Missouri Hunters Check 1,633 Turkeys in Fall Firearms Season, Down From 1,950 in 2025

Hunters checked 1,633 turkeys during the firearms portion of Missouri’s fall season, Oct. 1-31, the Missouri Department of Conservation said in a release dated Nov. 2, 2026, from Jefferson City.

The figures are preliminary. Hunters harvested 1,950 birds during the 2025 fall firearms turkey season, so this year’s count is 317 birds lower, a drop of about 16%. The firearms window ran 31 days, which averages out to about 53 birds a day.

Greene County had the most birds with 56. Laclede and Perry counties each had 42, which leaves Greene 14 birds ahead of the other two. Together the three counties account for 140 birds, about 9% of the statewide count. MDC posts current fall firearms harvest results by county on a harvest table on its website, and past seasons on its turkey harvest summaries page.

MDC Turkey Biologist Nick Oakley tied the drop to weather. “Temperatures were well above normal across much of Missouri during the first two weekends of the fall firearms season, which likely accounts for some of the drop in harvest,” he said.

Poults are young turkeys, and the spring hatch feeds the fall count. Oakley added that a very wet spring hurts nest success and poult survival, which leaves fewer young birds on the landscape this fall.

The count covers only the firearms portion. Fall archery turkey hunting continues through Nov. 13 and resumes Nov. 25 through Jan. 15, 2027, which leaves an 11-day break between the two archery periods.