By Bryan Hendricks

Does anybody in Missouri get a good night's sleep before opening morning of Missouri's spring turkey season? Along with the opening of the modern firearms deer season, the spring turkey opener is one of the most eagerly anticipated days in the state - and not just among hunters, but also among the owners of gas stations, cafés and sporting goods stores who keep those hunters going.

All this excitement is well warranted, too, because Missouri is America's turkey hunting capital. We've got more birds than perhaps any other state, with a wealth of public ground on which to hunt them. These areas offer almost every type of habitat imaginable.

In the southern third of the state, you can hunt gobblers in the oak-hickory forests of the Ozarks, the scrub woodlands of southwest Missouri or the swamps of the southeast. In the middle third, you can hunt the Missouri River bottoms, not to mention the transitional zone where the Ozark foothills meet the plains. Up north, you've got big birds roaming all over that rolling cropland. You could spend a lifetime hunting different spots throughout Missouri, and every outing would be the trip of a lifetime.

Despite sub-par hatches in 2001 and 2002, Missouri hunters set a new record in 2003 by taking 58,421 gobblers - a figure that includes the 3,660 turkeys killed during the two-day spring youth turkey season.

Even in non-record years, our spring harvest has topped 50,000 every year since 1999. The average turkey harvest in the other 43 states that reported their harvests to the National Wild Turkey Federation in 2002 was 12,760. Obviously, even an average turkey season in Missouri would cause paroxysms of joy anywhere else.

And that's all fine and good. But what can we expect in 2004?

Photo by Bruce Ingram

Because of cool, wet weather at the peak of the nesting season, Missouri's turkeys experienced another poor hatch in 2003, said Jeff Beringer, wildlife research biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. Hens raised about 1.5 poults per bird, he added, compared to a long-term average of 2.4-2.7 poults.

"I'm sure they had success in third and fourth nestings," Beringer offered, elaborating, "but our June survey has always been a pretty good predictor of overall reproduction success."

As is always the case, there were some spots were hot, and some cold, in terms of turkey reproduction. Beringer noted that reproduction appeared to be good in northwest and west-central Missouri, but was low in the northeast. In mid-Missouri, a string of storms dumped hail across the region about the time turkeys were laying eggs or nesting.

"I'm sure eggs got broken if a hen wasn't sitting on them, and I'm sure that played a role," Beringer said. "Those birds probably made attempts to renest, but birds that bring off a clutch and then have mortality don't make another attempt."

One might wonder what effect taking nearly 60,000 birds out of the population during the spring turkey season might have had.

"None," Beringer said. "The spring harvest is a male harvest only, so it doesn't affect reproduction. The way our seasons are set up, most of the hens have been bred before the season starts, anyway."

Beringer said that despite lackluster reproduction, Missouri has so many turkeys that, even in an off year, reproduction is sufficient to keep the overall population high. It simply means there will be fewer 1- and 2-year old birds in the woods. Birds of those ages are more vocal than older birds and are presumably easier to call in and kill.

"We always have a buffer of 3- and 4-year-old birds, and that kind of keeps us through the lean years," Beringer stated. "We have a lot of turkeys, and they're throughout the state. We have so many turkeys that even an average or somewhat poor hatch results in a lot of new birds. If we were in a situation where we had a new population or a population that was on the edge, that one year-class makes a huge difference. But that's not an issue here."

Even if you live and hunt in a region where turkey reproduction was less than ideal last year, you may not even notice a dropoff. "On a local basis, somebody is going to have their best year ever," Beringer said. "If you own a few acres and have three hens bring off clutches of eight to 10 birds, you're going to be covered up with birds. That's why statewide predictions don't always hold true for the average hunter."

While reproduction is obviously an important indicator of future prospects, you can also get a pretty good idea of what to expect in your region by looking at previous years' harvest reports. Harvest numbers are fairly consistent, and they should offer a clue as to what to anticipate this year.

By comparison, the northeast region yielded 8,158 turkeys in 2002, which was a non-record harvest year. Top counties that year were Macon (879), Adair (782) and Clark (596). Hunting pressure was reported that year as moderate

Top public hunting areas in Macon County are Atlanta Conservation Area and Hidden Hollow CA, as well as the shoreline of Thomas Hill Reservoir.

Covering 2,193 acres, Atlanta Conservation Area contains a diverse mixture of woodlands, old fields, cropland and grassland. The terrain is gently rolling, and the entire area is excellent turkey habitat. Hidden Hollow CA is mostly forested. The terrain is gently rolling, with some fairly deep hollows. At the southwest end of the county is Thomas Hill Reservoir, which offers hunting on about 5,500 acres of shoreline. A generous portion of Thomas Hill is also located in Randolph County. Most of this acreage is accessible only by boat, which means that the birds living there are likely to be unpressured.

In Adair County, you can find good hunting at the Union Ridge, Sugar Creek and Big Creek CAs.

Sprawling over nearly 8,000 acres of rolling grassland, brushy fencerows and deep, wooded draws, Union Ridge CA is a popular turkey hunting area containing a lot of birds, not to mention a lot of places to hunt them. Large portions of it are also in Sullivan and Putnam counties. It has plenty of water flowing through Spring Creek, Dry Branch and Jobs Creek. It also has one intermittent stream, Lick Creek.

Sugar Creek CA contains 2,609 acres consisting of forest, old fields and croplands. Big Creek CA's 931 acres are mostly forested. Spring Lake juts into the southwest corner of the area, and Turkey Creek flows through the west parcel.

By comparison, the northwest region yielded 7,211 turkeys in 2002. Top counties that year were Carroll (686), Caldwell (575) and Chariton (560). Carroll County has very little public land, so most of its turkeys are taken on private ground. However, some excellent public hunting is available at Bunch Hollow CA, about 13 miles north of Carrollton near the Livingston County line. Covering 3,294 acres, it contains 1,300 acres of forest interspersed with old crop fields, grasslands and savanna.

Caldwell County has even less public land than does Carroll County. However, some good hunting is available at Bonanza CA, whose 1,771 acres of prime turkey habitat lie about five miles east of Kingston. Consisting of mixed forest, old fields, cropland and grassland, it's typical of the landscape in this part of the world. Crops on the MDC's public areas can be anything from soybeans to corn and milo. Regardless of what's planted, the crops attract turkeys.