By AP/St. Louis Public Radio
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – It's been a good fall for turkeys.
The Missouri Department of Conservation says 5,928 wild turkeys were killed during the fall firearms season in October. That's the second lowest number in the fall season's 33-year history.
Part of the reason for the decline is there were fewer hunters.
The Conservation Department says the fall turkey kill peaked in 1987 at more than 28,000 birds. After that, the number of fall-season hunters declined from a high of about 50,000 to 13,736 this year.
Missouri's wild turkey population is estimated at 500,000.