2005 Spring Turkey Statistics

First of all, we would like to thank everyone that participated in the spring turkey season for their patients and congenial attitude throughout the season. This was Shaun’s second turkey season handling turkey reservations and she was impressed with the determination and endurance of the members.

As always, for some hunters it was a breeze and for others it was a difficult year. Traditionally, the turkeys are more cooperative later in the season, but this year, especially in Missouri, it was more difficult for a lot of hunters after the first week. Many reports indicated the toms had hens with them most of the time and they were tough to pull away from the real thing. The gobbling was quick early morning and shut down once the hens met with the toms. But several successful turkey hunters reported some of their best success hunting mid-day and another made the comment he only uses a decoy 20% of the time after the first or second day.

The total number of daily turkey hunting reservations was down almost 20 % while the total number of hunters was only down slightly from 345 in 04 to 329 in 05. This year only 56 members turkey hunted multiple states, while last year we had over 100 hunt multiple states. The total amount of birds harvested was 308 (respondents only, 26 failed to return calls), which is below our 4-year average, but that is still an incredible number of turkeys and well above the average state success ratios. (In reality, this is a 1.12 bird per member ratio - 308 birds to 273 hunters).

The heaviest bird reported was 26 pounds and the longest beard was 11 1/2 inches. Various multi-bearded birds were harvested, but one with 3 beards totaling 27.5 inches ranked at the top. For those interested in spur length, we have a new record at 1-7/8ths inches, taken with a bow.

Only 2 turkey hunters attempted to fill 5 tags and both of them harvested 2 toms each. The quickest a member filled 4 over the counter tags was 3 days. His 13-year-old son also filled 2 tags, but their joint quest to fill those tags took an additional 7 days.

The most days for a turkey hunter to fill one tag was 18 days and the most days spent hunting without filling a tag was 14 days. This is a good reminder of the degree of difficulty involved in hunting spring turkeys.

One of the most unusual sightings was three hens that passed a members decoy followed by a hen peacock that must have joined the turkeys from a neighboring farm.

While gathering the statistics, it appeared everyone heard and saw plenty of turkeys.

Several members encountered point blank misses and jakes were passed randomly, so it appears there will be plenty of 2-year-old toms to work with next year.

A lot of local members turkey hunted the counties closest to KC, where the success ratio was the lowest. Many of the local members filled tags much easier in fewer days by traveling further to turkey hunt.

Next