Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation shows that turkey hunters checked 36,231 birds during Missouri’s 2019 regular spring turkey season, April 15 through May 5.
Top harvest counties were Franklin with 785 birds checked, Texas with 729 and Callaway with 672.
Young turkey hunters harvested 2,546 birds during the 2019 spring youth season, April 6-7, bringing the overall 2019 spring turkey harvest to 38,777.
Last year, young turkey hunters harvested 1,729 birds during the spring youth season and hunters harvested 34,072 during the regular spring season for a 2018 spring season total harvest of 35,801 birds.
In Grundy County, 333 total turkeys were taken between the spring firearms and spring youth seasons. Of those, 289 were adult toms, 40 were jakes and the remaining four were bearded hens. A total of 19 of the turkeys harvested in Grundy County were taken during the youth season. Youth hunters checked 17 adult toms and two jakes in Grundy County.
Other harvest totals from local counties of note included 449 birds taken in Daviess, 484 in Harrison, 421 in Livingston, 443 in Mercer, 571 in Putnam and 540 in Sullivan.
MDC had no reports of hunting incidents during the 2019 spring turkey season.
More information on this year’s spring turkey harvest, including breakdowns by county, can be found online at extra.mdc.mo.gov/widgets/harvest_table/.
More information on turkey harvest numbers for past seasons can be found at huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/species/turkey/turkey-reports/turkey-harvest-summaries-past-seasons.
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