Jefferson City, Missouri - Missouri turkey hunters can expect a good spring season overall according to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). The spring turkey hunting season starts with a youth-only weekend April 11-12 for young hunters ages 6-15. The regular spring season runs April 20 through May 10.

“Hunters should generally expect similar opportunities as those during the past several seasons,” said MDC Turkey Biologist Jason Isabelle. “Two-year-old gobblers won’t be as abundant as they were in 2014 in most areas due to lower poult production in 2013, but carry-over from previous years should provide some great hunting.”

Isabelle noted that MDC offers turkey hunting opportunities on more than 500 conservation areas and the state’s diverse landscapes mean turkey numbers often vary by region.

“With good poult production from 2014, jake numbers should be up in northern Missouri this spring, but harvesting an adult gobbler will continue to be a bit more challenging given the decline in bird numbers that the region experienced during the mid-to-late 2000s,” he said.

“Turkey numbers in the Ozarks have been relatively stable for the past several years and the eastern Ozarks has had some of the state’s best turkey production,” Isabelle said. “With good poult production in recent years, we’ve started to see turkey number increase in several southern Missouri counties. Good gobbler numbers and an abundance of public land make this region a good choice for hunters. The western Ozarks and border region further west are likely to have some of the top harvest counties in the state this year.”

He added that prospects are also good for the River Breaks region, which lies just south of the Missouri River and west of the Mississippi River from Osage County east to Jefferson County and south to Cape Girardeau County. “This region encompasses some of the state’s best turkey habitat, and its counties consistently rank among the highest in spring turkey harvest,” he said.

Find detailed information on harvest limits, allowed hunting methods, hunter education requirements, permits, MDC hunting areas, tagging and checking procedures, regulations, and more in MDC’s 2015 Spring Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet available from MDC offices and nature centers, other places where permits are sold, and online at mdc.mo.gov/node/4066

HUNTING SAFETY

Isabelle stressed that hunters can avoid the main cause of turkey-hunting incidents: mistaking or being mistaken by another hunter for game.

“Most turkey hunting incidents involve hunters who fail to positively identify their targets,” said Isabelle. “Before pulling the trigger, be absolutely certain that what you are shooting at is not only a turkey, but a legal turkey, which would be a male turkey or a turkey with a visible beard during the spring season.”

He also advised hunters to wear hunter-orange clothing when moving through woods or fields, particularly when hunting public land, and to always know the locations of all members of a hunting party. “Many turkey hunting incidents actually involve members of the same hunting party,” said Isabelle. “If you’re hunting with someone else and you split up, be certain you know where your hunting partner will be.”

FIRST TURKEY CERTIFICATES

MDC hunting certificates are great ways to memorialize a hunter’s first deer and turkey harvests. Visit mdc.mo.gov/node/10469 to create free commemorative certificates.

Missouri - The Missouri Department of Conservation will be offering its annual Discover Nature Girls Camp in the Southeast region.  It is a free three-day, two-night girls camp aimed at introducing young ladies ages 11–15 to different outdoors skills in a supportive learning environment.  

The camp will be held June 23rd, 24th, and 25th at Camp SEMO in Wappapello, MO. 

Campers spend three fun filled days learning by participating in “hands on” outdoor skills.  These activities will be led by experts in their field, which will allow the participants to leave with the confidence to explore Missouri’s diverse outdoors on their own.  Some activities include hunter education class, shooting firearms and archery equipment, walking through a safety trail and taking the hunter education test. 

Throughout the camp, the girls will participate in a variety of outdoor skills such as canoeing, orienteering and fishing.  Campers learn about all aspects of fishing; from fish identification, casting, tying knots, and cleaning fish, to finally going fishing. This all occurs in a group setting of their peers, being taught by knowledgeable instructors who make participants comfortable and willing to try new things. The camp is limited to 40 girls between the ages of 11 to 15 years old. The first 40 applications completed and received will be selected to attend.   

Jefferson City, Missouri - The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports that 11 new cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) have recently been found in deer harvested in Macon, Adair, and now Cole counties. A buck harvested near the village of Centertown in Cole County is the first case of the disease to be found outside of the Department’s six-county CWD Containment Zone of Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph, and Sullivan counties. All previous cases have been limited to Macon, Linn, and Adair counties.

These 11 new cases bring the total number of Missouri free-ranging deer that have tested positive for CWD to 14 for this past season and 24 overall since the disease was first discovered in the state in 2010 at a private hunting preserve in Linn County. CWD has also been found in 11 captive deer in Macon and Linn counties.

The Department has collected more than 43,000 tissue samples since it began testing for the emerging disease in 2001. MDC has collected more than 3,400 tissue samples for CWD testing from harvested and other free-ranging deer this season. Results for about 330 tissue samples are still in the process of being tested by an independent, outside laboratory.

“We will provide an update of final results once all testing has been completed for the season,” said MDC Deer Biologist Jason Sumners. “We will continue to monitor the spread of the disease through more CWD testing this coming fall and winter. We are also updating our efforts to help contain the spread of the disease and will be working out the details over this spring and summer.”

Chronic Wasting Disease infects only deer and other members of the deer family by causing degeneration of the brain. The disease has no vaccine or cure and is 100-percent fatal.

Missouri offers some of the best deer hunting in the country, and deer hunting is an important part of many Missourians' lives and family traditions. Infectious diseases such as CWD could reduce hunting and wildlife-watching opportunities for Missouri's nearly 520,000 deer hunters and almost two million wildlife watchers. Deer hunting is also an important economic driver in Missouri and gives a $1 billion annual boost to state and local economies.

Lower deer numbers from infectious diseases such as CWD could hurt 12,000 Missouri jobs and many businesses that rely on deer hunting as a significant source of revenue, such as meat processors, taxidermists, hotels, restaurants, sporting goods stores, and others. CWD also threatens the investments of thousands of private landowners who manage their land for deer and deer hunting, and who rely on deer and deer hunting to maintain property values.

For more information on CWD in Missouri, visit the MDC website at mdc.mo.gov/node/16478.

Missouri -The annual spring paddlefish snagging season is a popular pastime for thousands of anglers starting March 15 and running through April 30. The state’s major paddlefish snagging waters include Lake of the Ozarks, Harry S. Truman Lake, Table Rock Lake, the Osage River below Bagnell Dam, and the Missouri River. The season for the Mississippi River is March 15 through May 15 with a fall season of Sept. 15 through Dec. 15.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) makes paddlefish snagging possible in the Show-Me State through annual stockings of about 38,000 foot-long fingerlings raised at its Blind Pony Hatchery near Sweet Springs and released into Lake of the Ozarks, Truman Lake, and Table Rock Lake, plus several thousand into select rivers.

According to MDC Fisheries Management Biologist Trish Yasger, dams and other barriers to spawning areas have eliminated sustainable natural reproduction in these waters.

“Without annual stocking by Conservation Department staff, this popular pastime and food source would go away,” Yasger said. “We manage and monitor paddlefish populations around the state, but need help from snaggers to learn more and to better manage this popular game fish.”

SNAG A TAG – GET A REWARD

Yasger is leading a new five-year tagging project by MDC to help monitor paddlefish harvest rates and improve species management. The project began this winter, and success depends on snaggers reporting tagged fish.

Yasger explained that, from January to mid-March each year through 2019, Department staff will place numbered metal jaw tags on about 2,000 paddlefish netted in each reservoir -- Lake of the Ozarks, Truman Lake, and Table Rock Lake -- and about 1,000 fish netted in the Mississippi River. All fish captured are weighed, measured, jaw tagged, and released.

She encourages snaggers to report all tagged paddlefish and to NOT remove tags from undersized (sublegal) paddlefish.

“We will send a special ‘I caught a Missouri paddlefish!’ t-shirt to each snagger who returns or reports their first tag on a legal-sized fish,” Yasger explained. “Rewards will not be given for sublegal fish. All returned and reported tags for the season will be placed into drawings each summer for a small number of cash prizes with a grand prize of $500.”

Tags or photos of tags from harvested paddlefish must be submitted for rewards. Snaggers must include the following information with each tag:

Date caught
Location of catch including reservoir or river, mile marker, and county
Tag number
Fish length from eye to the fork of the tail
Snagger’s name and complete address
Report tags by calling MDC at 573-579-6825 with the information, or mail the information with the tag to: Missouri Department of Conservation, 3815 East Jackson Blvd., Jackson, MO 63755.

FISH FACTS AND REGULATION REQUIREMENTS

Also known as “spoonbills” because of the shape of their snouts, paddlefish take seven or eight years to grow to legal size. The fish feed on plankton and other microscopic prey. These filter feeders therefore do not take bait from hooks and must be snagged using large hooks that catch in the mouth, gills or other areas of their bodies.

Unless exempt, anglers must have a current fishing permit to snag or to operate a boat for snaggers. The daily limit is two paddlefish and snaggers must stop snagging after obtaining the daily limit on Lake of the Ozarks and Truman Lake and their tributaries, and the Osage River below Bagnell Dam.  The minimum legal body length for paddlefish at Lake of the Ozarks, Truman Lake, Table Rock Lake, and their tributaries is 34 inches, measured from the eye to the fork of the tail. The minimum legal body length is 24 inches on the Osage River below Bagnell Dam and in other Missouri waters. All paddlefish under the legal minimum length must be returned to the water unharmed immediately after being caught.

The Wildlife Code of Missouri requires the head, tail, and skin to remain attached to all paddlefish while on the water so paddlefish should not be cleaned until off of the water. Also, extracted paddlefish eggs may not be possessed while on waters of the state or adjacent banks and may not be transported. Paddlefish eggs may not be bought, sold or offered for sale. Additionally, paddlefish or their parts, including eggs, may not be used for bait.

Yasger reminds snaggers to help sublegal snagged fish survive to grow larger.

“Do not land paddlefish with gaffs. This can fatally injure sublegal fish. Use large landing nets,” she said. “Remove hooks carefully and get sublegal fish back into the water as quickly as possible. Wet your hands before handling fish and avoid excessive handling. Do not pass them around for photos and hold fish firmly to avoid dropping them. Never put fingers in the gills or eyes.”

FISHING FORECAST

Yasger said that paddlefish snagging is dependent on weather conditions, primarily water temperature and flow.

“Paddlefish are easiest to catch when they swim upstream and congregate below dams in response to warm spring rains,” Yasger explained. “The best snagging conditions occur when water temperature reaches 50 to 55 degrees and there is an increase in water flow. This prompts them to move upstream to spawn.”

She added that paddlefish season often gets off to a slow start.

“We don’t usually see a lot of big fish being caught on opening day,” Yasger said. “Harvest early in the season is typically dominated by local fish and small males with the occasional large female. As water temperature and flow increase, you will start seeing more of the larger females.”

However this year’s peak action could be delayed by unusually cold winter weather.

“The extremely cold weather we experienced in February is still being felt in stream temperatures,” she explained. “A spell of unusually warm, sunny weather could speed things up a little.”

Yasger added that MDC released an especially large number of fingerlings into Lake of the Ozarks, Truman Lake, and Table Rock Lake in 2008. The more than 164,000 fingerlings released are now eight years old and should start providing good numbers of fish for snaggers to harvest.

Learn more about Missouri’s official aquatic animal and get weekly snagging reports and advisories from MDC online at mdc.mo.gov/node/5399.

Cape Girardeau, Missouri - Every spring, Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) offices receive many phone calls from well-intentioned wildlife viewers that are caught off guard by young wildlife they presume to be alone or orphaned. There’s often an impulse to “protect” the young critter by finding it a “safer” home. But what is a safe home for wildlife? It’s certainly not human homes, which are not designed for animals.

Sara Turner, manager of the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center, said the safest place for young wildlife is where you find them. Most likely, she said, they aren’t really alone.

“Spring is a popular time to watch wildlife because, like us, they’re becoming more active after those cold winter months,” Turner said. “This is an important season for many of our wildlife populations as they reproduce and raise their young. We certainly don’t want to interfere with that by making choices that impact the health of young wildlife.”

Turner said disturbing or removing baby animals from where you find them almost certainly means they will not survive. Although you may not think the animal’s mother is present, she is almost always nearby and waiting for a safe time to return to her young.

“These wildlife parents will stay away while you’re in the area in an effort to not attract attention to their young,” Turner said. “The most helpful thing you can do to keep these animals safe and protect them is to leave them where they are so their parents can return and provide for them.”

Turner said even when wild animals are taken to rehabilitation centers, the chances of their future survival in the wild are slight.

“When young wildlife are taken away from their parents, they don’t learn survival skills,” she said. “So even if they are nursed to good health, it will quickly decline if they are released and unable to find food and shelter on their own.”

Turner encourages people to remember that what may seem to be an orphaned animal, very likely is not. The best protection for local wildlife is healthy habitat and space so they can raise their own young, she said.

The Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center’s upcoming Nature Center at Night Program will focus on young wildlife and what to do about them when they’re encountered. The program is Thursday, March 12, from 5 to 8 p.m. No registration is required and all ages are welcome to attend.

For more information on this or other nature programs at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center, call (573) 290-5218 or go online to mdc.mo.gov/capenaturecenter.

Although you may not think the animal’s mother is present, she is almost always nearby and waiting for a safe time to return to her young. (MDC file photo)