Just past the mid-way point in Missouri’s spring turkey season, hunters have maintained a slight advantage in harvest numbers over this point last year.
Statewide, the harvest as of Wednesday morning was 24,167 birds. Last year, the total was 23,079.
Our local counties still are faring pretty well, though the numbers are far off from the heydays of turkey hunting, or even those of less than a decade ago.
In Butler County, 59 turkeys have been checked compared to 57 last year.
Carter County hunters are outpacing last year’s harvest with 96 birds taken. In 2019, they had killed 87 this far into the season.
Dunklin County doesn’t have vast amounts of turkey habitat, but those who hunt there know where they can be found and so far, they’ve matched last year’s total with six birds tagged.
In Reynolds County, where county officials, by their own admission, don’t like competition from nonresidents, hunters have killed 126.
Ripley County hunters have bagged 111 turkeys so far, up from 93 last year.
Stoddard County has become a stronghold for turkey hunting, and hunters there have tagged 172 birds to this point. Last year, the total was 133.
Wayne County leads our area with 194 gobblers killed, up from 146 a year ago.
While the harvest numbers are up some, nearly everyone I’ve talked to has struggled. Finding birds has been tough, and when they can be found, they generally just won’t work.
With so many people not working at the moment and taking advantage of the time to go hunt, finding a place to hunt without hoards of other hunters also has been an issue for a lot of folks.
The season continues through May 10, so there’s still time to hunt.
Water levels in our local lakes and rivers have risen a little bit, the result of the latest round of storms, but the situation isn’t bad.
Wappapello Lake, as of Wednesday morning, was sitting at 360.75 feet and rising slowly.
The St. Francis River downstream is projected to only reach 3 feet at Fisk on Thursday, so officials must not expect much inflow of water into the lake.
At Clearwater Lake, the water was just a few feet high at 497.73 feet and rising.
The Black River downstream from Clearwater registered at 7.24 feet at Poplar Bluff.
The Current River at Van Buren at last check was at 6.08 feet and projected to crest Thursday at 6.9 feet.
Downstream at Doniphan, the river was at 3.36 feet and projected to crest early Friday at 4.6 feet.
Fishing has been pretty good lately, and if crappie are your target, it’s time to go shallow.
Several people have told me they have been finding good numbers of crappies in water about 2 feet deep. The key is to just keep moving around to try locating them.
Paddlefish Closure
If you fish for paddlefish in Missouri, Thursday is the last day you’ll be able to do so because that’s when the season ends.
Department of Conservation Fisheries Management Biologist Paul Cieslewicz told me last week several folks have been catching some really nice paddlefish below Wappapello Lake lately.
With Gov. Mike Parson kicking off his “Show-Me Strong Recovery” plan next week, we should begin to see fishing tournaments and other outdoor events returning to the schedule.
Several events have had to be canceled over the last month or more, but hopefully the summer will be less chaotic.