Missouri
400,000-plus
Wild Turkey Population
Easterns
Turkey Subspecies
107,624 (not including no-cost landowner permits)
Number of Licenses Sold Annually
$18
Cost of Resident License and Permit
$243.50
Cost of Non-Resident License and Permit
Photo by Stacey K. Photography.
After experiencing several years of poor turkey production and lower turkey numbers, Missouri hunters have some good news for 2025. Statewide production in 2023 was good, and folks reported seeing large jake flocks in Fall 2024. That should equate to plenty of 2-year-old gobblers this spring.
Despite recent struggles, Missouri is still a top-tier turkey destination. Hunters there took 47,119 birds during Spring 2024.
Missouri now allows people to hunt from a half-hour before sunrise until sunset on private land. Hunters on public land must stop at 1 p.m. Before 2024, Missouri closed all spring turkey hunting at 1 p.m.
Hunters seeking public land can check out the Ozarks in southern Missouri, which offer some large tracts open to hunting.
