MISSOURI EXTENDS SPRING TURKEY SEASON

JEFFERSON CITY -- Spring turkey hunting will take on a more leisurely character in 1998. Turkey management experts with the Missouri Department of Conservation say that means more high-quality hunting experiences for Missourians, but only a slightly larger wild turkey harvest.

At its monthly meeting June 27, the Conservation Commission voted unanimously to extend the 1998 spring turkey season from 14 to 21 days. The opening date will remain unchanged -- the Monday nearest to April 21.

The Commission also voted to liberalize the turkey hunting bag limits. In the past, spring turkey hunters have been allowed to take one bearded bird during the first seven days of the season and one during the second week. Next year, the spring bag limit will be two bearded birds, with no more than one bird being taken during the first seven days of the season and no more than one bird a day during the last 14 days of the season.

The longer spring turkey season will be helpful to turkey hunters in years when warm spring weather arrives late in the Show-me State. The opening date of turkey season is calculated to coincide with the average date when turkey gobblers are most susceptible to hunters' calls. Late springs set back turkeys' biological clocks, so mating and gobbler's receptivity to hunter's calls, occurs later in the spring. The extra week of spring turkey season also is expected to help hunters in northern Missouri, where spring and peak turkey mating occur a few days later than in the southern half of the state.

MDC Wildlife Research Biologist Larry Vangilder said turkey population data and harvest reports show that the state's turkey flock can easily sustain the modest harvest increase likely to result from spring season liberalization. The extra harvest is not expected to affect the size of the state's turkey population significantly. A system of checks is in place to measure the impact of these liberalizations on the turkey population. The Conservation Commission may restrict these liberalizations if, in its judgement, the data indicate the desirability of doing so, at any time, in all or any part of the state.

The commission approved a three-week spring turkey season for 1996, but then reversed that decision. In keeping with Missouri's longstanding tradition of conservative turkey management, the Commission decided to wait and have a blue-ribbon citizens' panel study the likely effects of the proposed liberalizations. The panel's report, released earlier this year, agreed with Vangilder's analysis.

The blue-ribbon panel consisted of 24 Missourians, including representative s of hunting groups, a former conservation commissioner, representatives from the news media and John Lewis, the retired wildlife research biologist whose landmark research established Missouri's turkey management program as a model for other states.

Among findings the panel reported at the March Commission meeting were:

--Missouri's turkey flock has grown from approximately 2,500 birds in 1952 to a conservative estimate of 600,000 today.

--Spring weather, not hunting, is the major limiting factor on turkey populations.

--The annual fall harvest is low and has no impact on the population at large.

--Annual monitoring provides up-to-date information about Missouri's wild turkey population, allowing timely responses to population changes, should they occur.

Copies of the report are available by writing to: Blue Ribbon Panel Report, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180.