Join MDC to ‘talk turkey’ during Feb. 7 Wild Webcast

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) invites turkey hunters, landowners and managers, and others interested in Missouri’s wild turkeys and turkey hunting to its “MDC Wild Webcast on Talkin’ Turkey” at noon, Wednesday, February 7.

MDC Turkey Biologist Nick Oakley and MDC Turkey Habitat Initiative Coordinator Meagan Duffee-Yates will share information on recent changes to turkey hunting regulations for the spring season and proposed regulation changes for the fall seasons. Oakley and Duffee-Yates will also discuss turkey production and harvest trends, MDC’s annual brood survey and research findings, habitat loss and impacts of weather and predators on turkey numbers. They will take questions from webcast attendees as time permits.

Starting this year, spring shooting hours for private land only will be extended from a half-hour before sunrise to sunset. Shooting hours on public land will remain a half-hour before sunrise to 1 pm.

Proposed changes to fall turkey hunting would require both fall firearms turkey hunters and fall archery turkey hunters to purchase a fall turkey-hunting permit. Turkeys would no longer be included in the archery-deer permit. The bag limit would be reduced from four to two birds. These proposed changes will be open for public comment from February 2 through March 2.