JEFFERSON CITY, MO. ? Missouri hunters had a nearly perfect fall firearms turkey season.

Hunters who went afield during the two-week season Oct. 14-27 bagged 14,487 birds, up from a harvest of 13,554 last year.

Northwest Missouri led regional harvest totals with 2,667 birds checked, and west-central Missouri was second with 2,612.

The only downside was the occurrence of two accidents. Neither was fatal. That’s the same number of accidents recorded during the 2001 fall turkey season.