LINDLEY BREAKS REGION
The Lindley Breaks Region is a band one county wide between the Northeast Region and the Missouri and Mississippi rivers beginning with Howard County and stretching east to the mouth of the Missouri and then north along the Mississippi through Pike County. Although breaks (single or multiple ranks of fractured hills delineating the outer edge of a major river valley) are not the only habitat type found in this region, breaks and rolling landscapes do predominate. As might be expected, a far higher percentage of this region is forested than is the case for either the Northeast or the Northwest.

This region posted a 1.2 poult:hen ratio in 2005, and the projection for 2006 shows only marginal improvement to 1.4. There are turkeys in the Lindley Breaks Region, make no mistake about that -- and some of those birds are true longbeards. If you're familiar with the area and/or have located a good place to hunt, my recommendation is to go for it. Otherwise, consider planning your spring hunt for elsewhere in the state.

UNION BREAKS REGION
The Union Breaks Region is, with the exception of Bollinger County, another one-county-wide band, but it lies on the south bank of the Missouri River beginning with Cooper County, proceeding east to the Mississippi River and then south through Cape Girardeau County. Its habitat is a rich mixture of breaks, inland hills, rolling pastures and small crop farms.

This region rebounded from a 1.3 poult:hen ratio in 2005 to a projected 2.0 in 2006. From a hunter's perspective, these figures indicate that jakes should be relatively plentiful in 2007, but 2-year-olds may be in short supply. Of course, the typical number of fully mature toms will be on hand to test the mettle of the most determined hunter.

MISSISSIPPI LOWLANDS REGION
The Mississippi Lowlands Region -- the "Bootheel" -- is bounded by the Mississippi River on the east, Arkansas on the south, Dunklin and Stoddard counties on the west and Scott County on the north. Known for its flat, featureless terrain, the region also contains hills, swamps and riverine timber in which will be found a growing turkey flock.

Bootheel turkey hunters have good reason to be excited about the upcoming spring season. True, region's 2005 poult:hen ratio was only 1.3, but 2006's is projected to be a whopping 3.5! If neither poachers nor natural calamities intervene, jakes aplenty should ramble around the region's turkey habitat this year, and 2008 promises to be even better.

OZARKS EAST REGION
The Ozarks East Region is bounded on the north and northeast by the Union Breaks Region, on the southeast by the Mississippi Lowlands Region, on the south by Arkansas, and on the west by Oregon, Shannon and Dent counties. Although other habitat types do exist here, the region is justifiably best known for its expansive oak/hickory forests and steep terrain.

The Ozarks East produced a poult:hen ratio of 1.4 in 2005 and is expected to improve to 2.0 in 2006. Given the generally sorry state of turkey recruitment across Missouri the past few years, a 2.0 ratio might seem to justify optimism regarding this spring's season. However, this pleasing statistic doesn't fully reflect the fact that turkey densities per acre of forested habitat are lower in southern Missouri than they are in regions with more varied habitats. In other words, there really are birds "in them thar hills" -- but be prepared to work hard to tag one.

OZARKS WEST REGION
The Ozarks West Region is bounded on the north by the Union Breaks Region, on the east by the Ozarks East Region, on the south by a county-wide band running along the Arkansas border to the Kansas line, and on the west by Douglas, Wright, LaClede and Camden Counties. It and the Ozarks East Region share many more similarities than differences in habit type and distribution.