JEFFERSON CITY, MO. ? Wildlife Research Biologist Mike Hubbard enjoys delivering good news when people ask him about prospects for Missouri’s fall turkey hunting season.

Hubbard says hunters’ chances of contributing a wild bird to a Thanksgiving feast this year are excellent, as usual.

Last spring, Missouri hunters bagged a record 57,034 wild turkeys.

Missouri’s fall firearms turkey season will open Oct. 14 and run through Oct. 27. Last year, about 30,000 licensed hunters bagged 13,554 turkeys during the fall firearms hunting season.

Hubbard said with favorable weather he expects this year’s harvest to be close to that figure.

“We had some heavy rain from early to mid-May,” Hubbard said. “That probably cut into nesting success. But the birds proved once again how tough they are and came out of it remarkably well. This year’s reproduction pretty much guarantees good hunting for the next couple of years.”

Bag limit during the fall firearms turkey season is two turkeys of either sex. Hunters can take only one turkey during the first week of the season.