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Letters to the Editor

Submissions reflect readers’ opinions and may be edited for length and clarity. Email Magazine@mdc.mo.gov or write to us:

MISSOURI CONSERVATIONIST
PO BOX 180
JEFFERSON CITY, MO 65102

Bow Builders

My sons and nieces were looking for something to do when I thought of the “Bow Builders” article in the June issue. We constructed four PVC bows. The kids had a great time and want to shoot them again.

John Hare Gladstone

More Bow Builders

I enjoyed the June article Bow Builders by Darren Haverstick on making archery equipment from PVC pipe. My two grandchildren and I made bows and have really had a lot of fun using them. The article and illustrations were excellent and very easy to follow. It was an enjoyable early summer project to complete with them.

Larry W. Nelson Warsaw

Bear Aware

I was so impressed by the diagram on Page 21 [May, Be Bear Aware] of the campsite, I thought I’d let you know what a valuable piece of information you have there. A lot of people, myself included, can read “place your tent upwind and 100 yards away,” but that doesn’t mean much. I don’t have the best sense of direction either. That diagram really made an impression in my mind, and I think you should put it on signs, billboards, pamphlets, on your website, anywhere you can so a lot of people see it. I’m glad I did! Thanks for a great magazine and all the great work you do in our state.

Karen Brown via email

Nature Knights

Your item in the June issue brought me many memories of Nature Knights [Letters]. I was a teacher from 1943 to 1945 at Nolan School, District 25 in Monroe County, Missouri. We participated in the Nature Knights program. We would go on walks through the woods surrounding the schoolyard and observe caterpillars in the chrysalis on a weed stalk. Some weeds were cut and developed into butterflies.

Hilda Ruth Wilson Monroe City

Mussels

I really enjoyed your story on freshwater mussels in the June magazine [Missouri’s Essential Freshwater Mussels]. It has been many, many years since I was on a Boy Scout survivor hike and mussels were the only thing we could find/catch. If I remember correctly, they were not very tasty and not easy to swallow. I was curious if MDC had a method to cook them. I looked for a catch and possession limit and did not find that either. Is it legal to take and possess Missouri mussels?

Bob Hentges Jefferson City

We did not include a recipe for preparing mussels, mainly because there were so many cool things about mussels we wanted to tell our readers and ran out of space. There isn’t a good recipe that we know of. Your description of “not very tasty and not easy to swallow” matches just about every description of eating freshwater mussels we’ve heard of! According to the Wildlife Code of Missouri, there is a daily limit of five in the aggregate, and limits apply to live and dead animals. Two shell halves or valves count as one mussel or clam. Asian clams may be taken and possessed in any number. These animals may be taken by hand, hand net, or pole and line throughout the year, and mussels and clams taken may be used as bait. These rules do not apply, however, to endangered species or species of conservation concern. —the editors

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