Copyright ©2008 Conservation Commission of Missouri. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
1. Deer expert's advice: Buy early for great season
2. Wildflower fanciers get a fancier wildflower book
3. Contest offers cash prizes for budding outdoor writers
News contact: Jim Low, Jefferson City, Missouri, (573) 751-4115
"Outdoor people constitute a close fraternity, often international in its membership. Like music or art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries."-President Jimmy Carter, "A Childhood Outdoors"
Conditions are right for another great firearms deer harvest.
COLUMBIA Mo.--Deer hunters should tie strings around their fingers and expect a great hunting season, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation's deer specialist.
Lonnie Hansen, a wildlife research biologist at the conservation research center in Columbia, says all indications are that Missouri will have another plentiful deer harvest during the firearms hunting season Nov. 14 through 24. To ensure that their season goes well, hunters need to remember two things.
First, says Hansen, it's important to buy permits early. Many of the state's deer management units have "open quotas" of Any-Deer and Bonus-Deer hunting permits for sale. This means that anyone who wants these permits can buy them over the counter. But to get them, hunters must buy before midnight Nov. 7.
"It would be wise to buy before the seventh to avoid lines and delays," says Hansen.
The second thing hunters need to remember is to take a piece of string to the field when they hunt. This year, hunters will need string, wire twist ties or other material to attach their deer and turkey tags after taking game.
Deer and turkey hunting permits will double as ready-to-use transportation tags this year. Hunters won't have to carry pens to fill out tags, and they won't have to notch their permits after taking deer or turkeys as they did for the past two years.
Hansen says he expects hunters to tag lots of deer again this year. "Acorns were plentiful in the Ozarks last year," he says. "That always makes hunting harder, because feeding deer are spread out in the woods. As a result, the harvest was down in the Ozarks and southwest Missouri, leaving more deer for this year."
To make things even better for hunters in southern Missouri, this year's acorn crop in that region is relatively poor, so deer will be more concentrated in areas where food is available. Hansen suggests that hunters focus their attention on food plots and small groves of white oaks that produce lots of acorns.
The situation is different in the northern half of the state. Hansen says the Conservation Department received a significant number of reports of deer dying of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) in north-central Missouri during the late summer and early fall. He says this may reduce the availability of deer in some localities, but shouldn't have much effect on the overall deer harvest.
"We had a fairly serious EHD outbreak in eastern Missouri in 1988, and it didn't seem to affect the statewide harvest significantly," says Hansen. "Northern Missouri still has loads of deer. In fact, we are just turning the corner in our effort to control the growth of the deer herd in that area. In most parts of northern Missouri the deer herd is either steady or growing very slowly. In some places it may actually be decreasing."
Hansen says this is what the Conservation Department has been trying to achieve to address the concerns of landowners who have problems with crop damage and concerns about the increasing frequency of deer-car accidents.
The harvest during last year's November firearms hunting season was 186,452 deer. That was barely short of the record 186,697 deer killed in 1995. The 7,698 deer taken during the two-day January Extension of deer season pushed the 1997-98 firearms and muzzleloader deer harvest to a record 195,861. Hansen says he expects this year's harvest figures to be similar to last year's, provided weather conditions are conducive to hunting.
"A cold, rainy opening weekend can knock the harvest back pretty seriously," says Hansen. "Sometimes hunters can make up part of an opening weekend deficit during the rest of the season, but other years they never catch up. Weather is easily the most important factor in determining the deer harvest each year."
On the other hand, Hansen says unpleasant weather actually helps the Conservation Department in its effort to control deer numbers.
"In lousy weather, hunters aren't as likely to wait for a buck to come along. The worse the weather, the larger the proportion of does in the harvest. That's good news in areas where the deer herd is above target levels. Killing doe deer is the key to checking deer population growth."
- Jim Low -
The Conservation Department's perennial favorite "Missouri Wildflowers" has a new look, new photos and even a few new flowers.
JEFFERSON CITY--One of the Show-me State's foremost wildflower field guides now is a bit more showy and more up to date. The Missouri Department of Conservation recently released the fifth edition of Edgar Denison's "Missouri Wildflowers," with many new, vivid photographs and a more functional format.
The book includes photos of 297 flowering plants that grow in Missouri. A rearrangement of its photo and description sections make it easier to use. Unlike past versions, the latest edition of "Missouri Wildflowers" places plant descriptions on the same pages as their accompanying photos. An appendix describes an additional 163 plants.
Other improvements to the 256-page field guide include an expanded glossary of plant terms and updated scientific names. Photos still are arranged by color and, within each group, by blooming time.
Many of the features readers have come to rely on for plant identification were retained in the latest edition of "Missouri Wildflowers." Many of Denison's original illustrations have been retained.
The book was edited by Conservation Department Botanist Tim Smith and Special Projects Editor Carol Davit to be a field and botanical guide. "We've improved the quality of the photos and rearranged plant descriptions," says Davit. "These improvements make it a better tool for identifying common wildflowers. Denison's illustrations and charts help people learn about plant structure, the characteristics of a plant family and Missouri's diversity of plants."
"Missouri Wildflowers" is available for $12 at conservation nature centers and many booksellers statewide. Mail orders cost $12 plus $5.75 tax and shipping from Missouri Department of Conservation Nature Shop, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180.
- Arleasha Mays -
Youngsters can win up to $300 for writing on outdoor topics.
JEFFERSON CITY--The Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) is offering cash awards to youngsters in grades 6 through 12 who achieve excellence in communicating about outdoor pursuits.
The stipends are part of the Norm Strung/OWAA Youth Writing Award competition. The topic must focus on outdoor activities, such as fishing, hunting, camping, boating, nature, ecology or canoeing. Any prose or poetry is acceptable. The deadline for entries is January 31, 1999.
There is a junior and senior division in the contest. The junior division covers grades 6 through 8, while the senior division is for young writers in grades 9 through 12. Authors must have been students in those grades at the time the entry was accepted for publication.
Awards in the senior division will be $300 for first place, $250 for second and $200 for third. Winners in the junior division will take home rewards of $100, $75 and $50. The winners in each category also will receive handsome wall plaques.
Entries must have been published in a newsletter, newspaper, magazine, literary collection or other publication during 1998. The publication can be school- or club-related or commercial. The sole criterion for judging the entries is "excellent writing."
Entrants must submit one original copy of the published entry. The tear sheet must contain the publication name and date. A cover sheet is to include the entrant's name, address and grade in school at the time the writing was published. Students may enter as many published items as they wish, but students will be limited to one prize during the annual contest.
Students should submit entries (or requests for additional contest information) to the Outdoor Writers Association of America, 2155 E. College Ave., State College, Pa. 16801-7204. Mark the lower left-hand side of the envelope with the division for which the entry is intended ("Junior" or "Senior").
OWAA will announce the winners at its annual conference in Sioux Falls, S.D., June 20-24, 1999. OWAA maintains the right to reprint the winning articles in its monthly publication.
- Jim Auckley -
Copyright ©2008 Conservation Commission of Missouri. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use