December 2005
Conservation agent vows to continue 50-year career until "things get better"
Friday, December 30, 2005
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| Carl Engelbrecht has worked for the Conservation Department for 50 years, including more than 45 as Newton County's conservation agent. His work still interests him; retirement doesn't. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo) |
NEOSHO, Mo.-Carl Engelbrecht was a lad of 16 when he went to work for the Missouri Department of Conservation in 1954. Irwin T. Bode, the agency's first director, was still in charge. Deer and turkey were almost nonexistent, quail were abundant, and people tended to hunt and fish near home.
Now 68, Engelbrecht is 6 feet, 4 inches tall and slim as a whip. His demeanor is friendly and alert. His hair is receding a little, but remains black. He has seen a lot of change, but one thing remains constant in his estimation. Working as a conservation agent is as good as it gets.
He was still in high school when he got his first job with the agency, working in the exhibits shop in Sedalia. He took care of animals that were used in exhibits at county fairs. Sometimes he duplicated audio tapes of Herschel P. "Woody" Bledsoe and the Smoke Eaters, a group of Conservation Department employees with a musical bent and a conservation message.
Later in his career, he took temporary assignments doing carpentry and surveying sites for community lakes. When a permanent clerk-dispatcher job with the Forestry Division opened in Camdenton, he jumped at the chance. He spent the next few years protecting the state's growing forests.
In 1959 he took the examination to become a conservation agent and was accepted into a training class. He was commissioned in the fall of 1959. His first posting was to Newton County. It also was his last. He had opportunities to move to other areas, but he liked the schools, the people and the land, so he stayed.
Fifty years gives an agent a lot of time to accumulate memories of dicey situations and interesting cases. The biggest case in which Engelbrecht took part was a global sting operation aimed at halting the illegal trade in hawks and falcons. Wildlife law enforcement officers from Missouri to Asia staked out dozens of locations. The trigger for the operation was the arrival of a shipment of contraband birds at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Agents remained poised to pounce for a week.
Engelbrecht's suspect was not at home when the trap was sprung, but the man's wife was. She willingly let Engelbrecht and a federal agent into her home. Just as they did so, the phone began ringing. Panicked wildlife traffickers from around the globe were calling to warn her husband. It was too late, as the agents gathered evidence for the case.
Engelbrecht says one of most satisfying aspects of his work has been the use of his interrogation skills to bring almost every case to a successful conclusion.
"Other agents and investigators say I have a gift for getting people to talk to me," he says. "I have gotten suspects to talk to me where other officers had questioned them and they would just clam up, or they won't tell them the truth."
A recent example involved the theft of several black walnut logs worth thousands of dollars each. The agents had physical evidence proving the offense, and one of the offenders admitted his crime, saving himself and the courts the time and expense of a trial. But the other suspect stubbornly refused to confess.
"When the other investigator left the room for a minute, I told him man-to-man that sometimes people make mistakes, but it takes a man to admit a mistake. He said, 'I'm a man!' and I said, 'If you're a man, then how many logs did you cut?' and he broke."
"The secret to successful interrogation is to try to understand the subject and adapt your approach to each individual. Sometimes your choice of words is very important. If you tell a man he's a liar, he might clam up, where if you tell him he's not telling the truth he will respond to that."
Engelbrecht doesn't view writing a ticket as necessarily being a bad thing. He says his goal is for the person getting the citation to learn from the experience.
A case in point is the owner of a local bird-hunting lodge. Engelbrecht cited the man years ago, but the encounter didn't cause lasting enmity. When Engelbrecht stopped at the operation to say hello during a recent patrol of the county, he and his ride-along guest for the day were invited to share lunch with the staff and a group of hunters from Arkansas. They spent a pleasant hour chatting about hunting, the weather and college sports rivalries. Instead of making an enemy, Engelbrecht had made a friend.
After lunch, Engelbrecht got back in his Conservation Department pickup and visited a few of his favorite public areas. These included Fort Crowder Conservation Area (CA), where a shooting range he has long advocated is under construction. The development of public outdoor recreation opportunities is another change he has witnessed.
Newton County is not blessed with large tracts of national forest or parks. In 1959, the county had only a handful of conservation areas, mostly postage stamp-sized tower sites. Now the county has 16 conservation areas totaling more than 4,800 acres. These areas include 2,300-acre Fort Crowder CA, 852-acre Diamond Grove Prairie CA, 725-acre Capps Creek CA and 721-acre Bicentennial CA.
Newton County's private lands looked different in the middle of the 20th century than they do now, too. Most farmers grew corn and other row crops. Today, pasture dominates the landscape. Farms were smaller 50 years ago, and fields were crisscrossed with brushy fence rows and Osage orange windbreaks. Now you can look across hundreds of acres without a fence to break the visual monotony or shelter a bird.
"When I came down here in '59, we had lots of doves. Today we no longer have the grain fields to hold doves, so there's not much dove hunting anymore. Quail are a similar story. When I came here they opened the restaurants at 4 in the morning on opening day of quail season, and all the parking lots were full of pickup trucks with dog boxes in the back. There were quail and quail hunters everywhere. Now it is rare to see either. Clean farming is killing us."
Engelbrecht says wildlife law enforcement isn't as simple as it used to be. When he signed on as a conservation agent, night patrols might turn up illegal giggers or people sitting in a conservation area parking lot drinking beer. Today, the same spots might harbor illegal drug users or someone running a mobile methamphetamine lab.
On balance, though, he says relations between conservation agents and the public are more positive today than in the past.
"People accept us, they work with us, they look to us for guidance sometimes. There are a few people who don't like any kind of law enforcement. People like that usually are involved in other illegal activities. A person who will cheat on hunting and fishing laws will cheat on other things."
He attributes improved public relations in part to better communication. When law-abiding hunters and anglers want information, answers are just a phone call away. If they witness illegal activities, they can reach for a cell phone and report them.
He says he spends less time making face-to-face contact with people now and a lot more time on the phone. He misses the time on patrol, making personal contact, but electronic communications provide an efficient way to reach people.
Engelbrecht says hunters and anglers have changed in 50 years. For one thing, they are much better equipped. They also are interested in different activities than in the past. With more abundant fish and game and more leisure time, people are looking for greater challenges, such as fly fishing and bowhunting. Also, they are more mobile than ever. He sees a lot more out-of-state hunters today than in the past.
Agents have changed, too. For one thing, they are better trained. Whereas a high-school diploma used to be required for agent candidates, a college degree now is the minimum. Agents now undergo six months of specialized training and emerge with state law-enforcement commissions, the same as highway patrolmen and women. Annual training ensures that they remain up-to-date in the latest law-enforcement policies and techniques.
Like hunters, today's agents are better-equipped too. Engelbrecht remembers a time when field radios weighed 80 pounds and had to be packed on agents' backs. "They didn't always work, either," he says. "Sometimes you would hike miles into the woods and find out your radio was all walkie and no talkie."
Back then, agents had 12-watt radios with two frequencies in their vehicles. From the top of a hill, they might be able to reach other agents 10 or 12 miles away. They had two channels on which to communicate. Today they have 600-watt radios with 128 channels that interface with county sheriffs, local police, the highway patrol and others.
"With that kind of communications, you can't help but be more effective," says Engelbrecht. In the first years of his career, it was not unusual to work 18-hour days. Airplanes were the newest law-enforcement tool, and agents put in long hours, with airborne observers directing the work of ground-based agents.
"Hugh Pritchard was my supervisor then," Engelbrecht recalls. "He was big on airplane patrols. We didn't just work them through the week; we worked them throughout the month. I got assigned here in late October, and I didn't unpack my suitcase until spring. We would work quail and rabbit hunters during the day and go right into working giggers at night."
Back then agents drove their own cars and were reimbursed for mileage. Engelbrecht wore out a car every two or three years and ran on recapped tires because he could not afford new ones on the reimbursements he received. He was fortunate to know a car dealer who told him to get bids from every other car dealership in the area. Then he would give Engelbrecht a lower price than the rest.
"He told me, 'Carl, I like what you do and I like the way you do it.' It was his way of supporting conservation."
Agents now drive government vehicles, and while the hours sometimes are long, regulations regarding work hours and compensatory time ensure that their families see them on a regular basis.
Engelbrecht's schedule during the just-ended firearms deer season was lighter than ever before. A back injury sustained during a training session caused his supervisor to put him on reduced duty and ask him not to work deer season.
"It's hard to have another guy do your work," says Engelbrecht. He hopes to be back to full capacity soon. As much as things have changed, there still is not enough time in a day for an agent's work. The job, he says, is tiring, but never boring.
High on his list of the rewards of a conservation agent is the feeling of family and teamwork with other Conservation Department workers in his area.
"You get to know one another's families, and you help one another through hard times-personal as well as professional," says Engelbrecht, recalling many times when his conservation family has rallied to support one another.
Engelbrecht has a few pointers for upcoming agents. Some come from personal experience. Others he learned from those who went before him.
M.K. "Chap" Chapman was the district protection supervisor when Engelbrecht became an agent. He was one of the few employees who stayed on after Missourians voted in 1936 to transform the old, politically controlled Missouri Fish and Game Department into today's politically independent Department of Conservation. "He was a stickler for punctuality and taking care of your equipment," says Engelbrecht. "I have always tried to pass those things on to the agents I have trained."
From his own experience, he says, "Stay in touch with people in your county, and always get back to people who call you. They are your best source of information."
Engelbrecht also is a strong believer in appearing in court to follow up on every ticket he writes. Although his reputation is enough to ensure that his cases are upheld, he prefers to be there to answer questions and advise the judge about sentencing.
"You want different treatment for someone who made an honest mistake and a repeat offender," he says. "Penalties always should be tailored to circumstances, and the agent is in a position to recommend heavier or lighter sentences, based on the details of the case. Sometimes there is no other way for the judge to know what is appropriate."
Engelbrecht enjoys hunting quail, pheasant and chukar, but he says he isn't interested yet in retiring to spend more time on these and other leisure activities. Asked when he will retire, he cracks a mischievous smile and says, "When things get better."
- Jim Low -
Commission to meet Jan. 27 in Marshall
Friday, December 30, 2005
JEFFERSON CITY-The Missouri Conservation Commission will hold its next meeting at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 27 at the Marshall High School Little Theater, Marshall.
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. 12.
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: Lowell Mohler, Jefferson City, chairman; Stephen Bradford, Cape Girardeau, vice-chairman; Cynthia Metcalfe, St. Louis, secretary; Chip McGeehan, Marshfield, member.
-Jim Low-
New QU biologist to focus efforts in northeast Mo.
Friday, December 23, 2005
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| All Outdoors photo Quail Unlimited biologist Lisa Potter will use the knowledge she has gained through thousands of hours of field work to help landowners in northeast Missouri bring bobwhite quail back to their land. (Aaron Lange photo)(Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo) |
PARIS, Mo.-Lisa Potter knows how to pack a lot of work into a little time. It's a talent that will come in handy as she works to turn the tide in favor of bobwhite quail in northeastern Missouri.
A glance at Potter's resume reveals her ability to get things done. In the past 10 years she has earned a bachelor's degree in wildlife biology and a master's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology. During the same period, she studied quail nesting habits and habitat needs, did research on the effects of various burning and management regimens on upland bird habitat, and managed quail at the famed Ames Plantation in Grand Junction, Tenn.
She also found time to work with sandhill cranes in Nebraska for the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, analyze vegetative diversity at Konza Prairie in Kansas and complete a wildlife internship at Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Why would a biologist who has breathed the perfumed air of the South Pacific return to work with bobwhite quail in the Midwest?
"There's not many birds that will whistle back at you when you whistle to them," said Potter. "Quail have worked themselves into my heart."
It is not surprising, then, that Quail Unlimited (QU) and its partners chose Potter for an assignment that requires both passion and technical savvy. She will start her job as QU's new technical services biologist for northeastern Missouri in January.
"For Lisa, it isn't just about hunting," said Bill Bergh, who is the Missouri Department of Conservation's northeast regional private land services supervisor. "She is fascinated by the bobwhite's place in the grassland landscape, its survival through all the changes over the past 100 years, and the uphill battle it faces in today's farming environment. You couldn't find a better person for the job."
Potter's work will be supported by several organizations. QU is her employer, but her assignments will come primarily from Bergh. The U. S. Department of Agriculture will provide office space for Potter at its Natural Resources Conservation Service field office in Paris. Her salary will be paid through a partnership between QU and the Conservation Department.
Her main job will be working one-on-one with landowners who want to encourage quail and other grassland wildlife. She will help them develop management plans that blend habitat buffers, edge feathering, filter strips and other practices with production agriculture. Landowners will find financial as well as technical help available for many of these quail-friendly practices.
She also will be an educator, speaking to school and FFA groups and teaching classes at the annual Missouri Quail Academy for teenagers.
Potter's work will emphasize developing quail habitat in the Paris Quail Focus Area. This 10,000-acre area was designated as part of Missouri's Regional Quail Plan. It has lots of rolling terrain with wooded draws that could be developed for quail habitat. The persistent survival of scattered quail populations in the region proves its promise. She also will work with landowners in Monroe County and provide some assistance in Randolph and Shelby counties.
Perhaps the most important reason the Paris Quail Focus Area was selected for emphasis is that a number of landowners there have expressed a willingness to devote some of their land to quail habitat. Potter's task will be helping landowners turn these scattered acres to quail production.
Northwest Missouri landowners who are interested in partnering with Quail Unlimited, the Conservation Department and the Natural Resources Conservation Service can contact Potter at USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, 18771 Highway 15, Paris, MO 65275. Phone (660) 327-4117.
-Jim Low-
Native plants add to school's landscape, curriculum
Friday, December 23, 2005
Instructor Jeff Kitchen's love of nature led him down a path that embraces native plants for landscaping at the Lake Career and Technical Center.
CAMDENTON-Jeff Kitchen's job at the Lake Career and Technical Center in Camdenton is to teach students practical skills. Outside work, his primary interest is nature. His ability to combine the two has enriched classes ranging from greenhouse operations to environmental science. It also has resulted in beautification projects that overflow into nearby Camdenton and Ha Ha Tonka State Park.
Kitchen said he has always been fascinated by nature, especially plants. In 1999 that fascination led him to use native plants in his horticulture program. During the fall, students gathered seeds of coneflower, blazing star, coreopsis, Missouri evening primrose and other native plants. To enable the seeds to sprout, the class gave them special treatment to recreate natural winter conditions.
With this done, they planted the seeds in pots and grew them to planting size in the greenhouse. When spring arrived, they transplanted the plants to a 1,000-square-foot bed at Camdenton Middle School.
Kitchen had students develop a landscape design for the project. They brought in limestone boulders as accents and massed native species in clumps. By repeating these groups at regular intervals they achieved visual impact and made the bed look landscaped.
"Wildflowers are every bit as beautiful as cultivated varieties," said Kitchen. "However, they are often planted randomly, without any design. Without some structure, people can mistake a native flower bed for a weed patch at certain times of year."
The high visibility of the middle-school flower bed prompted Kitchen to try to give it a tidy look. Mulching around the plants helps emphasize that it is a deliberate landscape planting.
By installing the wildflower bed, students in Kitchen's greenhouse and landscaping classes gained experience working with native plants and creating a landscape design. The bed creates a living laboratory for horticulture, botany and environmental-science students right outside their school doors. The bed also attracts birds, lizards and other animals of interest to biology classes.
Lake Career and Technical Center students tackled a more ambitious project along the road leading to the horticulture building. They began by eradicating sericea lespedeza and other invasive plants from a 3,000-square-foot area.
Using native grass and wildflower seeds from Missouri Wildflowers Nursery in Brazito, they turned the patch into prairie like the ones that covered ridges and dry southern and western slopes in the Ozarks when European settlers arrived 200 years ago.
Students saved the school a tidy sum by creating the native plant beds. A professional landscaper would have charged upwards of $5,000 for the project. Furthermore, prairie plantings cost less to maintain, because they don't require mowing and watering. However, prairie beauty is an acquired taste for people who are accustomed to mowed lawns.
"We still have to contend with the feeling some people have that this area looks unkempt," said Kitchen. "When flowers are in bloom it's very pretty, but it's a harder sell in the fall and winter, when you see mostly bluestem and other grasses."
Besides these projects, Kitchen's classes have enhanced the Camdenton campus with native trees and shrubs, including yellowwood, black gum, bald cypress, sourwood, Carolina silverbell, chokecherry and many others.
Their experience landscaping with native plants landed them the job of developing the City of Camdenton's interpretive nature trail. Horticulture students also worked with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to create a native plant demonstration area at Ha Ha Tonka State Park. For that project, they had to collect seeds from plants already growing in the park to ensure survival of local plant types.
Kitchen knew enough about horticulture, native plants and landscaping to oversee the projects at Camdenton's schools. However, any school or other organization with an interest in similar projects can get help from the Missouri Department of Conservation through the Grow Native! Program. Visit www.grownative.org for photos of native plants suitable for landscaping, planting requirements and a list of retail sales outlets for native plants and seeds.
The Conservation Department also has publications with practical guidance for native-plant landscaping. These include
--Natives for Your Small Acreage
--Natives for Your Home
--Native Plants for Your Farm and
--Native Plant Rain Gardens.
These are available free of charge from Grow Native, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-180. Phone (573) 522-4115, ext. 3833. On larger acreages, site visits and consultations with private-land conservationists may be available.
Most conservation nature centers offer naturescaping workshops-usually in March. Retailers who sell native plants also are good sources of information. Columbia and St. Louis have active chapters of The Wild Ones, whose members promote the use of native plants and are generous with their knowledge and experience. A link to their web page is on the Grow Native! web site, www.grownative.com.
You can find links to other naturescaping web sites at www.grownative.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=links.main.11.
-Jim Low-
Antlerless season boosts firearms deer harvest to 249,912
Friday, December 23, 2005
This year's firearms deer harvest fell 10 percent short of last year's, but it was still the third-largest in Missouri history.
JEFFERSON CITY-The final portion of Missouri's 2005 firearms deer hunting season produced a harvest of 21,922 deer. That pushes the total firearms deer harvest to the third-largest number in modern history.
The antlerless portion of firearms deer season ran from Dec. 10 through 18. This year's antlerless hunt total was down 2,295 (9.1 percent) from last year. The record was set in 2003, when hunters bagged 25,151 deer during the antlerless-only portion of firearms deer season.
Top counties in the antlerless hunt were Pike, with 756 deer killed, Callaway with 675 and Boone with 628.
The Missouri Department of Conservation recorded no firearms-related deer hunting accidents during the antlerless hunt.
The antlerless season propelled Missouri's 2005 firearms deer season to a total of 249,912 deer checked. That is 25,417 (9.2 percent) fewer than last year's record of 275,329.
2005 firearms deer season segments and harvests were:
--Urban, Oct. 7-10, 1,838
--Youth, Oct. 29-30, 10,577
--November - Nov. 12-33, 205,460
--Muzzleloader, Nov. 25-Dec. 4, 10,115
--Antlerless, Dec. 10-18, 21,765
The number of deer killed was down compared to last year in every segment of firearms deer season. Conservation Department Resource Scientist Lonnie Hansen attributes this mostly to an unusual abundance of acorns statewide.
"In years when there are lots of acorns, deer don't have to move much to find food, and that makes them harder for hunters to find," said Hansen. "Historically, hunters in heavily forested areas have the most trouble when acorns are plentiful, because deer depend most heavily on acorns for food in forested areas. Knowing that, we expected to see the biggest dips in deer harvest in southwestern and southeastern Missouri and in the Ozarks."
He said regional deer harvest figures bear out those predictions. The largest decrease in deer harvest, 18 percent, was in the Ozarks. Southwestern Missouri was second, with a 13-percent decrease, followed by the southeast with a 12 percent drop and the St. Louis region with a decrease of 11 percent. Central Missouri saw a 10 percent dip, and northeastern Missouri experienced an 8 percent drop.
Areas least affected were those with the smallest forested acreages. The Kansas City region experienced a drop of only 3 percent, while northwest Missouri, dominated by grassland, saw an increase of 2 percent in its deer harvest.
Hansen said weather played a less-important but still noticeable role in the harvest decrease. Rain and wind kept some hunters indoors on opening weekend, and hunters checked 30,000 fewer deer during the first two days of the 2005 November firearms deer season than they did during the same period last year.
The success of the Conservation Department's deer management strategy also likely accounts for some of the harvest decrease.
"We have been applying the brakes pretty hard in northeast Missouri for several years now," said Hansen. "We are succeeding in increasing the doe-to-buck harvest ratio to check the growth of the deer herd in some areas and reduce deer numbers in others. At some point in time, given the number of does we are taking, we hope to see fewer deer harvested because we have fewer deer."
The Conservation Department recorded 11 firearms-related deer hunting accidents during the 36 days of firearms deer hunting. Two of the accidents resulted in hunter deaths.
Archery deer hunting continues through Jan. 15 in Missouri. Archers have harvested more than 30,000 deer in recent years. Added to the firearms harvest, this puts Missouri's annual deer kill near 300,000.
-Jim Low-
Turn first-deer memories into mementoes
Friday, December 16, 2005
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| The First-Deer program sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation turns lifetime memories into permanent mementoes suitable for framing. For more information, visit www.mdc.mo.gov/hunt/deer/index.htm and click on "First Deer Hunting Award," or contact First Deer/Turkey Certificate, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO, phone 573/522-4115, ext. 3293. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo) |
JEFFERSON CITY-A hunter's first deer kill is a lifetime memory. The experience is likely to be even more significant if the hunter is a youngster. The Missouri Department of Conservation has a way of capturing that memory.
Under the First Deer/Turkey Program the Conservation Department issues First Deer Certificates suitable for framing. If the application includes a photograph of the hunter with his or her first deer, the photo is incorporated into the certificate.
"We started this program to give young hunters a tangible reminder of their first success," said Wildlife Division Administrator Dave Erickson. "Every kid's first deer is a trophy. These certificates give young hunters something to hang on the wall, even if they don't take their first deer to a taxidermist."
The program has become very popular since it began in 2003. Erickson said parents and mentors of first-time hunters seem just as thrilled with the certificates as the hunters themselves.
Any hunter age 15 or younger who kills his or her first deer can get a certificate. You can download an application by visiting www.mdc.mo.gov/hunt/deer/index.htm and clicking on "First Deer Hunting Award." Or contact First Deer/Turkey Certificate, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180, phone 573/522-4115, ext. 3293.
Don't forget to send a photo if you have one.
-Jim Low-
High school club gives members a place to learn about hunting, fishing, community service
Friday, December 16, 2005
Students with a passion for the outdoors earn prizes and school days outdoors through this innovative program.
OWENSVILLE-What if high-school students could join a school-sponsored club where they learned about their favorite outdoor activities? What if they could perform community service and earn a day off from school to hunt or fish? That is exactly what is happening at Owensville High School. Not surprisingly, students have flocked to the club.
The OHS Hunting and Fishing Club is the brainchild of Principal Bob Levy and teacher Bill Seamon. Levy had a similar club in Chillicothe. He sought a volunteer to run with the idea, and Seamon, the school's baseball coach, stepped up to the plate. Seamon also credits Eldo Meyer with the National Wild Turkey Federation for getting the club off to a good start.
"The club's purpose is to get young people interested in lifetime activities outdoors," said Seamon. "For most, that means hunting and fishing, but we also get into hiking, camping, and other outdoor pursuits."
Seamon launched the club last year, opening membership to all ninth- through 12th grade students in good standing. The response was strong and immediate. Within weeks membership topped 100, making it one of the school's biggest clubs.
The club has held onto its members with activities including hunter education and water safety classes and camping and trout fishing at a trout park*on a school day. Activities in the club's future plans include backpacking, a big-buck contest, participating in a prescribed burn for wildlife management purposes, learning to make fishing rods and tie fishing flies, going on a canoe float trip, running a map and compass course, learning to process and cook wild game and building a smokehouse.
One of the club's most popular events is a wild-game banquet. Last year's meal included white-tailed deer, moose, elk, antelope, barbecued beaver and raccoon, squirrel, trout and halibut. Wildlife impressionist Ralph Duren capped the evening with his amazing imitations of animal sounds from coyotes to bald eagles.
Besides recreational interests, club members share a commitment to public service. In its first year, they cut firewood for elderly people in the community who heat with wood, donated 50 frozen turkeys to the Owensville Senior Center and took fruit baskets to shut-ins. The club also donated $900 to Missouri's Share the Harvest program. The money paid for processing of deer donated by hunters to feed needy people.
Raising money hasn't been a problem for the club. Annual dues of $10 gave them more than $1,000 in start-up cash. Raffling a rifle and a shotgun donated by local merchants added $3,700 to the treasury. A barbecue at Owensville's spring festival swelled the club's coffers further.
Cash flow enables the club to do things other groups can't. For instance, each member receives a raffle ticket when they attend a meeting. At the end of the event, there is a drawing for a hunting knife, fishermen's pliers or some other item.
Attending events also earns members points. A work day is worth three points, monthly meetings two points and fun activities one point. When members accumulate 10 points, they can cash them in to take off one school day a year for hunting, fishing or other outdoor activities.
"When we started out, we had zero in the bank," said Seamon. "Once you get a bankroll, you can start doing exciting things. We have had several activities and spent money on community service, and we will have $3,000 in the bank. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you offer young people a chance to do things outdoors."
Hunting and Fishing Club President Scott Stranghoener said he got involved because he liked the idea of bringing his interest in hunting and fishing into school. "I figured it would be pretty neat to be able to take hunter education classes at school."
Stranghoener said he has been pleasantly surprised at the number of girls in the club-approximately one-fifth of the total membership. He said he was equally surprised to learn that most of the female members are interested in turkey hunting, which is one of his own top interests.
For Stranghoener, the wild-game banquet is the highlight of the year. He is working to get Ralph Duren back for a repeat performance. Summing up his first year in the club, he said "It has been everything I hoped it would be."
Seamon said the club has sent representatives to several sport shows, partly to raise money and partly to share the excitement their club has generated in Owensville. He said he is happy to share their bylaws and advice about how to get started. His e-mail address is brseamon@yahoo.com.
-Jim Low-
Conservation Department sets meetings to hear Missourians' ideas on deer, turkey management
Friday, December 16, 2005
Antler-point restrictions are among the topics to be discussed.
JEFFERSON CITY-Are you content with Missouri's spring and fall turkey hunting regulations? Do you like the idea of antler-point restrictions to control the state's deer herd? Would you like to see that experimental approach to deer management extended to the area you hunt? You can tell conservation officials about it at a series of meetings set for two parts of the state in January.
The Missouri Department of Conservation will hold six public forums focusing on deer and turkey management in southeast and south-central Missouri. Half of each two-hour meeting will be allocated for discussing turkey management, and half will be set aside for talking about deer management.
One item on the agenda is the possibility of expanding the four-point rule now in effect in 29 counties to seven counties in west-central Missouri and eight in the southeastern part of the state. The rule is an experimental attempt to shift more of the harvest to female deer, providing more effective control of deer numbers.
One side effect of the experimental regulation is expected to be a larger percentage of mature bucks with large antlers. This has caused some hunters to ask for antler-point restrictions in their areas. However, some hunters in the area where the restriction already is in effect dislike it. The meetings will give hunters in the new area under consideration a chance to express their preferences.
Counties where the Conservation Department is considering expanding the experimental antler restriction are Bates, Benton, Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Cedar, Henry, Hickory, Madison, Perry, St. Clair, Ste. Genevieve, Scott, Stoddard, Vernon and Wayne.
Each of the meetings will be from 7 to 9 p.m. and begin with a presentation by Hansen, who leads the Conservation Department's deer management program, and turkey program leader Jeff Beringer. The meetings are set for the following locations.
•Piedmont, Jan. 9 at the Clearwater Youth Center, Highway 34, adjacent to Clearwater High School.
•Marble Hill, Jan. 10 at the Methodist Church, Highway 34 East.
•Perryville, Jan. 12 at the Perryville Community Center, corner of Spring and St. Joseph streets. For more information call (573) 290-5730.
•Cape Girardeau, Jan. 18 at Conservation Campus Nature Center, North Cape County Park.
•El Dorado Springs, Jan. 23 at the American Legion building on Broadway, one block east of Main Street.
•Clinton, Jan. 24 at the K-BLE building, 1606 N. Water St. For more information call (660) 885-6981.
-Jim Low-
Out-of-state deer hunters pump $30 million into Missouri’s economy annually
Friday, December 09, 2005
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| Nonresident deer hunters pump more than $30 million into Missouri’s economy annually. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo) |
JEFFERSON CITY-With the 2005 firearms deer season winding down, the picture of how much white-tailed deer are worth to Missouri is coming into focus again. Statistics from the Missouri Department of Conservation show that nonresident deer hunters alone brought more than $30 million into the Show-Me State this year.
As of Dec. 1, the Conservation Department had sold 15,548 nonresident firearms any-deer permits, 13,746 nonresident antlerless permits, and 5,061 nonresident archery permits. The more than $2.9 million these hunters spent on permits is a boost to the state’s economy, but it is only a small part of the benefits Missouri reaps from its deer herd.
David Thorne, public involvement coordinator for the Conservation Department, said out-of-state deer hunters each spend an average of 4.6 days hunting in Missouri. While here, they spend approximately $15 million on food and $4 million on lodging.
Add ammunition, equipment, motor fuels, taxidermy and other goods and services, and expenditures by nonresident deer hunters total nearly $28 million annually. This activity supports 550 jobs with earnings totaling more than $13 million.
Using economic calculations, Thorne says that nonresident deer hunter expenditures have a total business impact of $57.9 million in the Show-Me State annually.
"One of the things I find most remarkable about this, " said Thorne, 'is that the relatively small number of nonresident deer hunters spent almost as much on food and lodging in the state as resident hunters. Missourians and businesses in Missouri really benefit from that spending by nonresidents."
Only about one of every 20 deer hunters in Missouri is a nonresident. Nonresident deer hunters are also likely to be hunting with friends or family in Missouri. About nine of 10 of the nonresident deer hunters from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma report that they have friends and family in Missouri and that they have long-standing hunting traditions with friends and family here.
These deer hunters also are not likely to be looking for hunting spots on conservation lands, since about nine of 10 say they hunt exclusively on private land.
Approximately one third of nonresident deer hunting permit sales are to residents of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma. More than one-third of those nonresident deer hunters have lived in Missouri in the past.
Conservation Department Resource Scientist Lonnie Hansen oversees the state’s deer management program. He said the total economic value of deer hunting is far greater than the $30 million that nonresident deer hunters pump into Missouri’s economy each year. Economic activity generated by the state’s more than 450,000 resident deer hunters totals more than $800 million annually.
-Jim Low-
Muzzleloader deer harvest follows downward trend
Friday, December 09, 2005
Biologists cite the same factors that held down this year’s urban, youth and regular firearms deer season harvests.
JEFFERSON CITY-Missouri’s muzzleloader deer hunting season saw 15 percent fewer deer checked than last year. The decreased muzzleloader harvest follows the trend set in the three preceding portions of firearms deer season.
Hunters checked 10,115 deer during the muzzleloader season Nov. 25 through Dec. 4. That is down 1,823 from last year’s record mark of 11,938, but still the third-largest number since the muzzleloader season began in 1988.
All three preceding portions of the 2005 firearms deer season also have shown harvest decreases. The urban firearms deer hunt Oct. 7 through 10 saw a 12 percent decrease. The harvest during the youth deer hunt Oct. 29 and 30 decreased 19 percent. The deer kill during the regular firearms deer season Nov. 12 through 22, when most deer are taken, was down 7.6 percent.
"I am not surprised to learn the muzzleloader harvest was down, too,' said Lonnie Hansen, a resource scientist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. "Hunters I have talked with say they saw fewer deer during the November hunt. I would expect that to continue into muzzleloader season and the antlerless season."
Hansen and other Conservation Department biologists cite the unusual abundance of acorns as the main factor contributing to the dip in this year’s deer harvest. Deer do not move around as much when acorns are plentiful. This makes them less visible to hunters.
Top muzzleloader harvest counties were Oregon with 226, Pike with 211 and Boone with 200 deer checked. County-by-county deer harvest information from the Conservation Department’s Telecheck system is available online at http://www.mdc.mo.gov/hunt/.
The Conservation Department recorded no firearms-related hunting accidents during the muzzleloader season.
-Jim Low-
Hunters urged to share the antlerless harvest
Friday, December 09, 2005
With the 2005 deer harvest lagging behind last year’s pace, hunters are reminded to keep the needy in mind.
JEFFERSON CITY-A tough season for Missouri deer hunters could spell a lean winter for needy Missourians, too, according to the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM).
CFM’s members include 70 affiliate organizations and 58,000 individual members. The group coordinates Share the Harvest. Last year, the program channeled 138 tons of venison donated by hunters to food banks across the state, helping keep thousands of Missourians from hunger. This year could be a different story.
Deer harvest numbers for the youth, urban, November and muzzleloader portions of the 2005 firearms deer season all have been down. Altogether, hunters have taken 21,000 fewer deer this year than last year.
"This is a big concern to us and to food banks around the state," said CFM Director Dave Murphy. "Share the Harvest has become a mainstay for many local organizations that feed the hungry. We have managed to increase donations every year up until now, but if donations follow the harvest trend, this could be a lean year for a lot of families."
Murphy said that would be especially unfortunate, since the nation’s humanitarian resources already are stretched thin in the aftermath of hurricanes Rita and Katrina.
To meet the challenge, Murphy is asking hunters statewide to go back to the woods during the final portion of firearms deer season and bring in deer for Share the Harvest.
"Thousands of hunters still have unused tags," he said. "The antlerless deer season is the last chance to ensure that we continue the good work we have started."
The Conservation Federation set out to double the amount of venison donated to the needy this year. To reach this ambitious goal, they enlisted financial support from the Missouri Department of Conservation, Bass Pro Shops, Shelter Insurance, the Monsanto Company, Anheuser-Busch, Safari Club International, Whitetails Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation and a host of local sponsors. Sponsor’s contributions pay meat-processing costs, allowing hunters to simply drop off deer at participating locker plants.
Share the Harvest also accepts partial donations, but it only underwrites processing costs for whole-deer donations.
The antlerless portion of deer season runs from Dec. 10 through 18. During this time, hunters may use any unfilled firearms deer hunting permit to take antlerless deer in any of the 74 counties included in the season. In all of these counties, hunters can buy as many $7 antlerless deer permits as they want. Hunters can use modern firearms, muzzleloaders, bows or crossbows during the antlerless hunt.
The 2005 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Information booklet lists names, locations and contact information for more meat processors participating in Share the Harvest. For more information about the program, call the Conservation Department at (573) 522-4115, ext. 3290, or the CFM at (573) 634-2322.
-Jim Low-
Hunters overcome obstacles, shoot 205,460 deer
Friday, December 02, 2005
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| Missouri hunters checked more than 205,000 deer during the November firearms deer season despite difficult hunting conditions.(Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo) |
JEFFERSON CITY-A disappointing opening weekend left Missouri deer hunters down, but not out. Taking advantage of good weather, they gained ground and closed the November firearms deer season with the fifth-largest deer harvest in Missouri history.
This year's November firearms harvest total was 205,460. That is 16,869 fewer than last year's record harvest of 222,329, but more than might have been expected following the opening weekend.
"We started out slow," said Lonnie Hansen, the Missouri Department of Conservation's top deer biologist. "Opening weekend was just not ideal. It rained, and it blew, and that affected our harvest. Then you throw in on top of that the acorn situation and it's just not surprising we had our harvest down as much as we did."
Hansen noted the "acorn situation" before the hunting season, saying that an abundant acorn crop was likely to make hunting tough, especially in the southern half of the state. Deer in forested areas rely heavily in acorns for food. In years when acorns are scarce, deer often gather in fields or areas of acorn abundance to forage. This makes them more vulnerable to hunters. In years of acorn abundance, deer travel less and are scattered, making them less visible.
The November firearms deer season always opens on a Saturday and spans two weekends. In most years, more than half the deer taken during the entire 11-day season fall during the first two days. This year's opening weekend harvest was down 30,591 (23 percent) from last year's record-setting season opener.
As the season developed, however, hunters got a break. The weather turned cooler and drier. By season's end, they had cut the gap between this year and last year almost in half. The final tally of 16,878 was just 7.6 percent below last year's record mark.
Hansen said the increase in late-season deer harvest was not surprising, either. "When hunters have a hard time on opening weekend, they spend more time out there later in the season. I think we will see a continuation of this during the antlerless portion of the firearms season in December. Hunters who haven't gotten their deer yet will be out there looking. They could still make up some of the ground lost on opening weekend."
Hansen said he expects this year's total firearms deer harvest to be within the normal range-somewhere in the neighborhood of 250,000. He said the largest regional harvest decrease was in the Ozarks, where deer rely most heavily on acorns for food. The strongest harvests were in regions where forest acreage is small and acorns are less important to deer.
"We knew going into the season that the abundance of acorns was going to make things especially tough for hunters in the Ozarks," said Hansen. "The harvest numbers confirm that. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the way things have gone so far."
Hansen also noted that the only region where the deer harvest increased this year was northwest Missouri. Fourteen out of 19 counties in this area were affected by antler-point restrictions that went into effect last year. Under that rule, hunters can only shoot antlered deer if they have four or more points on one side. The experimental regulation is designed to increase the number of female deer hunters kill. If the regulation works, the result will be a decrease in the proportion of female deer in the population, making it easier for hunters to control deer numbers.
"Last year we put something like 70 percent of the yearling bucks off-limits to hunters in much of northwestern Missouri," said Hansen. "This year we would expect quite a few of those deer to have grown antlers big enough to make them legal, so that could have contributed to the stronger harvest in that area."
Missouri's November firearms deer harvest first topped 200,000 five years ago. November harvest figures since then have been:
-2000, 201,165
-2001, 205,867
-2002, 217,435
-2003, 207,516
-2004, 222,329
-2005, 205,460
The Conservation Department recorded 10 firearms-related hunting accidents during the November firearms deer season. This included two fatalities. Over the past 25 years, Missouri has averaged 11.6 nonfatal firearms deer hunting accidents and 1.6 fatalities per year. Over the past five years, the averages have been 7.6 nonfatal and 1.4 fatal accidents.
County-by-county deer harvest information from the Conservation Department's Telecheck system is available online at www.mdc.mo.gov/hunt/.
-Jim Low-
Federal grant will benefit Missouri quail
Friday, December 02, 2005
Knowledge gained from quail habitat partnerships in two Missouri counties will serve as a model for work in other parts of the state and nation.
JEFFERSON CITY-Prospects for bobwhite quail in two Missouri counties just took a turn for the better. A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will encourage quail-management partnerships between state agencies and private conservation groups there and seek to extend those benefits to other areas.
The $138,000 matching grant is one of six awarded by the USDA nationwide under the Conservation Partnership Initiative. The partners in the Missouri project are the Missouri Department of Conservation, the University of Missouri and the West-Central and Heartland chapters of Quail Unlimited.
The project will focus on restoring quail habitat in Andrew and Cass counties in northwestern Missouri. Earlier this year the Conservation Department hired a coordinator to work in each of the two counties, contact landowners and encourage them to take advantage of USDA incentives to create quail habitat. Among those incentives is the CP-33 program that helps landowners establish habitat buffers on the edges of crop fields.
The new workers also talk to landowners who are not interested in quail habitat incentives. This information about barriers to participation will help develop more effective quail management policies and practices.
The Conservation Department and its quail restoration partners already were at work in Cass and Andrew counties before this project began. The grant will enable them to expand the scale of quail habitat projects. Lessons from the USDA-subsidized quail habitat program will be incorporated into a protocol for other counties and states.
"This is an opportunity for us to learn what works and what doesn't work in making habitat management affordable and attractive to private landowners," said Nick Prough, a private land conservationist with the Conservation Department. "Those are the folks who control more than 90 percent of the land in Missouri. If we succeed, this program could make a tremendous difference for quail, rabbits, songbirds and all the other wildlife with similar habitat needs."
-Jim Low-
