CONSERVATION FEDERATION
The Voice for Missouri Outdoors MARCH 2022 - VOL 83 | NO. 2
Director’s Message
See You Virtually and In Person, at Annual Convention
T
he Annual Convention is upon us, and we genuinely hope that you, as a vocal and supportive member, plan to participate in this monumental event. Convention truly embodies our outdoor heritage's mission and what our storied organization is all about: Advocacy, Education and Partnerships. We'll host the Natural Resource Breakouts virtually, then gather in person for the remaining festivities. The dates are March 6-10 for the virtual and March 11-13 for the in-person portion. We will start on Sunday, March 6th, with the Natural Resource Breakouts meetings being held virtually in the evenings. This is your chance to engage in conservation topics and let your voice be heard. I am always amazed by the conservation professionals and the knowledge of our members. These meetings conclude on Thursday. CFM members can attend each of these sessions and be a part of the resolutions from these meetings. On Friday evening, we will have our Awards Ceremony celebrating all the excellent achievements of our conservation professionals and awarding our scholarships to many deserving conservation students. The Awards Ceremony honors individuals, organizations, and businesses making strides in conserving Missouri's wildlife and natural resources. The always popular Shags and Trevor from the 96.7 KCMQ's Morning Shag will host the event again. We will also be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of our Conservation Leadership Corps student activities. We currently have 39 high school and college-age students, and they spend their time interacting and networking with resource professionals while growing their talents and leadership skills. They also present the resolutions approved by the entire membership on the final day of the Convention. It is a joy to see the energy and vibrance that they exude, and they continue to develop as the next generation of conservation leaders. Additionally, we will have updates from agency directors from the Missouri Department of Conservation and Missouri Department of Natural Resources on Saturday morning. On Saturday this year, we will have new breakout sessions, and we hope there will be something entertaining and educating for each of our members.
Tyler pictured with some of his family at the Annual Convention in 2019. (Photo: Courtesy of CFM)
Governor Nixon will be one of these speakers and his passion and legacy to conservation and the outdoors is simply unparalleled. One of the Saturday activities is the General Assembly meeting at 11:00 a.m. This is when the resolutions are presented and voted on by the members. Another example of the many acts that make CFM such a strong voice moving forward is gaining all our members' collective support. General Assembly is undoubtedly one of the most critical and impactful parts of the weekend, and you will not want to miss out. Saturday evening will conclude with the fundraiser, including many auction items and trips for everyone to bid on. The Banquet is the fun part of the evening with all the auction items, networking and fun, so you won't want to miss your chance to take home some great auction items. Miss Missouri plans to join us and say a few remarks for the banquet as well. The staff and volunteers who help pull this together genuinely amaze me in all they can do. We certainly could not do it without everyone's help, so thank you very much. For registration and more info, go to our webpage, confedmo.org/convention/. We hope that you have made plans to join us for all or even part of the weekend so that you can let your voice be heard throughout Missouri's great outdoors. Yours in Conservation, Tyler Schwartze CFM Executive Director MARCH - 2022
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CONTENTS
Conservation Federation March 2022 - V83 No. 2
Features
OFFICERS Mossie Schallon - President Vacant - President Elect Zach Morris -Vice President Ginny Wallace - Secretary Randy Washburn - Treasurer
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STAFF Tyler Schwartze - Executive Director, Editor Micaela Haymaker - Director of Operations Michelle Gabelsberger - Membership Manager Colton Zirkle - Education and Communications Coordinator Joan VanderFeltz - Administrative Assistant
46
28
24
The Time is Ripe for Front-Yard Conversations
28
The Bluebirds of Spring
32
Casting for Spring Walleye
34
More Than Ducks
42
DIY Venison Sausage: It's Not As Hard As You Think
46
The ABC's of Paddling
48
A Template for Conversation During a Pandemic
52
The Cave Trip
56
Spring is Coming...Isn't It?
60
Think Small
Departments 3 8 11 14 36
4
Director's Message President's Message New Members Affiliate Spotlight Agency News
CONSERVATION FEDERATION
Emma Kessinger - Creative Director
ABOUT THE MAGAZINE CFM Mission: To ensure conservation of Missouri’s wildlife and natural resources, and preservation of our state’s rich outdoor heritage through advocacy, education and partnerships. Conservation Federation is the publication of the Conservation Federation of Missouri (ISSN 1082-8591). Conservation Federation (USPS 012868) is published bi-monthly in January, March, May, July, September and November for subscribers and members. Of each member’s dues, $10 shall be for a year’s subscription to Conservation Federation. Periodical postage paid in Jefferson City, MO and additional mailing offices.
Highlights 6 18 19 22 31
What is CFM CLC Events Schedule Giving Back to Conservation MDC to Expand Bicycles on Conservation Areas
Send address changes to: Postmaster Conservation Federation of Missouri 728 West Main Jefferson City, MO 65101
FRONT COVER Taken by Missouri’s own, Kent Campbell, at Bennett Springs State Park near Lebanon.
Business Partners
Thank you to all of our Business Partners. Platinum
Gold Bushnell Doolittle Trailer Enbridge, Inc.
G3 Boats MidwayUSA Pure Air Natives
Redneck Blinds Rusty Drewing Chevrolet Roeslein Alternative Energy, LLC
Lilley’s Landing Resort & Marina Missouri Wildflowers Nursery Mitico
Simmons Starline, Inc. St. James Winery
Gray Manufacturing Company, Inc. HMI Fireplace Shop Hodgdon Powder Company, Inc. Missouri Wine & Grape Board NE Electric Power Cooperative, Inc.
NW Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. Ozark Bait and Tackle Woods Smoked Meats
Dickerson Park Zoo Farmer’s Co-op Elevator Association Gascosage Electric Cooperative GREDELL Engineering Resources, Inc. Heartland Seed of Missouri LLC Hulett Heating & Air Conditioning Kansas City Parks and Recreation Lewis County Rural Electric Coop.
Missouri Native Seed Association REMAX Boone Realty Tabor Plastics Company Truman’s Bar & Grill United Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Silver Custom Metal Products Forrest Keeling Nursery Learfield Communication, Inc.
Bronze Association of Missouri Electric Coop. Black Widow Custom Bows, Inc. Burgers’ Smokehouse Central Electric Power Cooperative Drury Hotels
Iron Bass Pro Shops (Independence) Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures Blue Springs Park and Recreation Brockmeier Financial Services Brown Printing Cap America Central Bank Community State Bank of Bowling Green
Your business can benefit by supporting conservation. For all sponsorship opportunities, call (573) 634-2322.
MARCH - 2022
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"The Voice for Missouri Outdoors" Mission: To ensure conservation of Missouri’s wildlife and natural resources, and preservation of our state’s rich outdoor heritage through advocacy, education and partnerships. In 1935, conservationists from all over Missouri came together to form the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) with the purpose to take politics out of conservation. The efforts of our founders resulted in the creation of Missouri's non-partisan Conservation Commission and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). Since then, CFM has been the leading advocate for the outdoors in Missouri.
Partnerships
Over 100 affiliated organizations Share the Harvest Corporate & Business Partnerships State & Federal Agency Partnerships National Wildlife Federation Affiliate Operation Game Thief Operation Forest Arson David A. Risberg Memorial Grants Missouri Stream Team
Education
Conservation Leadership Corps Missouri Collegiate Conservation Alliance Confluence of Young Conservation Leaders Affiliate Summit Scholarships for youth and students Governor’s Youth Turkey Hunt National Archery in the Schools Grants Conservation Federation Magazine
Advocacy
Legislative Action Center Resolutions to lead change Natural Resource Advisory Committees Conservation Day at the Capitol Staff and members testify in hearings for conservation and natural resources
Young Professionals
Conservation Federation of Missouri began
1935
State Wildlife and Forestry Code published
1936
1940
Wildlife and Forestry Act passed
1944
1946
First deer season since 1937
Amendment 4 created Missouri's non-political Conservation Commission
First turkey season in 23 years
1958
1960
First hunter safety program formed
Missouri Department of Natural Resources formed
1969
1974
Urban fishing program formed in St. Louis; first in the nation
Operation Game Thief formed
1976
Design for Conservation Sales Tax passed
1982
1984
Stream Teams formed
1989
Parks and Soils Sales Tax passed
Missouri voters Outdoor renewed Action Parks and Soils Sales Committee formed Tax by 70.8%
Share the Harvest formed
1991
1992
Operation Forest Arson formed
2002
2006
Conservation Leadership Corps formed
2007
2009
Missouri National Archery in the Schools Program formed
CFM Celebrates 85 years
2016
2020
Parks and Soils Sales Tax renewed by voters by the highest percentage to date (80%)
Ways You Can Support CFM Membership
Life Membership
Affiliate Membership
Business Partnerships
Scholarships and Grant Support
Event Sponsorship and Product Donation
Support our efforts to promote and protect conservation and natural resources in our state. Members will receive our magazine six times a year, event information, our bi-weekly enewsletter, and the opportunity to grow our voice. CFM provides the platform for a diverse group of organizations to have their conservation voices be heard. Affiliates have the opportunity to apply for grants, receive educational training and promote the mission of their organization. CFM provides scholarships to graduates and undergraduates. We also provide grant funds to youth education programs and to affiliate projects. Contributing will help future generations initiate boots on the ground projects.
Become a life member for $1,000. Life memberships are placed in an endowment fund that allows us to continue our work in perpetuity.
Business partners will enjoy recognition in each magazine issue along with opportunities to reach and engage with our active membership. Ask us about our different Business Partnership levels. All of our events have raffles with both silent and live auctions. The contributions of in-kind products and services not only assists in raising funds for conservation, but also promote the businesses that support CFM.
Conservation Federation of Missouri 728 West Main St, Jefferson City, MO 65101 Phone: (573) 634-2322 ~ Email: info@confedmo.org www.confedmo.org
Become a Member today! ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Description Individual Supporter Individual Advocate Individual Sustaining Youth/Student Individual Lifetime
Price $35.00 $60.00 $100.00 $20.00 $1,000.00
Name: E-mail: Phone: Address: Credit Card #: Exp. Date:
Join online confedmo.org/join
President’s Message
Welcome to 2022!
I
can’t believe this is my final President’s message! Two years ago, during the 2020 Conservation Federation’s annual convention, I along with my fellow officers-elect stood together, raised our right hand, listened intently to the words and respectfully took our oaths of office as follows: “I give my pledge as an American to save and faithfully defend from waste the natural resources of my country, its air, water, soil, and minerals, its forests, fish, and wildlife. I further pledge to perform my duties as a leader of the Conservation Federation of Missouri to the best of my ability, so help me God.” Two weeks later, COVID seemed to be everywhere! We were not discouraged. We rolled up our sleeves and went to work figuring out a new normal for CFM. The staff embraced changes necessary to ensure Officers, Board, CFM members, our Affiliate organizations, friends, and conservation partners could continue the important work. I cannot say enough about the staff, Tyler, Micaela, Michelle, Colton, Joan and all their accomplishments during my tenure, even as COVID and its mutations continue to affect our lives. CFM’s volunteer-driven organization hasn’t missed a beat. In fact, fantastic work has been done! We are all in this together! My sincere thanks to all of you for your commitment to stay engaged, your time, talent and contribution, whether monetary, as a volunteer or both. As part of this last message, I’m including highlights over the past two years along with my appreciation to all who contributed. •
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Staff, taking care of business – supporting, planning, scheduling (countless) meetings, webinars, etc., so that attendees could take part via Zoom, ensuring seamless communication. (2020/2021) CONSERVATION FEDERATION
•
•
• • • • • • • • • •
•
CFM’s Legislative Committee on their commitment and perseverance, improved Legislative Action Center’s ease of use and speed. Governor signed HB 369 into law, completing a historic legislative session. This bill creates the “Prescribed Burning Act” and includes multiple pieces of legislation within the bill, all positive for conservation (2021) 85th Anniversary Edition of the Conservation Federation magazine and virtual celebration. (Virtual 2020) Conservation Day at the Capitol (Virtual 2021) CLC Fall Workshop (Virtual 2020) (In Person 2021) Affiliate Summit (Virtual 2020) (Hybrid 2021) Pulls for Conservation: Central and Northwest (In Person 2020 & 2021) CFM banquets - Columbia and St Louis (Virtual 2020) August and December Board Meetings (Virtual 2020) (Hybrid 2021) Balanced Budget (In the black 2020 & 2021!) Successfully planned and executed CFM’s Conservation Awards Ceremony and 85th Annual Convention to be all virtual (2021) Natural Resource Committees were activated as needed throughout the year lending support and ability when various conservation issues arose. (2021) Special ad hoc committee completed their work to study the current election process, decide and recommend changes, gain Board approval then develop and execute an implementation plan. For the first time, CFM elections are open online and for voting by all members.
This list could go on, as much work is left to do. Instead, I will help the new leaders and close with a big thank you to all. It has been my pleasure to serve. I hope I have lived up to the pledge I made to all of you as it was my greatest intention to do so.
“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Yours in Conservation, Mossie Schallon President, CFM
It’s Your
SEASON
Shelter Insurance® is a proud sponsor of Share the Harvest & the Conservation Federation. Contact your local Shelter agent to insure your auto, home, life, and your hunting & fishing gear. Find an agent near you at ShelterInsurance.com.
Member News
Why I Became a Life Member of CFM: Brian Canaday
I
can not remember a time when I was not outdoors exploring all the wonders of nature. My curiosity, interest, and passion for the outdoors has led to a career in conservation. It is more than just an occupation. The outdoors have enriched my quality of life. Being in nature recharges my batteries. Nature is my calling. I have spent a lifetime sharing those experiences with others, and I am happy to say that this passion has been passed on to my family. Some of our very best family memories are when we are in the outdoors, together. Whether boating or floating a Missouri stream or reservoir, camping, fishing, hunting, birdwatching or hiking, I have been truly blessed to share those experiences with family and friends. I want those opportunities to continue for today and for the future. The Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM), working closely with all partners and affiliate members make up an army of passionate, dedicated outdoor enthusiasts that work tirelessly to be the voice of nature. I received my life membership as a gift from my family. As a long-time member of CFM, they could think of no better way to demonstrate our commitment to the future of conservation in Missouri than to become a life member. I encourage all that read this to make a similar commitment to the future of the outdoors here in Missouri.
Become a CFM Life Member When you purchase a Life Membership with CFM, your money is added to an endowment supporting the administration of the organization in perpetuity. Each year, we draw earnings from the endowment, so your contribution will truly be supporting the CFM for the rest of your life and beyond. This is an important funding source for our Federation. We hope you will consider joining the over 300 dedicated conservationists who have already made a life commitment to the Conservation Federation of Missouri by becoming a Life Member today at www.confedmo.org/join.
Contact CFM at (573) 634-2322 or email info@confedmo.org
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CONSERVATION FEDERATION
Member News
WELCOME NEW CFM MEMBERS Lisa Allen, Jefferson City
Wayne Humphrey, Saint Louis
Dwight Reed, New Haven
John Basler, Kirkwood
David Jarvis, Hematite
Cheryl Reinberg, Kirkwood
Randall Beck, Bonne Terre
Dan Kinney, Rogersville
Therese Rell, Saint Louis
Allen Bock, Columbia
Michael Kohlfeld, Cape Girardeau
Wayne Rippel, Tunas
Claudia Bonfante, Branson
Edward Kutz, Perryville
Hannah Robinson, Springfield
Thomas Bottini, Saint Louis
Timothy Ladd, Saint Louis
Scott Schannuth, Hermann
Maralee Britton, Saint Charles
Robert Lamberg, Saint Louis
Christine Schmidgall, Rolla
Helen Burgess, Dunnegan
Jerry Lumpe, Springfield
Matthew Self, Ballwin
Jeffrey Cantrell, Neosho
John Madras, Jefferson City
Roberta Settergren, Columbia
John & Wendy Carter, Rolla
Pamela McCarthy, Blue Springs
Mary Smith, Saint Charles
Daniel Childers, Kansas City
Dan McDaniel, Pottersville
Mark Strassner, O Fallon
Curt Coonce, Cape, Girardeau
Anne-Mary McGrath, Springfield
Wesley Swift, Sedalia
Warren Coonce, Wasilla AK
Lesley McIntire, Saint Louis
Robert Szydlowski, Saint Louis
Don Cranfill, Pittsboro IN
Benjamin Messner, Stanberry
Gavin Terrill, Dexter
Daniel Daugherty, Columbia
Felix Miller, Saint Louis
Jeremiah Thieman, Lamar
Harold Eagan, Blue Springs
James Morrison, Festus
Phillip Tomber, Saint Louis
Katherine English, Columbia
Clay Mrkonic, Overland Park, KS
Jeremy Wease, Columbia
Chanda Funston, Maryville
Michael Naeger, Sainte Genevieve
Kevan Whitsitt, Columbia
Charles Geno, Silex
Jay Nahm, Pacific
J. F. Wilson, Lamar
Ron Gerecke, Jackson
Dale Nixon, Kansas City
Thomas Hackley, Fayette
Joseph Osvath, Saint Paul
Edward Heisel, Pacific
Allen Piles, Centralia
In Memory In Memory of Bill Oliver Mr and Mrs Greg Ligibel Kathy Holdenried & Co-workers
CFM thanks the 281 members that renewed since our last publication.
In Honor In Honor of Albert Price Mr. Lake Price In Honor of Marc Gottfried Mr and Mrs Dave Roberts
MARCH - 2022
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Affiliate Highlights
World Bird Sanctuary
O
ur Mission: is to preserve the earth’s biological diversity and secure the future of bird species and their natural environments through the three pillars of education, conservation, and rehabilitation. Our Vision: We envision a world in which World Bird Sanctuary contributes significantly to protecting and preserving the avian species of the world while inspiring others to do the same Operations are based in Valley Park, Missouri (30 minutes SW of St. Louis) at 125 Bald Eagle Ridge Road. Our 305 acres of land is leased from the Department of Natural Resources (Missouri State Parks) and St. Louis County Parks. We welcome the public to visit our birds, buildings, picnic, and hiking areas 7 days a week, 363 days a year, and are officially closed only on Thanksgiving and Christmas Days. Entry fee is $8.00 per vehicle. WBS currently houses 212 permanent resident birds and animals, representing 66 avian species, on our site. 44 of the 65 species represented are birds of prey/ raptors. World Bird Sanctuary is proudly on track to be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in March of 2024. We are currently enrolled in “The Pathway toward Membership” pilot program. Our 3 Pillars of Responsibility - To fully address the complexities of the conservation of bird species, WBS approaches the ever-changing issues from three different perspectives. These “Pillars” of our responsibility to birds worldwide work seamlessly, and equally in concert with one another to help us achieve our greater mission Rehabilitation - The Raptor Hospital is a fundamental piece of the overall WBS mission. Every year, our hospital admits between 400 and 500 raptor patients from the Greater St. Louis Area. In addition to those patients, the Hospital is tasked with providing care to our invaluable collection of education and conservation birds. In some cases, these permanent residents represent species that are critically endangered, or even extinct in the wild. In fact, three of our individuals are the ONLY living representative of their species in the United States. In this way, we Preserve our bird populations.
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CONSERVATION FEDERATION
Conservation - WBS participates in many conservation projects both nationally, and internationally. The goal of these programs is to Protect bird species that are in danger of disappearing from their native habitats. In order to protect these species, WBS breed them under human care (ex situ), helping build populations whose young can eventually be released into their native habitats; once those habitats are once again safe to sustain them. Species we have helped recover through breed and release programs in the past include the bald eagle, the peregrine falcon, the American barn owl, and the Andean condor. Our current breeding programs include the American kestrel, the Egyptian vulture, the redheaded vulture; the bearded vulture, and the Vietnam (Edward’s) pheasant; all of which are currently declining or endangered in their native habitats. Education Programming - WBS provides outreach education programs focused on giving members of our community the tools that they need to use the earth's resources in a thoughtful and sustainable manner. Together with our trained Avian Ambassadors, our Naturalists give a variety of different education programs onsite at our sanctuary, and travel to schools, libraries, state parks, and other event spaces to spread the message of our mission. WBS helps Inspire others to care about birds of prey and their important roles in our ecosystems. Contact Information: Call: 636-225-4390 Web: worldbirdsanctuary.org Email: info@worldbirdsanctuary.org
Affiliate Highlights
Affiliate Organizations Anglers of Missouri
Missouri Chapter of the Wildlife Society
Missouri Taxidermist Association
Association of Missouri
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Missouri Trappers Association
Missouri Community Forestry Council
Missouri Trout Fishermen's Association
Bass Slammer Tackle
Missouri Conservation Agents Association
MU Wildlife & Fisheries
Burroughs Audubon Society
Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation
Electric Cooperatives
of Greater Kansas City
Science Graduate Student Organization
Missouri Conservation Pioneers
Northside Conservation Federation
Capital City Fly Fishers
Missouri Consulting Foresters Association
Open Space Council of the St. Louis Region
Chesterfield Citizens Committee
Missouri Ducks Unlimited- State Council
Ozark Chinquapin Foundation
Missouri Forest Products Association
Ozark Fly Fishers, Inc.
Columbia Audubon Society
Missouri Grouse Chapter of QUWF
Ozark Land Trust
Conservation Foundation of
Missouri Hunter Education
Ozark Trail Association
for the Environment
Missouri Charitable Trust
Instructor's Association
Ozark Wilderness Waterways Club
Deer Creek Sportsman Club
Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation
Perry County Sportsman Club
Duckhorn Outdoors Adventures
Missouri Master Naturalist
Pomme De Terre Chapter Muskies
Festus-Crystal City Conservation Club Forest and Woodland Association of Missouri Forest Releaf of Missouri Friends of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park
- Boone's Lick Chapter Missouri Master Naturalist - Great Rivers Chapter Missouri Master Naturalist - Hi Lonesome Chapter
Gateway Chapter Trout Unlimited
Missouri Master Naturalist
Greater Ozarks Audubon Society
- Miramiguoa Chapter
Greenbelt Land Trust of Mid-Missouri Greenway Network, Inc. James River Basin Partnership L-A-D Foundation
Missouri Master Naturalist - Osage Trails Chapter Missouri Master Naturalist - Springfield Plateau Chapter
Quail & Upland Wildlife Federation, Inc. Quail Forever & Pheasants Forever River Bluffs Audubon Society Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Roubidoux Fly Fishers Association South Side Division CFM Southwest Missouri Fly Fishers St. Louis Audubon Society Stream Teams United Student Air Rifle Program Tipton Farmers & Sportsman's Club
Land Learning Foundation
Missouri National Wild Turkey Federation
Tri-Lakes Fly Fishers
Little Blue River Watershed Coalition
Missouri Native Seed Association
Troutbusters of Missouri
Magnificent Missouri
Missouri Outdoor Communicators
United Bow Hunters of Missouri
Mid-Missouri Outdoor Dream
Missouri Park & Recreation Association
Watershed Conservation Corps
Mid-Missouri Trout Unlimited
Missouri Parks Association
Wild Bird Rehabilitation
Midwest Diving Council
Missouri Prairie Foundation
Wild Souls Wildlife Rescue Rehabilitation
Mississippi Valley Duck
Missouri River Bird Observatory
Wonders of Wildlife
Missouri River Relief
World Bird Sanctuary
Missouri Association of Meat Processors
Missouri Rock Island Trail, Inc.
Young Outdoorsmen United
Missouri Atlatl Association
Missouri Rural Water Association
Missouri B.A.S.S. Nation
Missouri Smallmouth Alliance
Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative
Missouri Society of American Foresters
Missouri Birding Society
Missouri Soil & Water
Hunters Association
Missouri Bow Hunters Association
Conservation Society-Show-Me Chapter
Missouri Caves & Karst Conservancy
Missouri Sport Shooting Association
Missouri Chapter of the
Missouri State Campers Association
American Fisheries Society
Missouri State Parks Foundation
MARCH - 2022
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Committed to Community & Conservation Owned by the members they serve, Missouri’s electric cooperatives do more than provide reliable and affordable electricity. They are active in their communities, concerned for the wellbeing of their neighbors and devoted to the rural way of life that makes the Show-Me State a special place to live, work and play. Missouri’s electric cooperatives are dedicated to protecting the land, air and water resources important to you and your quality of life. Learn more at www.amec.coop.
7th Annual Conservation Federation Sporting Clays Classic
Saturday, April 2, 2022 Presented by:
Northwest Missouri’s Electric Cooperatives Boot Hill Shooting Ground LLC, Hamilton, MO Schedule of Events
Shoot as a Team or Individual
Two Shooter Scramble 3 Lewis Classes, 3 places for each class
Individual Sporting Clays 3 Lewis Classes, 3 places for each class
Registration: 8:00 a.m. - Noon Shooting: 8:30 a.m. - 1: 00 p.m. Awards: 1:30 p.m.
Two Shooter Scramble- 75 targets, $50/team Additional Rounds- $35/team Individual Sporting Clays- 50 targets, $40/shooter Additional Rounds- $25
Registration includes: 1 year membership to CFM and lunch for participants provided by: Northwest Electric Power Cooperative Including: Atchison-Holt, Farmers’, Grundy, North Central Missouri, Platte-Clay, United, and West Central
Mail Registration to: CFM, 728 W. Main, Jefferson City, MO 65101 - or call (573) 634-2322 Name:
Address: Phone:
E-mail:
Teammate's Name:
Address: Phone:
E-mail:
Two Shooter Scramble $50_____ Individual Sporting Clays $40_____Total______________
Member News
What is the Conservation Leadership Corps?
A
sk many young Missouri conservation professionals, and they’ll probably be able to tell you. For the last 20 years, the Conservation Federation of Missouri has been doing their part to train and provide resources to students passionate about the great outdoors. The CLC program was founded in 2002 by dedicated CFM members, Al Vogt and Diana Mulick. They began developing a youth education program that would help prepare students for their future roles as employed and engaged citizens. The success of this program is evidenced by the number of alumni employed in conservation across the country. CLC has alumni representatives at the Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri State Parks, National Parks Service, Conservation Federation of Missouri, and teaching in various high schools and colleges just to name a few.
Sprinkled throughout the year are volunteer opportunities like CFM’s Pull for Conservation shooting events and Prairie Fork Conservation Area workdays. The year is capped off with a float trip/ Stream Team clean-up in the summer where students spend a great weekend on the water and remove trash from a Missouri waterway.
Today, our students are given many opportunities within a year to network with conservation professionals, build relationships with other outdoors-minded students from across the state, develop skills to add to their resumes, and attend fun outdoor events.
Special guests are present at nearly all these events to meet with students, share their areas of expertise, and serve as possible liaisons for future careers. These guests might be directors of state agencies, non-profit affiliate leaders, or former CLC students now employed in their desired careers.
A year in CLC begins with Fall Workshop, usually held at Lake of the Ozarks State Park where students will meet each other, enjoy great food and time outdoors, and dive into CFM’s resolution writing process. The next big event is CFM’s Annual Convention where students will take the skills they’ve been learning throughout the year and put them to the test, presenting resolutions in the Natural Resource breakout meetings and before CFM’s General Assembly.
Our application period for the next class of the Conservation Leadership Corps runs April 15 through May 15, 2022. For applicants, we accept current sophomores in high school through sophomores in college that live in or attend school in Missouri. If you or someone you know has questions or is interested in applying, have them follow the link below or contact me at the CFM office at czirkle@ confedmo.org or call 573-634-2322. Apply for the Conservation Leadership Corps here: https://confedmo.org/clc/. Early applications will be accepted. Colton Zirkle Education and Communications Coordinator
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CONSERVATION FEDERATION
2022 Events Schedule 86th Annual Convention- March 6 - 13
Let your voice be heard at the Annual Convention. meetings, awards, auctions, and so much more. Held at the Lake of the Ozarks.
Pull for Conservation: Northwest- April 2
Join CFM for the 7th annual Northwest clay shoot at Boot Hill Shooting Ground in Hamilton.
Conservation Day at the Capitol- April 6
Join conservationists from across Missouri on the radio for a day of celebrating and supporting conservation and natural resources. From 6 am to 10 am on 96.7 FM or KCMQ.com
Conservation Federation Banquet: Springfield- May 12
Meet fellow conservationists and support CFM at the White River Conference Center next to Bass Pro Shops and Wonders of Wildlife.
CFM Life Member Event- June 25 Special CFM life member event.
Conservation Federation Virtual Event- July 21
Join us for this virtual fundraiser and hear updates about all things conservation.
Pull for Conservation: Central- August 13
Take your best shot at the 16th annual Central clay shoot at Prairie Grove Shotgun Sports.
Affiliate Summit- September 8 & 9
CFM affiliate organizations are invited to network and learn with fellow professionals.
Conservation Federation Online Auction- October 4 - 18 Enjoy a fun and interactive online auction with many great trips and prizes.
Holiday Online Auction- December 5 - 16
Bid on many exciting items just in the time for the holidays. Event dates are subject to change. Please visit www.confedmo.org or follow us on social media for the most up to date schedule.
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Springfield The Conservation Federation Banquet Series is coming to Springfield!
Silent and Live Auctions - Dinner - Conservation Speakers
Thursday, May 12, 2022 Bass Pro Shops - White River Conference Center - 600 W. Sunshine St. Activities, Social and doors open: 5:00 p.m. Dinner & Auction: 6:30 p.m., Conservation Speakers 7:30 p.m. Please pay online at www.confedmo.org/events or mail check to the Conservation Federation of Missouri, 728 W. Main Street, Jefferson City, MO 65101 Names of Guests:_________________________________________________________
Address:________________________________________________________________ Phone: (____)_______-_________ E-mail:_____________________________________
___$50- Individual
___$80- Couple
___$500- Table Sponsor (10 seats)
___$20- Youth (Ages 7 - 16, 6 & under free) Total: $__________________
*All paid guests will receive a one year membership to CFM
For more information, please call (573) 634-2322 or visit www.confedmo.org
Member News
Giving Back to Conservation
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f you love the Missouri outdoors and its wildlife then you need to check out the Conservation Federation of Missouri and consider joining this group of Missouri citizens with a love for Missouri outdoors. Missouri is fortunate to have an abundance of natural resources. We have good populations of wildlife for hunting, beautiful Ozark streams for floating and fishing, well managed forest and prairies, and thousands of acres of ponds and lakes for recreation. Most of us have grown up with these resources and take them for granted, but it was not always this way. In the early 1900’s, our resources were abused and misused. Laws governing fish, forest, and wildlife were in the hands of the legislature. They may have meant well but few of the legislators had any natural resource management and most laws were passed to appease constituents. Fortunately, a few dedicated conservationists decided they wanted to get conservation out of politics and into the hands of trained professionals. In 1935 they formed the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM). A year later, they succeeded in getting a constitutional amendment passed that resulted in the formation of the Missouri Department of Conservation. While everyone today has an opinion about how resources should be managed, we have to admit we have it pretty good compared to most other states. Most people are familiar with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Department of Natural Resources State Parks system but many don’t know about CFM, which was organized in 1935 and is still going strong today. CFM’s mission is to ensure conservation of Missouri’s wildlife and natural resources, and preservation of our state’s rich outdoor heritage through advocacy, education and partnership. CFM is comprised of citizens and not affiliated with any government agency and gets involved with all conservation issue not just hunting and fishing. Partnerships are critical to CFM’s continued success. There are over 100 affiliated non-government conservation organizations representing about 80,000 people and these organizations are the backbone of
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CFM. CFM also operates Operation Game Thief and the popular Share the Harvest programs. They also make grant funds available through the Risberg family’s generous donation, which helps affiliates carry out their goals, whether it be education or habitat work. Education is always important. CFM has a program called Conservation Leadership Corps. This program gives high school junior and seniors as well as college students an opportunity to get involved in conservation. CFM also publishes the Conservation Federation Magazine 6 times per year for each member. Advocacy is essential and one of CFM’s the most important duties. They monitor and testify in legislative hearings for conservation and natural resources. The Legislative Action Center (LAC) allows members to stay updated on conservation issues and provides an easy way to contact their legislators. Nearly every year, a legislator tries to get conservation back in politicians’ hands by either trying to control MDC or gaining control of MDC’s funding. Now that you have learned a bit about CFM and what this group does, remember that we all have a connection to the outdoors. Whether it’s hunting, fishing, camping, canoeing, biking, hiking, or just sitting in our yards and watching wildlife, we all enjoy some aspect of Missouri wildlife and resources. Becoming a member keeps you informed about Missouri outdoors, its wildlife and all the opportunities that are available to you. A membership makes it easy to stay aware of conservation issues that may have an impact to Missouri outdoor future as well as giving you a voice in those decisions. In closing, membership in CFM helps ensure our natural resources will be here for all to enjoy, now and in the future, so please consider joining this dedicated group of citizens that have a love of the Missouri outdoors by going to www. confedmo.org/join or by calling 573-634-2322.
Outdoor News
MDC Naturalist Explains How Wildlife Survive Winter on Their Own
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issouri Department of Conservation (MDC) Naturalist Alex Homes said though the motivation may be sincere, “there’s no need to rescue wildlife during wintertime,” as each species knows how to endure Mother Nature. “They each have their own time-tested method of surviving,” he said. “The season is indeed difficult for some, but they each know how to survive.” Some animals migrate, hibernate, and others may simply hideaway and keep warm, Holmes said. For instance, woodchucks, or groundhogs, are “true hibernators,” he said. “In late summer, woodchucks fatten up to prepare for a deep sleep that usually lasts until winter is over,” Homes said. “They conserve energy reserves while sleeping by lowering their body temperature by about half, and by reducing their heartbeat down to about four to five beats per minute.” Other true hibernators include Franklin’s ground squirrels, meadow jumping mice and some species of bats. Bears are commonly categorized as hibernators, “but they aren’t,” he said. “A bear’s sleep is not as deep as a groundhog’s,” Homes said. “They fatten themselves before winter and their heart rate drops, but their body temperature doesn’t go down much. Female black bears are usually pregnant when they sleep, and the offspring growing inside them need the warmth,” he said. Frogs, snakes, and turtles don’t hibernate, but they go into what’s called torpor, or a dormant state that closely resembles death, Holmes explained. He said green frogs spend winter in the mud at the bottom of ponds, and box turtles bury themselves in soft ground. Snakes find shelter in a den or crevice and may spend the winter in a tangle of other snakes – sometimes not all the same species.
Photo courtesy of MDC.
Some frogs, including Missouri’s Wood Frog, deal with lower temperatures by becoming slightly frozen. “The livers of these frogs secrete a sugary substance that allows them to freeze without dying for up to a few weeks,” Homes said. Skunks, raccoons, and opossums don’t hibernate, but will nap in dens, trees, or logs during the coldest parts of winter, he said. “Their naps might last weeks, but when the weather turns balmy, they venture outdoors. These nocturnal animals may also switch to searching for food during the day to avoid colder night temperatures.” “This is a great time to go on a hike or go out in your yard to look for tracks, scat and chew marks to see who’s been out and about,” Homes said. He said taking photos of tracks and scat with something else in the photo works great for a size comparison. The photos can then be used to compare with MDC’s online field guide for identification of who left the tracks. Find out more about wildlife survival techniques at mdc.mo.gov.
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Feature Story
The Time is Ripe for Front-Yard Conversations
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f there ever was a silver lining to the COVID-19, it is that people have spent more time outdoors and yearned to connect with other people. For instance, in 2020, while strolling along a sidewalk, I struck up conversations with two people who were gardening in their front yards. I was drawn in by their attractive gardens and then thrilled to have a face-to-face chat over the split-rail fence, over the low-clipped hedge. These days it is so easy to break the ice.
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People are yearning for human connections. I simply said, “Your roses smell so nice,” and “Are those ‘Happy Returns’ daylilies?” and before I knew it, a few minutes of blissful chit-chat had consumed my day, and these conversations became the highlight of my week. What a treat from the depressing new normal of visiting with coworkers, friends and family on a computer screen!
Feature Story In addition to my exchanges being pleasant, they also were thought-provoking. What messages (and potential messages) do we send to our neighbors through the front yard garden? The scent of the roses and lovely masses of lemon-yellow daylilies (both non-native plants) briefly interrupted my mundane routine. I instantly sensed beauty with my nose and eyes and then had the unique opportunity to follow up with a question or two. Without the gardener standing there, I would have kept walking and the smells and sights would have quickly evaporated from my memory. But with the gardener’s words, came greater understanding. I found that roses bloom heavily with hard work and a lot of fertilizer and water, and that ‘Happy Returns’ daylily is a nicer color yellow than ‘Stella de oro’ and available at Lowes. And that was it. The message was about flower color and quantity of bloom. OK, that’s fine. That got my attention, for a brief moment. Please don’t get me wrong: I am so grateful for the in-person conversations I have these days, especially with fellow gardeners. But there is so much more that can come from a front yard conversation about plants, and there should be. Native plants are so much more than just beautiful flowers. They feed nectar and pollen to countless bee species, whose populations worldwide are in decline. In return, bees pollinate plants so they can produce fruits like blueberry and watermelon, and seeds eaten by wild birds (Texas green eyes produce seeds all summer for goldfinches). Native plants feed moth and butterfly caterpillars with life-supporting leaf tissue. That’s why there are holes in milkweed and pawpaw leaves. And those caterpillars feed baby birds, whose populations are also in steep decline. White oak tree bark provides a home for bats and overwintering butterflies. Its acorns feed squirrels, chipmunks, and red-headed woodpeckers all winter long. And Missouri white oak wood used in barrels flavors the wine and whiskey we love to consume. Native plants are so rich, they have depth, and are brimming with connections to nature, cuisine, history, and folklore.
In the book Ozark Magic and Folklore (1947), Vance Randolph writes that many old people think that ironwood trees were planted by the Devil’s agents and that sassafras trees somehow sprout from grub worms. He probably wasn’t aware that ironwood is the best species for tree climbing (for safety, mulch thickly below the tree). Also, Randolph writes that pawpaw is well known to be connected with witchcraft and even zebra swallowtail butterflies (who lay their eggs only on pawpaw) are thought of as “strange” because it is so often seen fluttering around pawpaw trees. If this won’t start (or stop) a front-yard conversation, then nothin’ will. Randolph’s books are chock-full of Ozark stories about plants and people that will either keep your neighbors hanging on your every word or send them running for the hills. Clearly, I’ve had extra time on my hands and need some face time, I mean real face time. But if you don’t take kindly to chatting with passers-by, but still see the value in messaging, several garden signs may be of interest. St. Louis Wild Ones offers a sign that says, “This garden is in harmony with Nature.” St. Louis Audubon’s backyard certification program, Bring Conservation Home, provides a sign that says, “This landscape provides outstanding wildlife habitat value.” Grow Native!, a program of the Missouri Prairie Foundation, has five different signs, one of which states “These native plants provide food sources for beneficial insects and support songbirds and other cherished wildlife.” If your goal is to support nature and create memories that last, consider adding native plants and perhaps a sign that tells the neighborhood that you support native gardening. Now, more than ever, nature needs us to step up and do our part. Happy Gardening ya’ll. Scott Woodbury Horticulturist Scott Woodbury is the Curator of the Whitmore Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, MO, where he has worked with native plant propagation, design, and education for 30 years, and which is supported by the Missouri Department of Conservation. He also is an advisor to the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Grow Native! program. Find suppliers native plants and native plant services at www.grownative.org, Resource Guide. Grow Native! garden signs are available in the Gift Shop at grownative.org
If your goal is to support nature and create memories that last, consider adding native plants and perhaps a sign that tells the neighborhood that you support native gardening. (Photo: Scott Woodbury)
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Feature Story
The Bluebirds of Spring 28
CONSERVATION FEDERATION
Feature Story When God had made a host of them, One little flower still lacked a stem To hold its blossom blue; So into it He breathed a song, And suddenly, with petals strong As wings, away it flew. - John Tabb, The Bluebird -
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ike the voice of an old friend you haven't heard for a while, the first bluebird song of the spring is sure to put a smile on your face. Even though they are year-round residents to most of the state, especially the southern half, the first cheerful burbling note from a bluebird on a calm spring morning is a momentous occasion. Winter has lost its grip. That cheerful bird song, one of the first of the spring along with their thrush family relatives, the robin has inspired numerous poets, writers and artists through the years. In his attempt to describe the brilliant flash of blue among the bare limbs of spring, Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The bluebird carries the sky on its back." And so it does, or at least seems to. It's not just their song that is brightens the landscape. Cornell's All About Birds website notes on their website bluebirds are: "Marvelous birds to capture in your binoculars." Eastern Bluebirds, the kind we have in Missouri, are in a small way a conservation success story. All About Birds also says; "Eastern Bluebird populations fell in the early twentieth century as aggressive introduced species such as European Starlings and House Sparrows made available nest holes increasingly difficult for bluebirds to hold on to. In the 1960s and 1970s establishment of bluebird trails and other nest box campaigns alleviated much of this competition, especially after people began using nest boxes designed to keep out the larger European Starling. Eastern Bluebird numbers have been recovering since." As a college biology student at CMSU during the late 1970's, I got acquainted with bluebirds on a science project where I monitored nests for one spring. I set up a bluebird "trail" of nest boxes with a stenciled number on each of them.
The bluebird "trail" extended for several miles in Caldwell county. I was required to monitor and report on that project in a presentation for the local Warrensburg, MO group that helped fund it. It was a good project, and the bluebirds benefited from it. Those houses were constructed of native lumber donated by the Hartley family sawed at their sawmill. They were stout boxes and lasted long past my college career and the bluebird study they were donated for, giving several generations of bluebirds a good nest site. Even today, bluebird benefit from nest boxes placed in suitable locations with healthy populations. Bluebirds are secondary cavity nesters meaning they do not excavate the cavity they nest in. Instead, they nest in natural cavities like squirrel dens and woodpecker holes in trees. I can remember finding the first bluebird nest in the rotted-out knothole in a fence post behind our house. The raccoon population was much lower in those days and the birds main competition for the nest cavity were house sparrows. I assisted the bluebirds a little with my bb gun on the house sparrow front and they were usually successful at bringing off a brood. Many bluebird houses are available commercially today but you can build your own from plans available from the Missouri Department of Conservation or the American Bluebird Society and others. If you plan to put up a nest box there are a few things you should keep in mind: Location, predators and the size of the opening are things to consider. Location: Bluebirds are very tolerant of people so you can locate the nest box where you can see and enjoy it from your house. Eastern Bluebirds live in open country around trees, but with little understory and sparse ground cover. Original habitats probably included open, frequently burned savannas, mature but open woods, and other openings in the timber. Today, they're most common along pastures, agricultural fields, parks, backyards, and golf courses. Clover and alfalfa fields are excellent locations for bluebird houses since they are primarily insect eaters during the nesting season.
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Feature Story Predators: Predators are something else that you need to consider when you place the nest box. A predator guard of some kind is almost a necessity today with groundnesting predators like raccoons and opossums at record numbers. Blacksnakes and house cats also are a factor when selecting your predator guard. Information on predator guards is available on the internet. You can construct your own or purchase them at bird supply stores like Birds-I-View in Jefferson City, MO (birds-i-view.biz) and Orscheln's (www.orschelnfarmhome.com). The design of bluebird boxes has been experimented with over the years, resulting in changes to the standard box. Whatever design you settle on, be sure and include a box with a 4-inch interior, 1 9/16" hole and a side opening to the box. (as opposed to the lid opening). The North American Bluebird Society's best source of information for the new plans. (http://www. nabluebirdsociety.org/). The main changes to the plans in recent years, based on observations and available research, is the large lid that provides more shade and the recommendation that the exterior be painted white to reduce overheating. It's important to use the correct size opening to restrict starlings and other species that compete for the nest cavity. If you use older plans or modify an existing house, do away with the lid opening. Just screw it down. Instead, put two screws in the side of one side parallel to each other so that the screws act as a hinge (see the photo) and use a cotter key to keep the side of the house in place. This will make it much easier to peek in the house when you want to monitor it and to clean it out when a sparrow takes up residence or at the end of the season. If you limit the disturbance, it's also a neat way to let kids look in the box and see the nest construction, eggs or even the baby chicks.
In the last stanza of his poem "What the Bluebird Said" Robert Frost writes, And said to be good, And wear her red hood, And look for skunk tracks In the snow with an ax— And do everything! And perhaps in the spring He would come back and sing. It's about time for Mr. Bluebird to come back and sing. Put up a nest box or two and he will likely sing for you too. Kyle Carroll (Cover) Eastern Bluebird. (Photo: Cliff White) (Top) The author and granddaughter check the status of a bluebird box in early spring. (Photo: Kyle Carroll)
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Outdoor News
MDC Expands Bicycle Use on Many Conservation Areas
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he Missouri Conservation Commission gave final approval at its Dec. 10 open meeting to the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) proposed regulation changes that would allow the expanded use of bicycles and electric bicycles on many department-area service roads and multi-use trails. The Commission also gave final approval to MDC definitions of bicycles and electric bicycles. The changes will become effective Feb. 28, 2022. The final approval of these regulations follows the initial approval by the Commission in August and a review of public comments received during October. According to MDC, conservation-area users have expressed interest in expanding the use of bicycles and electric bicycles to include conservation-area service roads and multi-use trails for greater access to the areas. Bicycle use on MDC’s approximately 1,100 conservation areas is currently restricted to roads open to public-vehicle traffic and some multiuse trails. Bicycle use is currently not allowed on conservation-area service roads. Service roads are non-public roads on MDC areas used by staff to conduct resource management activities. They are marked on online maps on the MDC website at mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places. Many service roads are currently used as walking paths by the public. MDC notes that conditions of service roads on department areas vary and are not maintained at the level of public-use trails and public roads. Most MDC conservation areas do not have applicable service roads or multi-use trails. The regulation change will impact approximately 300 MDC areas by allowing bicycle and electric bicycle use on service roads and/or multi-use trails. Approximately 30 of these areas will be closed to bicycle and electric bicycle use during all portions of the firearms deer hunting season and the spring turkey hunting seasons. Exceptions would also include service roads used by staff at fish hatcheries and other heavily used MDC areas or where bicycle use could cause damage to sensitive habitats, such as designated natural areas.
Electric bicycles are defined by MDC as “any twowheeled or three-wheeled device equipped with fully operable pedals, a saddle or seat for the rider, and an electric motor of not more than 750 watts, and which meets one of the following three classes: •
•
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Class 1 electric bicycles are equipped with a motor that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling, and that ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches a speed of 20 miles per hour; Class 2 electric bicycles are equipped with a motor that may be used exclusively to propel the bicycle, and that is not capable of providing assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 20 miles per hour; Class 3 electric bicycles are equipped with a motor that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling, and that ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 28 miles per hour.”
Bicyclists are expected to follow appropriate trail etiquette including yielding to pedestrians and horseback riders, maintaining a safe speed, staying on designated trails or service roads, and avoiding damaging trails by not riding in wet conditions. Find MDC conservation areas and other MDC Places to Go online at mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places.
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Feature Story
Casting for Spring Walleye B
anging crankbaits off rocky shorelines is good exercise and not always good for your lures, but this is a productive way to pick up limits of walleye this time of year. Many of us are constantly borrowing techniques from northern walleye anglers and their techniques work here too. Walleye are structure-oriented fish that rely mainly on rocks. That is the old-wives tale we have been told many years. Yet modern anglers discovered that walleye can be opportunists. I will concede that walleye prefer rocks, but don’t ignore those big weed beds full of forage and baitfish as spring temperatures warm the water. Years ago, a buddy from Minnesota joined me on a couple of Missouri conservation lakes in the area. Local fishermen said they occasionally catch a walleye, but not many. My buddy caught and released over 100 fish that day—on crankbaits exclusively from grass beds. Most walleye in this region are caught by accident. Trolling or jigging is a great way to put these sometimes-finicky fish in the boat, but when conditions are right, casting shad-bodied crankbaits around shallow structure is a productive way to catch big numbers of walleye. Jason Feldner, proprietor of Perch-Eyes Guide Service, is a veteran guide on North Dakota’s 160,000-acre Devils Lake. He casts crankbaits for walleye throughout May and June equaling March and April weather here. “When the bite’s on, 100-fish days are possible,” he says. “The walleye are opportunists and love an easy meal. Anglers have to make them think a shad just made it’s final mistake.”
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Feldner’s tactics are productive on a variety of Missouri walleye lakes. When water temperatures inch upward into the mid-50s, Feldner targets sheltered, fastwarming shallows, where walleye find a feast of baitfish and other forage. You can find concentrations of shallow fish feeding on most lakes. Potential hotspots include necked-down current areas, emerging weed beds and shoreline riprap. Feldner factors the wind into his fishing locations when the water continues warming, “Once the water temp hits 60 degrees, I look for windswept areas where wave action stirs up the shallows, concentrating forage and reducing light penetration,” he says. Opportunistic walleyes move in to scarf up minnows or shad, but a sustained wind lasting several days or more can fire up a shoreline.” When planning his daily structural hit list, Feldner always remembers yesterday’s weather as conditions change. One day, he may find a strong wind, and then dead calm the next.
Feature Story The downwind bank is productive when the wind is blowing, but the hot shoreline from the day before stills hold fish even after it dies down. Certain structures are walleye attractive in many temperature and wind-driven scenarios.
Shad-bodied crankbaits are excellent for walleye this time of year. A crankbaits deep, stout profile mimics a range of prey, and is easy for walleyes to home in on in low-visibility conditions, such as when wind and waves roil near-shore waters.
“I prefer slow-tapering shorelines over banks with steep breaks,” Feldner says. “Not necessarily because they hold more fish, but because my bait stays in the strike zone longer on a gradual slope.”
The Pico Square Bill, Lindy Shadling and Bomber Flat “A” are many anglers go-to baits. All three are tightwiggling, rattling baits capable of drawing walleye attention, even when visibility is reduced. In addition, Near-buoyancy allows them to be fished with a variety of moves, without rocketing to the surface on the pause. Such versatility is critical, because many spring presentations run the gamut—from a steady pull to a fast retrieve.
Soft muck bottoms absorb sunlight and help boost the water temperature during the early season. But later, shorelines exposed to the prevailing winds are typically dominated by gravel and rocks. The flooded woody cover is common on man made reservoirs. “During the early season, I cruise banks, targeting fallen trees,” he says. “Walleyes often tuck tight to timber, lurking in the shade as they await passing prey. You won’t catch a bunch of fish in one area, but you’ll get one here and one there, so it’s important to cover lots of water and keep moving.” The tops of submerged creek channels have proven to be another good warm-weather spot. A depth finder is required to find well-defined creek channel systems. This type of fishing without electronics is hit or miss fishing and generally non-productive. However, these creek areas can be highly productive both day and night. Look for steep drop-offs at the top of submerged creek channels. Most game fish species, including walleye, tend to hang out over the top of deep water close to shallow water where the most food is. This allows them a food source with their safety of deep water. This shallow water theory may be a shock to Midwestern fishermen. But fishery biologists have found that large concentrations of walleye love staying close to the shallows for the same reason city people hate to move far from grocery stores--that is where the food is. You will find walleye much deeper in Clearwater lakes. Sensitive eyes drive the fish deeper from light. This is an excellent place to look for boulders or rock cracks on the bottom. Walleye tend to suspend around the top of old submerged bridges instead of the bottom, where most might look for rocks. This is especially true in a small lake where the thermocline runs from 15 to 20 feet depth during hot weather. As a result, you won’t find many fish below this oxygen-rich layer.
“Walleye move into the grass during their spring spawning season,” said Mitch Glenn, veteran angler. “I prefer the Pico Square Bill Crankbaits for spring walleye. These lures dive from three to four feet depths when casting, and plow thru the shallow weeds, instead of digging into them. Another advantage these baits provide is the sound, made with an internal knocker, instead of a body full of rattles. This gives a sound more like a crawfish tail, and not the “singing” sound of the typical rattling bait.” Try holding your boat in eight feet of water and making long casts close to shore. Then work your lure on the bottom, holding it down long as possible back to the boat. Start with the rod tip high, then lower it during the retrieve, so the bait dives deeper and stays close to the bottom. Walleyes’ notoriously fickle nature makes experimentation key to finding the best retrieve. Every day is a little different. Sometimes they want slow and steady retrieves, other times you have to get aggressive and really pound the bottom or burn it along to trigger reaction strikes. The shallow crank-casting pattern shines through early summer, until water temperatures reach the 70-degree mark. After that, focus on fishing deeper, often pulling deep-diving cranks or spinner rigs along outside weed edges and deep tree lines. But even then, the shallow pattern is always an option, should the right wind come up along a slow-tapering shoreline.
Kenneth L. Kieser Can you catch good walleye in Missouri? Just ask fellow outdoor writer Ryan Miloshewski after a great day on Stockton lake. (Photo: Kenneth L. Kieser)
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Feature Story
More than Ducks A
s a dedicated conservationist and supporter of Ducks Unlimited until the day he drew his last breath, our friend Glenn Chambers could often be heard saying, “It’s for the ducks.” To be clear, Glenn loved waterfowl and duck hunting. But in reality, he knew it was not just about ducks. Glenn knew it was more. A lot more. And so, with a tip of my hat to Mr. Chambers, let me say this: For those who have learned to see beyond the end of their shotgun, past the cupped wings of mallards wheeling into the decoys. Yes, it’s for the ducks but there is a much bigger show to be seen.
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Missouri wetlands are a grand stage where seasonal performances ebb and flow from the spectacular to the sublime. Filled only with leads and no understudies. Some moments are pure theater, others a symphony, and sometimes just improv. Bigger than Broadway. Better than Carnegie Hall. But be forewarned. There are no intermissions, there is always drama, and wetlands never sleep. Waterfowl hunters, of course, have a season pass with orchestra seating during one of the most spectacular shows of the year. September through December is primetime. From the pre-dawn overture and awakening until the evening curtain call the show is continuous.
Feature Story Early season matinees bring the winnowing of snipes and a smattering of shorebirds probing mudflats while staging for migration. September days bring the whiplash of rocketing blue winged teal, and through October, flocks of gaudy wood ducks fly up and down the watershed while squadrons of white pelicans fall from the sky in choreographic spirals. When frosty November days arrive, so does a different mood. A gray cloudy sky illuminated by the amber light reflection of cordgrass from a sunrise leaking across the marsh tells us things are changing. As vegetation falls away, secrets are exposed. Every natural and unnatural mark on the marsh is presented for discovery. Muskrat and beaver lodges. Deer trails and buck rubs. The silhouette of an eagle’s nest. A long-abandoned duck blind, its walls saturated with stories and a few lies. Remnants of a few old shotgun shells squashed into the mud nearby. Sitting quietly, you may experience the adagio from a wedge of trumpeter swans smoothly winging by your seat. Or witness the tangled talons of eagles above. The pouncing of a marsh hawk. A reflective aria from a single Canada goose in flight, unsure if the song laments leaving something behind or the anticipation of better things ahead. As evening encroaches, the grand finale begins. Wave after wave of ducks winging across the sky. A mile-long string of snow geese looking for nighttime refuge. A thousand white fronted geese settling into the marsh after sunset, chuckling, gabbing, and giggling as they feed under a beaver moon. When sunlight finally disappears, another curtain rises as the starry sky illuminates. Feeding waterfowl become the soundtrack. And very late, as web-footed enthusiasm subsides, a careful ear will hear the nighttime gnawing and the slap-ker-plunk of beaver. The outburst of yipping coyotes. Or the teasing serenade of invisible geese high above as they pass by, destination unknown.
In the early pre-dawn darkness, the headlamps of camouflaged ushers assist visitors and one another with preparations for another day’s performance. Standing in their pole boats, silently pushing through marsh they watch for streaking cameos named Leonid or Geminid as they ponder seating options for the day to come. January and February deliver stillness and mostly an icy silence. Undeterred geese perform in the round atop a frozen stage. From the work of nearby eagles, plucked feathers blow across the frozen windswept marsh. Tracks tell us who occupied the stage during nocturnal performances, and the snowy backdrop gives away the location of even the stealthiest. A red fox in stunning attire. Otters sliding down the bank of a creek. Or the remains of those who could not survive for another season. In March and April, the post-winter set is worn and shabby, but the quality of the show is still spectacular and diverse. Costumes are still elaborate but the story is evolving. Migrations are a quick rewind. Timing is more crucial for the actors and audience. The cast of characters is changing fast. And sooner than you realize, the summer stock troupe will take residency with a different more subtle story to tell. So, grab some camo, your opera glasses, a field guide, and a friend. The spring tour is happening now. Admission is free and you won’t be disappointed. And when you hear that voice tell you, “It’s for the ducks,” don’t be fooled. That’s just the hook. Dan Zekor Both photos courtesy of Dale Humburg.
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Agency News
MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION MDC Changes Some Regulations Related to Paddlefish
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he Missouri Conservation Commission gave final approval during its Dec. 10 open meeting in Jefferson City to several proposed regulation changes to the Wildlife Code of Missouri by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) for paddlefish, related fishing methods, and commercial fishing. The regulation changes will become effective Feb. 28, 2022. MDC asked for initial public comments on the proposed regulation changes this past spring. The Commission gave initial approval to the proposed regulation changes at its Aug. 27 open meeting in Jefferson City. MDC then had a public comment period during October. Snagging Definition One regulation change establishes a formal definition of “snagging,” which was undefined in the Wildlife Code of Missouri. Snagging is a popular method for taking fish, such as paddlefish, that do not go after baited hooks because they “filter feed” on tiny crustaceans and insects by swimming through the water with their large mouths open. Snagging uses a heavy-duty fishing pole with a large, three-pronged hook on a line to snag a fish along its body as it swims. The MDC definition of snagging is: Hooking or attempting to hook a fish in a part of the body other than the mouth or jaw by means of a pole, line, and hook. Snagging is characterized by a repeated drawing or jerking motion of the pole, line, and hook or by trolling with an unbaited hook rather than enticement by bait or lure. Statewide Minimum Length A regulation change establishes a statewide minimum length limit of 32 inches -- measured from eye to fork of tail -- for sport/recreational taking of paddlefish, up from the current minimum length of 24 inches for most areas of the state. The existing minimum length limit of 34 inches -- measured from eye to fork of tail -- will remain in effect for Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake, Truman Lake, and their tributaries.
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All paddlefish under the legal minimum length must be returned to the water unharmed immediately after being caught. Paddlefish can grow to a length of about seven feet and weigh 100 pounds or more. According to MDC, the increased length limit will allow female paddlefish to reach sexual maturity before they can be harvested. This will help make paddlefish waters more sustainable for natural reproduction and result in larger fish available for harvest. 15 More Days to Season Another regulation amendment adds 15 days to the fall/ winter snagging, snaring, or grabbing season for taking fish -- except paddlefish -- by extending the season end from Jan. 31 to Feb. 15. It also prohibits snagging for all species of fish on Table Rock Lake after taking the daily limit of two paddlefish. The paddlefish snagging season for the state’s major paddlefish snagging waters -- Lake of the Ozarks, Truman Lake, and Table Rock Lake -- and most other waters in the state remains March 15 through April 30. The paddlefish season for the Mississippi River remains March 15 through May 15 with a fall season of Sept. 15 through Dec. 15. According to MDC, the amendment extending the fall snagging, snaring, or grabbing season provides additional opportunities for anglers. It also aligns the snagging, snaring, or grabbing season with the season allowing some fish to be taken by gig or atlatl. Commercial Fishing Season A final regulation amendment establishes a commercial paddlefish fishing season of Nov. 1 through April 15 on the Mississippi River to limit the commercial harvest of paddlefish only during cooler water temperatures. It also sets a minimum length limit of 32 inches for taking paddlefish on the Mississippi River.
Agency News According to MDC, the primary justification for the season is to prevent mortality of paddlefish. Paddlefish captured in nets during warm-water temperatures (late April through October) are more likely to perish, causing waste of fish that would have otherwise been harvested and the unnecessary death of paddlefish under legal length. The establishment of the paddlefish commercial season will also better align Missouri regulations with those of other states along the Mississippi River. Learn more about paddlefish and related fishing regulations from MDC online at mdc.mo.gov/fishing/ species/paddlefish.
MDC Reports Five Elk Harvested During Second Season
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he Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports hunters harvested three elk during the firearms portion of the elk-hunting season, Dec. 11-19. An archery portion ran Oct. 16-24 with two elk harvested. Five Missouri hunters were selected for elk permits through a random drawing. Last year’s inaugural elk hunt ended with all five hunters harvesting bull elk during the firearms portion. No elk were taken during the 2020 archery portion. “We couldn’t be more excited for these five hunters,” said MDC Deer and Elk Biologist Aaron Hildreth. “After a decade of restoration efforts, the hard work these hunters put in was rewarded with five truly magnificent bulls. This is a conservation success story, and Missourians can be proud of the healthy, growing elk herd we have in our state.” Elk are a native species in Missouri but were hunted to extinction in the state through unregulated hunting during the late 1800s. Missouri’s first elk hunt last year came after years of restoration efforts of the native species by MDC, numerous partners including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and many supporters including local communities and area landowners. Learn more about elk restoration in Missouri at https:// short.mdc.mo.gov/ZYJ.
Chris Irick of Pleasant Hope harvested the first elk in the modern day archery season. (Photo: MDC)
Learn more about elk hunting in Missouri online at https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/species/ elk. MARCH - 2022
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Agency News
MISSOURI STATE PARKS DNR Accepts Ownership of the Rock Island Corridor
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he Missouri Department of Natural Resources announced it is accepting ownership of the Rock Island Corridor. The department plans to develop the 144 miles of the former Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad corridor, which stretches from Windsor to Beaufort, Missouri, into a public recreational trail. Missouri Central Railroad Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ameren Missouri, donated the property at no cost to the state.
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Representatives from the Department of Natural Resources made the announcement at an outdoor ceremony at Rock Island Park in Eldon. Governor Mike Parson and representatives from Ameren Missouri, the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the Missouri State Parks Foundation and other elected officials participated in the acceptance ceremony.
Agency News The Missouri Department of Natural Resources currently owns and operates the Rock Island Spur of the Katy Trail, a 47-mile multi-use trail located on the Rock Island Corridor from Windsor to Pleasant Hill. The development of this additional 144-mile section of the Rock Island Corridor from Windsor to Beaufort will expand the opportunity for visitors to participate in familyfriendly outdoor recreation and benefit many rural communities, including Versailles, Eldon, Eugene, Meta, Argyle, Freeburg, Belle, Bland, Owensville, Rosebud, Gerald, Leslie and Beaufort. “With the recent award of the $2.7 million Economic Development Administration grant and other potential funding through the American Rescue Plan Act, donations and grants, the Department of Natural Resources is able to accept the Rock Island Corridor today,” said Dru Buntin, director of the Department of Natural Resources. “With more than 30 years of experience with the Katy Trail, we want the Rock Island Trail to be a good neighbor, and we envision the Rock Island complementing the Katy,” said David Kelly, director of the Division of Missouri State Parks. “I’m looking forward to working with landowners and communities along the trail as the development progresses.” “The Rock Island Trail will be the second railto-trail state park system in our state and will complement our existing Katy Trail,” Governor Parson said. “Much like the Katy Trail, we expect the Rock Island Trail to help grow local economies and small businesses, create jobs, and provide Missouri with another great outdoor recreational resource. Missouri’s tourism industry is strong, and projects like this one only help it grow stronger. We are proud to support the development of the Rock Island Trail.”
“For years, many partners, including the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the Missouri State Parks Foundation, the Missouri Parks Association, Missouri Rock Island Trail Inc., Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation, Missourians for Responsible Transportation and all the supportive communities along the corridor, have advocated for this visionary project. We are inspired by the trail’s potential to provide Missourians and visitors with a new way to enjoy our beautiful state, bringing tourism dollars and economic development to communities along the corridor.” The department entered into an Interim Trail Use Agreement with Missouri Central Railroad Company in 2019 to railbank this section of the Rock Island Corridor. Railbanking, established in 1983 as an amendment to Section 8(d) of the National Trails System Act, is a voluntary agreement between a railroad company and a trail agency to use an out-of-service rail corridor as a trail until a railroad might need the corridor again for rail service. This interim trail use of railbanked corridors has preserved thousands of miles of rail corridors that would otherwise have been abandoned. Development of the trail will occur in sections over several years, as each section of the corridor has different features and challenges. Missouri State Parks will begin hosting public meetings in communities along the trail in January to gather public input and understand the needs and goals of each community and landowners along the corridor. More information about the Rock Island Corridor is available at mostateparks.com.
“We’re excited to officially transfer the ownership of the Rock Island Trail to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, bringing the state one step closer to transforming the corridor into a world-class recreation destination,” said Mark Birk, senior vice president for customer and power operations at Ameren Missouri.
MARCH - 2022
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NATURE is Healthy
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CONSERVATION FEDERATION
Get healthy in nature this year.
mdc.mo.gov/places–go
MARCH - 2022
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Feature Story
DIY Venison Sausage: It’s not as Hard as You Think
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t my house, one of the harbingers of the holiday season is me making that year’s batch of venison summer sausage and breakfast sausage. I start trying to gather the primary raw materials just as soon as archery season opens on September 15th and if the Hunting Gods are kind to me, I have enough meat to work with towards the end of December. It is a multi-day task, but one that I enjoy doing. The satisfaction I get from creating a tasty product is worth all the hard work and time spent. Besides, after I gave up Tibetan throat singing, I needed a new hobby to take its place.
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The two primary reasons I started making my sausage were cost and quality. I butcher my deer and towards the end of the season, I would take all my “scrap” meat to a processor to have it turned into summer sausage. Over the years, I have tried multiple processors and the two things that were consistent with all of them were that the price kept going up and the quality was going down. There was one year when I even had to throw all the summer sausage away because it turned rancid. That was after paying $150 for it! After that catastrophe, I decided I needed to learn how to make it myself.
Feature Story Fortunately, we live in the Information Age where a feller can learn how to do just about anything if he has a decent internet connection and the patience to pan through the river of detritus to find those couple nuggets of wisdom. I started hanging out on sausagemaking forums (yes, that’s a thing) and soon gathered enough knowledge to feel comfortable at giving the whole thing a try. That was several years, and several mistakes ago, but I now feel confident enough in my abilities to share what I have learned in hopes that I can inspire you to try your hand at this experience. The most important lesson I have learned is that things go much more smoothly if you have the correct equipment. What you will need depends a lot on the amount of meat you will be working with. If you are just doing ten pounds, then you probably already have everything necessary. If you are doing 40-60 pounds as I do, then that is a whole different story. The bare minimum tools you will need are sharp knives, a good quality meat grinder, and a meat thermometer. A sausage press and meat mixer are also nice. I have done the jobs by hand that both those contraptions help with, and they greatly reduce the amount of time and cussing involved. Other handy items are big metal bowls for holding everything and big plastic tubs for storing the meat mixtures in. Yes, you will have some money invested in the project if you want to do it correctly but it’s probably no more than you spend in one season to have someone else do it for you. Another decision that first-timers find daunting is what recipe they should use. There are lots of different kinds of sausages out there. What do you want yours to taste like and how do you make that happen? I have my recipes that I have developed over the years, but you can buy sausage seasoning packages which are a big help if you’re a newbie. They are especially helpful with making breakfast sausage because you can mix some up, fry a patty, taste it, and then adjust your recipe until it suits you. It’s not so straightforward with summer sausage, though, because what the mixture tastes like before it cures won’t be exactly what it tastes like when it’s finished. You just have to trust your recipe and production methods. A little bit of good luck helps too!
A sausage press makes filling casings easy. (Photo: Darren Haverstick)
Okay, so let’s start the process. The first thing you need to do is grind the meat. People often ask me what cuts I prefer to grind for sausage and I always tell them that grinding is the “Great Equalizer”. Once the meat goes through, you won’t be able to tell whether it came from a backstrap or shoulder blade. I’m also asked about how to trim the meat. When I first starting to do this, I used to trim my venison closely, getting rid of all the silver skin that I could. That’s the tough, white-colored connective tissue that bow strings were made from, and calling it “chewy” would be an understatement. I don’t trim so close anymore. I double-grind all my meat and I have found that grinding pretty much takes care of the silver skin issue. During the first pass, I use the “wagon wheel” plate in my grinder to produce a coarse grind. On the second run, I use the 3/16” plate for a finer grind. If you are really picky, I would pay more attention to trimming meat for breakfast sausage than summer sausage because the long cooking process that summer sausage goes through also takes care of any tough bits in your meat mixture. Since venison has almost no fat content, you will need to add some fat to your mixture so that it will stay together to form a patty or log. I have tried using straight pork fat and that did not work out so well. What I got was a slick, sticky mess that was very hard to get out of my grinder and into the sausage casings. What I do now is just buy some pork butt roasts and grind those up. It adds enough fat to the mixture to make good sausage but not so much that you have a skillet full of grease.
(Left) This year’s batch drying in the stairwell. (Photo: Darren Haverstick)
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Feature Story For summer sausage, I use four parts venison to one part pork. For breakfast sausage, I use a little more than two parts venison to one part pork. Once you get all your meats ground, you need to mix them in the right proportions with your sausage seasonings. This is where the big bowls, tubs, and meat mixers come in handy. If I’m making 30 pounds of summer sausage, then I need 24 pounds of venison and 6 pounds of pork. Unfortunately, my meat mixer can only handle 10 pounds of meat at a time, so I have to divvy things up before I start mixing and then figure out where to put the mixed meat while I’m getting ready to do another batch. Logistics is key here and I strongly suggest that you have a good plan laid out BEFORE you start making a mess in the kitchen. I have also found it handy to have the dogs in the house during this task to help keep the floor and work surfaces clean. They’re not called “man’s best friend” for nothing. So far, the steps for making breakfast sausage (an uncooked mixture) and summer sausage (a cured and cooked mixture) have been the same. Both mixtures will have a similar look and feel. They should be uniform in color and the mixtures should stick together easily to form a patty but not stick to your hands. The summer sausage will have a more “doughy” feel and will stuff into the fibrous casings without sticking to the sides too much.
That’s a big bowl of meat! (Photo: Darren Haverstick)
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Unless you are making sausage links, your breakfast sausage is finished. Just stuff it into sausage bags, seal them up, and call it good. You still have a way to go with the summer sausage, though, because it needs to be cured and cooked and you have many options on making that happen. Curing meat is just a way of preserving it to stave off spoilage. It can be done chemically, by various curing methods, or a combination thereof. The summer sausage will also have to be cooked. If you don’t have a large smoker whose temperature can be easily controlled, then you can just cook your summer sausage in your kitchen oven at a low temperature until the sausage reaches an internal temperature of at least 155 degrees F. Adding liquid smoke to your seasoning mixture will help give you that smoked taste. If you study up on smoking sausage you will learn that it can be either “cold smoked” or “hot smoked”. Cold smoking is done at low temperatures (140155 deg F) and the meat is dry cured more than it is cooked. Cold smoked sausages, like hard salami, have a telltale leathery texture on their surface and the meat is more oily. Keeping the temperature and humidity low using this method is critical and there is a thin line between a good sausage and botulism. Remember that sausage I mentioned that I had to throw away? The processor cold-smoked it and then told me to hang it up and let it dry for 7-10 days. I had gotten sausage from this processor several times before, so I was familiar with the process. However, this time the sticks started growing mold after the third day and there was a definite sour smell in the air by day six. The possums behind my house ate well that year! With that in mind, I only hot smoke my summer sausage. I have an electric 40” vertical smoker and I can hang up to 28 “chubs” in it at a time to smoke. I use pellets or wood chips to generate the smoke. The electric part just allows me to be able to control the temperature easily. I will smoke mine at 175 degrees for six hours and then transfer the chubs to the oven. There they will cook at 200 degrees until the sausage internal temperature is 155 degrees. The total cooking time is around eight hours. I used to do it all in the smoker but that got to be problematic when the outside temperature dropped into the 20s.
Feature Story
The breakfast sausage is all done! (Photo: Darren Haverstick)
My smoker had a hard time maintaining its temperature, thus prolonging the entire cooking cycle. Six hours of smoke is plenty to put into the meat so I’m not losing any flavor by finishing them in the oven. After the chubs are done cooking, I plunge them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process. I wait until the internal temperature has dropped below 100 degrees and then I dry off the chubs and hang them up to dry further. This drying process is call “blooming”. It’s important to let them air dry for a day or so before packaging them up for storage. I vacuum seal my sausages but wrapping them in aluminum foil and freezer paper works well too. From start to finish, I will usually have five days consumed by my sausage-making, with three of those being where my summer sausage mixture is just sitting in a cooler fermenting, so it gets the tart taste I like. It’s certainly a big investment in time, and some in money, but I look at it this way. I made the conscious decision to end the life of another animal for my own needs. I did not make that decision lightly and that decision, for me, comes with some responsibilities and obligations.
My live-in quality control inspector, Jake. (Photo: Darren Haverstick)
Now I could shirk those obligations and let someone else do the hard work; the cleaning, the butchering, the sausage-making, but I feel that dishonors the spirit of the animal that I killed. To atone for my act, I think the least I can do is have a little sweat equity in the finished product. To paraphrase an old “Seinfeld” episode, I suffer for my sausage. Besides, it tastes just a little bit better when you know you have made it yourself. I am happy to share my summer and breakfast sausage recipes. Email me at dchaverstick@gmail. com. Two great resources for all things sausage: sausagemaker.com and waltonsinc.com. Darren Haverstick
MARCH - 2022
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Feature Story
The ABC’s of Paddling
S
everal years ago, I was fortunate to take one of National Park Ranger and American Canoe Association Instructor Dave Tobey's kayaking skills classes on the Current River. Those who have taken one of his courses, or tours of Round Spring Cave, or sat enthralled at one of his campfire programs, may truly count themselves fortunate. Dave introduced us to the "ABCs of paddling" during the class. These three succinct points are used each summer by Ozark National Scenic Riverways personnel to keep millions of floaters safe while they paddle some of the most beautiful river miles in Missouri (at least in my opinion!).
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"A" stands for "Always wear your life jacket." In its boating safety statistics for 2020, the US Coast Guard notes that of the 75% of drownings associated with recreational boating in the United States, almost 86% of those were due to the victim not wearing a personal floatation device, or PFD. Of those drownings, eight out of every ten boaters who drowned were using vessels less than 21 feet in length. You don't put your seatbelt on the right before a car accident, so chances are you won't be able to do the same with a PFD in a kayak or canoe. Always make sure to adjust your life jacket so it's snug and comfortable.
Feature Story A good test to see how it fits is to have someone stand behind you and attempt to lift it by the shoulder straps. If your chin slips down into the "V", then it's not (left out "of") the right size. And of course, always make sure kids wear their life jackets. "B" stands for "Bottom down, feet up." While wearing your life jacket, if you happen to get dumped into the water unexpectedly, remembering this little phrase could save your life. Many paddlers are tempted to stand up in a river if shallow water or swimming ability will keep them safe. However, foot entrapment in river bottoms is a real danger. A foot caught under a rock or root wad can allow swift currents to push the paddler over until they are too tired to surface. By flipping over on your back when you land in the water, with your rear down and legs extended, your buoyant PFD allows you to float with the current. By paddling with your arms, you can make your way to the nearest bank. I know firsthand that this works from the "heel-kicking river baptism" I experienced after a run-in with a root wad during Dave's class! And speaking of root wads or strainers – "C" stands for "Climb that root wad"! If your boat ends up in one of those "big ugly root wads" in the river, it may be tempting to push away with a paddle or oar. The problem with this strategy is that a paddler can accidentally tip their boat over. They could then get sucked under the root wad, making escape nearly impossible. If you can't avoid crashing into a root wad with evasive paddling maneuvers, and you hit one, abandon your boat and climb on top of the root wad or strainer as fast as you can. Gear can be recovered. A paddler's life cannot. Besides the "ABCs", a paddling course will teach the less experienced paddler how to "read" a river, an essential skill for anyone wishing to avoid (leave out "many of") the hazards I described above. In his account of serving as a "cub" pilot on a Mississippi River steamboat, a young Samuel Clemens (later Mark Twain) described how his mentor, Horace Bixby, drilled into his head the importance of learning every bend and shoal on the river. He told Clemens how to avoid disaster by memorizing the river like he would a darkened hallway in his house. Clemens recorded the river in a memoranda book; Dave used an old shower curtain to draw a map of a river for his students on the screened-in porch of Current River State Park.
A paddler needs to read, evaluate, and anticipate clues on a moment's notice to respond to potential hazards; a downstream "V" in the water, for example, indicates the presence of a swell from an item like a rock below the surface (check your sources on this. We always told paddlers to head for the longest downstream "V", a sign of the most current, deeper water, and therefore a straight shot. A hump often indicates a rock, or turbulence at the edges). A straight, horizontal edge across the river may indicate a low-head dam and the "hydraulic" turbulence below it, which can be deadly to a submerged paddler. The current of a river is generally swifter on the outside of a bend, and slower on the inside. The river is SAFER on the inside of the curve. Many paddlers stay in the "slack" water inside the curve until they can see if there are hazards (fallen logs, strainers, root wads) in the swifter current on the outside, especially important if you can't SEE around the curve. This gives you time to avoid obstacles in swift water and pull your boat over to shore if the river is totally blocked ahead. A paddler should also know how to check and read USGS river gauge data. This will help a paddler judge if a river's flow is too high (creating very swift currents and potential hazards like root wads and rocks that are hard to avoid), or too low to float without dragging boats through shallow riffles. While Ranger Dave retired in 2019, his legacy lives on in the over 700 students in his 50 skills classes at Ozark National Scenic Riverways, and several students, me included, who went on to become ACA instructors because of him. My ACA Level 2 Kayak Instructor Course, taught by another stellar instructor, Ivan Bartha, was one of the most challenging, but rewarding courses I have experienced in my life. And it was Dave who encouraged me to seek my instructor qualification. I wouldn't have it if it wasn't for him. Whenever I am out the James, Current, or one of our many local waterways, the knowledge, and skills -- my "ABCs"-- I learned from his courses are essential to our efforts to help keep the paddling community safe on our Ozarks rivers. Todd Wilkinson Jeff Angus practices throw bag drill with Julie Carey on the Upper Current River near Current River State Park as part of USCG Auxiliary Paddle Craft Training. (Photo: Todd Wilkinson)
MARCH - 2022
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Feature Story
A Template for Conservation During a Pandemic
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s people who know what conservation does to help the health of our habitat, sustain quality nature and native ecology, we volunteerresidents of the Chesterfield Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee (CCEAC), from all four Wards of our City of Chesterfield, unanimously decided to reciprocate the stewardship of Rev. Dr. Stubblefield received by our community through the years. We wanted to “extend” our outreaching hand of stewardship to and for the greater good of Mother Nature. Rev. Dr. Stubblefield, we discovered early in 2021, had just retired from being the Pastor of The First Baptist Church of Chesterfield (FBCC). He had opened many City Council meetings with a prayer and had offered them at many National Days of Prayer.
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He remains as the Chaplain of our Police Department and as a member of civic organizations here. Our objective was to come together with the Church Family to procure and plant a native flora for a butterflies-pollinator garden, especially to include florae for the migrating monarch butterflies. Our mayor signed his second National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Mayor’s Monarch Pledge Proclamation in Spring 2021 to encourage families, businesses, and organizations to help the migrating Monarch by establishing native butterfly-pollinator gardens…think food…our future. We aspired to do this at the FBCC, site to be determined by the Church and Mr. Chris Hartley, our Project Pollinator Partner and Science Coordinator at The Butterfly House.
Feature Story This effort would bring the Church into Chesterfield’s National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Community Wildlife Habitat, then in our 17th year of growth. Upon speaking with Pastor Chris Rogers, interim pastor of FBCC the first time, there was an overwhelming response of “YES, we want to open a new door of stewardship” here! We shared responsibilities, and the Interim Pastor and trustees said they wanted to maintain the garden which is a responsibility centermost to the success of our relationship with FBCC. They also indicated they would install fencing to protect it from deer, add a birdbath, and decide if they wanted to pursue higher levels of NWF Certification. This process involved numerous meetings for planning, site selection and preparation, and the gathering of materials for this garden which took time, talent, and hard work, besides the actual planting of this garden by church youth with the support of their families! CCEAC had to come up with creative ways to fund this endeavor because we are not a city budget item and no city staff was available. CCEAC would find creative ways to provide for their NWF Application for certification of a Wildlife Habitat Garden, NWF outdoor sign to help show the garden’s Certification and its importance, the native florae, puddling container with sand and stones, mulch, and birdhouse. After discussing this project with DJM Ecological Services, Mr. Jon Wingo, said he would help! It was Mr. Wingo who helped us in 2000 develop and install a 3-acre native tallgrass prairie at Faust Park in front of Gov. Frederick Bates’ Mansion (second Governor of Missouri). Mr. Wingo said his friend Mr. Jost of Jost Greenhouses might be able to divide flats for us. As soon as we spoke with Mr. Jost, our hope for a way forward became clear. Mr. Jost wanted there to be “butterflies in Chesterfield,” and he wanted to help. He found a way to give us numerous florae including swamp milkweed, butterfly milkweed, goldenrod, monarda, rudbekia, eichinacea, New England aster, ironweed and golden Alexander. Members of CCEAE dug up native florae from their butterfly-pollinator gardens: blue star, Coreopsis, and wild geranium to help assure blooms during our three growing seasons. Our mayor, then, signed his NWF Garden for Wildlife Proclamation for September, our scheduled month to plant!
On the day of planting, Saturday, Sept. 18, more than 35 people came to help out, especially those families with children. The youth planted this garden, watered this garden, and mulched this garden all in 1.2 hours! Mr. Chris Hartley and I designed a layout/planting Guide for all to follow to plant this garden. One CCEAC member donated the mulch, and the other members donated the rest. CCEAC resident-volunteers were able to donate extra native florae to The Butterfly House for a new children’s garden and to residents with existing butterfly-pollinator gardens! Having had those necessary meetings with the church trustees, we noticed in October, our state’s bicentennial month, a very old American sycamore we were told by the Church was at least 100+ years old. We had our city arborist and a state arborist verify that the tree is at least 200+ years old! It was added to our city’s listing of “Oldest Living Trees in Chesterfield,” and it became Chesterfield’s Missouri Bicentennial Tree! All of this was possible because so many came together to do some hard work. After all, we were of like minds, serving a greater good, communitywide conservation, and stewardship. And, all of this was made possible during the 175th year of FBCC’s existence! The dedication of this garden will be in Spring, 2022. The FBCC butterfly-pollinator garden was NWF Certified and is helping to improve quality nature here, in Chesterfield’s NWF Certified Community Wildlife Habitat, the first and only, to date, in our state and the ninth in our country. Now, we are in our 18th year of continuous annual recertification. Congratulations to The First Baptist Church of Chesterfield! A huge thank you to all the precious, hard-working volunteers and youth in our community! Darcy Capstick
MARCH - 2022
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CONSERVATION FEDERATION
8/4/17 4:28 PM
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Feature Story
The Cave Trip
M
y ten long years as a Scoutmaster were exhausting, taxing and event filled. As a result, many of the monthly campouts were teeming with memorable crises. I never understood how disasters could happen so frequently on scout camping trips because I’m an excellent planner always on the lookout for things that could go wrong and I was ready to take evasive action. Plus, as my years as a scoutmaster sluggishly dragged on, I became more adept at avoiding calamities. Fortunately, I embraced the scout motto, Be Prepared, or many of our campouts would have been catastrophes. Since I worked for the Department of Conservation and traveled the state frequently, I knew some cool places to visit and camp. One of those places was Smittle Cave on the John Alva Fuson Conservation Area south of Lebanon in Wright County.
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Caves are a great place to take scouts because they are dark, wet and filled with mud and rocks with narrow passages to explore, everything a scout needs to get really filthy. Unfortunately, this cave is only open for visitors by permit in March because it is home to endangered bats the rest of the year. Taking the scouts into a cave presented some significant logistical challenges. All the scouts needed a helmet because walking around in a dark cave with minimal light without a helmet is dangerous. There is no way not to eventually bang heads against the rocks, especially in tight places. Coming up with nearly three dozen helmets took some searching and serious pleading on my part. Also, each scout needed two flashlights. Getting them to bring one flashlight on a camping trip was difficult, making it impossible to get two flashlights per scout. So I had to round up a supply of flashlights.
Feature Story Before we entered the cave, I gave the scouts an orientation on cave etiquette and explained the fragile nature of caves. Once inside, I pointed out cave geological features, plus we found blind cave salamanders and other cave creatures. This was an educational trip. First, I explained how caves were formed in Missouri. I dazzled the scouts with my knowledge of cave biology and geology. As the hours melted away, I noticed the water in the cave was getting deeper. Scouts are short, and soon, they were wading in water nearly waist-deep. I decided it was time to head back before the water got deeper. Something was wrong and my scout leader crisis meter was on high. When we emerged from the cave, it was raining hard and had been for some time. Water was flooding into the cave from a variety of above-ground sources. But more seriously, we were stranded at the mouth of the cave. The small creek that we crossed to get into the cave was a raging torrent and we couldn’t cross it. Two of the other adult leaders who didn’t go into the cave were waiting on the other side of the creek seriously concerned for our safety and were borderline panicked thinking we were stranded in the cave. The flooded stream was a major inconvenience but not an insurmountable obstacle because I was prepared. I had maps and a compass that I laid out for the scouts to see. Then I had them plot a course of travel to the west side of the conservation area using the procedure we had practiced so many times at weekly scout meetings. I told the leaders on the other side of creek to drive around the conservation area to the county road on the west side. We would walk through the woods to the road. It was about a mile and a half.
Fortunately, the rain let up somewhat so our walk through the woods was less miserable. An hour later, we stepped out on the county road. You can imagine my shock when I saw three fire trucks, several county sheriff vehicles and about 50 cars, trucks and other emergency vehicles. The cars and trucks were parked along the road for as far as I could see in both directions. It turned out the two scout leaders I had sent to pick us up stopped at a local café to ask for directions. This started a major rumor that swept through the county. People assumed the Boy Scouts were lost on the Fuson Conservation Area and initiated a Level 1 emergency search and rescue, which included first responders, law enforcement and a tent as a command center next to the county road to coordinate the effort. Plus, there was a gallery of curious onlookers who had nothing better to do than watch the search for the lost scouts since it was a rainy day. I was escorted to the command tent and introduced to the Incident Commander. There was a table with a topographic map of the conservation area. The map was marked off in grid blocks and there was a searcher in each block with a 2-way radio. I couldn’t believe that we walked through that grind of searchers with 30 scouts spread out an eighth of a mile in all four cardinal directions yelling and screaming plus throwing rocks and sticks at everything and we didn’t run into one rescuer.
This was an excellent opportunity to use those orienteering skills that we had practiced many times at scout meetings. I asked the scouts to use the buddy system as we walked through the forest, but this was a waste of breath. Scouts are excellent at dispersing immediately. Occasionally one of the scouts would run up to me and ask if we were lost. Then I would get out the compass and map to check. I would say, “Head west, young man; head west.” (Left) Boy Scouts in Smittle Cave getting ready to crawl into a narrow passage. (Photo: David Urich) (Top) Boy Scouts blocked by a flash flood in the stream in front of Smittle Cave. (Photo: David Urich)
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Feature Story Fortunately, I arrived just in time to stop the Incident Commander from requesting ambulances from Lebanon. Since none of the searchers could find us, the assumption was the scouts were huddled somewhere on the conservation area, succumbing to hypothermia in the cold March rain. We all had to line up along the road and the responders counted us and asked for names. I assured our rescuers we were all present, but an official counting had to be. I thanked the responders sincerely for their effort. I was thankful that the local community was concerned enough about our plight to show up in mass even if they were not needed. If the scout organization got wind of what happened, there would be a major investigation lasting weeks and I would likely be assigned more remedial adult leader training. I just wanted to go home. I knew I had hours explaining to parents what happened because the stories they would get from their scouts would likely be inaccurate and embellished. Parents don’t like to hear from their kids that law enforcement, first responders and the fire department were called to one of our campouts. The scouts got to ride back to the campground in the fire trucks with lights and sirens going, which they all thought was neat. Monday morning, I was at my desk watching my computer come to life. When the date appeared on the bottom of the screen, I realized that I only had 23 days until the next scout campout. All I could think was somebody, please save me.
When I look back on my years as a scout leader, I don’t know how I squeezed in the time to do it. It is easier to remember the camping trips and other events that were near disasters but there were plenty that went off as planned and were highly successful and rewarding for the scouts. Most of the scouts in the troop were from single-parent families. I had a significant, positive impact on many of these scouts that I didn’t appreciate or understand until many years later. Our three sons benefited from the scouting program learning outdoor, planning, and leadership skills they use as adults. We often reminisce about scouting adventures, especially those that didn’t go as intended. I know now that I spent much more time with our sons outdoors because of the scouting program than I would have if I hadn’t taken on the scouting challenge. Our sons have an appreciation for the outdoors, the environment and natural resource conservation because of activities and experiences with the Boy Scouts. David Urich (Top) David Urich (right) with a first responder following the search and rescue for Boy Scouts on the Fuson Conservation Area. (Photo: David Urich)
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Outdoor News
Hiking in Missouri State Parks
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nyone eager to explore the state’s natural beauty on foot can rough it as much or as little as they like. More than a century after John Muir wrote of his urge to “throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence,” the need to get outside can be satisfied with more than 1,000 miles of trail in Missouri state parks. These trails wind through rolling prairie grass and densely wooded forests. Some end at a campground, others atop craggy Ozark peaks. But whether you're seeking a break from the heat in a cool forest or looking to add a few more species to your bird-watching resume, Missouri’s state parks offer unparalleled opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors. You might spend an afternoon winding your way through the state’s largest tallgrass prairie at Prairie State Park in southwest Missouri. While at the park, you may see an American bison or add some new birds to your list by spotting an eastern meadowlark, dickcissel or Bell’s vireo. At Cuivre River State Park in northeast Missouri, a more rugged experience awaits. Backpackers will find miles of trails curving through tall prairie grasses, woodlands and Big Sugar Creek – one of the finest undisturbed streams in the area. Offering more than 6,000 acres of camping, fishing and trails, Cuivre River State Park is perfect for hikers looking to devote a few days to exploring Missouri’s natural treasures. Scour Trail at Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park gives visitors a chance to hike through 1.4 billion years of geologic history. Whether you’re after a total escape from civilization or a gentle day hike, Missouri state parks has something for every hiker.
Trail maps for every trail in Missouri State Parks are available by accessing the hiking symbols on each facility’s page or by clicking on the "Park Trails" link in the Park File on the brown bar on the right side of the facility’s page. For more information on trails in Missouri State Parks, please access our interactive trail map by clicking the icon below. Courtesy of Missouri State Parks
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Feature Story
Spring is Coming...Isn’t It?
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ircle the first day of spring on your calendar. Then, put that date in your smartphone and computer calendar with a special alert. Or, you can tell Alexa, Google Assistant or whatever you use to remind you that the date is the first day of spring. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, on that exact date, you got up that morning and saw a beautiful sunrise coming through leafed-out trees with a chorus of angels singing “Hallelujah”? Birds are singing with the angels, peeper frogs are peeping, butterflies are everywhere, turkeys are gobbling, and wildflowers are blooming. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Since we are daydreaming here anyway, let’s say your boss calls and tells you he knows how much you enjoy spring, so he wants you to take the week off with pay and go fishing. Did I hear the angels singing again?
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As I write this, it is an early March day. I pause to look out my window at icicles hanging from bare tree limbs. The ground is white, the birds aren’t singing and neither are the angels. The squirrels are shivering and their teeth are chattering. I put another log on the fire. My fishing gear is organized, re-stocked and ready. It sits in the corner of the garage waiting for spring, and so am I. I think I will quit daydreaming for a while and go inventory my turkey gear. Then, when my wife leaves to go grocery shopping, I might practice my turkey calls. I can’t practice when she’s home, or she would tell me to go outside to make my yelps, purrs and cackles. Then the neighbors will yell at me and ask me to quit making those noises. I don’t want to go outside anyway. It’s cold out there!
Feature Story Until she leaves, I guess I will sit here and try not to think about the cold, windy March weather outside my door. Instead, I will daydream about spring. Wonderful, glorious spring. To me, spring is God’s gift to all of us after a long, cold winter that we don’t think is ever going to end. To some people, the first sign of spring is a robin in their yard, leaves starting to bud out, or flowers are beginning to bloom. To me, the first sign of spring is the mating call of the peeper frog. A single peeper frog is no bigger than your fingernail and couldn’t be heard if you were standing right next to it. But, when hundreds of them blend their clear, birdlike “peeps” into a chorus trying to woo a suitable mate, its music to my ears. To me, other signs of spring are migratory birds joining year-round residents at our bird feeders and filling the air with their sounds of courtship. Joining them are the drab goldfinches of winter magically changing into the bright yellow of spring. More signs of spring are a bee buzzing around, a spider spinning his web on a bush or a lizard rustling in the leaves, causing my heart to skip a beat thinking it’s a snake. There’s also a clean, fresh smell to the air. Where I live, buckeye trees are the first to leaf out. Servisberry are the first tree to start showing off its blooms. They are followed by the white dogwood and purplish tint of the redbud trees. Wildflowers begin popping through the dead leaves and so do morel mushrooms. While looking for mushrooms I never know when I will find a shed antler from a big buck and that’s a bonus. All the sights, sounds, smells and activities always remind me that we humans weren’t the only ones waiting for spring. Spring to me also means limits of crappie, white bass, walleye, suckers and fish fry’s. It’s matching the hatches on a trout stream. It’s big bass and battling smallmouth. Spring is floating a river, hitting the hiking trails and getting my camping gear together for my first camping trip of the year.
Spring is also my beloved turkey hunting time. My heart always beats faster as a big old gobbler comes into my calls. I’ve spent a lot of years sitting with my back against a tree, waiting for the sun to come up and the woods to come alive with the sounds of birds, chattering squirrels and flapping turkey wings. I’d like to have a dollar for every yelp, purr and cluck I’ve made on my calls. More times than I’d like to count I did everything right and the gobbler wouldn’t respond or come in. There have been times too that I did everything exactly and then scratched an itch or blinked an eye and the gobbler caught my movement. There have also been magical times when a gobble answered my calls from really close by. My neck hairs bristle, my heart rate cranks up, and the ache in my butt disappears. I point my gun where I expect the gobbler to appear and cluck on my mouth call. Suddenly a wrinkled head appears and God smiles down on me. I smooth his bronze feathers, feel his bristly beard, admire his spurs and look up and say thank you once again for my special time in the turkey woods. Another great thing about spring is walking through the woods searching for the delicious wild morel mushroom. They are a special spring treat to me. First, I wash them off then slice them and sauté in butter until they’re soft and tender. Then I heap them on venison steaks or wild turkey breasts and enjoy their delicate flavor.
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Feature Story
Besides sautéing, I also like to bread and fry them. They make great pizza toppings and I like adding them to my wife’s spaghetti. I also put them in soups, stews and sauces. If I am lucky enough to have more fresh morels than I can eat, I just dehydrate them for later use. Okay, I have to quit thinking about morels. It’s making me hungry. I wish my wife would get home with the groceries. If only Punxsutawney Phil hadn’t seen his shadow a few weeks ago spring might already be here. But he did so that means we have a few more weeks to wait.
It turns out groundhogs aren’t the best for predicting when spring will arrive anyway. A study, probably government-funded with our tax dollars, looked at Groundhog Day predictions from the past 30 years and found they were only right about 37% of the time. Regardless, here in the middle of America, March will continue to seem like the longest month of the year. It drags on and on. Finally, April gets here and it at first teases us into thinking winter is over and spring is finally here. Then cold winds slaps us in the face again. Please God, I want winter to be over! I promise I will be good. Spring is coming isn’t it? Larry Whiteley All photos courtesy of MDC.
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Outdoor News
Plan a Camping Trip This Spring
T
he smell of dinner on the grill, the anticipation of s'mores around the campfire and the sound of laughing kids splashing in a stream are all memories of that favorite camping trip in a Missouri state park campground. Missouri State Parks makes it easy to plan and enjoy that memorable camping trip whether you are in a tent or an 80-foot camping trailer. Forty-one state parks and historic sites offer more than 3,500 campsites that range from secluded walk-in sites to sites with hookups for water, sewer and electrical service. Campgrounds are close to the action yet far enough away for you to enjoy the great outdoors. Campgrounds offer amenities such as hot showers, laundry facilities and dump stations, and some even provide free Wi-Fi connections. Start planning your visit and reserve your site here. Missouri state parks provide the ideal setting. It's up to you to create the memories of that perfect camping trip. New Contactless Self-Check-in Feature: Prior to arriving at the state park or historic site, campers will receive an email with instructions on how to access their reservation online and check in on the day of arrival. Alternatively upon arrival, campers can check in by opening the camera on their smartphone device and hovering over the QR code posted at the campsite, and following the prompt. Missouri State Parks staff will be available at the park or historic site to answer any questions. For more information on self-check-in, click here. Operations: Many parks contain rules and policies that are specific to the individual park and its resources. Please call the individual park to inquire of specific rules and, upon your arrival, check the park's bulletin boards for additional rules. Electric hook-ups are available year-round at most state parks, while water and showers are usually available in the on-season, which is typically from April 1 through Oct. 31. At Roaring River, Bennett Spring and Montauk state parks, the on-season begins Feb. 25. Some northern parks begin on-season operation on April 15. The on-season for Table Rock State Park runs from March through November.
A two-night minimum stay on the weekend (Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday) is required at most state parks for reservations. Camping is limited to any 15 days within a 30-consecutive-day period at any one park. Leave No Trace: Leave No Trace is a national education program that teaches outdoor enthusiasts how to protect the places they love, like Missouri state parks and historic sites, from human-caused recreational impacts. Missouri State Parks has adopted the program's seven principles, which are: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
Plan ahead and prepare. Travel and camp on durable surfaces. Dispose of waste properly. Leave what you find. Minimize campfire impacts. Respect wildlife. Be considerate of other visitors.
Enjoying the Park With Your Pet: Responsible pet owners and their pets are welcome in Missouri state parks. As a courtesy to other visitors, it is recommended you bring no more than two dogs per campsite. This also helps reduce the impact on the natural resources and aids with noise control. By following current pet rules, a positive impression will be left for all pet owners and will ensure that this privilege continues. Take some time and plan a trip to enjoy Missouri's outdoors this spring! MARCH - 2022
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Feature Story
Think Small
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he Fishing Gods I'm sure, are well pleased as they witness children in all their varieties come before them on the humble fishing alters of the smallest of creeks. These small, mostly unidentified drainages are often the genesis of numerous young explorers' fishing dreams. They are the fountains of faith where most fishing dreams begin. There the waters may be only keen deep but the allure of crawdads and schools of minnows is always haunting.
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Frogs and all other creatures aquatic are additional blessings that come from creeks with no names. The Fishing Gods sprinkled this mostly untapped fountain of youth waters throughout the world. We are wise if we pause to drink in the spirit that flows freely through all such waters. I am one of the privileged few living adjacent to such ubiquitous waters. I'm not a visionary seeking wisdom from nature. I live there because it's where I was placed on earth. Lucky me!
Feature Story The west side boundary of my property is defined by one such small no-name creek. This small creek sustains a milieu of the smallest of fish and associated critters aquatic. It expands the imagination while magnifying the exploring possibilities that any open-minded person would care to engage. The personification of this exploring nature venue is overtly observed in all the children who regularly visit the no-name creek. The caveat of adulthood is the only limiting condition that can hinder the larger than life Lewis and Clark explorations daily on this creek of little significance.
As if by some magic spell in the power of his submerged finger tips, these few small crawdads mesmerized, had willingly backed themselves into the waiting cup. They are ultimately finding their place on the aquatic food chain.
Carrying on in the tradition of Lewis and Clark these water-based explorations are bare bones. Even the most floatable water craft is not a viable option here. It's boots in the water for all explorers who take the challenge of the smallest waters. So it was as a grandpa style tricycle pulls up across the creek from my house.
As Jacob looked up from the creek I introduced him to Hunter, the city dude from Phoenix. Hunter grabbed his fishing pole from the basement and Jacob welcomed him to the fold upon my suggestion. I was pleased to see that Hunter had followed Jacob's lead as he was wearing an old pair of my rubber boots also from the basement. So a new friendship is formed fostered by the common bond of fishing.
It is ridden by a boy who I later find out is ten. Behind the seat is a rather large cargo basket. The basket contains these items. A spinning rod and reel with rod protected by a four-foot-long piece of 1 and ½ inch PVC pipe. A minnow trap with an attached piece of six-foot twine. A two-gallon plastic bucket containing a Red Solo cup filled about 3/4th full of crackers. The remaining item was a pair of below-theknee-style rubber boots. As he removed his rod and reel from the PVC pipe, one bare hook was visible attached to the end of the line. There is nothing else, no sinker, no bobber, just a bare hook waiting to be bated. The crackers from the Red Solo cup were slammed into the minnow trap in one quick move. Just that fast too the boots were on and the minnow trap was being sunk into about 18 inches of water up creek from the trike. The minnow trap was secured to a dead branch next to the creek. Back at the trike, he took the plastic bucket and the Red Solo cup down to the middle of the creek. My curiosity was soon satisfied as he squatted down in the shallow waters and began to coax crawdads to back up right into the jaws of the Red Solo cup. Once in the cup, this "Crawdad Whisperer" plunked them water and all into the plastic bucket.
This was a delightful flashpoint for me as my visiting 13-year-old grandson trotted down from the house to the creek. Surprise, surprise his smartphone was absent from his hand. By now, I was on a first-name basis with Jacob my new friend, aka "The Crawdad Whisperer."
Hunter's spinning set up was exactly like Jacob's. I was pleased that Hunter was picking up some new techniques appropriate to this new fishing environment. We had taught him only to spin-cast using spinners and small artificial lures. Now at the end of his line was a single bare hook begging for a crawdad. This lightly rigged setup was simple and appropriate for the very small, rocky and limited approach creek. Lucky for these boys Jacob was a great crawdad wrangler but not so much for minnows. Hunter followed Jacob's lead in this fashion. First, Jacob would find a likely place to fish. Then he would cock his reel and peel off 6-8 feet of line. He showed Hunter how to rig a crawdad on the hook from holding the loose line in his hand he would lob the hook, line, and crawdad as far out into the creek as possible. Hunter followed suit. The reels were used to tighten up the line and the fishing was a touch and feel waiting game. No casting action was involved. As the new friends settled down for some serious fishing, I retreated to the shade of the porch.
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Feature Story About 40 minutes into the adventure, the two came into the home for cold water bottles. They reported that Hunter, the city dude, had caught the only two fish, and in normal fisherman style, they proceeded to indicate the length of the fish. Of course, I was amazed! Now they were headed down the creek to find new fresh bait resources. After another 40 minutes with no feedback from either of the two, I returned to my observation point on the bridge. I looked downstream to easily observe these buddies boot deep scouring the creek's shallow water for crawdads. They moved back and forth across the creek. Down the creek then back up the creek. They gingerly walked across the creek from bank to bank on a freshly uprooted tree that now bridged the creek. They found out that rubber boots aren't designed for tree walking. The conversation of the two was ongoing but indiscernible to me. They were in the zone of spontaneous adventure. Two young friends wading knee-deep together being mentored by nature. They enjoyed the sociality of friends fishing together but mostly unknowingly building memories. They were laying cornerstones of the foundation of future generations of those who enter worlds with wonder and awe.
These two waders in the creek of no-name triggered in me the memories and feelings of my youth and my time knee-deep in the creek of No Name. Wow! The grandeur of the unforgettable places visited by the likes of Sinbad or Ulysses is exotic and bigger than life. The tapestry that ties all such epic adventures together including those on little noname creeks or on the Nile or Amazon is imagination. Imagination from the likes of Homer or two boys in a no name creek. Gifts of spirit, heart, and imagination are found in most places. Stepping outside or around the next bend in the creek may set you on the path to your own fountain of youth or redemption. I hope you are already there. Think small! Terry T. Clapp All photos courtesy of Terry T. Clapp.
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Planning Your Future? Include the Conservation Federation of Missouri in your estate plans. Leave a legacy for the natural resources and traditions you have valued throughout your life. Make CFM a beneficiary of your will, trust, life insurance policy, or retirement plan. Any amount helps preserve Missouri’s resources and natural history for generations to come. What will your legacy be? Call 573-634-2322 to find out more information.
To update your contact information or address, please notify us at: Conservation Federation 728 W. Main Jefferson City, MO 65101 or call 573-634-2322.