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Trappers will have better, more humane equipment to work with in the future, thanks to Missouri's participation in an ongoing national trap research project.
COLUMBIA, Mo.--A researcher in Missouri is learning the key elements to more selective and humane restraining traps.
For the past two years, Wildlife Research Biologist Samara Trusso, of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in Washington, D.C., has coordinated a national research project to improve animal welfare while maintaining efficiency in United States trapping programs.
The research is evaluating traps based on their performance in five categories: animal welfare, efficiency, selectivity, safety, and practicability. The findings of the study will be used to create a set of guidelines, called Best Management Practices (BMPs), that state agencies can use adopt to assure the use of the most efficient and humane trapping systems.
This year, biologists in 14 states are helping evaluate traps used to capture 12 furbearer species in the United States. The goal of the BMP project is to identify traps that hold animals in ways that reduce or eliminate injuries. Common, commercially available standard and modified trap designs are being tested. Alterations being tested include adding a second jaw, padding and offsetting the jaws
Traps with two jaws 'double-jaw traps' help prevent raccoons from injuring themselves in attempts to escape. Raccoons may lose feeling in the trapped limb and sometimes chew on the numb limb to free themselves. The second jaw reduces the space between the jaws and the trap pan and prevents the animal from reaching and injuring the trapped paw.
Offsetting and placing pads on trap jaws cushions the impact when the trap closes. Offset jaws reduce the amount of pressure on the limb once the trap is closed. Padding also reduces the chances that the trap jaw will cut the animal's foot.
Although the trap tests that Trusso is directing are aimed at finding more humane ways to capture raccoons, she says several species will benefit from her research.
"Even trappers who are very good at what they do occasionally catch a non-target animal," says Trusso. "Finding more humane traps will enable a trapper to release non-target animals with little or no injuries."
She says minimizing injuries also is important because foot-hold traps are widely used in restoration projects. An example is Missouri's otter restoration program, in which more than 800 otters captured in Louisiana using foot-hold traps were brought to Missouri and released.
"Missouri"s otter restoration success could not have been accomplished without the use of foot-hold traps," says Trusso. "I want to help ensure that when animals are trapped as part of a restoration effort they can be released uninjured."
In addition to helping make standard foot-hold traps more humane, Trusso's research could help identify and improve animal-specific traps.
"We've had great success with speciality traps for raccoons," says Trusso. "We've tested two trap designs shaped in the form of a capsule that will close snugly around a raccoon's paw. These capsule designs almost eliminate self-inflicted injury by the animal because it cannot reach the trapped paw. Some of these trap designs have a pull trigger. Raccoons are more dextrous than most other species that could get a paw into the trap, so only they could activate the pull trigger. This type of trap can reduce the incidence of trapping furbearers that were not your primary target."
This is the third year that Missouri, under the direction of state furbearer biologist Dave Hamilton, has participated in the trap testing project. Missouri has elected to participate in the BMP project, investigating the effects of modifying the foothold traps used to catch raccoons.
Since 1997, three Missouri trappers have cooperated with wildlife technicians to collect data on nine trap designs. The testing is conducted during the regulated trapping season. Technicians record information related to each trap"s efficiency and selectivity.
Efficiency is evaluated by recording the number of times a trap type is sprung compared to the number of animals caught. Selectivity is determined by tallying the number of each species caught in a trap type.
When target animals are caught they are quickly dispatched and sent to qualified veterinarians who conduct necropsies and identify trap-related injuries. If non-target animals or animals with closed seasons are captured, they are released. Also, at the end of the project trappers are asked to rate the practicability of each trap based on cost and ease of use.
The first BMP documents are scheduled for publication in 2001. They will focus on raccoon trapping in the Midwest and Southeast and coyote trapping in the Northeast. Additional BMPs will be published in 2003. More information about the BMP process can be found on-line at
- Arleasha Mays -
Robert L. Krepps' resume includes stints as a resource forester, military journalist, a public affairs officer and a legislative affairs coordinator.
JEFFERSON CITY--Robert L. Krepps says he was surprised and gratified by his appointment to lead the Missouri Department of Conservation"s Forestry Division.
Krepps, 55, came to work for the Conservation Department in November 1998 as forestry field programs supervisor in Jefferson City. On Nov. 1, the Conservation Commission appointed him Forestry Division administrator, replacing Marvin Brown, who resigned last month to take a job with Willamette Industries in Fort Mill, S.C.
Krepps, a native of Ravenna, Mich., earned a bachelor"s degree in forestry from the Michigan State University in 1968 and worked for the USDA Forest Service part-time from 1967 to 1968. He served in the U.S. Army Artillery Corps from 1968 until 1970, receiving the Bronze Star and the Vietnam Service and Campaign medals among other honors.
Krepps returned to work for the Forest Service full-time in 1970. Over the following 28 years he held a succession of jobs with the Kootenai, Helena and Lolo national forests, all in Montana. His jobs with the Forest Service included:
--Resource technician, responsible for timber sales, reforestation, forest insect and disease surveys and control, wildlife surveys and fire control.
--Resource forester, responsible for managing range, wildlife, watershed, recreation, trails, mineral resources, campgrounds, law enforcement and environmental education.
--Public information officer, issuing news releases and promoting communications between the Forest Service and the news media, legislators and public interest groups.
--Public affairs officer, encouraging public participation in Forest Service planning and resolving conflicts between user groups while continuing to provide media and legislative liaison.
--Incident information officer for the Forest Service's National Incident Management Team, including service during many major fires throughout the western United States.
--Legislative Affairs Coordinator, tracking the potential effects of national and state legislative proposals on forest resources in the Forest Service's northern region.
--Information, recreation and wildlife planning staff officer, ensuring that public needs and interests were determined and considered when developing Forest Service programs.
While pursuing his career as a forester, Krepps also served in the National Guard, rising to the rank of sergeant first class. His assignments have included working as a military journalist.
Krepps' civic involvements have included service as chairman of his school board, conservation director of the Montana State Bass Angler Sportsman Society and a member of the International Society of Arborculture. He also enjoys fishing for bass and hunting waterfowl, especially geese.
Despite his depth and variety of experience, Krepps says he was quite surprised when he was tapped as the state's top forester. "If someone had told me two years ago that I would have this job in the year 2000, I would never have believed them," he says.
Krepps' goals for the immediate future include improving the Forestry Division's communication with citizens. He says he hopes to use his background in public information to strengthen partnerships between government agencies, landowners and other interest groups.
"Director (Jerry) Conley took the Conservation Department's seat on the Governor's Chip Mill Committee when Marvin Brown left," says Krepps, "and in the interest of continuity I think he will finish that job. But I will work to put the committee's recommendations into action."
He said he expects his communications skills to come in handy dealing with issues that include chip mill operations in Missouri. "The biggest challenge that the arrival of chip mills poses for Missouri is making private landowners aware of the crucial role they will play in determining whether these mills are good or bad for the state"s forests. Nine-tenths of Missouri's forest land is privately owned. If the folks who own that land make wise economic and environmental choices about managing their forest, chip mills can be a positive force. Our challenge is to make sure people have the understanding they need to make decisions that enhance the health and value of the state's forests."
One program that excites Krepps is Missouri Forestkeepers. The four-year-old program is modeled after the immensely successful Missouri Stream Teams. Its goal is empowering citizens to care for the forest resources nearest and dearest to them.
"We really don"t need to motivate people," says Krepps. "People already are eager to do something to make a positive difference. Our challenge is keeping up with the growth of Forestkeepers' membership and showing people practical ways to accomplish their goals for trees, whether they are in the country, in suburbs or in city parks and yards."
- Jim Low -
A major infusion of funds and personnel will benefit landowners and wildlife.
JEFFERSON CITY--The Missouri Department of Conservation has redirected $2 million and will convert 60 existing staff positions to help interested private landowners make their property as productive as possible for forest, fish and wildlife.
At its September meeting, the Conservation Commission created a new Private Land Services Section. When fully staffed, the new section will have 60 private land conservationists working with landowners statewide. Each private land conservationist will work with landowners in an area of two to four counties. They will offer one-on-one advice and can draw on cost-sharing programs and technical assistance from foresters, fish and wildlife biologists, wildlife damage management biologists and other specialists.
Private land conservationists also will be available in urban areas to work on the unique habitat challenges in heavily populated areas.
To help ensure the program addresses landowners' concerns and needs, private land conservationists will contact 48,000 landowners in the next three years and survey another 250,000 to learn what services will help them realize their vision for fish, wildlife and forest on their land.
The Conservation Department will launch the Private Land Services Program with approximately $2 million in funds made available by the Missouri Supreme Court's recent decision on the Hancock Amendment. Director Jerry Conley says he hopes to have the private lands program operational by July 2000.
Conley says the Private Land Services Section is needed because Missouri's conservation needs can't be met on public land alone. "Every acre of land that the Conservation Department owns would fit in an area roughly the size of Texas County," he says. "Clearly, if we hope to meet the state's needs for forest, fish and wildlife resources in the future, our programs have to work where most of those resources are -- on private land. We are determined to meet that need."
- Jim Low -
Ozark caves could hold more undiscovered species.
GAINESVILLE, Mo.--Biologists looking for two rare cave species have discovered something even rarera species previously unknown to science.
On August 16, biologists working for the Missouri Department of Conservation entered a small cave on Caney Mountain Conservation Area (CA) in Ozark County. They were looking for the federally endangered Ozark big-eared bat and a rare crayfish, Cambarus aculabrum.
Researchers from Chicago's Shedd Aquarium had reported seeing blind crayfish in the cave a few years earlier. It seemed possible these might have been Cambarus aculabrum, which lives in some caves in north-central Arkansas. They also might have been Salem cave crayfish, a species known to inhabit caves to the east of Caney Mountain CA, or the bristly cave crayfish, which lives in caves to the west.
The Conservation Department surveyors didn't find big-eared bats or any of the known cave crayfish species. When Cave Biologist Bill Elliott examined one of the crayfish, he found its mating appendages were unique, leading him to suspect it might be a new species. They photographed the animals and collected one mature male and one female, freezing some tissue from the female for DNA testing.
Elliott sent the specimens to cave crayfish expert Dr. Horton H. Hobbs III at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, for identification. He confirmed that it was a species not previously known to science.
"Hobbs said he just about fell off his chair when he examined the specimens," says Elliott. "It turned out to be the first blind species of the genus Orconectes from west of the Mississippi. Missouri has 19 surface-dwelling species of this genus, but no cave-dwellers until this one."
Since the crayfish is new to science, it has no scientific or common name yet. Ken Lister, who netted the two specimens, says he thinks "the Caney Mountain cave crayfish" has a nice ring to it.
The crayfish's future seems secure. The cave where it lives is in a natural area, with the cave's entire watershed on Caney Mountain CA. The cave itself is obscure and contains no beautiful rock formations or other features to attract visitors.
Cave crayfish are unique in ways that go beyond their rarity. They have become so well-adapted to caves that they lack eyes. And because cave environments are so stable and food supplies so sparse, these creatures can take 40 years to reach maturity. They may live 100 years.
Elliott will lead field studies of the new crayfish, and says he hopes to find other populations in the area. He says the Ozarks' caves may hold still more undiscovered species. Counties that have an abundance of caves but are not known to harbor any blind crayfish include Dallas, Douglas, Laclede, Polk, Stone, Taney, Texas, Webster and Wright.
Photos of the Caney Mountain blind crayfish are available online at
- Jim Low -
A drop in the opening day deer kill compared to last year could cause the total harvest to fall short of last year's record.
JEFFERSON CITY--Warm weather chilled hunting success during the opening weekend of the 1999 firearms deer season. The deer kill Nov. 13 and 14 was 94,481. That is a decrease of 16,025 from the 1998 opening weekend total.
The Conservation Department received reports of seven hunting accidents during the opening weekend, including one fatality.
Hunter and deer reactions to the warm weather were likely the biggest factors affecting the opening weekend harvest, according to Lonnie Hansen, a Wildlife Research Biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.
"When it's warm, deer usually have no problem finding enough food," says Hansen, "so they limit their feeding activity, reducing a hunter's chances of seeing them. Hunters also alter their activities when it's warm. They stay afield longer and tend to be more selective about what they harvest, passing up chances to shoot does or young bucks in hopes that a large buck will come their way later."
Hansen also suspects that concern about meat spoiling due to the heat prevented some hunters from harvesting does and small bucks. He says under normal conditions a hunter with bonus permits can shoot the first deer that comes along, field dress it and continue hunting. With temperatures hovering around 80 degrees, a hunter must quickly get a deer into storage to prevent the meat from spoiling.
Changes in regulations also may have played a role in lowering the opening weekend harvest. This year, hunters may fill unused any-deer, bonus deer and "bucks only" permits during the muzzleloader deer season Dec. 4 through 12. Unfilled any-deer and bonus permits also may be used during the January Extension Portion of the season, Jan. 8-11. Hansen says those expanded hunting opportunities may have encouraged hunters to be more selective about what they would harvest.
Hansen says hunting conditions in some regions of the state also were affected by disease and food. The deer biologist suspects last summer's outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) may have pared back the herd slightly in North-central Missouri. And he says a better crop of acorns in the Ozarks probably made it unnecessary for deer to move around a lot looking for food.
Counties with the highest harvest were Macon, where hunters bagged 2,070 deer on the opening weekend, Boone County with 1,742 deer harvested and Montgomery County, where the opening weekend harvest was 1,668.
Regional opening weekend harvest totals were: Northeast, 19,680; Northwest, 16,229; West Central, 13,857; Central, 11,733; East Central, 8,931; Ozark, 7,357; Southwest, 7,321; Southeast, 5,843; Kansas City, 2,193, and St. Louis, 1,337.
The 11-day November deer season runs through Nov. 23. The opening weekend deer harvest typically makes up about 60 percent of the November deer kill. However, in years when the opening weekend harvest is low, hunters spend more time afield later in the season. This, along with more liberal deer hunting regulations this year, could allow hunters to make up some of the early season deer harvest deficit.
Missouri's annual deer harvest will not be known until figures are in from muzzleloader deer season and January Extension, special managed hunts on specified areas and archery deer season, which closes Jan. 15.
- Arleasha Mays -
Missouri's deer hunting accident rate is better than it used to be, but this year's season opener was no cause for celebration.
JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri deer hunters are a safer group than they used to be, but officials with the Missouri Department of Conservation say this year's opening weekend of deer season saw an above average number of firearms-related accidents. The conclusion, they say, is that more must be done to make deer hunting safe.
The Conservation Department received reports of seven hunting accidents during the opening weekend, including one fatality. The fatal accident occurred in Lawrence County on opening day.
A 27-year-old hunter, Kevin Lawmaster of Springfield, died when he was struck in the head by a shot fired by a 14-year-old hunter at a moving deer. Lawmaster was sitting in a tree stand. The shooter's name has not been released because he is a minor.
"This accident should remind all hunters that you must be conscious of what's behind the animal you're attempting to shoot," says Conservation Department Protection Programs Supervisor Bob Staton. "Make sure there is a safe area behind the deer before you pull the trigger. It's also a good rule of thumb to try to get the deer to stop before you shoot. You can whistle at it to get it to stop momentarily, then take a shot. It's rare that you will hit a moving deer. And even if you do hit it, chances are slim that the shot will put the deer down quickly. Most hunters prepare for the season by shooting at stationary targets. It's best to do the same when you go afield."
This year's opening weekend accident toll is two more than last year's. It also is more than the average of 5.8 deer hunting accidents recorded on opening weekends over the past 10 years.
Deer hunting accidents peaked in 1986, when the opening weekend saw 10 firearms-related accidents. That year, the Conservation Department recorded 25 nonfatal deer hunting accidents and one fatality. Over the past five years, the number of deer hunting accidents has averaged 12.6 annually.
Staton attributes the decrease in deer hunting accidents to public education about accident causes and to the requirement that hunters born on or after Jan. 1, 1967 complete a hunter education course before buying a hunting permit.
"We are proud of the progress we have made," said Staton. "It's important to realize that Missouri has more than 400,000 deer hunters, and the accident rate is less than one firearms-related injury for every 34,000 hunters. But this weekend's accident record is sobering evidence that we need to do more."
Staton said virtually every hunting accident is avoidable if hunters follow a few basic rules. These include:
--Keep the muzzle of your firearm pointed in a safe direction at all times.
--Identify your target positively before shooting. Hunters should wait to see the entire animal so there is no mistake.
--Make sure the line of fire is clear and there is a backstop behind the target to stop bullets that miss their marks.
--Make sure firearms are unloaded when lifting them into tree stands, when carrying them in vehicles, when crossing fences or other barriers and when not hunting.
An area in southern Missouri may provide a home base for an elk reintroduction by the Conservation Department.
JEFFERSON CITY--According to an elk feasibility study being conducted by the Missouri Department of Conservation the southeast and south-central Ozarks appear to be the most favorable locations for a possible reintroduction of elk into Missouri. Six sites that are heavily wooded and away from population centers, intense crop farming and four-lane highways were identified in the study.
An eastern subspecies of elk inhabited the state before settlement by Europeans. Elk remain populous in some western states, but only an occasional stray shows up in the Midwest. Arkansas has a small elk population, and other states east of the Rocky Mountains are looking at reintroductions. That generated interest in Missouri.
Two years ago a group of Missourians met with Conservation Department representatives to discuss the possibility of reintroducing wild elk in Missouri. The Conservation Federation of Missouri, the state's largest citizen-conservation group with more than 35,000 members, backed the proposal and requested that MDC study the possibility.
The feasibility study is broken into two partsbiological and socioeconomic. For the biological portion of the study, which was just completed, researchers looked for areas with suitable cover and forage for elk. In the socioeconomic study, researchers are surveying landowners and the public to determine attitudes toward a reintroduction.
The Conservation Department formed an elk information team that includes representatives of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the USDA Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Missouri Farm Bureau, the Cattlemen's Association and the Nature Conservancy. The idea is to learn the concerns of different groups and keep them informed about the feasibility study.
The Conservation Department specified that the biological assessment was to determine if there were areas in Missouri with suitable habitat for elk but where conflicts with human activities, for instance elk/vehicle accidents, would be minimal. The biological assessment was conducted with the Missouri Resource Assessment Partnership (MORAP). The group provided land cover classifications and surveyed the southern half of the state using satellite mapping techniques. Areas north of the Missouri River were not considered due to more intensive agriculture there.
The biological assessment had three phases. Each phase subjected prospective areas to more critical inspection regarding habitat and human habitation. Phase 1 eliminated counties with more than 15 percent of the area in row crop agriculture or large cities. Researchers also eliminated areas that included four-lane highways.
Phase 2 took a closer look at the quality of habitat for elk. Researchers divided southern Missouri into 100-square-kilometer cells and scored the suitability of habitat in each cell for elk. They also determined the potential for human harassment of elk in each cell, using road density as an index. Researchers then derived overall suitability for elk for each cell.
Was an area good for elk? This question was answered by multiplying the forage/cover index by the human harassment index. Based on these values, researchers ranked each cell as not suitable, marginal, suitable or optimal for an elk release.
The result was a list of potential sites in the southeastern and south central Ozarks. They included Peck Ranch Conservation Area, the Potosi and Doniphan ranger districts of the Mark Twain National Forest and the Clearwater Lake, Current River and Sunklands areas.
According to the Conservation Department, the most suitable sites for an elk release have little grain-farming activity, a component of open land and a large amount of public land, such as National Forest or conservation areas. The biological assessment determined that Peck Ranch and the Mark Twain National Forest appear to have good potential for elk. But the report also notes that other sites probably would work.
The Conservation Department also asked landowners to express their opinions about possible elk restoration with a mail survey last summer.
Statewide, landowners tended to know little about elk and saw benefits to reintroducing elk, but had concerns about potential problems. Of the statewide respondents who had an opinion (excluding those responding "no opinion") 64 percent were in favor of an elk reintroduction.
Landowners in the 10-county potential release area knew more about elk than statewide respondents, saw greater benefits and, with the exception of poaching, were less concerned about potential problems. A higher percentage (71 percent) of landowners in potential release areas with an opinion favored elk reintroduction.
The Conservation Department is developing a survey on elk for the public. Although the survey will be conducted statewide, it will pay special attention to the opinions of citizens in potential release areas to ensure that adequate information is gathered from areas that might be most affected by an elk release. After analyzing survey results, the Conservation Department will hold public meetings in each county within potential release sites next spring to give people in those areas more information on the proposal.
- Jim Auckley -
"Eagle Days" events at six locations around the state offer a chance to see America's national symbol in its natural state.
JEFFERSON CITY--Thirty years ago, the bald eagle was on the ropes, reeling from a one-two punch of habitat loss and pesticides. But these days Missouri plays winter host to thousands of the big birds, and the Missouri Department of Conservation wants people to come out and take a look at the big birds.
Each year the Conservation Department sponsors Eagle Days events to encourage Missourians to come see concentrations of bald eagles around the state. This year there are six events. Each features a chance to watch wild eagles at work and at play through telescopes provided free of charge. Each event also has indoor programs designed to let visitors see captive eagles up close and learn about the recovery of the species. Spending a few minutes inside also is a welcome opportunity to warm up between stints peering through telescopes, which can be pretty chilly work, depending on the weather.
Eagle Days events are scheduled for:
--Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge near Mound City from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Dec. 4 and 5.
--Historic Wilmore Lodge at Lake of the Ozarks from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 8.
--Jerry Litton Visitor Center at Smithville Lake in Clay County from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Jan. 15.
-- Springfield Conservation Nature Center from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Jan. 15 and 16.
-- Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis County from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Jan. 22 and 23.
--Lock and Dam 24 and the Apple Shed Theater in Clarksville from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Jan. 29 and 30.
Because many of the events will take place outside or in unheated buildings, those attending Eagle Days should wear warm clothing.
For a brochure with directions to all Eagle Days events, write to Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180 or call 573/751-4115.
- Jim Low -
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo.--Hunters who want to take part in the managed deer hunt at Fort Leonard Wood Dec. 18 and 19 should take note of a change in the application period.
Thomas Glick, natural resources officer at the army post, says the application period will begin Dec. 4 instead of Dec. 1. Registration will continue until the quota of 500 spots is filled. Further information about the hunt is available by calling 573/596-4223 between 9:30 and 5:30 Tuesday through Saturday.
- Jim Low -
The Nature Shop has gifts for outdoors loving friends and family.
JEFFERSON CITY--The splendor of nature is among the gifts you can give loved ones this holiday season. The Missouri Department of Conservation Nature Shop has books, cassettes, videos and other items for everyone on your shopping list.
The 2000 Natural Events Calendar is a feast for the eyes and a wealth of nature information. The 10- by 14-inch calendar is chock-full of vibrant photographs of outdoor Missouri and dates for natural events, such as redbuds blooming, bats coming out of hibernation and pawpaws ripening. Helpful tips will keep you updated on when to set up winter bird feeders, fertilize trees or buy hunting and fishing permits. The 2000 Natural Events Calendar may be purchased for $5.
Make a bird watcher's heart flutter with a gift of Bird Lover's Note Cards. The note cards feature colorful pictures of Missouri birds. Three boxed sets of note cards contain 12 cards and envelopes each and sell for $8. Cardinals and blue birds are featured in two of the sets. The other set features a variety of bird species.
Bird fanciers also will enjoy the Missouri Bird Calls cassette. It includes the calls of 192 birds found in Missouri and gives information on the habits and habitats of each. The Missouri Bird Calls cassette sells for $5.
Give someone an inside look at the natural world with a gift of a conservation video. "Back to the Wild" includes breathtaking photography of Canada geese soaring through the sky, the underwater antics of river otters and views of five other species in their natural habitats. The film tells the story of the restoration efforts that brought seven animals back from the brink of extinction. Youngsters and adults will find "Back to the Wild" entertaining and informative. The price is $11.
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A copy of "Conservation Trails, A Guide to Missouri Department of Conservation Hiking Trails" will make your friend enjoy being told to take a hike. The guidebook, which sells for $4, highlights 86 trails on conservation areas across the state. It gives directions to the trails, trail descriptions, overviews of the regulations and information about facilities and recreational opportunities. Other features of the guide include helpful tips on hiking etiquette, recommendations on hiking gear and blank pages for trail notes.
Conservation Department books, videos, CDs and tapes are available at conservation nature centers and service centers in St. Louis, Blue Springs, Springfield, Jefferson City and Cape Girardeau and by mail order. To receive a catalog and order form, write to Nature Shop, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180. Orders from Missouri residents are subject to sales tax, and carry an additional postage and handling fee. A 15 percent discount is available to Conservation Heritage Card holders.
Hunting and fishing permits make wonderful presents. All permits, except any-deer and bonus deer permits, can be purchased with a credit card seven days a week, 24 hours a day by dialing 800/392-4115. To purchase a permit as a gift, you need the recipient's conservation identification number, which is printed on current permits. If the conservation number is unavailable, you must provide the person's name, address, date of birth, social security number, hair and eye color, height and weight. A hunter education certification number also is required, if the recipient was born on or after January 1, 1967.
- Arleasha Mays -
Growing deer populations pose a growing problem for city governments. The Conservation Department helps find solutions.
JEFFERSON CITY--Missourians are seeing more deer today than ever before, and they're seeing them in places they never would have guessed. In the past year, news media have carried stories of deer crashing through plate-glass windows in shopping centers, devouring hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of crops, orchard trees and landscape plantings. Most often, the stories involve deer struck by vehicles. The results are always expensive and sometimes fatal for both deer and people.
The Missouri Department of Conservation recorded 8,651 deer/vehicle accidents in 1998, up from 8,111 the previous year. While Missouri's deer/car problems are growing, they pale in comparison to the hazards motorists face in other states. Neighboring Illinois has nearly twice as many deer/vehicle accidents as Missouri. Wisconsin records more than 40,000 such accidents annually, Michigan, more than 65,000. In the northeastern United States, deer cause more than $665 million in auto damages annually.
Hunting is the Conservation Department's most effective, practical tool for keeping deer numbers in balance with people's economic and safety needs. But in urban areas, where hunting may be impractical for safety reasons or because of public opinion, the Conservation Department works with private landowners and local governments to find other ways of meeting its deer management responsibilities.
An urban deer management policy adopted by the Conservation Commission at its August meeting provides guidelines for such cooperative efforts. The policy provides guidelines for Conservation Department biologists in the St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Columbia/Jefferson City and Springfield/Joplin areas to help keep deer numbers in balance with available habitat and citizens' needs. Implementing such management plans on land not owned by the Conservation Department is the responsibility of local organizations.
The policy directs Conservation Department wildlife research biologists to lend their expertise in assessing deer populations and selecting the best ways to reduce deer numbers. They also are to help measure the success of whatever strategies are selected.
In areas where the Conservation Department has urban wildlife biologists, they are to help resolve conflicts, obtain necessary permits and meet other administrative needs. Conservation Department regional information specialists are responsible for helping build public understanding of deer management problems and solutions.
Potential solutions include non-lethal measures, such as using repellents, fencing, trapping and relocation, reproductive control and modifying habitat. Lethal measures include managed hunting, sharpshooting and euthanasia.
Reproductive control by use of contraceptives is strictly regulated under federal law and is not legal in most situations. Methods currently available are neither cost-effective nor biologically feasible. However, some may hold promise for urban deer population control in the future.
The only other method of reproductive control currently available is to capture deer and sterilize them surgically. This is extremely expensive. Furthermore, it is ineffective in most cases because of the difficulty of treating enough deer and preventing other deer from migrating in from surrounding land. This method also causes a high rate of death from "capture myopathy," a condition that arises from the stress of being trapped and handled.
The St. Louis suburb of Town and Country is one community where the Conservation Department is working with local officials to test alternative methods of deer population control. The experiment involves trapping deer and relocating them to a conservation area.
The city hired a private wildlife damage control company to do the trapping. The first year's effort netted 51 female deer, far short of the 122 does that biologists say must be removed for two or three years in a row to get local deer numbers under control. Conservation Department biologists say the removal of 51 does approximately offsets fawn production in the area this year.
The relocation effort didn't save all the relocated deer's lives, either. One in five died within weeks of relocation. The primary cause of death was capture myopathy.
Other Missouri towns are grappling with similar deer population problems. The Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department has been using a special, managed muzzleloader hunt to control deer numbers in 7,800-acre Fleming Park. This differs significantly from Town and Country, where the deer must be removed from private residential neighborhoods.
The City of Columbia allows archery deer hunting within the city limits, so individual landowners who obtain permits can reduce local deer numbers this way.
The city of Boonville recently decided to thin its growing deer herd by means of professional sharpshooters. This practice is common in the eastern United States. It is effective and economical. It also is humane, resulting in quick death, rather than subjecting deer to the extended stress of capture and resulting illness. In some communities, meat from deer taken by sharpshooters is donated to food banks to benefit the needy.
- Jim Low -
Forestry officials need hunters' and landowners' help to prevent costly and dangerous "natural cover" fires.
JEFFERSON CITY--Extreme fire hazards created by continued drought have prompted the Missouri Department of Conservation and other government agencies to ban fires on public land. Officials also are urging deer hunters to forgo fires on private land in the interest of safety.
Autumn wildfires, an uncommon problem in Missouri, already have blackened thousands of acres of field and forest. From Oct. 27 through Nov. 9, the Missouri Department of Conservation fought 187 grass, brush and forest fires, collectively known as "natural cover fires." Those fires alone blackened more than 8,000 acres, and the actual total is larger. Local fire departments responded to countless fires where the Conservation Department was not involved. Conservation officials say the damage could grow much worse unless hunters and landowners take precautions.
On Monday, officials with the Conservation Department, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the USDA Forest Service and the National Park Service announced a temporary ban on open campfires on their lands in Missouri.
Firefighters in Camden, Miller, Morgan, Benton, Hickory, Pulaski, Crawford and Washington counties have been busy since late October keeping up with dozens of blazes whipped by dry, gusty winds. On Nov. 4, fire crews from all around the region converged on the Lake of the Ozarks area, where several fires spread to more than 100 acres each. So far, crews have prevented large-scale real estate losses, but damage to forest, pastures and wildlife cover have been extensive.
Northern Missouri, where wildfires usually are much less common than in the southern half of the state, has had its share of autumn blazes this year. Firefighters struggled for days to put out a stubborn wildfire at Edward Anderson Conservation Area (CA) in Pike and Ralls counties. Atchison County. "They would get it to where they thought it was out, and the next morning it would be going again," says Doug Halliwell, state fire supervisor for the Missouri Department of Conservation. That fire claimed several hundred acres of woodland and threatened several houses.
"We have been very fortunate to have such good help in stopping these fires," says Halliwell. "So far we haven't lost any homes and no one has been seriously injured, but with conditions as they are, that could change."
The conditions Halliwell mentioned include a three-month-long drought, strong, gusty winds and humidity levels almost unheard of in Missouri. Some areas have reported relative humidity as low as 9 percent.
Wind multiplies the danger of wildfires in two ways. Breezy weather, especially with low humidity causes leaves, grasses and brush to dry out rapidly, even after a modest rain. Once a fire starts, wind fans the flames and makes containment difficult, even for professional firefighters.
Halliwell says only two things can prevent fire damage from increasing. One is substantial, widespread rain. The other is caution by property owners and hunters.
"The weather forecast isn't encouraging right now, so that puts responsibility for preventing fires in citizens' hands," says Halliwell. "This is not the time to burn brush or leaves. We ask that people hold off until we get relief from the drought." He says that even a carefully planned and tended fire can get out of hand under current conditions.
Halliwell says landowners aren't the only ones who are in a position to prevent wildfires. More than 300,000 deer hunters will go afield Nov. 13 through 23, and their help is essential.
"An unattended campfire or a warming fire can lead to tremendous property damage, even loss of life," says Halliwell. "Hunters should not use open fires unless absolutely necessary, and when they do, they need to be extremely conscientious about putting them out before leaving camp."
Halliwell noted that many of this falls' fires have been set deliberately, and hunters are in a unique position to stop such "forest arson." Hunters who spot a fire should notify the nearest fire department immediately. Those who see someone setting a fire should call the toll-free Operation Forest Arson hot line, 800/392-1111.
The Conservation Department's west-central region has reported the most extensive losses, with 64 fires blackening approximately 3,600 acres. East-central Missouri was next, with 1,716 acres affected, followed by southwestern Missouri, where 1,055 acres were involved in 44 fires that caused an estimated $200,000 in damage to a mobile home, barns, and other property.
Fire crews from Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri battled a 469-acre blaze at Star School Prairie Conservation Area (CA) in the state's northwestern corner. In the northeast, 800 to 1,000 acres of Edward Anderson CA in Pike County burned, and 60 acres of nearby DuPont Reservation CA went up in smoke. Both the Pike County blazes were set deliberately by arsonists.
Southwestern Missouri fires are estimated to have caused more than $200,000 in property damage. In the Ozarks, the damage from 25 fires is estimated at $75,000, due to losses of 13 vehicles and one home.
- Jim Low -
Time is short for approval of a compromise bill supported by a majority of Missouri lawmakers.
JEFFERSON CITY--Missourians with an interest in outdoor recreation can contact their U.S. representatives this week to express opinions about legislation that could bring $17 million to Missouri annually for parks and wildlife.
The U.S. House Resources Committee has set Nov. 9 and 10 as the dates to "mark up" a bill merging H.R. 701, the "Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999" (CARA) and H.R. 798, also known as "Permanent Protection for America's Resources 2000." Each bill proposes using existing federal revenues from offshore oil leases to pay for a wide range of local and state parks, recreation and wildlife conservation programs.
Thousands of individuals, businesses and conservation groups support some version of the bill. Forty state governors have endorsed CARA, and more than 200 congressmen have signed on as sponsors of CARA or similar bills.
The idea of using offshore oil leasing revenues for parks and conservation has bipartisan support. Until recent weeks it appeared that Congress would not have time to consider the bill. However, the continuing legislative impasse over the federal budget has extended the current legislative session, leaving time to work on a compromise between CARA-like bills.
The proposed compromise would allocate $350 million annually for wildlife conservation and $125 million for urban parks and recreation programs at the state and local levels. States also would receive $450 annually through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Missouri's share of the money would be administered by the Missouri Departments of Conservation and Natural Resources. Much of the money would be available to local governments and conservation groups through grants administered by the two state agencies. Qualifying projects could include local parks, outdoor classrooms and wildlife habitat work.
Additional information about the bill is available from local congressional offices or online at
- Jim Low -
JEFFERSON CITY--The Missouri Conservation Commission's next meeting will be held Dec. 17 at Conservation Department headquarters at 2901 W. Truman Blvd., Jefferson City. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. following a closed executive session.
Commission meetings are open to the public. Items to be placed on the agenda for presentations or other business should be sent in writing to Director, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180; fax 573/751-4467. Requests must be received by Dec. 3. People requiring special services or accommodations to attend the meeting can make arrangements at the same address, or by phone at 573/751-4115.
Commissioners are: Howard L. Wood, Bonne Terre, chairman; Ronald J. Stites, Plattsbur, vice-chairman; Randy Herzog, St. Joseph, secretary; and Anita B. Gorman, Kansas City, member.
- Jim Low -
Get to a permit vendor before midnight Nov. 7 to take advantage of all the permit options available this year.
JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri's deer hunting regulations have changed this year, but the supply of white-tailed deer remains abundant.
Lonnie Hansen, a wildlife research biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, says the state's deer herd remains at or near target levels in most parts of the state. The targets are set to balance the benefits of having lots of deer with disadvantages that include economic and ecological damage and increased deer-automobile collisions.
Last year's record November firearms harvest of 198,911 deer fell more heavily than usual on the Ozarks. A poor acorn crop there forced deer to concentrate in areas where food was available, making it easier for hunters to find them. The deer harvest in the Ozarks was up significantly as a result. However, the Ozarks' acorn crop is better this year, so hunters will find deer more spread out and difficult to hunt.
Hansen says the abundance of acorns seems to be average around the state, despite this summer's drought. He says availability of this staple deer food item shouldn't be much of a factor in deer hunters' success statewide.
Hunters in some parts of north-central Missouri may notice a decrease in deer numbers, too. This is the result of an outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) that began in 1998.
Hansen says he worried that this summer's drought might concentrate deer around limited water sources, promoting the spread of EHD again. But the only areas reporting significant incidences of "blue tongue," as the disease is commonly called, were parts of Montgomery and St. Charles counties.
"We saw a significant number of diseased deer in Units 3 and 4 last year," says Hansen. "Hunters in those units and in the two counties where we had EHD outbreaks this year might find fewer deer this year, but not enough to have much impact on the statewide harvest."
Given favorable weather, Hansen said he expects hunters to bag about the same number of deer this year as last year. "Weather always plays a major role in determining how many deer we kill," says Hansen. "Hunters spend more time in the woods and kill more deer when the weather is cool and clear. If we get rainy or extremely cold weather during deer season, hunters are more apt to sit by the fire, and fewer deer are killed."
Changes in this year's deer hunting regulations include the elimination of separate permits for modern firearms and muzzleloader hunters. Instead of having to choose between hunting with a muzzleloader or a modern firearm as in the past, hunters this year can buy a $15 Resident Firearms Deer Permit or Resident Firearms Any-Deer Permit and do both. The permit allows holders to hunt with either modern firearms or muzzleloaders Nov. 13 through 23 and with muzzleloaders Dec. 4 through 12.
Hunters with unfilled Any-Deer or Bonus permits can use either muzzleloaders or modern firearms during the late deer season extension Jan. 8 through 11 in units 1-17, 20, 22-24, 58 and 59.
This also is the first year that hunters under age 12 can buy Youth Deer and Turkey Hunting Permits ($15). This permit allows youngsters to hunt in the immediate presence of a licensed adult hunter who has a valid hunter education card. The permit allows holders to take one deer.
Tagging procedures will be different this year. Instead of using their deer permits as transportation tags, hunters will receive adhesive-backed transportation tags from permit vendors and will notch their permits in the field to invalidate them after taking a deer.
In units with unlimited quotas for Bonus and Any-deer Permits, these permits will be on sale until midnight Nov. 7, the Sunday before opening day. Sales of Bonus and Any-deer permits for units with unlimited quotas will resume Nov. 24the day after the November Portion of the season closes. Sales will close again on Jan. 11, 2000the last day of the January Portion of firearms deer season.
Also new this year are Nonresident First Bonus Deer Permits ($75) and Second Bonus Permits ($50), Resident Managed Deer Hunt Permits ($15) and Nonresident Managed Deer Hunt Permits ($125). Deer taken with the Resident and Nonresident Managed Deer Hunt Permit don't count against the regular season limit. Participation in these hunts is by special drawing conducted earlier in the year.
Resident Firearms First-Bonus Deer Hunting Permits will cost $11, and resident second-bonus permits will cost $7 this year.
Hunters who fail to buy quota permits before midnight Nov. 7 can still buy firearms deer hunting permits for antlered deer only, but they will not be able to buy any-deer or bonus permits later. This also means they won't be able to take part in the January hunt.
Additional details of deer hunting regulations are outlined in the 1999 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Information booklet, available wherever hunting permits are sold.
- Jim Low -
Studies show river otter numbers growing faster than previously thought and shed light on their food preferences.
JEFFERSON CITY--River otters are flourishing in Missouri. The Conservation Department says otters are reproducing younger and faster than in other states and estimates the statewide population will reach 11,000 in the year 2000. But a study by the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC) suggests that Missouri could have as many as 18,000 wild river otters.
River otters are the subject of an article in the November Missouri Conservationist magazine. Author Dave Hamilton, a wildlife research biologist with the Conservation Department, says the two population estimates were made using different criteria to assess signs of pregnancy in the animals.
The UMC population estimate is based on three years of intensive otter investigations by graduate student Elsa Gallagher and Dr. Mary Ratnaswamy. Their population model, based on the best available scientific methods and interpretations, predicts a population topping 18,000 otters by next spring.
More significant than the number predicted is the conclusive evidence that female river otters in Missouri are reaching sexual maturity in record time. The study revealed that nearly 60 percent of the yearling otters showed signs of pregnancy in Missouri, giving birth to an average of more than three pups near their second birthday. Female adult otters also are setting records, with 89 percent of them pregnant and averaging 3.7 pups per litter.
Yearling females likely are producing more than 40 percent of the pups born each spring. This boom in otter production is believed to be largely the result of otters homesteading new, unoccupied territory. Rather than competing with each other for food, they are simply moving into watersheds that have not been occupied by otters yet. This unoccupied habitat is providing good living conditions with plenty of food, enabling the otters to multiply rapidly.
Otter numbers are increasing even in the face of a two-month trapping season. The Conservation Department believes that, with an estimated harvest of 10 to 16 percent annually, the animals' numbers will continue to grow until they reach the limits of available habitat to support them.
State and national animal-rights groups have tried to stop Missouri's otter trapping season with lawsuits in state and federal courts. They claimed the Conservation Department acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner, failed to follow proper procedures and endangered the state's otter population. The courts disagreed, however, and dismissed both suits.
Hamilton writes in the magazine that most Missourians support regulated trapping (70 percent in a 1997 poll). The state's largest citizen conservation group, the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM), backs up that claim.
"We support the authority of the Conservation Commission to regulate fish, forests and wildlife, and that includes otters," says Dennis Ballard, executive director of the 30,000-member group. "The Conservation Department has done a magnificent job of restoring wildlife like deer and wild turkeys, and now they have been successful with otters. We agree with the Conservation Department that a carefully regulated trapping season is essential to maintain balance in the state's booming otter population."
Ballard said the Conservation Department would not allow trapping if it endangered the success of its own decade-long otter restoration program. But, he said, otters represent a potential liability for some businesses and private property owners and their pelts represent a valuable renewable resource for trappers. "It would be irresponsible to ignore these factors and not use trapping as a management tool to regulate otter numbers," says Ballard. "That's exactly the kind of thing that Missourians established the Conservation Department to do."
Otters were extirpated from Missouri early in this century. The otter restoration program began in 1982 and ended in 1992. During that time, 845 otters caught in foot-hold traps in Louisiana were brought to Missouri and released. The Conservation Department allowed the state's first modern otter trapping season in 1996 after documenting unexpectedly rapid otter population growth.
Most trappers catch otters in traps set for raccoons and beavers. Researchers have seen no reduction in the number of otters present in the spring following each trapping season. The Conservation Department says trapping is among the few practical responses to complaints about otter damage to fisheries.
Crayfish are a major component of the otters' diet, but otters also catch and eat fish. The Conservation Department collected 443 river otter carcasses from trappers during two trapping seasons. Researchers removed the contents of the digestive tracts. Sixty-one percent of them contained crayfish, and 51 percent contained fish.
Most of the fish found in the analysis were bass and sunfish (39 percent) and suckers and carp (31 percent). Of the bass and sunfish, 40 percent were ages one to three, 40 percent were ages four to six and 20 percent were ages seven to nine. Hamilton says the food-habits study indicates that otters are preying disproportionately on older and larger fish in clear Ozark streams. He said fisheries biologists are working to determine exactly how otters' eating habits affect fish populations and angler success.
The Conservation Department is conducting a study of otter droppings to more accurately assess the items in otter diets. The agency also is working with a panel of citizens to assess otter damage to sport fisheries. This is a special concern in small Ozark streams. Smallmouth bass are more susceptible to predators during periods of low water in headwater streams.
- Jim Auckley -
To celebrate the approach of the milennium, the Conservation Department is offering bundles of trees with lifespans of more than 100 years.
LICKING, Mo.--Leave a natural legacy to future generations with seedlings from the Missouri Department of Conservation. The new Forest Legacy Bundle, which includes tree species with lifespans of more then 100 years, is among the trees and shrubs available from the George O. White Nursery.
The Conservation Department is offering Forest Legacy Bundles to recognize the 100th anniversary of active forest management in the United States. It also offers more than 50 varieties of tree and shrub seedlings for reforestation, windbreaks, erosion control and wildlife food and cover. Most seedlings come in bundles of 25 and range in price from $3 to $12.
This year, the nursery near Licking is offering a Forest Legacy Bundle, with shortleaf pine, white oak, bald cypress, flowering dogwood, American hornbeam, Ohio buckeye, black cherry, sugar maple, black gum and yellow wood. Each Forest Legacy Bundle will contain 20 seedlings with two each of 10 species. The price is $15. A handling charge of $5 is added to each order. Missouri Conservation Heritage Card holders can receive a 15 percent discount (up to $20) off seedling purchases.
Seedling order forms with price and other information will be available about Nov. 20 from Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180.
Orders are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so its 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 and whether you want to pick up your order or receive it by mail.
- Arleasha Mays -
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