Fall turkey hunters should see more birds

The Department of Conservation says a warm spring made for the biggest hatch since 2002.

September 30, 2011|by Dustin Hodges, KY3 News | dhodges@ky3.com

SPRINGFIELD, Mo -- Fall turkey season begins Saturday in Missouri and runs through October. It could be a good one for hunters because more birds are available.

Missouri turkey hunters bagged 38,000 birds this spring, down almost 10 percent from last year. The drop is blamed on a poor hatch the past several years because of cold and wet temperatures during the late spring and early summer. Warm weather this year, however, led to the biggest hatch in nearly a decade and fall turkey hunters are thrilled.

"It gets me excited. It gives you a better opportunity to take a bird in the spring or in the fall; larger number of birds, the better odds you have," said turkey hunter Chris Jasumback.

Jasumback already knows he's got his work cut out for him trying to hunt a turkey in the fall.

"Spring turkey hunting -- you're trying to get the gobblers to come to hens. In the fall you're breaking the turkeys up and trying to call them back to you. It's way different," said Jasumback.

Mother Nature hasn't been helping lately.

"It seems like each time in the last few years, at just the wrong time for turkeys, we've had a stretch of cool and rainy weather, and that just hurts the chicks. They don't survive," said Francis Skalicky, a media specialist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Hunters agree.

"If you've got water on the ground all the time, a little bird will drown overnight when the birds get in that poult stage -- no feathers, just fuzz. They just drown," said Jasumback.

"That slot in the spring when chicks are young, you've got to have warmer weather, got to have warmer days," said Skalicky.

That's why this year's warm spring weather was a welcome sight for turkey hunters. The Department of Conservation says this year's hatch was up by about 1 percent, which may not seem like much but could represent as many as 100,000 more birds.

"It's the highest it's been since 2002, and when you're talking about a flock that's well over 300,000 birds; it is a noticeable bump," said Skalicky.

Hunters are already taking notice.

"We see a lot more birds. That's what we go by," said Jasumback.

They just don't want to get their hopes up too soon.

"This is one element we can't control. All the management we can do, but this is one thing that's all up to nature," said Skalicky.

"If we have a spring hatch like we did this time, there'd be lots of birds in two years."

Fall turkey hunters also have numbers on their side when it comes to other hunters in the woods. Only 13,500 hunters bought fall turkey hunting permits last year, compared to more than 100,000 this spring.

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