Final Spring Turkey Hunt Numbers for Missouri

(Farmington) Turkey hunters checked 38,730 birds during Missouri’s spring turkey season which ended Sunday.

Top harvest counties were Franklin with 899 birds harvested, Callaway with 699 and Laclede with 651.

Young turkey hunters also harvested 2,724 birds the youth season, bringing the overall spring turkey harvest to 41,454.

Last year, Missouri turkey hunters harvested 38,795 birds.

The Missouri Department of Conservation says nonresident permit sales were down this year but there were about 96-hundred more spring turkey hunters overall than last year.

There was one report of a non-fatal hunting incident during the spring turkey season.

It involved a 17-year-old hunter mistakenly shooting another hunter in Shannon County.

The teen reportedly shot at movement instead of properly identifying a turkey before he shot.