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1. First weekend deer harvest tops 110,000
2. Making the most of liberal snow goose season
3. Eagle nest surveys show continued growth
"I am glad that I shall never be young without wild country to be wild in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
Mild weather encouraged hunters to stay in the field, boosting the two-day deer kill above 110,000.
JEFFERSON CITY--Prospects for a great firearms deer seasons have panned out so far, with hunters recording the biggest opening weekend harvest on record. Check stations statewide processed 110,506 deer during the first two days of the season Nov. 14-15.
The 1998 opening weekend harvest is 901 more than last year and 314 more than the previous record, which was set in 1995. Missouri Department of Conservation Wildlife Management Chief Norb Giessman said fair weather probably was the biggest factor in producing this year's strong opening weekend harvest.
"Hunters stay in the field longer when the weather is pleasant like it was last weekend," said Giessman.
Giessman said the harvest might have been even larger if the kill had not been down in two of the state's biggest deer-producing regions. The kill in northwestern Missouri was down by about 4,000, and the northeast posted a harvest about 1,000 fewer than usual.
According to Giessman, the deer kill in those areas may have been depressed by an outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), which pared back the size of the deer herd in those areas. The drop in north Missouri's deer kill was offset by a larger than average harvest in the Ozarks, where deer numbers have grown and a sparse acorn crop concentrated deer around available food sources.
Leading in harvest figures were Macon County, where hunters checked 2,856 deer, and Howell County with 2,151, followed by Montgomery County with 1,985.
Regional opening weekend harvest totals were: Northeast, 25,074; Northwest, 19,257, West Central, 15,905; Central, 13,530; East Central, 9,713, Ozark, 8,832; Southwest, 7,776, Southeast, 6,569, Kansas City, 2,376; and St. Louis, 1,474.
Firearms deer season runs through Nov. 24. The opening weekend deer harvest typically makes up about 60 percent of the November deer kill, leading Giessman to expect a total harvest of about 184,000 for the 11-day season.
Missouri's annual deer harvest will not be known until figures are in from muzzleloader deer season Dec. 5-13, the late segment of the firearms season Jan. 2-5, special managed hunts on specified areas and archery deer season, which closes Jan. 15.
- Arleasha Mays -
Hunters willing to learn how to hunt swirling tornadoes of white geese can enjoy banner days of shooting.
JEFFERSON CITY-- Missouri waterfowl hunters have an unprecedented opportunity in this year's snow goose season. The bag limit on the birds is 20 daily, and there is no possession limit.
Snow geese, sometimes in flocks of thousands, are challenging to hunt. Successful hunters are savvy about the birds' habits and are willing to do the hard work in setting up and tearing down decoy spreads big enough to attract the birds. This year's season stretches over 106 days, so hunters have plenty of time to figure out best ways to hunt snow geese.
Dick Duchrow is an environmental services biologist with the Conservation Department and an avid snow goose hunter. Duchrow says having a flock of a thousand or more snow geese descending into a decoy layout is a thrill. "You have to experience it to describe it," he says. He and a partner generally lie out on the ground amidst their decoys, and incoming snow geese may be landing quite close.
The daily limit on snow geese is high because the birds have reached a peak of over 4 million breeding birds, and waterfowl managers hope hunters can harvest enough birds to reduce snow goose numbers. Overabundant snow geese are damaging their own Canadian nesting grounds. Several factors have created the population explosion-waste grain left by modern agriculture methods and refuges that provide ideal wintering conditions play a role.
Duchrow says snow geese are challenging to hunt for several reasons. The birds fly higher than Canada geese, he says, and it takes more time for them to descend into your decoy spread, added time for a thousand pairs of eyes to detect any imperfections in the set-up. Also, many of the birds are older, so they have been exposed to hunting in previous seasons and are wary.
Duchrow and a partner put out 700 to 1,000 decoys in a field. These are rag decoys, simple sheets of white cloth or plastic attached to wooden stakes that are pushed into the ground (they are available commercially).
Hunters dress either in camouflage or white-Duchrow says both outfits work well. They carry snow goose calls, but don't use them much. It's questionable if the birds can hear calls among a thousand of their own voices, though calls probably do help pull in single birds or isolated pairs.
Snow geese generally roost on or near water at night, then fly out morning and afternoon to feed in fields of waste grain. They spend the midday hours loafing on open water.
Hunters generally drive back roads to locate fields the birds are using. Then, after securing permission from the landowner, they return to set out decoys.
Hunting on a field may be good only one or two days. Given all the time required to haul in and set up a large decoy spread, Duchrow usually stays on a field at least two days.
"The first day is usually your best," Duchrow says, "though we have had good hunts on the second day, too. When hunting starts to drop off you pull up stakes and look for a new field."
Hunters should be optimistic about locating places to hunt these abundant white geese. Duchrow has been hunting snow geese for seven years, and in scouting new fields and securing permission to hunt he says he has been turned away by landowners only three or four times.
Having a large flock of snow geese swirling around your head is a chaotic experience. The shooting party needs to be tuned in to each other. "It takes a lot of coordination between hunters so you don't shoot too soon or you don't wait too long," Duchrow says. "There is always a prime moment to shoot, and if you lose that your opportunity with that flock of birds is lost. Knowing when the prime moment is comes with experience."
He and his shooting companion carry their decoys into a field on commercial racks; fully loaded, they may weigh 50 or 60 pounds. In addition to decoys they carry guns, ammo, camouflage material and other supplies. Trek across a muddy field with all this stuff and you are doing some pretty hard work.
"We try to be set up by daybreak and the beginning of shooting hours," Duchrow says. "Our morning is over when the birds go back to roost. Sometimes that is as early as 9 a.m., but other times I"ve seen them not go back to roost until noon."
Afternoon feeding flights may come out two hours before dark, but at other times may not appear until shooting hours are almost over.
Duchrow advises hunters to let the birds get in close before shooting. He uses 2-3/4-inch shotgun shells and shoots a gun with an improved cylinder choke. "By taking only close shots the birds are much easier to hit and your crippling losses are going to be nil," he says. "Shoot at individual birds, and watch what is around them." He uses No. 1 or 2 steel shot.
A large flock of birds overhead may block out the light; rather than spray shot among a lot of birds, Duchrow picks individual birds off to the side of the flock. "We need to be good stewards of this resource; that means not just shooting into the flock and crippling birds."
What's a lucky hunter to do with all that goose meat when he can shoot 20 birds in a day? Duchrow has much of his made into summer sausage, and says it tastes similar to deer sausage. You can also cut breasts into pieces, marinate them and cook them on a grill. - Jim Auckley -
The demise of flood-weakened trees caused the loss of four nests this year.
JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri's bald eagle birth rate continued its climb upward in 1998. The Missouri Department of Conservation reports 65 to 70 fledglings, or young eagles reared to independence, were produced in 36 eagle nests across the state. That is up from 64 birds fledged in 1997 and the highest count recorded since bald eagles resumed nesting in Missouri in 1985.
Conservation Department Ornithologist Jim D. Wilson expects the state's breeding eagle population to continue growing. He says an abundance of good habitat should attract more eagles to the state.
"We have a lot of good habitat along the rivers and reservoirs throughout the state, so there is plenty of room for the bald eagle population to grow," says Wilson. "It's likely there are several active nests in the state that we can't locate. Eagles build their nests in remote areas, so there are probably five to 10 more nests out there that we won't come across during our count."
Each year Wilson and other Conservation Department workers conduct a count of the nests in which eagles have laid eggs. Of the 42 nests that could be tracked, six failed to produce young because the trees in which the nests were located fell or the nests were abandoned.
The birds' nesting requirements caused some nesting failures. Eagles build nests, which can weigh several hundred pounds, in the tallest trees available near rivers and reservoirs. Those trees often are weakened from old age or flooding and can topple from the weight of the birds' massive nests. Fallen trees destroyed four nests this year.
Wilson says this year's rash of eagle nest losses due to falling trees probably is related to repeated flooding in recent years. Tree failure is not a significant factor in statewide eagle nesting success in most years, and doesn't affect the state's population of adult eagles. Eagles that lose nests generally build new ones within a few miles of the locations where they have previously laid eggs.
An area of growing concern for Wilson is nesting failures caused by abandonment. He says human activity could be contributing to this type of nesting failure. He says eagle watchers who get too close can scare birds away from their nests. On a cold winter day it only takes a few moments of lost incubation time to prevent eggs from hatching. Three eagle nests were unproductive this year due to abandonment.
Wilson advises nature viewers not to approach nests or disturb nesting eagles. He says keeping a distance from the birds is especially important in March and April when eggs are most vulnerable.
- Arleasha Mays -
Copyright ©2008 Conservation Commission of Missouri. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use