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1. Catch & Release Season Opens at Trout Parks
2. Restless Deer Create Automotive Peril
3. Outlook Bright for Deer Hunters
4. Muskie Action Heats Up As Fall Cools Down
5. Error About Ballot Initiative Could Confuse Voters
6. Outdoor Calendar
"This we know: the Earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the Earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all." -- Chief Seattle of the Dwamish Indians
1. Catch & Release Season Opens at Trout Parks
The winter fishing season at Missouri's trout parks offers solitude and a good chance of landing a lunker -- two things that are not part of the summer trout-park experience.
JEFFERSON CITY -- The summer fishing season at Missouri's trout parks may be over, but that s no reason to put away your gear: the winter no-creel season is only a week away. Starting Nov. 8, the waters at Bennett Spring, Montauk and Roaring River state parks, operated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and the privately owned Maramec Spring Park will be open to catch-and-release fishing. Anglers may fish from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Feb. 9. All trout must be returned to the water unharmed immediately after being caught. Lures are restricted to flies, with or without spinners, constructed of feather, tinsel, chenille, yarn, fur, hair, silk, rayon, nylon thread or floss on a single-point hook. All anglers participating in the winter season must possess a $5 valid no creel fishing permit and a free daily trout tag. Permits and tags may be obtained at the parks prior to fishing. Missouri residents ages 16 to 64 and non-residents age 16 and older must have a Missouri fishing permit.
2. Restless Deer Create Automotive Peril
Deer throw caution to the wind during their mating season, so motorists must be on the defensive.
JEFFERSON CITY -- Few, if any, people would guess that white-tailed deer pose a threat to humans. But each year, motorists in Missouri and across the United States are involved in deer-related auto accidents that cause property damage and injury. This time of year can be especially dangerous for drivers, as the deer mating season or rut reaches its peak. During the rut, the urge to mate may replace a deer s normal reaction to move out of the path of approaching vehicles, or wait until a car has passed before attempting to cross a road.
Deer's loss of caution requires drivers to take extra precautions to avoid deer-vehicle collisions. A good first step is to limit your travel during the evening and early morning hours when the animals are most active. When you drive, slow down and watch for deer, especially near wooded areas or where deer crossing signs are posted. The sooner you see a deer, the more time you will have to react to its movements.
Other tips that may help you avoid a deer-related accident include:
3. Outlook Bright for Deer Hunters
Missouri could be looking at another record-breaking deer harvest.
JEFFERSON CITY -- Prospects are bright for Missouri's 1996 deer season. Deer are plentiful. Hunters are getting a record number of any-deer and bonus permits. And if weather during the extended deer season is pleasant enough to induce Missourians to use those permits, there's no reason why 1996 can't be the third record-setting firearms deer season in a row.
Missouri Department of Conservation Wildlife Research Biologist Lonnie Hansen says that with reasonably good weather, Missouri hunters are likely to set a new deer harvest record this year. "I wouldn't be surprised to see 200,000 deer killed by firearms deer hunters," says Hansen, "though the actual number could be substantially lower if we get really rotten weather."
Missouri hunters set deer harvest records last year for the opening weekend, for the full firearms hunting season and for the annual harvest by all methods. Hunters checked 110,191 deer during the first two days of the firearms deer season. The deer kill during the 11-day firearms deer season last November totaled 183,151. By the end of archery deer season Jan. 15 they had bagged 208,917 deer with modern firearms, muzzle-loading firearms and bows and arrows.
Several factors besides the record number of any-deer and bonus permits lead Hansen to predict a new record this year. One is the addition of two days when hunters will be allowed to use modern firearms to hunt antlerless deer in much of north Missouri. For years, Missouri's firearms deer season ran for nine days in late November. Last year the MDC increased that season to 11 days. This year, in addition to firearms deer season Nov. 16 -26, hunters who have unfilled any-deer or bonus deer permits for Deer Management Units 1 through 17, 22, 58 or 59 will be able to use modern firearms to hunt antlerless deer in those units Jan. 4 and 5.
Also, for the second year in a row, archery deer hunters will be able to hunt through Jan. 15. Until last year, the archery deer hunting season ended Dec. 31.
Finally, the MDC has designated two new urban deer management zones. Because of necessary restrictions on hunting in those areas, the annual deer harvest has not been as effective as the MDC would like in controlling deer numbers around St. Louis and Kansas City. In an attempt to remedy this, the agency is allowing firearms deer hunting in those areas during the two extra hunting dates in January and is allowing archers to purchase as many as five additional permits for hunting antlerless deer in Units 58 and 59 for $5 per permit.
"I don't expect the availability of extra archery deer permits to make a big difference in how many deer are taken from the urban management units," says Hansen. "But we will be watching this closely as another possible tool to help meet suburban landowners's demands for help with nuisance deer problems."
Hansen estimates Missouri's deer herd at about 800,000, which he says is well within the biological capacity of Missouri's forests, fields and streams to support. In some areas, however, the number of deer is at or slightly above the "cultural carrying capacity" -- the number of deer an area can support without an unacceptable level of conflict with farmers, homeowners and motorists. These areas are mostly in northern Missouri and around the state's urban areas.
"The number of deer is growing slowly in southern Missouri and in some parts of northern Missouri," says Hansen. "Overall, the state's deer herd is fairly stable, with maybe some slow growth. Hopefully, this year we will stop that in the north."
Hansen says the MDC wants to allow continued slow growth of the deer herd in much of southern Missouri, while maintaining the current number of deer in most of the rest of the state. "The challenge," says Hansen, "is striking a balance between the desires of people who want more deer with those who think there should be fewer. For many hunters, there is no such thing: 'too many deer' is an oxymoron. But farmers who lose crops and homeowners who lose landscape plants to deer browsing look at things very differently."
To maintain the tricky balance between "enough" deer and "too many" deer, the MDC divides the state into deer management units. This enables biologists to tailor the deer harvest in each unit to the combination of deer population and human activities in the area, which typically is the equivalent of about 1,150 square miles, with roads or streams for boundaries.
The tools that biologists use to control the size of the deer harvest in each unit are regular deer hunting permits, any-deer permits and bonus, antlerless-only deer permits. A regular firearms deer permit allows the holder to kill one antlered deer. An any-deer permit allows the holder to take one deer of either sex. Bonus permits allow holders to harvest additional deer, which must be antlerless. The majority of antlerless deer are females, which are the key to controlling deer reproduction.
Varying the number of any-deer and bonus, antlerless-only permits issued for each of Missouri's 59 deer management units allows the MDC to regulate deer numbers in each area. Issuing more any-deer and bonus antlerless-only tags increases the number of female deer killed in a particular area, slowing the growth of the deer population in that area or even reducing deer numbers.
Only one deer management unit (Unit 57, in the Bootheel) has no any-deer or bonus-deer permit allotment this year. In all other units, the removal of some female deer is necessary to prevent the number of deer from increasing to the point where they cause damage to property and become nuisances.
This year, the MDC has 426,100 any-deer and bonus permits available. That is a 20-percent increase from last year's allotment of 355,250 and the most ever offered. It's also considerably more than the 233,000 or so hunters who applied for any-deer permits. In units where available any-deer permits outnumber hunters applying for them, the MDC issues bonus permits to use up the excess. In units where the leftover any-deer permits outnumber hunters who asked for bonus permits, the MDC issues the remainder as second bonus permits.
This year, 97 percent of hunters who applied for any-deer permits also asked for bonus permits. Hansen says this number is up from 86 percent in previous years, possibly because the new, electronic point-of-sale system for issuing permits made it harder to miss the opportunity.
Consequently, the MDC is putting more first bonus permits into hunters's hands than ever before -- about 25,000 more. And because of this year's larger allocations, the MDC is issuing about 25,000 more second bonus permits. He says this is likely to boost the 1996 deer harvest even further, since hunters have a much better chance of bagging a second deer than a third one.
But the number of bonus permits actually filled depends largely on the weather. "Weather always is an important determinant of the deer harvest," says Hansen. "On days when the weather is cold and wet during deer season, fewer hunters go afield. If we have enough bad weather during the season, it can hold down the number of deer killed."
DEER HUNTING REGULATION CHANGES
Deer hunters need to be aware of changes in the way they must tag deer and turkeys this fall. Instead of transportation tags being issued as part of deer hunting permits, they will be provided separately by permit vendors at the time of sale. Hunters will be required to print their name and address on the transportation tag before hunting and carry both the hunting permit and transportation tag to the field with them.
As soon as they shoot a deer, successful hunters will be required to cut a notch in their permits and fill in the date and time of the kill. They also will print the date of the kill on the transportation tag before attaching it to the deer. The adhesive any-deer and bonus stickers issued to hunters are not to be removed from their backing until hunters bring their deer to check stations. Check station personnel will peel off the appropriate sticker and affix it to the transportation tag.
Unlike last year, hunters will not need to carry string with them to tie their transportation tags to deer. This year's transportation tags have adhesive backing as in years past.
Another change in this year s deer hunting regulation concerns shooting hours. In the past, it was legal to shoot at deer from 6:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. during the firearms and muzzleloader seasons. This year, legal shooting hours are from half an hour before sunrise until half an hour after sunset. This is especially helpful to hunters in western Missouri, where sunset comes about 20 minutes later than in the east.
4. Muskie Action Heats Up As Fall Cools Down
Muskellunge don't mind chilly weather, so Missourians chase these "water wolves" well into fall.
HERMITAGE -- Late in autumn, when other Missouri anglers have packed away their fishing tackle, devotees of muskellunge fishing are still plying the few Show-Me State lakes where the objects of their affection lurk. They brave weather severe enough to send snow geese packing southward. Hour upon hour, they strain their muscles at short, thick fishing rods, casting plugs the size of construction lumber. They strain their eyes watching for the holy grail of muskie anglers, the "follow." On a good day, they see one.
Catching a fish? That's more than a muskie addict dares hope for on any given day.
What possesses otherwise sane people to invest hundreds of hours and not a little money in a sport so stingy with its rewards? That's difficult to explain to someone who has never watched a patch of boiling water where a 30-pound "water wolf" slashed their plug and then thrashed a pint of icy water in their tormentor's face by way of a farewell. A rush of adrenalin hits the bloodstream - - a split-second after it's over. The angler is left with a case of the "muskie shakes" and an unquenchable desire to relive the heady moment.
Missouri has three established muskie lakes -- Pomme de Terre in Hickory and Polk counties, Hazel Creek in Adair County and Pony Express in DeKalb County. All three have minimum length limits designed to help muskies achieve their amazing growth potential. (The state record is 41 pounds, 2 ounces.) At Pomme de Terre and Pony Express, muskie shorter than 36 inches must be released unharmed immediately. At Hazel Creek, the limit is 42 inches. A 42-inch muskie weighs about 20 pounds, a 36-incher, around 10 pounds.
The MDC is working to expand Missouri's muskie fishery at other lakes around the state. Last year it stocked several hundred muskies up to 14 inches long at Lake Girardeau west of Cape Girardeau. That lake got another 243 12-inchers this year. Fellows Lake in Springfield got 820 12-inch muskies this year, Henry Sever Lake north of Newark got 474, and Binder Lake near Jefferson City got 384. Supplemental stockings also replenished the muskie fisheries at Pomme de Terre Lake (7,000) and Hazel Creek Lake (530).
"I'm very pleased with the way the muskie program has grown in the past two years," says MDC Fisheries District Supervisor Dave Neuswanger, who is the agency's muskie program advisor. "We had hoped to expand muskie fishing to as many as a dozen lakes over the space of 10 years. Thanks to the superb work of our staff at the state fish hatcheries, we have had the fish to add four new lakes in two years. Two years ago, we had muskie lakes in northwest and north-central Missouri and one in the southwest. Soon people will be able to catch muskies in the southeast, the northeast, and central Missouri, too."
Neuswanger said muskies should begin showing up at the ends of anglers' lines within three years of stocking. By then, they should be about 30 inches long. By the fifth year after stocking, some female muskies will have grown to 36 inches, the legal limit at Pomme de Terre, Pony Express, Binder and Fellows lakes. It will take the fish several years longer to reach the legal minimum length of 42 inches at Sever and Hazel Creek lakes and Lake Girardeau. But anglers will thrill to catching and releasing sub-legal muskies in the meantime.
During the spring and summer, classic muskie fishing involves the use of huge, floating lures along shallow shorelines, weedy edges and flooded timber. But in late autumn, muskies move to deeper, open water, where they are taken by casting or trolling large crankbaits. Though the big fish's metabolism slows down with cooler water temperatures, and they become less active, they continue feeding throughout the winter.
Neuswanger also is excited about cooperation between his agency and Muskies, Inc., a citizen's group dedicated to the enjoyment and enhancement of muskie fishing resources. Through the Show-Me Muskie Project, members of Muskies Inc. are helping track stocked muskies' progress. Their contribution is careful records of hours fished, and the size and number of muskies caught. To learn more about muskie fishing, Muskies, Inc. and the Show-Me Muskie Project, contact: George Hoffman: Pomme de Terre Chapter, Muskies, Inc., 2315 S. Early, Kansas City, Kansas, 66103.
Muskies, Inc.'s Missouri affiliate has about 250 members. It has youth programs and sponsors annual "Guide for a Day" events to introduce neophytes to muskie fishing. It also offers muskie fishing seminars at winter boat shows in Missouri's metropolitan areas.
5. Statewide Publication Errs on Ballot Issue
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Front Line, a St. Louis-based periodical distributed statewide, inaccurately reviewed Amendment No. 8 as a Missouri Department of Conservation Tax in its fall 1996 issue.
Front Line's editor, Donna Hearne, said she regretted the error in referring to the one-tenth of one-percent sales tax used by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for soil and water conservation, state parks and historic sites as a Conservation Department tax. Voters approved the original initiative establishing the sales tax for parks, soil and water conservation in 1984. It contained a "sunset" clause, meaning that the tax would end unless Missourians extended it with another statewide vote. In 1988, voters agreed to extend the tax for 10 years. On Nov. 5, Missourians will vote on another 10-year extension.
Because of the many spinoff benefits for fish and wildlife, the Missouri Conservation Commission has endorsed Amendment 8.
The Department of Conservation's activities are supported by a separate sales tax. Voters approved the MDC's one-eighth of one-percent sales tax in 1976. That initiative did not include a sunset clause. The MDC receives no money from state general revenues. All its funding comes from the one-eighth of one-percent sales tax, revenues from the sale of hunting, fishing and other permits, and from federal matching funds for fish- and wildlife-related programs.
HUNTING
Bag Limit
Opens Closes (Daily-Possession)
Bullfrogs 6/30/97 10/31/97 8-16 (See Wildlife Code)
Common Snipe*+ 9/ 1/96 12/16/96 8-16
Coyotes 5/ 6/96 3/31/97 Some restrictions during
deer season. (See Wildlife Code)
Crows 11/ 1/96 3/ 3/97 No Limit
Deer/Turkey (Archery) 10/ 1/96 11/15/96 See Regulations, available mid-July
11/27/96 1/15/97 See Regulations, available mid-July
Deer (Firearms) 11/16/96 11/26/96 See Regulations, available mid-July
Deer (Muzzleloader) 11/16/96 11/26/96 See Regulations, available mid-July
12/ 7/96 12/15/96 See Regulations, available mid-July
Deer 1/ 4/97 1/ 5/97 Open only to hunters with unfilled
(Firearms & Muzzleloader Any-Deer Bonus Deer Tags for
in units 1-17, 22, 58 & 59) open units. See Regulations
Dove*+# to be announced
Ducks and Coots*
North Zone 10/26/96 12/14/96 Five ducks daily with no more
Middle Zone 11/ 2/96 12/21/96 than 4 mallards (no more than 1 female),
South Zone 11/23/96 1/11/97 2 wood ducks, 2 redheads, 1 pintail,
Youth-only Duck Hunting Dates 1 black duck, 1 hooded merganser or
1 canvasback. Daily bag for coots is
15. Possession limits are twice the
South Zone 11/16/96 11/16/96 daily limit.
Furbearers 11/20/96 1/20/97 No Limit
Geese and Brant
Blue, Snow and Ross' Geese*+# Daily bag limits include no more than
North and Swan 10 blue, snow or Ross' geese; 2
Lake Zones 10/26/96 1/19/97 Canada geese; 2 brant; and 2 white-
2/17/97 3/9/97 fronted geese. Possession limits for
Middle and Schell-Osage Canada geese, brant and white-fronted
Zones: 11/ 2/96 11/ 7/96 geese are twice the daily limit. For
blue, snow and Ross' geese, the
South Zone 11/23/96 3/ 9/97 aggregate possession limit is three the
White-fronted Geese and Brant daily limit.
North Zone 9/28/96 10/ 6/96
10/26/96 11/ 3/96
11/29/96 1/19/97
Swan Lake Zone 10/26/96 11/ 3/96
11/29/96 1/19/97
Middle and Schell-Osage
Zones 11/ 2/96 11/ 7/96
11/29/96 1/31/97
South Zone 11/23/96 1/31/97
Canada Geese
North Zone 9/28/96 10/ 6/96
10/26/96 11/3/96
11/29/96 1/19/97
Swan Lake Zone 10/26/96 11/ 3/96 (Unless a quota of 5,000 geese is
11/29/96 12/29/96 reached before Dec. 29; a daily limit
of 10 shot shells.)
Middle Zone 11/ 2/96 11/ 7/96
11/29/96 1/31/97
Schell-Osage Zone 11/29/96 1/ 7/97
South Zone 11/23/96 1/31/97
Groundhogs 5/ 6/96 12/15/96 No Limit
Pheasants and
Gray Partridge 11/1/96 1/15/97 (See Wildlife Code)
Quail 11/1/96 1/15/97 8-16
Rabbits 10/1/96 2/15/97 6-12
(may include only
2-4 swamp rabbits)
Ruffed Grouse 10/15/96 1/15/97 (See Wildlife Code)
Sora and Virginia Rails*+ 9/ 1/96 11/ 9/96 25-25
Squirrels 5/25/96 1/15/97 (See Wildlife Code)
Teal*+ 9/ 7/96 9/15/96 4-8
Turkey 4/21/97 5/ 4/97 1 bearded bird per week
Turkey (Fall Firearms) 10/13/97 10/26/97 (See Wildlife Code)
Woodcock*+ 10/15/96 12/18/96 5-10
FISHING
Trout Parks 3/ 1/97 10/31/97 5-10
Trout Parks 11/8/96 2/ 8/97 Catch & release Fri., Sat.,
(Winter Tag Required) Sun. 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Trout Management Areas Open All No Closed 5-10 (See Wildlife Code)
(Trout Permit Required) Year Season
Trout (Trophy and Wild) Open All No Closed 3-3 (See Wildlife Code)
Trout Management Areas) Year Season
(Trout Permit Required)
Black Bass
(streams, specified zone) 5/25/96 2/28/97 6-12 (See Wildlife Code)
(impoundments) Open All No Closed (See Wildlife Code)
Year Season
Bullfrogs 6/30/97 10/31/97 8-16 (See Wildlife Code)
Paddlefish 3/15/97 4/30/97 2-4 (See Wildlife Code)
Nongame Fish Stream Gigging 9/15/96 1/31/97 20
(See Wildlife Code for creel limits on other species.)
TRAPPING
Beaver 11/20/96 3/31/97 No Limit (See Wildlife Code)
Coyotes 11/20/96 2/15/97 No Limit (See Wildlife Code)
Furbearers 11/20/96 1/20/97 No Limit (See Wildlife Code)
___________
*Hunters of migratory birds are required to have a migratory bird
hunting permit in addition to other appropriate permits (See Wildlife Code).
+Subject to final federal approval
#Complete waterfowl details will be found in the Migratory Bird Hunting Digest,
to be available from permit vendors and MDC offices in early October.
CONSERVATION COMMISSION MEETING
December 13 MDC Headquarters, Jefferson City, MO
(For additional information contact the Department Director.)
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