January 2005
Nixa man's quail obsession endures 67 seasons
Friday, January 28, 2005
 |
Don Walker has taken part in every quail season opening day for the past 67 years. His experiences mirror the fortunes of the bobwhite quail for most of the 20th century. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo) |
NIXA, Mo.--Think of Don Walker's life as a book, and each of his 75 years as a chapter. Browse through the past 67 chapters, and you will find a common thread--bobwhite quail. Reading between the lines, you can learn as much about quail management as quail hunting.
Walker grew up in the Ozarks during The Great Depression. In those days, farm families couldn't afford frivolous activities like hunting birds that barely produced a mouthful of food. But Walker had an uncle with a steady income and impractical bent. On Nov. 1, 1929, the uncle pulled up to Walker's school in his ice truck and declared his intention to take little Don quail hunting.
"The teacher didn't know anything about quail hunting, so she said, 'Well, okay.'"
Having spirited Walker away from academic pursuits, the uncle began another, longer-term education. On their way to the Walker farm with a big English setter named Bird riding shotgun, Don's uncle asked if the boy knew where there were any quail.
"There were birds everywhere then," recalls Walker. "I told him 'Yeah, I see them every morning walking to school. They're down there in the popcorn patch."
Parking at the edge of the neighbor's failed popcorn field, his uncle handed Walker a 20 gauge Remington shotgun that had been sawed off at both ends to fit a boy.
"He turned his old dog loose in there and he didn't go 30 feet and he was pointing. My uncle said 'You have to be pretty quick.' When they got up it scared me so bad I didn't shoot.
"We fooled around that popcorn patch and I think we found five coveys. I never did kill one, but I finally got off a couple of shots. That's what started it. He would come every year wherever I was for 44 years, until he passed away. Everybody knew we were going to hunt on opening day regardless of the weather. After he died, I kept up the trend, and I've gone every opening day now for 67 years. Hope to go another 15."
Some things have improved since Walker began hunting quail. One is the economy.
"When I was growing up in the 1930s, I couldn't afford to buy shotgun shells. My uncle would bring me shells. When I went to the store, I would buy .22 shells for a penny apiece. I might get to buy three to squirrel hunt with. When I first told my dad I was going quail hunting, he said, 'You can't afford to shoot those shells at quail!' He was serious. He thought I was nuts. When I got older, I used to have to bring him shells just to take him hunting. It was a pretty tough living back in the 30s."
Besides opening every season for nearly seven decades, Walker has hunted the last day of most seasons as well. Some years he hunted every day of the 2 1/2-month season.
"My wife didn't hardly know how to put up with it when we were first married," Walker says with a wry smile, "but she adjusted. She said 'We're going to starve to death.' I said, 'No, we'll eat quail.'"
Walker was self-employed by then, building houses in Springfield. During quail season, he bought groceries and other essentials on credit. When quail season ended he would work harder than ever to pay the bills he had accumulated.
As the years went by, Walker came more and more under the spell of quail hunting. He got involved in showing pointing dogs and setters, then breeding and selling them. When he began running his dogs in field trials he bought horses and eventually bred, showed and sold them, too. He still has one setter and a few horses. He is considering selling his horses on account of a stroke he suffered in late November.
Walker still owns the Douglas County farm where he grew up, plus some adjoining acreage he has acquired through the years. He no longer hunts there, however. The quail, once plentiful, are gone now. He finds this puzzling, because "Nothing has really changed."
The decrease in quail numbers is not unique to Walker's farm, the Ozarks or even to Missouri. He remembers the time when every small-town café in Missouri was mobbed by quail hunters on Nov. 1. Now he has no trouble finding an open table on that date. He also remembers when practically every back yard in Nixa, where he has lived for 40 years, had a dog kennel. Now he doesn't know another person in town who owns a bird dog.
All this reflects the fact that bobwhites have been in decline throughout their range in the eastern United States for more than 30 years. Although Walker sees nothing different on his farm, the causes of the bobwhite's demise were apparent during a recent visit to his boyhood home.
The popcorn patch where he found five coveys on his first quail hunt now is full of pole-sized oak and hickory trees. Steep draws between fields--places that used to be filled with low, brushy growth--now support mature trees and have open, shady floors.
Invasive exotic plants have taken a toll on bobwhite habitat, too.
"The serecia (lespedeza) has been a bad deal down there on the farm," said Walker. "Serecia and fescue is all that's in those old fields anymore."
The imported plants form dense mats too thick for quail to penetrate and produce no quail food, unlike the native grasses and wildflowers they replaced.
Like many landowners, Walker is puzzled by the disappearance of quail from familiar haunts. He says he hasn't changed anything on the farm. In fact, he set aside 240 acres for wildlife, "just kind of let it grow wild. They always say habitat is what birds need, but I guess this is too much habitat, too much growth."
Here he is on the right track. Quail thrive in a patchwork of crop fields, open pasture of native plants and wide, brushy borders. That is exactly what existed on his property when it was a working farm, and when quail were abundant.
Walker himself mentioned that when he was young, farmers burned their land every year to keep down woody growth and kill ticks and insects. That hasn't happened for decades. Farmers also used to cut trees out of field borders to make fence posts. Now fence is strung between metal posts, and trees grow tall along field edges.
Without burning, tree cutting and other continuing disturbance, the farm has reverted to oak-hickory forest. Walker's 340 acres now are almost entirely covered with woods. Asked how much of this was open when he was a boy, he answered without hesitation, "All of it."
Other things have changed during Walker's quail hunting career. He remembers the day, some time around 1947, when he saw his first white-tailed deer. That was a clue that the landscape was changing. Deer and turkey have very different habitat requirements than quail.
"My son Terry lives on our farm now," said Walker. "He hunts deer, but not quail, because there are no quail any more."
Walker hunts quail with an ancient 12 gauge Remington Model 11 shotgun. The barrel is stamped "Full" choke, but the muzzle of the 25 1/2 inch barrel bears the ragged marks of the hacksaw that turned it into a wide-shooting quail gun. Decades of handling have polished away the factory finish so metal parts shine bright as a new nickel. It still serves him well, though.
"I bought that gun on credit when I was 13. Paid $35 for it. It will still shoot every time if you keep it clean."
The gun could be a metaphor for its owner. A balky right leg--the result of his stroke--cut into Walker's hunting this year, but he is determined to continue.
"If I ever get this leg to working right I'm gonna go a few more times this year," he said early in January. "I think if I get a brace on my ankle I'll be able to hunt for four or five hours. I'm going to buy me a pointer pup when I get to feeling a little better."
In spite of all the quail hunting that Walker has behind him, he remains focused on the future. He and his son hope to work with the Missouri Department of Conservation and Quail Unlimited to restore quail habitat to their farm.
"I would definitely be interested in quail hunting if we could get them back here," said Terry.
That could be the first chapter in a new book.
-Jim Low-
NRA issues Youth Hunter Education Challenge
Friday, January 28, 2005
Missourians through age 18 will compete in regional events testing their knowledge of hunting, wildlife and safety afield.
JEFFERSON CITY-Young Missourians who have completed hunter education training can show what they have learned at regional Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) events throughout the state in March and April.
Jan Morris, who coordinates Missouri's YHEC program for the National Rifle Association, said regional events will be held March 19 in Kansas City, central and northeastern Missouri, March 26 in Southeastern and northwestern Missouri and April 2 in St. Louis, southwestern Missouri and the Ozarks. Details about regional events are available from Morris at 636/464-6214, JGMorris@aol.com or online at www.moyhec.com.
The competition is open to Missourians through age 18. Participants compete in .22 rifle, shotgun and muzzle-loading rifle marksmanship, wildlife identification, and a hunter safety trail. Regional winners qualify to compete in the state YHEC event, whose winners advance to the national competition. Participation in regional events is free.
- Jim Low -
Apply now for turkey hunts at Caney Mountain CA
Friday, January 28, 2005
Selected hunters will take part in youth, archery and firearms hunts this spring.
AVA, Mo.--Hunters have until March 15 to apply for managed spring turkey hunts at Caney Mountain Conservation Area in Ozark County. The event offers an opportunity to hunt one of Missouri's wildest, most scenic public areas.
The Missouri Department of Conservation will hold a drawing for four managed hunts at Caney Mountain CA. Ten hunters age 6 to 15 will be selected to hunt during the Youth Spring Turkey Season April 9 and 10. Thirty archers will get to hunt during the first week of the spring turkey season April 18 through 24. Thirty hunters will be drawn to hunt with either archery equipment or shotguns during each of the final two weeks of the spring turkey season.
The application period for the managed hunts is Feb. 15 through March 15. Hunters can apply individually or in parties of up to three. To apply, call 417/256-7161.
Caney Mountain CA's 7,880 acres encompass steep, forested hills, rocky glades, rolling savannah and a 1,330-acre natural area. The Conservation Department trapped wild turkeys at Caney Mountain to restore wild turkeys after unregulated hunting wiped the species out in the rest of the state.
- 30 -
Rehab work gains ground at Ted Shanks CA
Friday, January 21, 2005
 |
Mike Flaspohler and Lori Dowil are involved in an ongoing effort to restore Ted Shanks Conservation Area to its former status as one of Missouri's top waterfowl hunting areas. To test the results of their labor, the two shared a duck hunt at Shanks CA last fall. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo) |
HANNIBAL--Lori Dowil was excited when she left her house Nov. 2. She planned to vote later that day, but that wasn't what got her out of a warm bed hours before dawn. She was headed for her first-ever duck hunt.
Dowil had prepared chest waders, an insulated parka and her new shotgun the night before. Shortly after 3 a.m. she backed her pickup truck out the driveway of her New London home and pointed it toward Ted Shanks Conservation Area (CA).
Although this would be her first hunt there, Dowil was no stranger to the 6,700-acre wetland area. As the Missouri Department of Conservation's construction supervisor for northeast Missouri, she had spent hundreds of hours thinking about Shanks CA and planning for its future.
Dowil was to be the hunting guest of Wildlife Regional Supervisor Mike Jones, who had drawn a reservation to hunt at Shanks CA. Also along for the hunt was Wildlife Management Biologist Mike Flaspohler. By choosing the area south of Hannibal for Dowil's inaugural hunt, the trio was casting a vote of confidence in their own work.
At one time, Shanks CA was among the state's most popular waterfowl hunting destinations. Situated in a bend of the Mississippi River, the area historically consisted of oxbow lakes, river chutes, side channels, sloughs, forests and sand bars. Hundreds of acres were cloaked in bottomland hardwood forest of majestic pin oak, ash, pecan and sycamore trees. It was a magnet for migrating ducks and duck hunters.
That began to change after construction and successive enlargements of a lock and dam complex on the adjacent river. The structures turned the river into a lake and permanently raised water levels in neighboring wetlands. The rising water table gradually drowned out trees that had stood when pioneers settled the area.
Shanks' majestic forests already were in serious decline in 1993. The great flood that year dealt them a fatal blow. Within a few years, the cathedral of living trees deteriorated into a ruin of rotting hulks.
Adding insult to injury, the void created by tree deaths rapidly filled with Reed canary grass, an invasive exotic plant. Rank stands of the 6-foot grass clogged former forest sites, preventing native vegetation from taking root and rendering hundreds of acres all but useless to waterfowl. Ducks shifted their migratory stops to other areas. Many hunters deserted Shanks CA, too, discouraged by the demise of a once-great hunting area.
"Since the Flood of '93, hunters have been impatient to see us do something to reverse the decline," said Jones. "It was a big job and not a simple one. Shanks went from being one of the state's top waterfowl areas to being marginal. It took 10 years to develop plans and implement them."
After taking part in a 4 a.m. drawing to determine where they would hunt, Dowil, Jones and Flaspohler drove to the parking lot nearest their assigned blind near the east end of the area. Launching low-profile "layout boats" specially built for duck hunting, they used long poles to propel the craft down ditches that carry water to the area's many wetland pools.
The three recognized this as a notable change. Until last year, vegetation and debris clogged the channels, reducing their efficiency and hampering hunters on their way to blinds. It took work crews months to clear and deepen the channels for more efficient operation.
When they reached their hunting spot, they found acres of standing corn--high-energy food that ducks adore--flooded to a depth of a few inches to two feet. Quickly setting out seven dozen mallard decoys and a handful of extra-large Canada goose decoys, the three climbed into their boats. After pulling camouflage tarps up to their necks, they settled in to await the morning flight of ducks. While scanning the lightening skies, the conversation drifted to shop talk.
"When I got here things were so spread out administratively that it was difficult for construction management to really focus on the things that needed to be done," recalled Dowil. "Once we got organized, things started to happen."
Looking out over the flooded corn, Flaspohler noted how improvements in water control have allowed area staff to plant crops on 350 acres that previously grew weeds.
The same improvements make it possible to gradually flood corn fields during the hunting season, creating perfect feeding situations for ducks and spectacular opportunities for waterfowl hunters. Spring and early summer water draw-downs have made extra "moist-soil" management possible, fostering the growth of millet, smartweed and other seed-producing annual plants that also attract waterfowl.
Dowil said she was hoping for a souvenir of her first hunt. She had her heart set on a colorful wood duck drake. Lady Luck smiled briefly around 8:30 a.m., as a beautiful specimen zipped from right to left across the decoy spread. The other hunters held their fire, hoping she would realize her ambition, but the bird was gone before Dowil could track it with her shotgun.
Wood ducks are creatures of timber, and timber is scarce at Shanks CA today. The 2,080-acre Horseshoe Unit and the 800-acre Nose Slough Unit used to have lots of trees, but 90 percent now are dead. Rather than attracting ducks, they have become a liability, preventing managers from getting equipment into the area. Meanwhile, Reed canary grass has taken over.
Last year, the Conservation Department and its contractor bulldozed dead trees in a 150-acre section of the Horseshoe Unit. Area staff followed up by disking up beds of canary grass and planting wheat in its place. This experiment to develop canary grass eradication techniques was underwritten by the Mississippi Flyway Chapter of the Missouri Waterfowl Association and the National Wild Turkey Federation. Flaspohler will add 900 acres to this project this year.
Permanent water table changes probably will prevent natural regeneration of trees in much of the Horseshoe Unit. However, Flaspohler has been working with Resource Forester Kristen Goodrich to discover where trees will grow at Shanks today and which species and planting techniques work best.
Starting two years ago, the Conservation Department planted several thousand specially grown saplings. To date, 95 percent survive. This is encouraging news for hunters who remember crouching beside the trunks of towering oak trees as flocks of mallards filtered in among the branches.
"We won't live to see that in the regeneration areas," said Flaspohler, "But maybe our grandkids will."
As the morning progressed, a north wind picked up, and small flocks of newly arrived birds descended from the overcast sky, drawn to Shanks' patchwork of water, crops and natural vegetation.
Ducks are very particular about where they land, but they always are nearly unanimous in their opinion about the best landing spots. Hunters lucky enough to be in the right place get the lion's share of the shooting.
That was true on this Election Day hunt. Flock after flock of waterfowl swung into a spot occupied by another party a few hundred yards to the west. The sound of their shooting punctuated the morning. Jones and Flaspohler convinced one white-fronted goose to separate from a passing flock, but even that bird eventually joined the ducks pouring into the competing blind.
At midmorning, Dowil got her first shot at a duck, a wigeon hen that answered the biologists' entreaties and passed close overhead. The neophyte hunter had honed her wingshooting skills on clay targets, but the real thing proved more challenging. She clipped the bird and Jones brought it down with a follow-up volley.
Later in the morning, a few pintails and mallards swung around the three boats and their occupants. A few dropped within shotgun range, and Dowil's companions deferred shooting a couple of times, giving her a chance to change her luck. But all these late-flying birds left with little more than a fright and a lesson in choosing landing spots more carefully.
Flaspohler was hired specifically to help rehabilitate Shanks CA. His prior experience at other Conservation Department wetland areas suited him well for the job, and he brought in more expertise with the hiring of Ryan Kelly from Eagle Bluffs CA.
"Their ideas and creativity in recruiting partners for management work created the vision we needed to bring this area back," said Jones. "The team effort with Lori and others from the Design and Development Division are making that vision a reality. It's very exciting to see it coming together. It took 10 years, but this wasn't a situation that had a quick fix. I think the changes that are happening now are going to be obvious to people who use the area, whether they are hunters or birdwatchers."
The work is paying off. Shanks CA once again has three active bald eagle nests, as in the past. A fourth pair of eagles has a nest that could produce young this year.
As noon approached, the three loaded their gear and poled their boats back to the parking lot, one of three created to improve the accessibility of hunting blinds in Shanks CA's wade-and-shoot area. After loading their gear back into trucks and saying goodbyes, the three were off to visit other "poling" places.
Duck hunting season is past, but Shanks soon will be crowded with migrating waterfowl again. The spring migration begins in February and peaks in March, creating spectacular viewing opportunities for hunters and nonhunters alike.
For information and maps of Shanks and other CAs, visit the Conservation Department's online atlas, http://www.mdc.mo.gov/atlas/.
- Jim Low -
Hog control a growing challenge for public land managers
Friday, January 21, 2005
Hunters are helping control one of Missouri's most destructive pests.
JEFFERSON CITY-The phrase "hog wild" has taken on new meaning for managers of public land in Missouri over the past decade. In that time, feral hogs have gone from a rare novelty to an epidemic. Hunters provide a bright spot in the picture, but even their help is a mixed blessing.
At first glance, the presence of a few escaped pigs on conservation areas, national forest and around U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs doesn't seem like much of a problem. But as Missourians increasingly experience wild hogs firsthand, worries multiply.
State officials have been concerned about feral hogs for at least 12 years. In 1992, the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) imposed a quarantine on several thousand acres in Carter, Shannon, Oregon and Ripley counties after feral hogs in the area were found to have pseudorabies.
Wild hogs can carry the pseudorabies virus without serious symptoms, but the disease is fatal to many other wild and domestic animals. A team effort by the Missouri Department of Conservation, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the USDA Forest Service succeeded in eradicating hogs in the quarantine area. However, in recent years feral hogs have cropped up in several other areas.
"The appearance of feral hogs in Missouri is no accident," said Conservation Department Private Land Field Programs Supervisor Rex Martensen. "Misguided people continue to bring various kinds of wild hogs into the state for hunting. If they had any idea of the destruction they are creating, I don't think most of them would be doing it."
Martensen said feral hogs' destructiveness takes several forms:
Livestock damage -- Besides pseudorabies, feral hogs carry leptospirosis and swine brucellosis, potentially devastating diseases of domestic swine.
Crop damage -- Feral hogs feed by rooting in the ground and can plow up acres of crop fields in a single night, destroying crops.
Human health risks -- Swine brucellosis can infect humans, causing undulant fever. This can lead to arthritis, urinary inflammation, meningitis, heart inflammation and depression.
Ecological damage -- Feral hogs damage native plants and wildlife by rooting up roots and eating anything they can catch, including quail and turkey nests and young mammals, including deer fawns. Indirect damage includes competition for food, such as acorns, and erosion that takes place after hogs root up large tracts of ground. Feral hogs seek out springs, seeps and fens destroying ground cover and contaminating streams with their feces.
The growing number of feral hog release sites concerns conservation and agriculture officials.
"We are beginning to find feral hogs in northern Missouri for the first time," said Martensen. "That is bad news for conservation areas and farms."
Missouri has not had a case yet where feral hogs infected domestic hogs in a confined feeding operation with brucellosis. If that happened, thousands of domestic animals would have to be destroyed, and the cost of the feral hog problem would jump by several million dollars overnight. The state could come under a quarantine that would devastate the pork industry here.
"I don't think anyone wants to be responsible for that, and I sure wouldn't want to be one of them when investigators go looking for the source of the feral hogs," said Martensen.
The hogs turning up in Missouri's wild places aren't garden-variety domestic swine. Rangy and streetwise, these animals are the descendants of wild "razorback" pigs or Russian boars. The average feral hog weighs less than 100 pounds, but they can grow to more than 500 pounds. Even domestic pigs will revert to wild type when living wild.
Feral hogs know how to survive in the wild and aren't easily intimidated, even by hunters. The Conservation Department advises hunters pursuing feral hogs to use high-powered, repeating rifles or shotguns, so as not to become the hunted.
"Several hunters have been treed by hogs," said Martensen. "These animals can be very dangerous. The adults are especially dangerous when they are with their young."
The Conservation Department isn't the only agency that has a problem with feral hogs. They complicate the job of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages land around its reservoirs for recreational hunting, fishing, hiking and other nature-related recreation. At Lake Wappapello, feral hogs have become such a problem that the Corps coordinates hunting efforts.
Lake Wappapello Manager Gary Stilts said his office tracks feral hogs' activity by field observations and reports from hunters. When someone calls to ask about hunting feral hogs, he gets a rundown on area hunting rules and a map of hog activity hot spots.
"Since we started this big push to get rid of feral hogs, we have been getting 10 to 15 calls a day from hunters," said Stilts. "I have had reports of people killing six, 12 and 13 a day, and those aren't just verbal reports. They have photos to prove it."
Hunters can't possibly kill too many hogs for Stilts' taste. He said he has seen 20-acre expanses of permittee farmers' crops rooted up on Corps land. Hogs have destroyed all the agency's wildlife food plots this year. He said he doesn't know if hunting alone can eliminate the problem. He will be content if hunters can kill 70 percent of the hogs annually--enough to hold hog numbers at their current level.
The USDA Forest Service, Mark Twain National Forest, has more than 1.5 million mostly forested acres in Missouri and has had similar experiences with feral hogs. Forest Service Biologist Larry Furniss said the number of hogs in the Mark Twain National Forest definitely is increasing, even with hunters' help.
"Hunting is the only reason we have hundreds of hogs on the Mark Twain Forest rather than thousands," said Furniss. "When we find a hot spot, we try to direct hunters to that area. When hunters get the population down to eight or 10 feral hogs, we call in APHIS to trap the rest."
Hunting is a two-edged sword, however. As feral hogs have grown more common, cottage industries have developed to provide guide service and hunting dogs for hunters. This creates an incentive for bringing in more hogs. Neither the Forest Service nor the Conservation Department allows commercial guides to operate on their land without special permits.
Continued releases of feral hogs make the goal of eradication elusive. Biologists say they have seen new populations of hogs at Lake Wappapello, Pomme De Terre Lake, Fort Leonard Wood, Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park, Table Rock Lake and even north of the Missouri River in recent years. The animals now are found in at least 14 Missouri counties.
Releasing feral hogs into the wild is illegal. State and federal agencies have had some success finding those who do so. MDA officials use records of legally imported Russian and European hogs to check on where those animals go. Most end up in fenced hunting preserves, but some find their way into the wild. When MDA discovers that hogs are being released, it works with law enforcement officers in other state and federal agencies to stop it.
"I am really concerned about hogs being captured in the wild and moved to new locations," said MDA's Ed Gladden. "For us, it is a security and disease prevention issue for the domestic swine herd. Feral hogs in Arkansas have some disease problems, and that's pretty close to home.
"In many cases, the people doing it are just naïve about the law. Some of them actually think they are doing a service. It's critical to get out the message that releasing feral hogs is illegal and could have disastrous results."
Gladden said he is encouraged by the cooperation MDA is getting from the Department of Conservation, the Forest Service, the Corps of Engineers and other agencies in combating feral hogs. "This makes it much easier to accomplish something when we find a problem."
The Conservation Department defines a feral hog as any hog, including a Russian and European wild boar, that is not conspicuously identified by ear tags or other forms of identification and is roaming freely on public or private land without the landowner's permission. Hunters are encouraged to kill such hogs on sight, but must still observe state and local hunting regulations. Check state and area regulations or call a conservation agent for local information.
For more information about hunting feral hogs at Lake Wappapello, call 573/222-8562.
More information about feral hogs on the Mark Twain National Forest is available by calling 573/364-4621.
The Conservation Department asks hunters to report feral hog sightings and kills by calling 573/522-4115, ext. 3147. More information about feral hogs is available at the Conservation Department's web site, www.missouriconservation.org. Click on "Hunting and Trapping" and then on "Feral Hogs."
-Jim Low-
Quail Council plans grassroots conservation effort
Friday, January 14, 2005
 |
Missourians who want to encourage quail and other grassland birds on their land can take part in regional strategy sessions sponsored by the Quail and Grassland Bird Leadership Council in April. Dates and meeting places will be announced as soon as they are set. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo) |
Regional meetings will let landowners plan restoration work.
JEFFERSON CITY--For admirers of bobwhite quail and other grassland birds, the past 20 years have been discouraging. But a dedicated group of citizen conservationists are organizing an effort to reverse the trend. In April, they will invite Missouri landowners to join them.
Bobwhite quail numbers have been declining in Missouri and throughout the eastern United States since the 1980s. During the same time, conservation agencies have documented parallel declines in dozens of bird species, including the northern loggerhead shrike, dickcissel, bobolink and grasshopper sparrow. Although these birds may seem very different at first glance, they all need healthy, diverse grasslands to survive. Missouri once had millions of acres of grassland, but most has been cleared for agriculture or development, drastically reducing grassland habitat.
Early efforts to reverse the decline of grassland birds focused on the bobwhite quail, because it had a strong traditional following among hunters. However, piecemeal restoration efforts did not reverse the bird's decline. This led state and federal officials to develop a comprehensive, multi-state restoration program, the Northern Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI).
In March 2004, just after the announcement of the NBCI, Conservation Commissioners Steve Bradford and Lowell Mohler formed the Quail and Grassland Bird Leadership Council. Charter members included former Conservation Commissioner Jeff Churan and a cross-section of Missourians including one operator of a commercial quail facility, farm owners, bird watchers and hunters.
The group also garnered support from Quail Unlimited (QU), the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Conservation Federation of Missouri, Audubon Missouri, the Missouri Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the Missouri Prairie Foundation.
"We have a common interest in conservation of both wildlife and the land," said Bradford. "Many other birds and lots of other wildlife benefit from the same management that helps quail. This transcends traditional boundaries between hunters and birdwatchers, rural and urban. It's something that practically everyone has an interest in."
Bradford said Quail Council members have a wealth of practical experience in grassland bird management. "These aren't people who are only talking about it. They have done it. A lot of them have put up their own funds for quail management and are getting results. With their knowledge and state and federal incentive programs that are available, other landowners can do great things."
Bradford said the Council's quarterly meetings around the state have tapped "a huge pent-up demand" for demonstration projects and other help in managing private grasslands to benefit wildlife. That demand will be critical to the success of quail restoration, since more than 90 percent of the state's potential quail habitat is in private hands.
Thanks to their experience on the Conservation Commission, Bradford, Churan and Mohler know what resources are available for the effort and can help marshal them effectively. Those resources include federal farm bill programs, Quail Unlimited chapters' help and contributions from other programs and partners. They hope these combined resources will spur productive interest in grassland bird restoration.
Their goal is to restore quail and other grassland bird numbers to 1980s levels. To do this, biologists in each of the Conservation Department's eight regions are developing quail recovery plans. They will work with Quail Council members to kick off these plans at public meetings the first two weekends in April.
Landowners who are interested in quail and grassland birds are invited to attend the meetings. Habitat work in selected focus areas will be eligible for a wide range of cost-sharing programs, technical assistance and equipment loans.
"I have been active in conservation for many years," said Bradford, "and this is one of the best-organized efforts I have ever seen. I have every confidence that we can do for the bobwhite quail and other grassland species what we have already done for deer and turkeys. With landowner partnerships, this can be another Missouri success story."
Regional meetings will be announced as soon as dates and locations are set. For more information about grassland bird management, contact the nearest Conservation Department office or visit http://www.mdc.mo.gov/landown/wild/quail/ or www.qu.org/index.cfm.
- Jim Low -
Bobwhite buffers now qualify for federal subsidy
Friday, January 14, 2005
Landowners get cash for converting crop-field edges to quail-friendly plants.
JEFFERSON CITY-What once was a good idea for wildlife now is a good idea for landowners, too. The U. S. Department of Agriculture has cash for those who make their farms more hospitable to quail and other wildlife.
USDA offices throughout Missouri are accepting applications for the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program "Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds" practice, or CP33. The practice consists of creating strips of native grasses or other wildlife-friendly plants on the edges of crop fields to provide shelter for quail, rabbits and other wildlife.
"This is a way for farmers to get reliable income from field edges where crop production often is marginal anyway," said Wildlife Ecologist Elsa Gallagher, with the Missouri Department of Conservation. "There is no limit on acreage that can be enrolled in CP33, and as little as one side of a field can be involved. The main restriction is that at least one-tenth of an acre of enrolled fields must be planted in shrubs to enhance habitat value for upland birds."
Under CP33, landowners plant a mix of native grasses and broadleaf plants in 30- to 120-foot strips along the edges of crop fields. Only land that is currently being cropped qualifies. Landowners get a $100 per acre signing bonus plus annual payments for enrolled acreage.
By placing belts of native plants between shrubby cover and crop fields, CP33 creates ideal habitat for quail, rabbits and a variety of other wildlife.
"Landowners might want to take a look at their fields and think about areas where harvests don't quite measure up to the rest of their land," said Gallagher. "If you enroll those areas in CP33, you won't have to fight overhanging trees with your equipment, and trees won't compete with your crops for light and moisture, either. CP33 can make those crop field edges profitable again."
CP33 is a continuous sign-up practice, so landowners can enroll acreage year-round. For more information about CP33, contact any USDA office.
-Jim Low-
2004 not a banner year for fishing records
Friday, January 07, 2005
 |
| Anglers who catch big fish in Missouri can enter their catches in the Conservation Department's Master Angler and State Record Fish programs. Details are available online at www.mdc.missouri.gov/fish/records/ Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo) |
Missouri anglers set five records last year.
JEFFERSON CITY--Compared to some years, 2004 was a slow one for state fishing records in Missouri. For those lucky few anglers who hit the jackpot, however, it was a year to remember.
The Missouri Department of Conservation logged just five new fishing records last year. By comparison, 1996 saw 18 record fish caught, and six of those records still stand. In 2002, anglers set nine records, and all those remain on the books.
The Conservation Department maintains records in two categories. Pole-and-line records have to be taken with a hand-held fishing pole. Alternative-method records can be taken by trotlines, throw lines, bank lines, jug lines, limb lines, snaring, spearing, gigging, "grabbing," archery or snagging.
Mark Fann of Nixa was the first angler to catch a pole-and-line record last year. He hooked a 5-pound, 10-ounce black bass hybrid at Table Rock Lake in March. The fish was a cross between a smallmouth bass and a spotted bass.
Local anglers call this cross a "meanmouth bass." The new breed seems to be turning up frequently at Table Rock. Fann's record catch just edged out a 5-pound, 9-ounce black bass hybrid taken from Table Rock in December, 2003. Regional Fisheries Supervisor Chris Vitello said his staff weighed another big "meanmouth" in December 2004 that fell just barely short of a record.
The next record to fall was the pole-and-line record for rainbow trout. Jason Harper of Neosho caught the 18-pound, 1-ounce fish at Roaring River State Park.
One of Missouri's least welcome fish, the exotic bighead carp, accounted for two records last year. Keith R. Lowry of Paola, Kansas, caught an 80-pound bighead at Lake of the Ozarks on a jug line baited with a goldfish. Kyle A. Schneider, Ballwin, caught an identical fish from the same lake with a fishing pole and a wad of night crawlers.
The bighead carp is an Asian species that has taken up residence in Missouri's big rivers and multiplied enormously in recent years. Only time will tell what effect they have on numbers of native fish and what other ecological changes they may cause.
Boaters are learning to be wary of bighead carp, which often jump out of the water near passing motor boats. This behavior, plus their size, creates a hazard for boaters.
The last record of the year came Nov. 16, when Tom Statler of Kimberling City landed a 1-pound, 2.56-ounce yellow perch with pole and line at Bull Shoals Lake.
To qualify as a state record, a fish must be taken by legal methods and be a species that is included on the state record fish list. If no record has been entered for a particular species and method, the first record must meet the minimum weight set for that species in the Conservation Department's Master Angler program.
Record fish must be weighed on certified scales in the presence of Conservation Department personnel, and their species must be verified by a Conservation Department fisheries biologist. Finally, a color photo of the fish is required.
A complete list of Missouri state fishing records is available online at www.missouriconservation.org. Rules and entry forms also are available online, along with details of the Master Angler program.
-Jim Low-
Conservation Commission approves experimental hand-fishing season for catfish
Friday, January 07, 2005
Knowledge gained during the trial will guide future decisions about "noodling."
JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri will give hand-fishing a try next year, tightly regulating the activity and gathering information about how it affects the size and number of fish remaining in streams.
At its meeting in Jefferson City Dec. 17, the Missouri Conservation Commission approved an experimental season for hand fishing. The season will run from sunrise to sunset June 1 through July 15 in parts of the Fabius and Mississippi rivers in northeastern Missouri and part of the St. Francis River in southeastern Missouri.
Hand fishing, commonly known as "noodling," has been illegal in Missouri for decades. The most productive time for hand fishing is early summer, when female catfish lay their eggs in natural cavities. The females then leave, and males take over guarding the nests. This behavior allows hand fishers to reach inside cavities, grasp fish by the jaw or gill plates and pull them out.
Some other states allow hand fishing, and the activity has supporters in the Show-Me State. One Missouri group, Noodlers Anonymous, has sought legalization of hand fishing here for several years.
Approximately half of anglers surveyed by the Conservation Department said they favored a regulated hand-fishing season as long as it does not harm the catfish population. Fifty-one percent of catfish anglers surveyed were in favor of the idea.
Because hand fishing focuses on large, nesting fish, Conservation Department officials have expressed concern about how the activity might affect the size and number of catfish. However, without data to back up these concerns, they could not say with certainty whether hand fishing would hurt catfish populations. The experimental season is intended to provide such information.
Under the provisions approved by the Conservation Commission, hand fishers must have a resident or nonresident annual fishing permit, a daily fishing permit or an exemption and buy a $7 Hand Fishing Permit. The daily limit is five blue, flathead and channel catfish in the aggregate, with a possession limit of 10. Flathead and blue catfish less than 22 inches long must be released unharmed immediately.
Hand fishing is restricted to feet and bare hands. Hooks or other devices are not allowed. Furthermore, hand fishers may take fish only from natural cavities or those created by bona fide construction, such as bridges and boat ramps.
Finally, hand fishers will be required to report all fish they take.
The Conservation Department is designing the study to measure the effects of hand fishing in the three rivers. The study also will explore the effects of other fishing methods on catfish populations.
"Part of the Conservation Department's job is to ensure that activities like fishing and hunting don't harm the resources that support them," said Resource Scientist Vince Travnichek, who is part of the study design team. "To do that, we need solid biological data. We don't have those data for hand fishing right now, so we are going to get them before deciding how it might be regulated in the future."
The river sections included in the experimental hand-fishing season are:
•The Mississippi River from the mouth of the Fabius River upstream to the mouth of the Des Moines River
•The Fabius River from its mouth to the Highway 61 bridges and the South Fabius in Marion County from the Highway 61 bridge upstream to Dunn Ford Access.
•The part of the St. Francis River that forms the boundary between Arkansas and Missouri.
- Jim Low -
Commission to meet Jan. 27-28 in Clinton
Friday, January 07, 2005
JEFFERSON CITY- The Missouri Conservation Commission will meet Jan. 27 and 28 at the Hampton Inn, 900 Kansas Ave., Clinton.
The Commission will meet in executive session at 3 p.m. Jan. 27 and in open session at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 28
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, at least 10 working days before the meeting date. The deadline for the next meeting is Jan. 13.
People requiring special services or accommodations to attend the meeting can make arrangements by writing to the same address, or by phone at 573/751-4115.
Commissioners are: Cynthia Metcalfe, St. Louis, chairman; Anita B. Gorman, Kansas City, vice-chairman; Lowell Mohler, Jefferson City, secretary; and Stephen C. Bradford, Cape Girardeau, member.
-Jim Low-
