Whether it’s sitting around the campfire listening to the Cardinals in the summer, or shooting the breeze with the boys in the fall, talking about the latest action on the ice, team sports and outdoors activities easily fit hand-in-hand.
The St. Louis Blues have announced a new theme night that combines the best of both worlds. Hunting and Fishing Night is scheduled Tuesday, Oct. 21, for a game against the Los Angeles Kings.
Fans who purchase theme-night tickets can choose a Blue Note logo cap in hunter’s orange or camouflage. All anglers and outdoor enthusiasts know there is no such thing as too many Day-Glo orange or camo hats. A portion of theme night ticket sales will be donated to conservation efforts.
In addition to action on the ice, representatives from Ducks Unlimited, Quail and Pheasants Forever, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and the Missouri Department of Conservation, will be available on site to provide information about their organizations and offer exclusive, enter-to-win prize packages.
For more information or to purchase theme tickets, go to stlouisblues.com/promotions and click the Hunting and Fishing Night link.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
Early season antlerless deer hunting helps manage the herd and improves buck hunting chances later in the year.
Hunters who believe that we are the best deer management tool available get their first chance to prove the point this weekend. When the early portion of the antlerless hunting season opens on Friday, Oct. 10, hunters have three days to make a positive difference in many proven ways.
Holding out hope for the once-in-a-lifetime, magazine-cover megabuck is the thing deer hunter dreams are built on, but the real measure of success for keeping deer numbers in check is doe harvest. Taking antlerless deer in the early season can also improve the odds for that big boy showing up in mid-November.
First and foremost, doe harvest provides the true tool for population control. With an estimated statewide population nearing two million, there are few areas where the herd is not overwhelming its habitat. Removing females slows what has been exponential growth. Official estimates at the turn of the century were closer to one million deer in the state.
The National Deer Association offers five solid suggestions for harvesting does early in the season. The article by the organization’s chief communication officer, Lindsay Thomas Jr., was originally published in 2012, but its message resonates still.
1. Early in the season the pressure on all deer is low. The November portion of fall firearms season unleashes a half-million hunters in the woods. “By late season, does may be as wary as bucks, and just when you are ready to start shooting them, you don’t see any,” Thomas says.
2. There is less margin for error. When several antlerless deer are seen together in early October, it is easier to recognize the difference in size between adult does and fawns. While those young-of-the-year button bucks are legal targets, they are not the deer the season was designed to remove.
3. Hunter anticipation is high in October. Most of us have been waiting nearly a whole year for another shot. As autumn stretches into November, enthusiasm begins to chill along with the weather. Summer-like temperatures are not hunter friendly, but the potential for deep freezes in December are even less appealing.
4. Forage distribution was my favorite fact from the NDA article. “An adult doe requires about 6 to 8 percent of its body weight in forage every day,” Thomas says. That’s up to eight pounds of food for a 100-pound doe daily. If she is removed in early October, what she doesn’t eat is available for the deer that remain.
5. What does early doe harvest mean for bucks once breeding season begins?
“Taking does before the rut arrives will change the buck-to-doe ratio and can help intensify competition that year because there are closer to equal numbers of does and bucks,” Thomas wrote. “This means bucks have to be more active to compete for breeding opportunities, so they are more visible, and rut behaviors like chasing and fighting are more common.”
Hunters who put meat in their freezers in October can be more selective in November. Waiting for that big buck is easier when you know there is plenty of sausage already in storage. Other considerations for harvesting antlerless deer this weekend include supporting Share the Harvest deer meat donations and opportunities for expanded chronic wasting disease testing.
The antlerless portions of firearms season are open in all 114 counties in the state except for four in the extreme northwestern tip of the state and 10 in the Bootheel region. In 96 counties, including Jefferson, hunters may purchase and fill up to four antlerless-only firearms hunting permits during all seasons combined.
An any-deer permit for residents costs $18 for hunters 16 and older, and $9 for younger hunters. The antlerless-only permits are $7.50 each for adults and $3.75 for hunters age 15 and under. The late antlerless portion of the season is scheduled for Dec. 6-14. For more information visit mdc.mo.gov.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
Salt and mineral lick sites unnaturally concentrate deer and can facilitate the spread of disease.
The ability of humans to communicate is not unique among animal species. We may be the most advanced at the trick, but in some instances, we could be the worst at it. When I hear song birds singing, crickets chirping, tree frogs trilling, or bull elk bugling, I feel confident that others of their kind are paying attention.
People, on the other hand, sometimes seem more interested in hearing themselves talk rather than actually listening to others. For residents looking for answers about white-tailed deer management in Missouri, the state Department of Conservation is hosting open house sessions throughout the state to hear from people with questions.
Among the 10 scheduled events is a meeting from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, October 9, at the Eureka Community Center, 333 Bald Hill Road. In addition to the in-person opportunities, comments about deer management are being accepted online until October 17 at short.mdc.mo.gov/4yd.
“For generations, Missourians have worked together to protect deer and deer hunting,” said Jason Sumners, conservation department director. “Fueled by a shared passion for white-tailed deer, hunters and other wildlife enthusiasts inside and outside MDC have built a healthy, abundant herd. These open houses offer a chance to build on that foundation.”
Conservation department staff will offer presentations on deer management, regulations, chronic wasting disease, epizootic hemorrhagic disease, managing private land, and how the state works with hunters, land owners, and other partners to keep deer healthy.
Visitors are welcome to come and go anytime between 4 and 8 p.m.. and advanced registration is not required. Other locations for meetings in the state include, St. Joseph, Macon, Poplar Bluff and West Plains.
Go and ask questions, but be sure to listen to the answers.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
Permits for hunting wild turkeys in the fall are combined for archery and firearms seasons this year.
Fall turkey hunters this year will experience the biggest regulation change as the seasons open this autumn. Already affected are those who have enjoyed a combined deer and turkey archery hunting opportunity.
For the first time in decades bow and arrow hunters are not being issued two permits for deer and two for turkeys. Rather than continuing to include the most popular game animals together, this year the species are separated with a fall turkey hunting season that combines firearms and archery in a single permit.
Both archery deer and turkey seasons have the same start and end dates, with a pause during the November portion of firearms season, but archery deer hunters no longer have the option to shoot a turkey while waiting for a buck or doe, unless they also purchase the separate turkey hunting permit.
The reality is that very few archers exclusively hunted for turkeys. Most arrow harvests of the birds in the fall were the result of chance encounters. Resident hunters who relish that accidental opportunity will be required to buy the $14 turkey permit, which will also allow them to hunt for turkeys with a shotgun from October 1 through 31.
The season limit for turkeys in the fall is two in the archery and firearms seasons combined. That is half as many as a turkey hunter could shoot last year, but it’s about two more than most hunters have taken annually in the fall. With about 150,000 archery permits issued in 2023, hunters took fewer than 3,000 turkeys.
Archery deer and turkey hunting seasons opened on September 15 and continue until January 15, with the aforementioned break from November 15 through 25. Deer hunters are issued two any-deer permits for $20.50, but can only take only one antlered deer prior to Nov. 15, and hunters may only harvest two antlered deer in the archery and firearms seasons combined.
Missouri resident hunters may take any number of antlerless deer using archery methods with antlerless-only permits, which are available for $7.50 each. Shooting hours are one half hour before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset daily. A sunrise and sunset table for Jefferson City is printed in the 2025 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet.
As usual that book includes a summary of “What’s New for 2025?” on its back cover, but surprisingly, the change for archery turkey hunters is not included among the 11 bullet points on the list.
Highlighted changes include the elimination of a restriction against moving deer carcasses from the county of harvest. The rule now says that carcasses must be placed in a trash service that is delivered to a sanitary landfill, or left on the property where the deer was harvested.
Hunters must report their harvests through the Telecheck system before the deer is transported out of the county where it was killed, or before 10 p.m. on the day of harvest, whichever is earliest.
Youth hunters may now take more than one deer (only one antlered deer) during the early youth portion of the firearms season, which is the weekend of November 1 and 2 this year.
Twelve counties have been added to the chronic wasting disease management zone throughout the state, bringing the total to 82 of the state’s 114 counties. The counties included this year are St. Louis, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Daviess, Harrison, Henry, Marion, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Ralls and Texas. Hunters in those counties may now participate in the CWD portion of the firearms season November 26 through 30.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
A recent meeting in Jefferson City about chronic wasting disease may be a prototype for future presentations in the state.
Fall deer hunting seasons open on Monday, Sept. 15, in Missouri with dark cloud hanging over the proceedings. The presence of chronic wasting disease is not the cause for the overwhelming concern. It is a virulent misinformation campaign that is dividing hunters, friends and families.
I hold out some hope that I am too close to the situation, and it is not as big as it appears to me, but the more people I talk to, who start our conversations with “what’s the deer season going to be like?” the more I fear we are slipping into a situation where our fellow hunters are becoming our own worst enemies.
The core of this family feud regards the state Department of Conservation‘s efforts to manage the spread of CWD. Now 25 years since wildlife biologists began monitoring the state’s deer herd for the disease and almost 15 seasons since the first documented case, the slow progression should be lauded as a success.
Compared to our neighboring and nearby states, the low prevalence in Missouri is proof that the plan to increase harvests in concentrated locations is working. We can attribute the robust deer and turkey hunting opportunities in Missouri to generations of work by the department with the support of hunters. Now is not a time for distrust.
Within the past few weeks I have been blocked from a social media site for supporting the department. Banning me is certainly the prerogative of the page manager, but what really hurts is that its founder is someone I have considered a personal friend for more than 30 years.
If we isolate ourselves in bubbles – regarding opposing opinions as enemy fire – we are destined for disaster. I am willing to have a rational debate with anyone at anytime regarding the ongoing efforts to reduce the spread of a deadly deer disease.
I’ll start here with a few of the more common refrains I have heard from people who are fighting against the work of the conservation department.
“Don’t trust the government” is a pretty easy mantra to stand behind. It is solid policy regarding politicians and their hand-picked, quid pro quo appointees. Where the axiom veers recklessly into traffic is lumping public servants who rely on scientific and data-based evidence in with the aforementioned miscreants.
From the volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to the recently named department director and almost every employee in between, these are people who love and care about the environment and the flora and fauna that inhabit our state.
“Common sense will tell you that killing healthy deer to eliminate a few diseased ones is senseless.” Contrarily, I say it makes no sense, common or otherwise, to disregard years of dedicated study and science in favor of something you heard from someone who knows somebody who says it’s so. Perception may be reality, but it is not verifiable.
Facts are facts, and in Wisconsin, where the disease is epidemic, wildlife managers started with an aggressive approach at containing the disease similar to Missouri’s strategy. They were showing success until public opinion forced a change in plans. Now more than 25 percent of bucks harvested in isolated areas have the disease.
That, some say, proves that it will eventually level off, as if one in four was an acceptable statistic. The reasonable conclusion is that the other three just hadn’t contracted the disease yet, since it’s probable that half of the harvested deer were less than two years old. If they hadn’t been killed, at least one would have had it by the next year. What that leads to is a population of deer that are, as a whole, younger and smaller.
I recently attended a meeting in Jefferson City where a panel of experts answered the concerns and questions of hunters and others in attendance. It was considered a prototype for informational meetings that may be held in the future. I sincerely hope we can get a similar presentation in the Jefferson and Ste. Genevieve counties area soon.
What struck me hardest at the meeting was the significant number of people whose primary reaction and underlying question was “what does this mean for me?” The future of the resource and the long-term health of the deer population in the state is not a “me and now” situation. I want to know what it means for our grandchildren and those who will inherit what we leave behind.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
For nearly six decades the Open Space Council has been taking to the rivers and creeks around St. Louis to fight the effects of flooding, illegal dumping and careless littering with an army of thousands of dedicated volunteers. More are always welcome.
On Saturday, Aug. 23, participants in the 58th annual Operation Clean Stream will be canoeing, kayaking, and combing the shores, parks and trails along the Meramec River and tributaries throughout its lower watershed.
The Open Space Council of St. Louis has led efforts to cleanup to Meramec River since 1965.
Since 1967 the effort has become one of the most significant and longest running river restoration projects in America. Opportunities abound for involvement in the organization’s mission of “conserving, restoring and sustaining land, water and other natural resources.”
Operation Clean Stream events this weekend include dozens of work sites. While official registration is closed for most of them, extra helping hands are always welcome. You may not get a T-shirt, but you can get the satisfaction of doing something to make a difference.
Local activities include land-based cleanups at Byrnes Mill City Park, Minnie Ha Ha Park in Fenton, Lower Meramec Park, Unger Park, Emmenegger Park, Castlewood State Park, Simpson Park, Pacific, and at Meramec Bottom Road under the Highway 21 bridge. Water-based work is scheduled in Arnold from the Flamm City Access to the Mississippi River, at Simpson Park Lake, Route 66 State Park, from Green Tree Park to George Winter Park, at Allenton Access, from Interstate 44 to Hwy. 30, and as far upstream as Sullivan and Steelville.
Details are available at openspacestl.org. Also on the website are stunning numbers about the amount of garbage Operation Clean Stream has extracted over the years. Since its inception, an estimated 100,000 volunteers have removed 20,000 tires. In 2024 workers found 819 tires and more than 25 tons of trash. The sad news is that the numbers continue to be similar every year.
The Open Space Council is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and its history includes local residents among its founders. Byron Schubel of Jefferson County Abstract in Hillsboro was there with conservation champion Leo Drey and St. Louis attorney Davis Biggs in April 1965 when the area’s first activist environmental group was created.
With a focus on the Meramec River the council helped secure public property along the stream including places like Queeny Park, Bee Tree Park, the Chubb Trail and Castlewood State Park. Public river accesses were established at Allenton, Times Beach and Glencoe.
Other recreation and preservation sites secured through the influence of the Open Space Council include the Edward “Ted” and Pat Jones Confluence State Park and the Columbia Bottoms Conservation Area in St. Charles and St. Louis counties where the Missouri and Mississippi rivers come together. Mastodon State Historic Site, Emmeneger Nature Area, Unger Park, Forest 44 Conservation Area, Grant’s Trail and the Great Rivers Greenway District owe their existence in part to efforts of the council and its board members.
Efforts to protect the pristine watershed of the 13-mile LaBarque Creek near Eureka have had Open Space Council assistance including work to purchase the Myron and Sonya Glassberg Family Conservation Area with its stunning panorama overlooking a bend in the Meramec River where LaBarque Creek enters the bigger stream.
For more information on the this weekend’s cleanup and the many other activities the organization does throughout the year to protect the environment and our natural resouces visit openspacestl.org.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
For the first time in a decade, deer hunters in Jefferson County will not be required to take their harvests to a chronic wasting disease sampling station on opening weekend this year. Since the disease was first discovered in Franklin County in 2015, the state Department of Conservation has mandated testing in Jefferson on the first two days of deer season.
Now the number of counties where CWD has been detected is high enough that mandatory sampling cannot be conducted in all of them each year. Jefferson is one of 23 counties that had mandatory testing last year, but will not require a visit to a sampling station this year.
“During the past two years, the CWD Management Zone has increased significantly in size and now includes 82 counties,” said Jason Isabelle, conservation department supervisor for deer programs. “Given our staffing resource, we can conduct mandatory CWD sampling in 35 to 40 counties per year depending on the size of the counties and the expected number of deer coming to the sampling stations.”
A freezer for hunters to drop off their deer heads has been available at the Festus/Crystal City Conservation Club throughout all hunting seasons.
With 10 years of data from Jefferson County, the department has a clear picture of where CWD exists and its prevalence in the herd. All except one of the 49 positive tests here have been found south of Festus inside a triangle formed by Interstate 55, Highway 67 and the Ste. Genevieve County line.
In addition to Jefferson, other counties that had mandatory testing last year, but will not this year include: Adair, Barton, Crawford, Dallas, Franklin, Gasconade, Jasper, Linn, Macon, Monroe, Newton, Oregon, Perry, Phelps, Polk, Ray, Schuyler, Shelby, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Sullivan, and Washington.
“Focusing on newer counties in the CWD Management Zone will allow us to obtain a greater number of samples from counties that have not been sampled as extensively in the past,” the certified wildlife biologist said. “The shift, this year, will help us better understand the distribution of CWD in these counties.”
The move from mandatory sampling does not limit the importance for hunters in Jefferson County to have their deer tested, especially in the areas near to where CWD has been found in the past. The county’s outlier positive test was found in a deer harvested near Ware, and one positive case was detected in a deer near Blackwell just across the Washington County line.
Hunters who harvest deer on opening weekend may take them to mandatory sampling stations anywhere in the state for testing, including two that are close to Jefferson County at Rockwoods Reservation near Eureka and Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood.
“Although mandatory CWD sampling will not be conducted in Jefferson and Ste. Genevieve counties this year, there will be several voluntary sampling opportunities in the counties throughout the entire deer hunting season,” Isabelle said.
Voluntary sampling sites in Jefferson County will be confirmed prior to the opening of the season. Last year participating locations included John’s Butcher Shoppe in Festus, D and D Quality Deer Processing in House Springs, Belmar’s Taxidermy in Arnold, Bilbrey Studio Taxidermy in Barnhart, and Robertson Taxidermy in Dittmer. A freezer at the Festus/Crystal City Conservation Club has been available throughout the season for deer head drop off.
Jefferson’s absence from the list of counties for mandatory sampling is not permanent. Depending on annual test results locally and statewide, the affected counties will be updated for each hunting season.
“Any county in the CWD Management Zone is a candidate for mandatory sampling in any given year,” Isabelle said.
Full details on deer hunting seasons and other changes in the regulations for this year can be found in the annual Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Regulations booklet available online and from permit vendors. For complete information on chronic wasting disease in Missouri, visit www.mdc.mo.gov/cwd.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
Tim Wild holds up one of the big smallmouth bass that the Gasconade River is famous for in south central Missouri.
Most anglers are unwilling to divulge information about their favorite fishing holes. Because the spot I’m happy to share is nearly seven miles long and has strict fishing regulations that protect my favorite targets, I welcome fishermen and anyone looking for fun on the water.
Several times over the past few years we have used Boiling Springs Campground (aka BSC Outdoors in Dixon, Mo.) as our base of operations for floating and fishing trips. Family-owned and operated by Larry Helms and his clan, the family-friendly campground on the banks of the Gasconade River delivers on summer fun.
Last year we floated from BSC to the new state Department of Conservation boat ramp at Jerome, Missouri. With 6.3 miles of Gasconade River between the put-in and take-out, we found ample angling opportunities on a famous Ozark stream.
Along with segments of the Big River in Jefferson County and the Meramec River in Crawford County, 20 miles of the Gasconade River have been included in special management areas that protect smallmouth bass since 1995. Anglers may only keep one smallmouth, and it must be at least 15 inches long.
The success of the special regulations experiment 30 years ago has led to additional locations adopting the rule for all or parts of 12 streams in the state, including the entire length of the Big River from Council Bluff Lake to the Meramec River at Eureka, and about 15 miles of the Joachim Creek from Highway V near Valles Mines to Highway A, west of Festus.
Also included in the expanded special management regulations is 45 miles of the Big Piney River from a place called Slabtown Access (that just sounds fishy) to its confluence with the Gasconade River. The last few miles of that stretch is where my newest favorite fishing spot story starts.
The BSC Outdoors launch spot at Shanghai Spring on the Big Piney River provides the perfect stretch for a fishing and floating trip to the campground’s home base on the Gasconade River.
BSC has an access point at Shanghai Spring on the Big Piney River about five miles upstream from the Gasconade. Floating from there to the campground offers unique experiences to go along with the chance to catch some big fish. By floating and fishing both streams, it’s like taking two different trips on the same day.
In comparison to the Gasconade, the Big Piney is narrow. It has more rapids and a slightly steeper gradient, so it is conducive to fun floating speeds. The Gasconade spreads out wide between Ozarks bluffs. It’s current is slower but keeps the pace of the trip moving downstream. The two rivers have had a difficult summer so far as rain and storms out of Springfield often kept water levels too high for floating.
In simple terms I like to describe the difference between the two streams this way: If you float down the middle of the Big Piney you can cast to either riverbank looking for fish. When you reach the Gasconade, you have to choose to fish on the right side, the left, or in the middle.
This big channel catfish attacked a crankbait while Dave Wild was floating down the Gasconade River in his kayak.
Past trips on the Big Piney and Gasconade have produced both of my two personal best smallmouth bass. This summer I wasn’t able to match that success, but I did see my fishing partners boat some beauties. The other lure of river fishing comes in the variety of species that can be caught. Our group landed large and smallmouth bass, goggle-eye, crappie, bluegill, a big red ear sunfish, a gar, white bass, and a bruiser channel catfish that attacked a crankbait offering. In addition to the smallmouth bass regulation on the Big Piney, goggle-eye (also known as rock bass) have an eight-inch minimum length limit to improve that fishery.
BSC Outdoors’ namesake is an interesting spot on the Gasconade River. Located at the base of a towering bluff, Boiling Spring is below the river level most of the time, so its flow of nearly 42 million gallons per day bubbles to the surface like a cauldron of cold water. It is always busy with swimmers during the hot part of a summer day.
For information about camping or floating call 573-759-7294 or visit bscoutdoors.com.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
This picture of my Uncle Richard Starke and his hoop nets was one of several used to illustrate an article about commercial fishermen in the September 1967 Missouri Conservationist magazine.
On more than one occasion I have advocated for state residents to subscribe to the free Missouri Conservationist magazine. Its spectacular photography and stories about the outdoors and wildlife are a true treasure.
I know that I have been a fan of the magazine for as long as I can remember, and even longer than that apparently, because I learned recently that my Uncle Richard Starke was featured in the pages of the September 1967 copy. I wasn’t old enough to read the articles, but I’m certain someone showed me the pictures.
Uncle Richard handles the fish he caught in his nets on the Missouri River.
The story—titled “The Vanishing Breed”—never mentioned my uncle specifically, but the four photographs of him and his hoop nets provided great illustrations about the work of a commercial fisherman. I could almost see myself trailing behind him as he walked down the ramp to his flat-bottom john boat and 40-horse Evinrude.
My neighbor Mel Ott also was a commercial fisherman. He plied the trade setting trotlines on summer weekends with 500 baited hooks below the Alton Dam on the Mississippi River. Uncle Richard ran his nets daily in the Missouri River upstream from Hermann. What great fortune it was to have been a kid in their boats multiple times.
The article from 1967 mentioned the decline in the number of anglers who caught fish to sell. Uncle Richard offered his live or dressed for people who came to his docks on the Gasconade River. Mel sold his to a fish market in the St. Louis area, and a list of regular customers who were anxious for fresh catfish.
According to data from 1945 when the state Department of Conservation started compiling the information, 1,210 commercial fishermen caught a million pounds of fish from the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. By 1965 the number of permits had dropped to 751 and their take was down to 279,000 pounds of fish.
“In 21 years, the number of fishermen using these two rivers has declined about one-third while the pounds of fish harvested has declined nearly three-quarters,” the article by state fisheries biologist John W. Robinson reported.
My conservation department go-to guy Joe Jerek, news services coordinator, said the state issued 157 permits this year for resident and non-resident commercial fishing.
Lifting a large net filled with fish into a small boat while the Missouri River current pushes against the hull was just part of the hard work involved in commercial fishing.
I can attest to the story’s claim that commercial fishing is hard work. I was much more of an observer than a participant in the labor, but I can tell you what a marvel it was to watch those big nets come into a small boat while the muddy current pressed on the aluminum hull.
The story mostly focused on the pollution and channelization that brought steep drops in the numbers and size of fish available on the state’s two big rivers. The Missouri River in particular was tamed from a wide and wild stream to a deep canal to enhance industrial transportation.
“This wholesale habitat destruction has resulted in the diking off of chutes, closure of backwater sloughs, exposure of large expanses of barren, shifting sandbars, and a narrower, faster-flowing river,” the article states.
The amount of pollution in the river is likely less than it was in the 1960s. I have a vivid memory of a childhood boat ride on the Missouri River that led to a large pipe spewing a steaming, green stream directly into the river. One of the most surprising elements of the article was the attitude about that sort of dumping.
“There are some professionals in the pollution control field who have stated that the greatest economic value of the Missouri River is for waste disposal,” the story says. “Those of us in the conservation field will, of course, refuse to accept such a thing. It is up to the sanitary engineers to devise modern methods of waste treatment so that all effluents in combination will not adversely affect the river.”
The September 1967 edition marked the 28th year for the Missouri Conservationist magazine and its efforts to educate state residents about the natural world around us. You can find previous issues from as far back as 1995, a link to sign-up for a digital subscription, or request a mailed copy at mdc.mo.gov/conmag.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
Unless they are sleeping, black bears are always looking for food. Make sure you are not leaving things for them to eat.
The chances for a bear encounter in Jefferson County for this year diminishes as summer fully sets in and the wandering young bruins of spring are settling into the more comfortable environs in the rural areas of the southern Missouri Ozarks.
Even if we have already missed the opportunity have a black bear close to home, there is still a way to learn more about one of the state’s biggest wild animals. The state Department of Conservation will host an online webinar at 1 p.m. on Friday, July 25, with facts about bears and how to avoid negative interactions.
The conservation department estimates that the population of bears in the state is about 1,000 and growing at about 9 percent per year. That growth means young males spend the spring looking for an expanded home range.
A Rocky Mountain bull elk may weigh as much as 800 pounds, so size-wise black bears can claim second place with an estimated maximum weight of about 600 pounds. The two big mammals share a history in the state too.
While there may be evidence that black bears were never totally eliminated from the state, elk were wiped out by market hunting and habitat destruction. The conservation department used a relocation program to bring in elk from Kentucky and return the native wapiti to a relatively small range in Shannon, Reynolds and Carter counties.
Missouri did not engage in a similar efforts to bring back the bears, but the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission did work to restore that state’s population. Most, if not all, of Missouri’s bears wandered here across our southern border.
During the free webinar, conservation department naturalist Wendy Lott will share facts about black bears in the state including details about their life cycles, habitats and favorite foods, and their interactions with humans historically and more recently.
The state flag for Missouri depicts grizzly bears rather than black bears, according the Secretary of State’s office, which makes some sense since we had almost as many grizzlies here (none) when the flag was designed in the early 1900s. An important food, fat and fur source for native Americans and early settlers, black bears were believed to have been extirpated early in the last century.
Black bears in Missouri typically live in heavily forested areas. Most of them spend the winter in dens that could be caves, downed trees, brush piles, excavated hollows, and other natural areas deep in the woods.
Bears mate in the late spring, but egg development doesn’t begin until hibernation in the fall and cubs are born in their dens in late January or February. The baby bears usually stay with mom until the following year.
Bears are not picky eaters. Their favorite foods are whatever is in reach and in season. In the spring new leaves and even woody stems are main targets. When fruits and berries are ripening, they find a lot they like. Bears are well-known for their taste for honey, but they are willing to eat the bees that make it and other insects. Meat is also on the menu in the form of small animals, fish, frogs and even carrion.
Food will likely be the most important lesson in Lott’s presentation. People should do all they can to keep from providing a food source for bears. Once they learn that we can provide easy pickings, they will return to those opportunities. Among the most common tips are: don’t leave pet food outdoors, store garbage in a secure location, keep grills clean, remove bird feeders or hang them high, and use electric fencing around bee hives and other potential food sources.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
Don't Call Me Outdoor John 