2011 Spring Turkey Season Statistics
We have come to the conclusion rain, wind and cold weather will always have an affect on spring turkey hunting in the Midwest. Several groups of hunters traveled a long distance and were forced to deal with adverse weather conditions, but the majority did not give up and found success. Local hunters have an advantage to pick and choose days to hunt around the weather, but we've always preached the best days to hunt are the days you are able to go. Ground blinds are a great way to take cover from the rain, wind and cold while being able to hunt at the same time. The turkeys don’t have anywhere to go. They are always there, but they might not be as vocal. If one is able to comfortably wait it out, a mid-day break in the weather can be a golden opportunity to call in a bird like the tom below that was harvested mid-day in Kansas.
During the 2011 spring turkey season MAHA had a total of 291 hunters, which was slightly up from the 2010 season. 164 hunted Kansas, 163 Missouri and 29 Iowa. Sixty five hunted 2 states and only 3 took on the challenge to hunt all 3 states. This was the first year we had more spring turkey hunters in Kansas than Missouri. On the down side, we saw a slight decline in the number of hunters that participated in the youth seasons. The future of the sport of hunting is in the hands of the next generation.
Hopefully, this fall we'll be able to pick up the pace with more youth hunters like this young Association lady hunter.
Only one of the hunters that hunted three states filled all 5 tags. It took him 10 days and they were all mature toms. The second hunter filled 4 tags and the third filled 3. All 7 of the birds were mature toms. We had a couple reports of 25+ pound toms, but didn't hear about any freak large birds. Several members emailed us photos of “limb hangers” (Gotta be a turkey hunter to talk that talk!) and the largest spur was one and a half inches. We had more reports of multiple beards than ever. One husband wife team tagged out in Missouri and all four of the toms had multiple beards. Three had 2 beards and one had 3 beards. All 4 were harvested from the same farm. The most beards reported were 4 and the largest was 12 inches. As usual, several hunters were lucky and filled their tags quickly. To our knowledge, the quickest a member tagged out was 4 birds in 4 days. All 4 were mature toms and 2 were harvested with a bow. The longest it took a member to fill one tag was 19 days, which is 9 days short of last year’s record.
Thirty seven members archery hunted the early part of the Kansas season which is 2 months long. Two tagged out in one day while others hunted the entire season.
Association hunter Hayden - Kansas archery double.
The turkey numbers in Missouri and Iowa have been down the last 2 years. This year, we also saw a decline in Kansas, but KS, MO and IA remain some of the best turkey hunting states in the USA.
Large concentrations are not as consistent as they were in the past, but there are scattered pockets comparable to the numbers three to four years ago.
Despite some negative brood counts prior to the season, our hunters reported enough jake activity to anticipate an encouraging 2012 season.
A lot of residents and non-residents combined spring turkey hunting with deer scouting. Jon Jr. was very impressed with success rate from members hunting farms they had never seen before.
Once again, the staff enjoyed working with everyone during the 2011 spring turkey season. With all of the land we have available, it’s an easy hunt to manage.
Have a great summer!
John, Jon Jr. and Jon
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