Missouri's lowest turkey harvest since 1997

[Scottf270]

I started trapping coons and possums this fall. I caught 15 coon and 9 possums in about 30 days on about 200 acres. Yes, we have a predation problem.

 

[Fatcamp]

While I did not agree with our bounty program here in South Dakota, it certainly can be a useful tool.

Getting your biologists to admit there is a problem would be a good first step. Unfortunately, it seems like some are unable or unwilling to see what is really happening on the ground. I have had biologists ask me for information concerning animal numbers from the seat of their truck. Very frustrating.

 

[dtrkyman]

I hunted harder for 2 Missouri birds this year than my last 5 combined! Terrible weather and definitely lower numbers of birds.

Coon populations seem at a crazy level! Habitat in the area I hunt seems fantastic and has not changed much over the years.

A couple friends who live there are going on a coon beat down this coming winter!

 

[Doepee]

I think its easy to point to the predators and lack of trapping but there are so many factors in play one thing can not be singled out. For instance, hide prices were way down and trapping was down during the peak of MO's turkey harvest years in early 2000's. MO experienced many great years of an expanding stock and it has probably stabilized and now obviously is declining. Personally I believe the order of impact is poor weather / flooding over the last 5+ brooding seasons, destruction of habitat and lack of fire and harvest in timber, large increase in aerial predators (hawks /eagles), and lastly pesticides. Almost all avian populations have been seeing massive decreases (except waterfowl). I have to think the destruction of habitat and uses of pesticides killing food and habitat is playing a part in it.

 

[cmankingsley]

I'm in south central MO here, and on public land the last 5 years have been trending significantly downward. I don't know what the answer is. This year was tough for me, very few gobbling birds to be found. My tags went unfilled. It really is nothing like it was 10 years ago in my area.

We do have a ton of nest predators on the landscape. I'd be all in favor of a bounty program. I'd also like to see us go to one tag in spring and no season in fall.

MDC has burned places during nesting time around here as well. I'd love to hear their reasons for it as I don't understand why.

Burning later in the spring is a lot more effective for controlling cool season grasses. Kind of a fine line between setting back fescue and brome and burning up nests.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[woods89]

Burning later in the spring is a lot more effective for controlling cool season grasses. Kind of a fine line between setting back fescue and brome and burning up nests.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is good info. Thinking back this has happened usually in areas where they are trying to reestablish native grasses so that makes sense.

 

[dtrkyman]

Later fire will create better habitat for turkeys, it is a weird situation but can be timed prior to peak nesting according to Michael Chamberlain.

If you are into turkeys find anything you can in regard to him, interesting info to say the least!

 

[shader112]

I heard on the radio that Illinois turkey harvest was down this year also. 15,xxx in 2020 vs 13,xxx in 2021. I haven't necessarily noticed less birds in central or southern illinois. But definitely more hunters this year than I have ever seen before.

 

[dtrkyman]

Illinois is struggling in spots, I think Bush Honeysuckle invasion is a problem there! Nothing in some of that timber but old treed and honeysuckle, no cover for birds or browse for deer, I guess the deer can brows the honeysuckle but generally do not from what I have seen.

 

[bradr3367]

I agree also that predators are the main culprit. Every morning on my drive to my turkey hunting spots, I saw more coon, possum, skunk than ever before. Low fur prices mean very few trappers. I don't look for this to improve in the near future either.

 

[Erict]

I find it hard to believe trapping can have a significant effect on the turkey populations except maybe on a very localized basis (where a hardcore trapper hits every farm/acre in the area). Statewide - no way.

I do think that the turkeys benefit when a disease wipes out significant numbers of predators, which results in lower predator populations for years.

At least out here, many fields that went fallow are now being recruited by crop farmers as the prices for soy and corn continue to rise. These fields are generally devoid of any cover/nesting habitat as the herbicides prevent most spring greenery until the fields are no-till planted and/or plowed. With no food in the fields, predators spend more time roaming the hedgerows where nests may be.

A combination of factors is likely to blame, just as with the decrease in muskrat populations. I long for the old days when almost every hunt led to at least a duel with a sly old tom.

 

[IdahoElk]

Buddy in NC is seeing a fraction of the birds he usually see's.

 

[bnsafe]

I started hunting turkeys back in the early 80s in mo. birds were everywhere and gobbled. it was fun. fast forward to now, birds dont gobble, extremely low numbers, etc have just changed the game. frankly its not fun anymore. our numbers around here are so poor I almost feel bad if i did shoot one. I drove all over northern mo this spring on a couple trips. in all that time I literally saw 1 field with 3 turkeys in it. years ago there were turkeys in every field.
I have no hope mdc is gonna do anything about it. imo they are a bunch of over educated, non hunting, idiots hyped up on college books instead of real life experience. they care about the tags sold to bring in money, not the animals. Look at quail, they are almost virtually gone, yet here we are with the same seasons and limits as back in the day. rifle deer season in the rut. I could go on and on. I agree its the predators with some habitat loss but mainly predators. I dont know what the answer is, although I love the bounty idea, but I am confident it wont be led by mdc.

 

[LZek10]

I think we are seeing a combination of a few things, with the most prominent issues being higher predator count and a disease passing through the flocks. I've seen three large flocks (30+) dwindled down to three or four birds over the last few years. Hunting pressure is limited on all 3 flocks, but I have seen lots of coons and the occasional Bobcat. Even then, for predators to take out 90% of the adult flock it would take a very active cat!

 

[cmankingsley]

Kill all the predators you want, birds will not have much success nesting in brome, sericea, and honeysuckle

 

[Foldem]

Do you guys have west nile virus out there?

 

[RidgeNinja91]

Here in the Shawnee NF in Southern Illinois I can absolutely attest to a drop in turkey numbers. I'm fortunate enough to have time off work to hunt the better part of April. I always get 2/3/4 tags for Pope County. This is the first year since 2011 that I was not able to fill all 3 tags. I just didn't hear near the amount of birds I'm used to hearing.

 

[hutty]

Really interesting segment presented by the Hunting Public with turkey researcher Dr. Mike Chamberlain. It over an hour but beyond worth the investment as far as turkey info, research and declining numbers.

 

[LaneHughes]

I have noticed a significant decline in turkey population where I deer hunt in west central Missouri myself.