like the wild
turkey.”
For the time being, the hatches of 2011 and 2012 represent considerable
improvements in production and should serve to bolster turkey numbers
throughout much of Missouri. For turkey enthusiasts, this is good news
indeed.
-Jim Low-
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