2. Deer Season Opener Shatters Harvest, Safety Records
Missouri hunters topped the 1994 opening weekend by 19,000.
JEFFERSON CITY -- News from the opening weekend of Missouri's firearms deer season is all good: hunters checked more deer and had fewer accidents than ever before.
Check stations around the state recorded 110,191 deer killed in the first two days of the 11-day season. That is 19,176 more than last year's opening-weekend harvest and 13,538 more than were checked in 1992, when the previous record of 96,653 deer was set.
By the end of the 1995 opening weekend, only one firearms-related hunting accident had been reported. No one died in opening-weekend accidents. Compare that to seven non-fatal deer-hunting mishaps and one fatal accident last year. In the past seven years, opening day of firearms deer season has seen as many as 11 reported firearms hunting accidents (in 1989) and two fatal ones (in 1990).
"I couldn't believe the accident numbers," said Wildlife Research Biologist Lonnie Hansen. "Actually, I couldn't believe the harvest numbers, either. I wondered what effect the weather on opening day would have on the harvest. If anything, it seemed to be positive."
Much of the state experienced steep temperature drops followed by freezing rain, sleet and snow on the eve of the firearms deer season. Hansen, who is in charge of the Missouri Department of Conservation's (MDC) deer management program, says cold, wet weather usually discourages deer hunters. But snow on the ground -- a novelty for firearms deer hunters in Missouri -- makes tracking and spotting deer easier. That, says Hansen, may have offset the effects of cold weather and encouraged more hunting.
In recent years, about half the deer taken during firearms deer season were killed on opening day. If that turned out to be true this year, the total season harvest would top 200,000.
"I suspect this year's opening weekend bag will be a higher percentage of the season total," says Hansen. "But even if it turns out to be 60 percent, that will make the total harvest more than 180,000. Gosh, that's a lot of deer!"
Hansen says he doubts the 1995 firearms deer kill will reach 200,000, but can't rule it out. With the weather forecast calling for good hunting conditions over the next week, heavy hunting activity is likely throughout much of the firearms deer hunting season.
MDC Protection Programs Supervisor Bob Staton says he is delighted with the drop in reported accidents. "I hope it's not just a fluke," says Staton. "As far as I know, this is the lowest number of opening-weekend accidents we have ever had. The least we have had for a whole season is seven non-fatal ones in 1963 and 1993. This year's opening weekend gives us a good shot at setting a record for deer-hunting safety."
Staton says factors that contributed to the decline in deer hunting accidents include mandatory use of hunter-orange clothing, which went into effect in 1980. Also, mandatory hunter education training became a requirement in 1988, giving MDC an opportunity to teach young hunters about safety.
Staton said keeping careful records of past hunting accidents also helps MDC teach hunters to be safer. "By looking at the causes of accidents over a period of years, we can identify problems and risk factors," says Staton. "That tells us what we need to stress in hunter education classes and what information we need to get out through the news media."
The top three deer-harvest counties this year were: Macon, with 2,454 (up from 2,408 last year, when it also led the state); St. Clair, with 2,245 (up from 1,932, when it also was second in the state); and Howell, with 2,104 up from 1,533 last year, when it ranked 10th in opening-day harvest totals.
Regionally, North-central Missouri led the state with 20,082 deer checked. Next came Northeast Missouri with 19,909, West-central Missouri with 14,905, Northwest Missouri with 14,204, the Ozarks with 10,890, Central Missouri with 10,609, East-central Missouri with 8,670, southwest Missouri with 5,779 and Southeast Missouri with 5,143.
Missouri's firearms deer season is Nov. 11-21. A resident deer hunting permit costs $10. Non-resident permits cost $100. Hunters are allowed to kill one deer with a valid deer permit. They can take up to two more with valid bonus deer hunting permits. No one may take more than one deer without a bonus permit, and no one may take more than one antlered deer.
All hunters must wear a solid hunter-orange hat and shirt, vest or coat during the firearms deer season. The same requirement applies to persons who hunt deer with muzzle-loading firearms during the second half of the muzzleloader deer season. It does not apply on federal or state public hunting areas where deer hunting is restricted to archery methods.
3. Tree Seedlings Available from State Nursery
You can landscape your home or farm for wildlife with reasonably priced trees and shrubs from the Missouri Department of Conservation's George O. White Nursery.
LICKING, Mo. -- As the chill of autumn turns into the crisp cold of winter, thoughts of what to plant next spring probably aren't foremost in your mind. But now is a great time for considering such things, especially if you want plants native to Missouri.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) offers a large variety of trees and shrubs that can help you spruce up your farm or back yard while making it more attractive to wildlife. From now through Feb. 1 Missouri landowners can order nursery stock items from MDC's George O. White Nursery at Licking, Mo.
Most seedlings are sold in bundles of 25, priced from $2 to $6. Two special bundles are available for those who want a variety of plants in smaller quantities. The Conservation Bundle contains five plants each of six species for $10. The Wildlife Cover Bundle, an assortment of 10 plants each of five species, is priced at $12. State sales tax and a $5 dollar handling fee are added to all orders.
MDC forestry Research Specialist Terry Robison says there is a wide range of plants to choose from. "We have several varieties of pine, some hardwoods and shrubs. We're also working in cooperation with a private nursery that provides flowering dogwoods and a naturescaping bundle designed to attract butterflies and birds."
The flowering dogwood and naturescaping bundles are supplied by the Forrest Keeling Nursery in Elsberry, Missouri. An order form for that nursery is included with each MDC application for planting stock.
Nursery stock application forms are available at MDC forestry district offices throughout the state or from: Missouri Department of Conservation Headquarters, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180.
Orders are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so it's best to order early. In addition to spelling out which plants you want, the order form allows you to specify when you want the plants delivered by mail, or whether you prefer to pick them up at the nursery. MDC sends you a notice two weeks before the delivery date stating what plants it can furnish. This notice also serves as a billing statement. Seedlings are shipped after payment is received. Deliveries take place from February through May.
4. Federal Authorities Nab Fish Poachers with High-tech Tags
Fish thieves find that poaching in the computer age is neither simple nor profitable.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Computer technology can be a great convenience for some people -- conservation agents, for instance. On the other hand, it can be a royal pain in the neck for others -- poachers, for instance. A case in point involves four fish thieves whose shady activities turned from a profitable business into a federal case on account of beeping fish.
The men had a lucrative scheme, netting fish from the Potomac River and selling them as hatchery fish. Their downfall was a new method of fish tagging in which a tiny, electronically coded tag is injected into a fish's nose. Implanting these "passive, integrated transponder" (PIT) tags makes it possible to identify fish by passing a scanning device over their heads.
It just so happened that Maryland officials were conducting a tagging study to learn more about Potomac River bass and where they go. Investigators with the Maryland Natural Resources Police and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service used the invisible tags to prove that the poached fish came from the Potomac. Because the fish had been transported across state lines, the illegal sale was a federal offense.
In the computer age, every time a poacher boats an illegal fish he has to ask himself, "Is this a bass, or a stool pigeon?"
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