2. Missouri Stream Teams Going Regional
3. Deer Season Likely To Set A Record
4. Point of Sale
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"There is certainly something in angling that tends to produce a gentleness of spirit and a pure sincerity of mind . . . " -- Washington Irving
1. Hunting Is Safe; Could Be Safer
Hunters have a better safety record than most other outdoor sports. Still, with so much at stake, you can't be too careful.
JEFFERSON CITY -- More than 500,000 Missouri hunters didn't have hunting accidents last year. That was good news, but it didn't find its way onto front pages or six o'clock newscasts. What did make news were the 39 firearms accidents that injured, crippled or killed hunters in 1994. Bob Staton thinks this lopsided coverage of hunting accidents versus hunting safety contributes to a misperception that hunting is very dangerous. He's not entirely sure that's a bad thing, though.
Staton is president of the National Hunter Education Association and a protection programs supervisor for the Missouri Department of Conservation. Part of his job is to compile reports of hunting accidents. He says he understands why hunting accidents attract media attention, even though they represent a vanishingly small percentage of Missouri hunters' experience.
"It's human nature," says Staton. "People perk up when they hear about a hunter getting shot. They yawn if you tell them about the other 99.99 percent who went home with nothing worse than chigger bites."
While acknowledging that big numbers of safe hunters don't make exciting news, Staton says those numbers are important, too. Only .0075 percent of the state's hunting population was involved in accidents last year. For every person who was reported hurt in a hunting accident in 1994, 13,333 enjoyed hunting without mishap.
"You wouldn't know it by looking at news coverage, but hunting is one of the safest recreational activities," says Staton. "Figures from the National Safety Council show that only about 1,500 of the United States' 18.5 million hunters have injuries serious enough to require treatment at a hospital emergency room each year. That's about one accident for every 12,000 hunters."
That looks pretty good compared to National Safety Council statistics on accident rates for other outdoor activities: one emergency-room accident for every 48 baseball players; one for every 110 bicyclists; one for every 215 horseback riders; one for every 708 anglers; one for every 958 golfers.
One reason hunting looks good by comparison is that many states, including Missouri, include only firearms-related hunting accidents in their totals. Counting only firearms accidents minimizes the number of hunting accidents reported, but it also focuses media attention on those accidents. It's hard to imagine a scenario in which a golfer's broken ankle or a football player's dislocated shoulder might prove fatal. But with gunshot accidents, a few inches left or right can mean the difference between a ride in an ambulance or a hearse.
"News coverage of hunting accidents creates the impression that hunting is very dangerous," says Staton, "That's unfortunate in a way, but in another way it's good. I'd rather hunters were too careful than not careful enough."
Hunting accident reports show that some Missouri hunters obviously aren't careful enough. After quail season opens Nov. 1, Staton can almost count on receiving reports of hunters who are hit by shotgun pellets. Usually this happens when members of a hunting party lose track of each other's positions and shoot at birds that fly between them.
When waterfowl hunters go afield, Staton won't be surprised to learn of accidents in duck blinds. Typically, a hunter leans his gun against the wall with the safety off. A bump from the hunter's foot or an excited retriever knocks the gun over, and it goes off.
Deer hunting mishaps usually are the result of carelessness, too. Every year a few deer hunters shoot themselves or others while attempting to load or unload rifles in the dark or with heavy gloves on.
Staton says all hunters are vulnerable to hypothermia, the lowering of core body temperature. This can occur even with the temperature in the 40s if a hunter's clothes become wet and he or she is unable to find shelter and dry clothing.
"Duck hunters are very vulnerable to hypothermia because they have more opportunity to get wet," says Staton. "Any hunter who goes out alone is at greater risk because he has no back-up. One of the first symptoms of dangerously low body temperature is impaired judgment and coordination. So a hunter may not know he is in danger, or he may not be able to help himself."
Hunting with a partner reduces the risk of hypothermia. Lone hunters can cut their risk by telling friends or family where they will hunt and when they will return. This can allow rescuers to find them before a fatal chill sets in.
"In many cases, hunting safety is more a matter of self-discipline
than education. Most hunters know the rules that can protect them from
accidents," says Staton. "Bird hunters know the importance of agreeing
on fields of fire and keeping track of their partners' locations. Deer
hunters know they should unload their guns before climbing into tree
stands. They know they should use ropes to hoist rifles and other gear
up into stands instead of climbing with their hands full. But sometimes
in the excitement of the moment they forget. You have to fight the
temptation to cut corners on safety."
2. Missouri Stream Teams Going Regional
Stream Teams, now some 30,000 strong, are becoming a force to reckon with. Next, the state's 710 stream teams hope to enhance their power by forming regional alliances.
JEFFERSON CITY -- Joe Bachant used to describe his work with Missouri Stream Teams as "having a tiger by the tail." Now it appears he may have to trade in that metaphor for something more apt. "Riding herd on a pack of wildcats" might be good.
"These groups have a fierce drive to look out for the well-being of the state's streams," says Bachant. "They have the numbers necessary to get things done, and they have a strong sense of the historic role they can play in the state's conservation movement."
Bachant, Streams Volunteer Programs Coordinator for the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), is talking about the state's fastest-growing conservation organization. Missouri Stream Teams is a branch of the Conservation Federation of Missouri, which launched the program almost six years ago in cooperation with MDC. The idea was to give Missourians, who have a history of successfully tackling tough conservation problems, a way to act directly on river conservation.
Bachant says it was an idea whose time had come. From its inception in February of 1989 -- and with little more than word-of-mouth for promotion -- Missouri Stream Teams has grown at the rate of about 100 teams per year. The average team has about 45 members and works on projects ranging from trash pick-up to long-term water quality monitoring.
At first the teams were scattered, their efforts uncoordinated. Then, about the time that the 500th stream team was formed, a fundamental shift began to occur.
"By then we had an average of more than four teams per county, and several counties had a dozen or more," says Bachant. "They started bumping into one another at Conservation Federation meetings, streams conferences, even out on rivers and creeks where they were working. That's when they started to talk about combining efforts."
A few stream team leaders saw opportunities for more efficient use of their groups' energy and for increased power in numbers. In 1994, about 15 stream teams incorporated as a non-profit organization called the Scenic Rivers Stream Team Association. Their special interest is in the Jacks Fork, Current, Eleven Point and North Fork rivers. Education is a strong emphasis for this association, whose member stream teams include several high school and elementary school groups.
Next the Missouri River Communities Network, a non-profit organization with members all along the Missouri River, became a stream team. This group sees Missouri's namesake river as an artery that could channel environmental, cultural and economic lifeblood into the state. Along its 553 miles from the Iowa state line to its confluence with the Mississippi River, it provides drinking water for more than one-third of the state's population, another good reason for taking an interest in its health. The Missouri River Communities Network is working to involve farmers, industries, cities and individuals along the river in planning its future.
More recently, several stream teams in central Missouri filed for non-profit status as Show-Me Clean Streams. This group is growing by leaps and bounds. Its special interest is the health of watersheds that feed tributaries of the Missouri River in Boone, Callaway, Moniteau, Cooper and Howard counties.
Another group working toward incorporation as a non-profit is the White River Basin Coalition. This is a group of about 10 stream teams clustered around Lakes Taneycomo, Table Rock and Bull Shoals. As soon as they finish incorporating, they plan to try to enlist the cooperation of dozens of other stream teams in southwest Missouri.
The White River group's main interest is monitoring stream water quality and educating the public about stream benefits and problems. They may be the first stream team coalition to go interstate. Several groups in Arkansas are interested in joining.
In St. Charles County all but one public high school has a stream team. Bachant says adult and youth stream teams there are planning to join forces to better coordinate their projects. Similarly, stream teams in Jefferson County, the Meramec River Basin and around Sedalia, St. Louis and Kansas City seem to be moving toward regional associations.
Mark Van Patten, Stream Team Coordinator for the Conservation Federation, says the move toward regionalism is an exciting development in the continuing stream team saga. "I see this as the first step in better stream team organization," says Van Patten. "When you think about the Federation and the Conservation Department trying to contact hundreds of stream teams and coordinate the work of teams on scores of streams, you quickly realize that it's virtually impossible. Besides, you can't meet people's local needs as well from Jefferson City as you can from regional organizations."
Van Patten says if the state's stream teams coalesce into a dozen or so groups based on regional interests or watershed boundaries, these regional organizations will be well-suited to respond to their members' interests and to regional issues.
Also, says Van Patten, "One stream team can get lost in an organization with 700 member groups. A regional association allows you to keep your autonomy while still playing an important role in the larger organization. You can continue to do things as a small team when that's appropriate, plus you can work with other teams when you want to tackle jobs that are beyond one team's capabilities.
"When these associations start holding their own meetings, they will concentrate on things that need to be done in their own back yards. That will mean opportunities for everyone -- even those from the smallest stream teams -- to take an active role."
Van Patten says stream team associations have enormous potential for getting people into conservation work. "A kid might go through his whole life without hearing about the Conservation Federation. But if he cuts his conservation teeth in a stream team at school, he'll find out about the Federation and be ready to move on to the big league. Missouri Stream Teams has the potential to provide a huge infusion of numbers and energy for the next generation of Federation members."
For more information about Missouri Stream Teams, call Mark Van
Patten, (314) 634-2322, or Joe Bachant, (314) 751-4115, ext. 596.
3. Deer Season Likely To Set A Record
COLUMBIA, Mo. - What do acorns and the weather have in common this deer season? They could be the biggest obstacles hunters will face in attempts to harvest deer. That is according to Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) Wildlife Research Biologist Lonnie Hansen. He says mild weather conditions and a bit of savvy on the part of southern Missouri hunters could add up to a great deer season.
"There are a lot of deer in most parts of the state," says Hansen. "The only thing I see that could prevent hunters from having a successful season is a lot of rainy, windy, cold days that would prevent them from going into the field and the bumper crop of acorns in the Ozarks."
In a good acorn year deer will shy away from the edges of fields where many hunters put up their stands. But Hansen says experienced Ozarks hunters adapt by going into the woods where the deer are.
Deer prefer acorns, but farm fields are most often where they find food in northern Missouri. Crops provide the proper nourishment to insure that the deer will grow well and rear fawns. That's why the highest deer densities are found in the state's farm land north of the Missouri River.
Because Missouri's deer herd is in great shape, MDC has liberalized the bag limit and lengthened hunting seasons this year. Firearms deer hunters with the proper permits can take up to three deer. Hunters with bonus permits may harvest only antlerless deer on their first or second bonus permit.
Last year, firearms hunters harvested a record 163,468 deer. This year's generous seasons could mean another record-breaking year. But breaking records is not a goal for MDC. Hansen says "Our goal is to achieve a stabilized deer population. Hunting accounts for most deer mortality. Hunting is the way we manage deer to prevent them from becoming overcrowded or doing excessive damage to crops and other property."
Surveys of state residents guide MDC in determining when the deer population is too small, just right, or getting too large. When surveys show that the animals are greatly damaging crops or are otherwise considered a nuisance, increased bag limits are set to control deer numbers. Hansen says the latest surveys found an increase in deer is desired in much of southern Missouri, while northern Missouri's deer population should be scaled back.
There's been no scaling back in the number of hunters that seek to harvest deer. MDC permit sales over the past five years indicate that the number of deer hunters has remained stable.
Hunters should know and abide by MDC laws regulating the firearms and muzzle-loading firearms deer seasons. Those regulations mandate that all who hunt deer wear hunter orange, carry string to attach the transportation portion of their permits to deer as soon as they are taken and check all deer at a checking station in the county where they are taken or in an adjoining county. Each deer must be checked on the day it was taken. Checking stations are open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Firearms deer season is Nov. 11-21. The muzzle-loading firearms deer season is Nov. 11-21 and Dec. 2-10. Resident permits cost $10, and non-resident permits cost $100. (You can't use both firearms and muzzle-loading firearms permits.) Landowners have special deer hunting privileges. For more details about deer hunting regulations, see the 1995 Fall Deer and Turkey Information booklet, available where deer tags are sold.
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JEFFERSON CITY -- With the same anticipation of a child on Christmas Eve, many hunters and anglers await the opening days of their favorite seasons. A new permit-issuing system set to go into effect next year will allow them to get right to the fun of "opening their packages." Another innovation, a Conservation Heritage Card, will provide additional benefits.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will use the point-of-sale system to issue permits next year. The Heritage Card has a magnetic strip similar to a credit card. But instead of a substitute for money, the Heritage Card is a substitute for permit applications.
The magnetic strip will contain all the information needed to buy permit -- age, address, even the applicant's hunter education certification. That data is stored in a computer when you apply for the card. To issue a permit a vendor will simply pass the card through a scanning device and then enter the type of permit being purchased. The machine will print out the permit.
An additional bonus of the card is a five-percent discount on retail purchases of MDC publications, gift items, nursery stock and some other items sold at MDC offices. The discount doesn't apply to permits, daily tags, rentals, or surplus property purchases.
Heritage Cards will make the point-of-sale system run more smoothly by reducing errors in entering information. This will prevent delays that could occur if the person making the sale made a mistake in entering a social security number or other data.
MDC fiscal services analyst Robert Ramey says persons who have applied for Heritage Cards should receive them in the mail soon. The cards will be valid for five years. Card holders can use them immediately to receive a discount on purchases.
The first time Heritage Cards can be used to purchase permits will be in February, 1996, when next year's permits go on sale. Starting next year, the hunting and fishing permit year will run from March 1 through the last day of February the following year.
Application forms for the Heritage Card are available at conservation service centers and retail permit vendors statewide. Mail completed applications with $2 for processing to: Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 1523, Jefferson City, MO 65102.
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