Although valued in some states as a game species, black bears are just starting their return to Missouri. Most people enjoy catching a rare glimpse of Missouri's largest and often elusive mammal, but in a few instances, young bears can cause problems as they set off on their own.
Blackbirds--red-winged, grackles and cowbirds--damage crops. These birds feed extensively on insects and waste grain during most seasons, although studies confirm that they cause serious damage to ripening fruits, corn and other grains. Learn more about blackbirds and how to deal with them.
To fully enjoy your camping or outdoor experience in Bear Country, the following 10 Commandments of Camping must be observed to avoid problems with bears.
Although most people enjoying having Canada geese around, they cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage each year. This booklet details problems and possible solutions to this issue.
Because of their insectivorous habits, bats are beneficial. Bats do not destroy property by gnawing or chewing. They occupy a special place among mammals because they can fly. They do not compete with other mammals for food or shelter. For these reasons, bats should not be needlessly destroyed. However, this document explains how nuisance bats can be managed.
Blackbirds damage corn in August when the kernels enter the milk stage. Red-winged blackbirds and grackles tear open the husk and feed on the kernels. The open husk exposes the kernels to further loss from disease. This document describes methods of controlling blackbirds.
During the winter, nearly all blackbirds migrate south, but enough stay in Missouri or move in from the north to create problems of flock-feeding at livestock feedlots or poultry operations where food is readily available.
Blackbirds create of summer and fall roost problems deciduous shade trees in urban and suburban areas, winter roosts in conifer trees, and winter roosts on structures in urban areas. This document describes control methods.
When chipmunks move into an urban setting, they may conflict with man. In their normal activities, they may dig seeds from the garden, feed on flower bulbs and burrow into lawns, especially near dry rock walls. If the homeowner places a higher value on his garden, lawn, or flowers than on seeing chipmunks, control measures are needed to offset the conflict.
Groundhogs prefer to construct their burrows on or near farmland where crops grow, but they may also be found in woodlands, on abandoned farms and occasionally in urban areas where the combination of food and cover provides satisfactory habitat. Another common location where they are observed is along highways in the vicinity of culverts.
Citizens occasionally encounter mammal problems that require live-trapping. With proper equipment, most of these problems can be readily solved. Do you have a raccoon in the attic, skunk under the house, or squirrel in the wall? If so, reading this leaflet can help you. It provides information on capturing problem mammals with cage-type live traps.
Meadow mice can become so plentiful that they damage crops and ornamental plants. Normal foods include native grasses, legumes and herbaceous weeds. But cultivated crops, ornamental shrubbery, vegetables and flowers, especially bulbs, are also eaten.
Moles rarely eat flower bulbs, ornamentals, or other vegetative material while tunneling, but plants may be physically disturbed as moles tunnel in search of animal organisms in the soil.
Although the feeding habits of muskrats may result in some damage to agricultural or ornamental crops growing near water, the principal cause for concern is the potential damage to earthen water-retaining structures, resulting from muskrat burrowing activities. Extensive tunneling into earthen dams may result in water leaks or even in the loss of stored water.
Common Pigeons are introduced birds, thought to have ties with the rock dove, or pigeon, of Europe, Asia and Africa. Over much of the United States, especially in urban areas, they are a nuisance. From a biological, pathological, or aesthetic standpoint, pigeons may be objectionable. They harbor diseases communicable to man, and nesting and roosting areas are dirty.
Skunks live in underground dens, usually renovated woodchuck burrows, or in rocky crevasses. In rural and suburban areas skunks may take refuge beneath buildings and in the crawl space under porches.
Squirrel feeding can result in the loss of sweet corn, tomatoes and other vegetables from your garden. High squirrel populations also can affect commercial nut production, especially walnuts and pecans. Squirrels sometimes dig and eat flower bulbs and newly planted seeds.
Weasels' principal food consists of small rodents, but larger mammals, cold-blooded vertebrates, birds and insects may be taken. At times they raid poultry houses at night and cause severe losses of domestic fowl.
Badgers may cause considerable damage to hay fields, pastures, levees, pond dams, terraces, golf courses and cemeteries. The holes they dig vary from a few inches to several feet deep. Occasionally, badgers may dig their way into pens or poultry houses and kill poultry.
Making trapping lures is interesting if one has the time and inclination to do it. There is something very rewarding about formulating a lure for a species of animal and finding that it works.
Feral, free-roaming hogs degrade wildlife habitat, compete directly with native wildlife for food, and can pose a threat to humans and domestic livestock through the spread of disease.
If home gardening was subjected to a cost/benefit analysis, it likely would show a slim monetary gain. It would, however, show a benefit to most wildlife species. As many of us have learned, plump fruits and vegetables are a desired meal for many wild animals.
Canada geese are highly prized game birds and are enjoyed by birders, photographers and casual observers. Their presence in some locations, however, may result in problems. Goose flocks near airports are an aviation hazard, and in rural areas geese can damage crops. Most problems result from goose droppings in urban or semi-residential locations. Lawns, golf courses and community or subdivision lakes provide ideal loafing, roosting and grazing areas for geese. Droppings on shorelines, swimming beaches and docks are a nuisance and vegetation can be damaged by too much grazing or trampling.
With a little modification in the size during construction, this trap design may be adapted to catch other, larger or even smaller animals. Nuisance animals may be trapped and moved to another area, using the box for transport. These traps must be used in accordance with all rules and regulations of the Wildlife Code of Missouri.
With a little modification in the size during construction, this trap design may be adapted to catch larger or even smaller animals. Nuisance animals may be trapped and moved to another area, using the box for transport. These traps must be used in accordance with all rules and regulations of the Wildlife Code of Missouri.
While many people enjoy seeing and living near wildlife, there are times when wild animals get too close and create a nuisance, cause property damage or inflict injury on livestock, pets people.
Rabies is one of the oldest diseases known to man. Aristotle in 300 B.C. described this disease as being caused by the bite or tooth scratch of an infected animal. He further stated that once the symptoms of the disease appeared in man or animal, death occurred in a few days. This is as true today as it was in ancient times.
Few outdoor skills demand as much from their participants as trapping. An understanding of animal habits and habitat relationships, the ability to identify and successfully interpret animal signs, many hours of preparation and scouting, and long periods afield during harsh winter weather are a few examples of the challenges confronting the modern trapper.
Turtles are generally harmless. Those that live in water eat plants, crayfish, snails, insects, and carrion. They are an important part of the life in any body of water, and only the common snapping turtle may become a nuisance requiring a limited amount of control.
The Wildlife Damage Management Program was established by the Missouri Department of conservation to help minimize conflicts between wildlife and landowners. The program depends on a veriety of methods to reduce wildlife damage, including habitat management, animal husbandry, repellents, traps and scare tactics.
Carpenter bees sometimes become a nuisance outdoors when they fly very erratically (hover) around the heads of people, causing fear. Homeowners complain not only about the aggressive nature, but about the round holes bored into wood trim near eaves and gables of homes, facia boards, porch ceilings, outdoor wooden furniture, and decks.
Although beneficial since it feeds on live insects, the European hornet can fly at night and sting repeatedly in defense of its nest entrance. Sometimes it builds its nest too close to dwellings, hunts in human-use areas, becomes attracted to lights, strips bark from ornamental plants, eats tree fruits, and raids domestic honey bee hives.
Millipedes normally live outdoors but may become nuisance pests indoors by their presence. At certain times of the year (usually late summer and autumn) due to excessive rainfall or even drought, a few or hundreds or more leave the soil and crawl into houses, basements, first-floor rooms, up foundation walls, into living rooms, up side walls and drop from the ceilings.
The brown recluse spider is uncommon in Ohio. Nonetheless, OSU Extension receives numerous spider specimens that homeowners mistakenly suspect to be the brown recluse. Media attention and public fear contribute to these misdiagnoses.
Wildlife Services (WS), a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, provides Federal leadership and expertise to resolve these conflicts and create a balance that allows people and wildlife to coexist peacefully.
Many species of bees and wasps are present in every geographic region of Missouri. Only a few of these species really need to be feared, however, and then only in special cases. Knowledge of their habits is the first step in reducing fear to a level of healthy respect.
