Nonresident participation in Missouri’s spring turkey season has increased in recent years. Past public comments and other feedback to MDC on the topic have shown that many turkey hunters highly value an uncrowded place to hunt. Some resident hunters have expressed concern about how the increase in nonresident hunters is affecting their hunting experience, including crowding in hunting areas.
MDC is offering a public commenting period for hunters and non-hunters to weigh in on a possible change to spring turkey hunting regulations. We expect this regulation change to reduce the overall number of nonresident trips statewide, thereby alleviating some of the crowding resident hunters have been encountering.
Proposed regulation change
Reduce the nonresident bag limit from two bearded birds in the spring to a single bearded bird in the spring. Nonresident landowners would maintain a two bearded bird bag limit, but only one of the two could be harvested during the first seven days of the season.
Give your input on the potential turkey regulation change.
The commenting period closes on Nov. 7, 2025.
Additional information on nonresident turkey hunting in Missouri
Summary:
- Resident hunters value solitude, though most report little or no interference during turkey hunts, and support regulation changes they perceive may offer a better hunting experience.
- Most hunting activity is local, with Missouri residents dominating both public and private land use, even as hunters from at least 38 other states visit the state.
- Nonresident hunters have a minimal impact on Missouri’s turkey population and contribute relatively little to public land hunting pressure at the statewide level. That being said, nonresidents spend a significant number of days in Missouri and do appear to visit some public land areas more than others.
- Many residents feel that nonresident hunters have a detrimental impact on their hunting experience.
Background:
Since 2005, nonresident hunters have made up an average of 8% of total spring turkey permit sales in Missouri and have accounted for about 9% of the total spring turkey harvest. These numbers have been gradually increasing. In 2025, nonresident hunters made up 9% of permit sales and 13% of the harvest.
Since 2005, Missouri has also asked hunters about problems with interference while hunting. On average, only 4% of respondents said they experienced a “great problem” with interference.
Despite the relatively low nonresident participation and reported interference, public interest in placing restrictions on NR turkey hunters in Missouri has been growing. This led to a new survey effort in the spring of 2025 that sought to understand perceptions associated with the impacts of nonresident hunters and preferences for various regulatory options related to nonresident participation.
Survey results:
Most resident hunters supported all the regulation options presented in the survey, while nonresident hunters opposed any proposed changes. Among nonresident hunters surveyed:
- 59% said they hunted only or mostly on private land (17% on land they own, and 42% on land owned by family or friends).
- 25% said they hunted only or mostly on public land.
The survey also showed that 79% of nonresident hunters spend at least 4 nights in Missouri, and 36% spend more than a week.
Overall, based on the survey, we estimate that 86% of hunters on public land and 92% of hunters on private land are Missouri residents.
Area use data:
In 2024, MDC analyzed public use on 23 sites across the state. At 6 of those areas, more than 25% of the visits were made by nonresident hunters. At the other 17 sites, nonresident hunters made up an average of 9% of visits.
Overall, across all 23 sites, nonresident hunters accounted for 18% of total visits. Residents from Arkansas (AR), Mississippi (MS), and Illinois (IL) made up 6.5%, 1.9%, and 1.8% of total visits, respectively. Hunters from 35 other states combined made up the remaining 7% of visits.
Nonresident public land pressure and harvest:
Looking at the data from sites with enough information, nonresident hunting trips dropped by 9% from the first to the second week of the season, while resident trips dropped by 23%. From the second to the third week, nonresident trips fell by 40%, but resident trips only dropped 12%. Nonresident harvest peaks the Sunday of week 1 and Monday of week 2. This suggests that nonresident hunters focus their efforts on the days leading up to and after the first weekend of the season.