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Yes, ticks are bad this year, but with a little knowledge and the right tools, you can enjoy the outdoors with minimal risk of being bitten.
JEFFERSON CITY--Everything has a price. For two years in a row, Missouri has dodged severe winter weather. But one price of minimal cold is maximum tick numbers, and with the increased tick population comes an increased risk of tick-borne diseases. But you can still enjoy hunting, fishing, hiking and other outdoor activities safely with a few precautions.
Most tick bites are nothing more than a nuisance. Still, in rare instances they can result in serious illness. Tick paralysis, a rare, severe allergic reaction to tick bite, can affect part or all of the body. This disease usually is associated with a tick bite at the base of the skull on the back of the neck. Victims almost always recover fully after removing the tick.
A more severe reaction is tick toxicosis, which is a type of poisoning. It begins with redness and swelling at the site of the bite. Although it is an uncommon reaction, it can be quite serious, even fatal.
Ticks also can carry tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, and Lyme disease. Many of the symptoms of these diseases are similar. Signs to watch for in the days and weeks following a tick bite are:
--Swelling at the site of the bite. In Lyme disease a raised, bull's-eye rash develops within a few days, eventually reaching several inches in diameter.
--Unexplained flu-like symptoms, including fever, headaches, body aches and dizziness.
--Any unusual rash.
A person infected with a tick-borne disease may have all or none of these symptoms. If you consult a physician, be sure to mention that you've recently been bitten by a tick or were in a tick-infested area.
The good news is that most tick bites are avoidable. Clothing is your first line of defense. When outdoors, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants and boots. Tucking the cuffs of pants into your socks or blousing them with rubber bands or tape makes it harder for ticks to get inside your clothes. Wearing light-colored clothing makes it easier to spot ticks and remove them before they bite.
The most effective anti-tick tools are chemical repellants. Extensive testing has shown that two compoundsDEET and permethrinprovide the best, longest-lasting protection against ticks. Repellants containing DEET (n, n-diethyl-m-toluamide) can be applied directly to skin, though products containing high percentages of the active ingredient may irritate some people. DEET's strong, unpleasant smell is reduced in some time-release formulations,which make them less unpleasant to use and extend the time they repel ticks.
For long-lasting protection, though, nothing beats permethrin-based repellants. Permethrin is a contact insecticide and shouldn't be applied directly to skin. There's little point in doing so, since exposure to human skin neutralizes permethrin in a few minutes. But when applied to clothing it bonds to the fabric, where it continues to repel ticks for at least two weeks. Amazingly, the repellence lasts through two washings. Storing treated clothing in a plastic bag between uses extends the protection even longer.
When applying repellants, pay special attention to waistbands, button-closures, boots, and shirt and pants cuffs. Apply aerosol repellants in well-ventilated areas, and don't spray DEET-based repellants directly on your face. Instead, put a little on your hands and rub it on, avoiding the eyes and mouth.
In spite of these measures, people who spend lots of time outdoors pick up a tick now and then. The risk of contracting a tick-borne disease is negligible if ticks are removed promptly. The likelihood increases when a tick becomes engorged with blood and regurgitates some of its stomach contents into the host. So it's important to do a "tick check" as soon as you get home. Remove all clothing and wash it immediately. Then check yourselffront and backin a mirror or take turns checking an outdoor companion. Look closely; immature "seed" ticks smaller than pinheads can be difficult to detect.
Just as important as removing ticks promptly is doing so properly. Anything that causes a tick distressburning, soaking with alcohol, turpentine or nail polish removeris likely to cause regurgitation. Squeezing engorged ticks can cause involuntary regurgitation, and jerking them out is likely to leave their heads embedded in the skin, leading to secondary bacterial infections.
Follow these four steps to remove a tick that is already attached:
--Grasp the tick firmly as close to the head as possible, using tweezers or tissue to avoid direct contact.
--Gently pull the tick straight out. Don't jerk or twist.
--Disinfect the bite area.
You can dispose of ticks by flushing them down the toilet or by dropping them in rubbing alcoholthe most satisfying part of the process.
- Arleasha Mays -
It's Jerry Reeves job to hike every trail on Missouri's many conservation areas.
JEFFERSON CITY--Most of us would be terrified if our bosses told us to take a hike. Jerry Reeves was thrilled. He put on his hiking boots and never looked back.
Reeves, a natural history biologist for the Conservation Department, has the enviable job of inventoryingon footevery mile of every trail on conservation land statewide. Not that the job doesn't have its drawbacks. Ticks, thunderstorms and hot, sticky weather occasionally cause Reeves' thoughts to turn to air-conditioned offices. But never for long.
"The old saying, 'This sure beats a day in the office' is reversed for me," says Reeves. "It's pretty hard to beat a day in my 'office.'"
Reeves got this plum assignment because the Conservation Department needed someone to "ground truth" information from several sources about trails on dozens of conservation areas (CAs). Much of that information already is contained in "Missouri's Conservation Atlas," a 264-page compendium of county maps and descriptions of more than 1,000 CAs. A guide book published by the Conservation Department has detailed information about CA trails. Reeves' labor of love will help update both books, and the resulting trail information will be available on the Conservation Department's web site.
So far Reeves has covered about half of the 500-plus miles of trails on CAs. He expects to finish the project some time next year, but he says it's already clear that no Missourian lives more than 45 minutes from a place for a walk in the woods or glade, savanna or prairie. That's nice for Missourians to know, since June 3 is National Trails Day. Based on his travels around the state, Reeves has some recommendations for places to celebrate the event.
--In the St. Louis area, you can observe National Trails Day at Rockwoods Reservation. This area near Glencoe has 10 miles of trails.
--Kansas City area residents might want to visit James A. Reed Memorial CA during National Trails Month. This 2,456-acre area near Lee's Summit has 18 miles of trails.
--In the Springfield area, try Little Sac Woods CA near Willard, which boasts six miles of trails.
--Conservation Nature Centers in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Jefferson City all offer extensive networks of developed trails, many of them accessible to people with mobility impairments.
To learn more about hiking trails on CAs, check out "Conservation Trails: A Guide to Missouri Department of Conservation Hiking Trails." The 91-page booklet easily fits into a day pack and contains maps of hundreds of miles of trail at 40 CAs. It's available for $5.25 plus $2 shipping and handling from The Nature Shop, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180. "Missouri's Conservation Atlas" lists every CA in the state. It's available for $15.93 plus $5 shipping and handling from the same address.
- Jim Low -
The National Wild Turkey Federation offers a day-long outdoor skills workshop.
FAYETTE, Mo.--Women in the Outdoors, a new nationwide program that provides outdoor education opportunities for women, comes to central Missouri June 10. This one-day event, developed by the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), offers women ages 14 and older a chance to learn in-the-field skills in an environment that encourages success.
The workshop will be held at Midway Farms, 700 County Road 404, Fayette. It is sponsored by the Mid-State Chapter of the NWTF. Registrations will be accepted until the program is filled. To register, call 573/445-6363, or visit the web site, http://www.midwayusa.com/wito.html.
The day includes lunch and snacks, a Women in the Outdoors T-shirt, four training sessions of your choice, supplies, use of equipment and a silent auction.
The program started in 1997 and has become the largest outdoor educational program for women in the U.S. with 250 events and 16,000 women expected to participate in 2000. The program is designed to teach women about wildlife management, increase their participation in outdoor recreation, train women as outdoor educators, develop a network of outdoor enthusiasts and encourage support of the NWTF.
"The organization has always had a strong family focus," says Sarah Gaston of the NWTF. "They started a program to get youngsters involved in the outdoors several years ago, and it's called 'Jakes.' Knowing that women and children are important to our hunting heritage, the NWTF also saw the need for an outreach program that would include women. We are moving ahead from there." Gaston says she hopes to have at least 100 women at the Fayette program.
The $40 registration fee for the event includes membership in the National Wild Turkey Federation, a group that raises funds for wildlife conservation in Missouri and nationwide. Registration is limited to the first 200 women. Girls ages 14 to 17 are welcome, but must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Subjects that will be included in the June 10 workshop include archery, all-terrain vehicle operation, canoeing, deer and turkey hunting, fly fishing, fly tying, gun safety, handgun, rifle and shotgun shooting, kayaking, knot tying/water purification/survival, map and compass use, wilderness first aid, mountain biking, outdoor photography, plant and bird identification, outdoor cooking, rock climbing, trip planning and wild game preparation and cooking,
- Jim Auckley -
Mild winters have allowed the pests to proliferate, but home owners can help trees recover from defoliation.
JEFFERSON CITY--If you think you saw an unusual number of white webs in trees this spring, give yourself an "A" for being observant. The Missouri Department of Conservation says tent caterpillar infestations have been especially bad in some parts of the state this year and offers suggestions about how to help trees recover from the onslaught.
Hatching from eggs laid the previous year, the hairy black larvae of the eastern tent caterpillar have white stripes down their backs. They emerge as leaf buds are unfolding and spin protective, triangular webs in the forks of tree branches. They prefer wild cherry trees, but also attack apple, crab apple, ash, birch and several other species.
Coming out to feed and returning to the security of their webs to rest, tent caterpillars can completely defoliate a tree in a few weeks. Then they crawl away and spin cocoons in clumps of grass, crevices in tree bark and other protected spots. They emerge from cream-colored cocoons as rust-colored moths in June or July, when they mate and lay eggs. The egg masses appear as black, glossy, three-quarter-inch raised rings around branches.
Unlike fall webworms, which appear at the tips of branches in late summer, tent caterpillars produce only one generation a year. This allows host trees to produce new leaves. Their growth may be reduced by one year of defoliation, but most affected trees suffer no long-term ill effects. But trees that already are stressed by drought or suffer several consecutive years' defoliation may decline or even die. Conservation Department Forest Entomologist Rob Lawrence says tent caterpillars could cause greater-than-normal tree mortality this year.
"The past 12 months have been much drier than normal, and the past two winters have been unusually mild," says Lawrence, who works at the Conservation Department's research center in Columbia. "A certain number of caterpillars and other insects succumb to cold each winter, which helps control their numbers. The increase in tent caterpillars that we are seeing now may be related to the mild winters of the last two years."
Lawrence says trees that lost all their leaves to caterpillars last year, suffered through the drought and then lost all their leaves again this spring may struggle to survive. "If the drought continues, we could see significant tree mortality," he says.
Most of the caterpillars already have left their tents this year, so it's too late to prevent leaf damage. But homeowners can still help landscape trees recover from the effects of defoliation.
"The most important things this year will be supplemental watering and mulching," says Lawrence. "Weather forecasters expect another dry summer, and the double whammy of defoliation and drought stress can be really hard on trees."
Lawrence says superficial watering actually can be detrimental to trees by encouraging shallow roots. To really help trees, the ground should be soaked deeply once a week in the tree's drip linethe area beneath the crown of the tree. Also important, especially for recently planted trees, is putting down a 2- to 3-inch layer of mulch to hold moisture in the soil. The mulch shouldn't actually touch the tree trunk or be piled up like a cone, but rather should be spread out like a flattened doughnut.
"Feeding" trees with a balanced fertilizer now, and again after the first hard freeze in October, also will help make up for lost leaves. A granular lawn fertilizer with an analysis of 10-10-10 (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) is a good choice. This should be spread at the rate of 2 to 3 pounds per 100 square feet within the tree's drip line. Regular, deep watering will ensure that this fertilizer gets to the tree roots, rather than being soaked up by shallow-rooted grass.
Leonard warns against fertilizing from July through August. He says this can lead to frost damage in the fall.
You can head off problems with tent caterpillars next year by looking for the egg masses after leaves drop in the fall and pruning away infested branches. Waiting until autumn makes it easier to find the egg masses and allows the tree the benefit of all its branches and leaves throughout the growing season.
To learn more about tent caterpillars, visit these web sites: www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/hyg-fact/2000/2022.html or www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/entfacts/trees/ef424.htm.
- Jim Low -
Missourians will have several opportunities to take advantage of the annual suspension of fishing permit requirements.
JEFFERSON CITY--Fishing is on the house in Missouri June 10 and 11. The Missouri Department of Conservation has designated those days as Free Fishing Days. Anglers can wet their lines in state waters without having to buy fishing permits, daily trout tags or trout permits at most locations. Requirements for special permits still may apply at some county, city or private areas. Normal regulations, such as size and daily limits, still apply, too.
Free Fishing Days give those who don't regularly fish a chance to try out the sport at little or no cost. In addition to waiving permit fees on free fishing days, the Conservation Department will hold several events where anglers can enjoy special fishing opportunities or learn how to fish.
Kids can prepare for free fishing days at the Kids Fishing Fun Day June 3 in Springfield. The event at Bass Pro Shops and Sportsman's Park Center provides opportunities for youngsters ages 3 through 13 to fish from 8 a.m. to noon. The program sponsors, the Conservation Department, Bass Pro Shops and the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, will provide fishing instructions and fishing equipment.
Sessions on fly tying, casting and cooking fish highlight the June 10 Family Fishing Fair at the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery Conservation Center in Branson. The event from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. includes performances by the "Fishin' Magicians," prize giveaways for kids and opportunities for kids of all ages to make fish art prints to take home. For more information on the Family Fishing Fair call 417/334-4865.
St. Louis area residents can enjoy a day of fishing fun at the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area in St. Charles. The Family Fishing Fair will take place from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. June 10. Activities include sessions in which participants can learn about aquatic animals, as well as how to fish, assemble a tackle box and tie flies. Call 636/441-4554 to find out more about the event.
Youngsters can learn fishing techniques at the 10th Annual Leroy Rottmann Memorial Kids Fishing Clinic from 10 a.m. until noon June 10 at Twin Lakes Recreation Area in Columbia. Fishing equipment, bait and volunteers will be available to help parents teach youngsters to fish. Other activities and nature booths also will be available for kids to enjoy. The kids fishing clinic is scheduled for 8 a.m. until noon. For additional information, contact Scott Voney at 573/884-6861 extension 272. Cosponsors of the event include the Conservation Department, Columbia Parks and Recreation, the Rottmann Family and the Environmental and Contaminants Research Center.
A free fishing morning will take place at the Johnson County Fairground from 7 a.m. until noon June 10. Fishing equipment and bait will be available for all who want to try their hands at fishing. The fairgrounds are located two miles west of Warrnesburg on Highway 50.
- Arleasha Mays -
Conservation officials say they are thrilled to report only four accidents.
JEFFERSON CITY--The Show-Me State's spring wild turkey hunting season started with a record setting first week that carried all the way through the three-week hunt.
The total three-week harvest was 56,841 turkeys, an increase of 6,503 birds over the previous record, which was set in 1999. The season also set a record for the lowest number of hunting accidents in any modern spring turkey season. There were no fatal accidents and only four non-fatal hunting accidents.
Mike Hubbard, wildlife research biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the record turkey kill was the result of good weather most of the season. "The last week was so warm we were worried that participation would be down, but in the end the harvest hit about where we thought it would."
Hubbard also credits a robust turkey flock for the increased kill. A large part of this year's bag was two-year-old birds. "Production two years ago was about 37 percent above average, and that contributed to this good season," he adds. The number of hunting tags sold 113,421 was up from previous years, and youngsters bought 1,689 of the new youth hunting permits. Nonresidents represented less than 10 percent of the permits sold.
The top counties were Franklin with 1,236 turkeys checked, Macon with 1,100 birds killed and Texas with 1,086 harvested. Northeastern Missouri posted the largest regional turkey harvest, with 9,944 turkeys checked, followed by the northwestern Missouri with 8,722 and the west-central region with 8,331.
Bob Staton, a protection programs supervisor with the Conservation Department, says Missouri has seen a steady decline in spring turkey hunting incidents, especially since the early 1990s. "In the past 16 years Missouri has averaged 13.8 hunting incidents per spring season," Staton says. "The 2000 spring turkey season in Missouri marked a new all-time low in hunting incidents during an entire spring season. The previous records occurred in 1996, with six nonfatal incidents and in 1998 with five non-fatal and one fatal incident."
One young hunter was shot from such a long distance he did not know he had been hit. Someone at school noticed a spot on his arm was bleeding; an investigation showed he had been struck by several shotgun pellets, most of which did not break the skin. He never saw the person who fired the shot.
The number of accidents peaked in 1986, when two hunters died and 29 others were injured during Missouri's two-week spring turkey season. That prompted the Conservation Department to launch an intensive safety-awareness campaign that included news releases, magazine articles, a video that was shown to all hunter education classes and a "Be Safe" reminder sticker for hunters to put on their guns. The number of spring turkey hunting accidents began its rapid decline in 1988, when it became mandatory for persons born after Dec. 31, 1966, to pass a hunter education course.
"New regulations that allow the Conservation Department to revoke hunting privileges of careless hunters who shoot other hunters also are effective," Staton says. "The Conservation Department also has a new policy and procedures for how hunting accidents are investigated and reported. This includes training for hunting accidents investigators that began in 1991."
Hubbard says the future of wild turkey hunting in Missouri looks bright. "We have the potential for a tremendous production year. Warm weather in March has contributed to an early green-up of vegetation, and that has increased the amount of early-season nesting habitat available."
Only one in five turkeys killed this spring were yearlings. This bodes well for next spring's hunt, because it means that plenty of birds from the bumper crop of 1999 still will be around next spring. Most of the birds taken by hunters each year are two-year-olds.
Hubbard says the spurs on a turkey gobbler's legs are a convenient measure of age. A yearling bird, or "jake," may have no spur or only a bump. Two-year-old birds usually have spurs measuring an inch or less. A three-plus year old bird will likely will have pointed spurs more than 1.25 inches long.
- Jim Auckley -
The debate over chip mills raises the larger question of how to keep forests healthy in the face of growing demand for wood products. The Conservation Department has several initiatives to address this challenge.
JEFFERSON CITY--No other issue in recent years has galvanized such intense conservation activism in Missouri as chip mills. And while this debate often is contentious, Conservation Department Director Jerry Conley sees agreement at the heart of the discord and cause for optimism amid predictions of environmental calamity.
Timber companies began buying Missouri trees to feed chip mills in other states in the 1960s and did so for 30 years without drawing much attention. Then the first chip mill set up shop in Wayne County in 1997. Alarmed by the impact of large-scale clearcutting to feed chip mills in the other states, some conservation groups began asking if Missouri might suffer similar consequences.
Chip mill opponents express concern that if the facilities proliferate in Missouri, they will create a financial incentive to clearcut large acreages without regard for erosion, aesthetics or future forest health.
Professional foresterswhether they work for government agencies or timber companies or worked as private consultantsacknowledge that timber harvests made for chip mills can be detrimental to forest health. But they say that chip mills themselves are conservation-neutral. The facilities don't directly produce pollution or damage the environment. Furthermore, they note that chip mills can use stunted, hollow and crooked trees. By providing a market for these materials without other commercial value, chip mills create a financial incentive to improve the quality of Missouri forests through thinning and timber-stand-improvement cuts.
"What I hear in this debate, and what seems to get lost as the news media focus narrowly on the disagreements about this issue, is the large common ground of agreement," says Conley. "Neither side questions the desirability of managing our forests for long-term sustainability. No one disagrees that we should protect our streams and recreational opportunities. With all that we agree on, it seems to me that we should be able to work together on programs that preserve the values we all want from our forests."
Since only about 15 percent of Missouri forest land is owned by government agencies, Conley says the ultimate effect of logging here will depend on management decisions made by private landowners.
"If people who own 40 and 120 and 1,000 acres of forest land sell their timber to the first person who comes along and makes them an offer, it could be very bad for the state's forests," says Conley. "But the effect of careless forest management on the commercial value of timber is no worse if the land is clearcut for chip mills than if the best trees are cut for pallet mills and the woods are left choked with cull trees and tree tops, making future management economically and physically unfeasible."
Conley says the advent of the chip mill issue is an enormous stroke of good luck, because it has focused attention on the larger issue of private forest management. "Only about one in 10 people consults a professional forester before selling timber in Missouri," he says. "That's a formula for disaster for private forest landowners in the short term, and since the vast majority of the state's forest is privately owned, it's a formula for disaster for the whole state over the long haul. We saw the devastation wrought by willy-nilly cutting of Missouri's forests in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Now that our forests have recovered from that sad experience, we have a chance to do it right in the 21st century."
Conley says the Conservation Department has several plans for "doing right" by the state's forest resources. One is the recently unveiled private land program. The Conservation Department has created a new Private Land Services Division with a staff of 80 conservation professionals to help Missourians make the best use of their land.
"Of all our programs, this one has the most promise for ensuring that people make wise long-term management decisions about their forested acres," says Conley. "The point isn't to tell people what to do with their land, but to make sure they have the knowledge they need to achieve whatever their goals are in a way that provides the most benefits to them now and into the future."
The Conservation Department also decided to require loggers who want to bid on timber sales on conservation areas to take professional timber harvester courses in which forestry "best management practices" are taught. And the agency has enrolled its more than 500,000 acres of forest land in the national Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). This voluntary program has the dual purpose of committing the Conservation Department to sustainable management on its land and encouraging private forest landowners to enroll in SFI.
Besides these initiatives, the Conservation Department administers the State Forest Cropland Program, which offers tax incentives for good forest stewardship on private land, and the Forestkeepers Network, which empowers Missourians to keep an eye on the health of forest land that is important to them.
"The debate about chip mills is important," says Conley, "but we feel it's more important to get busy and take action right now to ensure the future of the state's forests. Missouri's forests were devastated 100 years ago, long before chip mills were around, and other demands on the state's forests will create the potential for bad forest management in the future. The only way we can hope to avoid harm to our forests is to make sure that people have access to information and services that help them do the right thing. Unless private landowners make wise choices, what we do on public land won't matter much.
"In this case, reasonable people on both sides of the debate disagree about the best way to address very real concerns about chip mills. But I'm tremendously encouraged to see such diverse groups in agreement about the desired end result. Everyone is enriched by having healthy, beautiful, diverse forests capable of providing us and our posterity with renewable resources, clean air and places to rediscover our bond with nature."
- Jim Low -
Bears are typically on the move in the spring; photos now prove they are reproducing in Missouri.
JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri's black bear population, still somewhat of a novelty in the state, usually produces a rash of sightings in the spring. The bears seen at this time often are juveniles moving into unoccupied habitats. But this year has been different; bear sightings were reported during the winter and into the spring, probably as a result of a milder than usual winter.
"People have been seeing bears all winter," says Scott McWilliams, a wildlife damage biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation. "The bears went into winter in good physical shape because we had a bumper acorn crop last fall. We have had an early spring with a lot of warm weather in the Ozarks, so there is a lot of early vegetation. As far as bear problems, we haven't had any, but I know of four or five sightings."
McWilliams says this spring also brought the first hard evidence of a female black bear raising cubs in Missouri. "We knew there were sows here with established home ranges," he says, "but this is the first time we have been able to confirm a sighting of a female with cubs."
Black bear cubs usually are born in mid-January and stay in the den nursing until about the first of April. The female keeps the cubs with her for two years. Black bears, which apparently moved into Missouri following a reintroduction program in Arkansas, rarely are dangerous, but people who encounter them should be cautious, especially with a sow that has cubs with her.
Bears' diet includes almost anything edible. David Goad, a bear program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and fish Commission, says, "Black bears have large canine teeth typical of meat eaters, but their diet is mostly fruits, berries and nuts, with the majority of their "meat" being insects. When natural foods are scarce (usually in early summer), they may overcome their fear of people and seek food around human habitations.
"If a hungry, roaming bear finds an easy meal of bird feeders, squirrel feeders, pet food, garbage or bee hives, it may hang around long enough to cause serious problems for the property owner and itself.
"When a bear is fed by people, it learns to associate people and food. It will then investigate human activity whether food is present or not. This habit is difficult to discourage and if handouts are taken away, bears will still search for other human food, getting into garbage cans, dumpsters, compost piles and domestic animal food supplies such as dog and fish food," Goad says.
Biologists in bear country have a saying "A fed bear is a dead bear." Bears that are fed by well-meaning people often turn into problem bears and end up having to be killed by wildlife damage control authorities.
Black bear sightings in Missouri include a bear carrying away scraps from a pork and baked potato dinner outside a house, a bear seen near a house after tearing down a bird feeder and a bear, also near a house, raiding cat food containers. All three sightings were in Ozark County.
Other Missouri sightings include a bear seen on a boat dock at Table Rock Lake (a barbeque had taken place there), a bear with two cubs crossing a field near West Plains and a bear eating persimmons near Gainesville. One homeowner in Texas County found bear tracks around an out building, while another resident near West Plains saw a black bear he estimated at 250 to 300 pounds. Other sightings include a small bear someone saw walking into a brushy area in southwest Missouri and a bear seen walking across a rural driveway near West Plains.
- Jim Auckley -
The national pollsters help the Conservation Department keep in touch with what people want for their conservation dollars.
JEFFERSON CITY--The Gallup Organization is conducting a statewide telephone survey for the Missouri Department of Conservation as part of the agency's continuing effort to stay abreast of Missourians' conservation attitudes.
The Gallup organization, headquartered in Princeton, N.J., conducts periodic public opinion surveys for the Conservation Department. Currently, Gallup is phoning about 860 Missourians and asking about their attitudes and opinions on a variety of conservation issues, awareness of Department operations, and use of Department services and land.
Experienced, professionally trained Gallup interviewers call an equal number of Missouri residents selected at random from each of 10 regions across the state. The Gallup Organization conducted the survey, called "The Conservation Monitor," annually from 1994 through 1997. Plans call for renewing the survey at two-year intervals in the future. Periodic polling allows the Conservation Department to track changes in attitudes toward long-term issues and find out how Missourians feel about emerging issues.
"The Conservation Monitor is extremely important to our agency," says Conservation Department Public Involvement Coordinator David Thorne," because it helps us respond to the needs and wants of the folks who pay the bills. We get a lot of valuable information of this kind directly from people through phone calls, letters and e-mails and at public meetings. But the majority of Missourians never contact us, and we need to know what they think, too. We can't expect people to support a conservation program that doesn't reflect their values and desires."
Thorne said the survey began the first week of May and will continue until the Gallup Organization reaches the number of people needed to make up a statistically valid sample, probably by the middle or end of May.
Gallup is the world's leading public opinion survey organization. It has 65 years of experience and more than 3,000 research, consulting and training professionals to ensure statistically valid and significant survey results.
- Jim Low -
JEFFERSON CITY--The Missouri Conservation Commission has changed the time of its meeting May 24 at Big Cedar Lodge, Ridgedale. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. instead of the original time of 1:30 p.m.
The Commission meeting will continue May 25 at the same location. The open portion of the May 25 meeting will begin immediately after a closed executive session at 8:30 a.m.
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 May 11. 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, Plattsburg, vice-chairman; Randy Herzog, St. Joseph, secretary; and Anita B. Gorman, Kansas City, member.
Missouri hunters killed an unprecedented 9,103 birds birds the first day of the season and never looked back.
JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri hunters killed a record number of turkeys in the first week of the spring turkey season, and they did it without a single accident.
Hunters started the season in record fashion, harvesting 9,103 turkeys on opening day. That beat the previous opening day record of 7,785, set last year.
Hunters brought 30,440 turkeys to check stations statewide in the first seven days of the three-week season. That is 5,146 more than 1999, and 3,903 more than the previous first-week harvest record, which was set in 1994.
Mike Hubbard, wildlife research biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the record first-week kill is the result of strong turkey numbers and almost perfect hunting conditions.
"Rainy, windy weather makes turkeys skittish and more difficult to hunt," said Hubbard. "We saw very little rain or wind the first week of the season. On top of that, temperatures were pleasant, and when the weather is nice, hunters tend to stay out and hunt longer, which increases their chances of encountering birds. The state's turkey flock is strong and continues to grow, thanks to good hatches the past two years. So far, it's a picture-perfect season."
And so far that picture is unmarred by hunting accidents, according to Conservation Department Protection Programs Supervisor Bob Staton. Last year, the first seven days of the season saw six accidents, and in 1998 there were three. "Keep up the good work is all I can say," said Staton. "We would all be thrilled if this was the first Missouri spring turkey season where no one got hurt."
Missouri hunters will make history if they keep this year's number of firearms-related turkey hunting accidents under five. That was the record low number recorded in 1996, when spring turkey season lasted two weeks.
Staton cautioned that as the season progresses, some hunters may feel pressure to "get their money's worth" by killing a gobbler and grow careless of safety. "Hunting should be relaxing and renewing, not competitive," said Staton. "Turkey hunting is thrilling whether you kill a bird or not, and no trophy is worth taking a chance of hurting someone or getting hurt."
Staton said turkey hunters should keep in mind the possibility that other hunters could be nearby. "That hen you hear yelping behind you could be another hunter calling," he said. "The gobbler you see through the weeds could be someone else's decoy."
Staton urged turkey hunters to wear blaze orange vests and hats whenever moving around, and hang them on trees above or near their calling positions when trying to call turkeys. "It's a great way to alert other hunters to your presence, and experienced hunters have found that turkeys aren't spooked by blaze orange. Movement is what scares them."
The top harvest counties were Franklin (689 turkeys checked), Texas (665) and Howell (533). Northeast Missouri led regional totals with 4,693 birds checked, followed by the west-central region with 4,611 and the northwest region with 4,243. Other first-week regional harvest totals were: east-central, 3,668; central, 3,226; Ozark, 2,993; southeast, 2,889; southwest, 2,641; St. Louis urban, 765 and Kansas City urban, 711.
The Conservation Commission lengthened Missouri's turkey season from two weeks to three in 1998. The first year, turkeys killed during the first week made up 54 percent of the season total. Last year, the first week's kill made up 50 percent of the season total. If this year's harvest follows that trend, the 2000 spring turkey harvest could outstrip the spring turkey harvest record of 50,338
Spring turkey season runs through May 14. The season limit is two bearded birds. Only one may be taken during the first week of the season. Hunters who do not take a turkey the first week can take one per day (up to the season limit) during the last two weeks of the season.
- Jim Low -
Unraveling clues to the presence of schools of bait fish help crappie champs locate the best fishing sites.
PIEDMONT, Mo.Two Missouri anglers brought home top honors in a national crappie fishing tournament. Larry McMullin of Essex and Dan Hudgens of Dexter won the Crappie U.S.A. tournament last fall on H. Neely-Henry Lake near Gadston, Alabama, a reservoir on the Coosa River.
McMullin and Hudgens hone their crappie fishing skills on southeastern Missouri's Lake Wappapello, an impoundment where they say the crappie fishing is better than ever. They had to qualify in smaller regional tournaments, some of them held in Missouri, to reach the national tournament. Their prizes for winning the national tournament included boats and fishing tackle.
McMullin is a professional taxidermist; Hudgens rebuilds trucks for a living.
McMullin began his trip down the crappie tournament trail by entering a contest in 1986. "I didn't do any good that time, but I caught the tournament bug," he says. An organization called Crappiethon put on two tournaments at Wappapello in 1990 and 1991 that McMullin fished; in 1991 he and a partner qualified to go to the nationals at Lake Ouachita near Hot Springs, Ark. The two finished 26th at that event. Next came involvement with something called the Bootheel Crappie Club.
McMullin and Hudgens eventually teamed up and won a number of tournaments on Lake Wappapello. Crappie U.S.A., based in Brentwood, Tennessee, brought a tournament to Lake Wappapello in 1998; the duo won that event and qualified for a regional tournament. They missed qualifying for the nationals that year, but the following season they qualified and competed in the tournament at Percy Priest Lake, Tennessee.
"We were 20th at Percy Priest," McMullin says. "Last year we qualified off of Wappapello to go to the regional at Arkabutla Lake in Mississippi, and we had to get in the top 20 to get in the national. The weather turned bad, there was a lot of rain and the lake got muddy. We only caught five fish, but out of 186 boats we ended up in 22nd place . . . but we missed it again."
Later, success at tournaments on Truman Lake and in Oklahoma put McMullin and Hudgens in the nationals in Alabama. "I went down there and pre-fished it in February and caught some good fish," McMullin says. The pair selected an obscure portion of the lake and hit it big. They fished stumps along the lake bank and caught a couple of really large crappie. They left that site and didn't go back until the day of the tournament.
"A biologist in Kentucky told me a few years ago if I could keep up with the big white birds I could keep up with the shad and the crappie, "McMullin says. Herons, gulls and crappie all feed on shad; seeing feeding water birds is a tip crappie may be present, too. McMullin says the presence of gar also are a sign that shad are plentiful. "One of the things we look for on Wappapello and other lakes is a school of big gar. If you can find that, you can usually find crappie close by," McMullin adds.
When they returned to Gadston for the tournament, skill and luck was with them. "At the nationals we found the birds, the gar, the shad and the crappie ... everything was there. We put the depth finder on and the lake was just full of fish," McMullin says.
After the first day of the tournament they were only out of first place by the smallest of margins. They returned to the same part of the lake and came away on top, winning the national tournament by less than a pound. Prizes included expensive bass boats, a pair of high quality wrist watches and a lot of fishing tackle. The pair now has corporate sponsors. They get an automatic invitation back to the nationals and are preparing for four regional tournaments.
As in most bass tournaments, the crappie have to be weighed in alive, and they are released back into the lake unless they show signs of mortal injury. Fish that appear stressed are put on ice and given to charitable organizations.
How do they fish? "You have to adapt to conditions of air and water temperature, sunshine and clouds, high water or muddy water," McMullin says. "We have been able to do that on Wappapello, and when you get on the national circuit you are competing against a crowd that knows what they are doing; you have to be good, but you have to be lucky, too." He adds he and Hudgens often fish deeper water, looking for the larger crappie.
McMullin can't say enough about Missouri's Lake Wappapello. "We think the Conservation Department is doing a great job there," he says. "The last four or five years here the crappie fishing has been getting better and better.
"A limit of fish will rival any lake on poundage. It's fished year-round, and a lot of people fish for crappie even through the winter. But it seems like the lake continues to produce bigger crappie. There was a tournament here recently and the winners had ten fish that weighed more than 14 pounds. We fish lakes in other states that aren't nearly as good," McMullin says.
- Jim Auckley -
Missouri and 11 other states will share information about wildlife violators and make sure their punishments don't end at state lines.
JEFFERSON CITY--Being a poacher just got a little bit harder. Missourians who habitually cheat on hunting, fishing and trapping regulations soon will find that fines and instate privilege revocations are just the beginning of their troubles.
Missouri recently joined the Interstate Wildlife Violator's Compact, an agreement whereby 12 participating states will share information about game law violators and honor each other's decisions to deny permits to perennial poachers.
In the past, poachers whose hunting, fishing or trapping privileges were suspended in one state could simply drive to another state and be back in business. Now, if your privileges are revoked in Missouri they are all but certain to be revoked in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Missouri, in turn, will honor revocations in these same states.
The Conservation Department already has the names of several hundred violators who currently are denied hunting, fishing and trapping permits in other Compact states. Following action by the Missouri Conservation Commission to revoke their privileges here, their names will be flagged in Missouri's automated permit issuing system, making it impossible for them to purchase permits anywhere in the state. Similarly, several Missourians who have lost their hunting, fishing or trapping privileges here may find themselves shut out of the other 11 compact states.
Each state retains its own criteria and procedures for privilege suspension. In Missouri, violators will receive notice that the Conservation Commission is considering revoking their privileges and can request hearings to contest the action.
"Some people might not be deterred by the thought of losing the chance to hunt deer in Missouri for a few years," says Dave Beffa, protection programs supervisor for the Conservation Department. "But they may feel different if they realize that overstepping the limits repeatedly at home could cost them their Colorado elk hunt or a shot at a bighorn sheep in Montana."
Beffa says the idea of the Interstate Wildlife Violator's Compact began in the West and has spread steadily eastward. "It's an excellent idea, and it's catching on," he says. "More states will join as years go by. Eventually, I expect it to be nationwide. The worst violators will be able to run, but they won't have anyplace to hide."
Ironically, people caught breaking fish and game laws outside their home states will reap one benefit from the Compact. Instead of being forced to post bonds they may receive citations and be released, just as if they were at home.
- Jim Low -
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