Conservation Federation Vol 85 No 6

For more than eighty-eight years, the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) has served as “The Voice for Missouri Outdoors.” Join in our efforts to secure our stronghold as advocates for our state’s wildlife and natural resources by becoming a dedicated member of our Founders Circle.

Your contribution will play an influential role in preserving Missouri’s rich outdoor legacy.

Each year, earnings from the endowment will be used to support CFM’s education and advocacy efforts. Special recognition will be given to those who reach each level of giving. Additionally, memberships will be recognized at our annual Convention.

Make your contribution today, to preserving our state’s conservation legacy.

The Terrarium Project

Recently, my daughter Dalaney came home with an assignment to construct a terrarium for a class project. The instructions were to use living and non-living things found in various ecosystems such as woodland, grassland, or aquatic ones. Then, she was to type up a written report and give an oral presentation to her fellow 4th-grade classmates about what is in the terrarium.

Finally, a bit of homework that is more in my wheelhouse! I was excited to work with her on this project and see what piqued her interest as we learned about the different ecosystems on our property.

To show her the various projects options, we started by touring the various ecosystems where we live, which is at the tip of the Ozark Highland Ecoregion. Our next stop was the creek and looked for frogs and tadpoles, and turned over rocks to see what else went scrambling for cover. Finally, we walked our restored glade, where I pointed out things like the common milkweed, butterfly bush, ironweed, indian grass, and several other species that have grown to call it home. The forest was also one of our stops, looking at trees, and seeing what the upcoming acorn and persimmon crops would yield for the looming fall.

After completing our tour, I sat back and reflected on the various flora and fauna I learned about over the years from my time at CFM. This knowledge has come from attending or participating in the meetings, conferences, or summits, which are all available to our members. Whether it be our Resource Advisory Committee meetings, or attending some of our recent Summits we have co-hosted with various partners there is ample opportunity to engage and learn something new.

Now I am not an expert biologist or ecologist by any means, but I have been fortunate to learn a little about a wide variety of conservation topics since joining CFM. This knowledge continually helps me evolve to become a true conservationist. We have so many dedicated members, affiliates and conservationists who share their wealth and knowledge with CFM, and it’s truly inspiring. We have many wonderful professionals who give their time and talents to serve CFM better, and I am truly thankful to work alongside them.

Well, if you are wondering about her grade on our project, I can proudly say she got 100%. Honestly, I didn’t really care what grade she got; it was the fact that she took the time to learn the different ecosystems, about living and nonliving things, and I enjoyed just spending time with her in nature. It turned it into a great project, and I was pleased to see how enthused she got about it. Who knows what spark that might ignite someday?

I challenge you this fall to get out and take the time to share some outdoor experiences with those that matter to you and pass your knowledge on to the next generation. Who knows, you may somehow learn more than they do.

Yours in Conservation,

Tyler Schwartze CFM Executive Director, Editor

Executive Director Tyler Schwartze with his daughter Dalaney, and her school terrarium project. (Photo: Colton Schwartze)

Features

The Old Barn

The Adventures of Frank & Ed: A Billion Zillion Birds

Mostly True Tales From a Missouri Duck Club

The Case for Oaks

Great Stuff from Old Magazines

Rabbit Hunting with Smith and Wesson

Katheryn Louise Paullus: Female Wildlife Conservation Pioneer

Establishing Prairie Grasses and Wildflowers with Seed

The Ozark Queen Reigns

12 Signs You Should Harvest More Does

The Wanderer's Comeback in Missouri

Girlfriend Getaway to Big Cedar Lodge and Top of the Rock

STAFF

Tyler Schwartze - Executive Director, Editor

Micaela Haymaker - Director of Operations

Michelle Gabelsberger - Membership Manager

Nick Darling - Education and Communications Coordinator

Trisha Ely - Development & Events Coordinator

Joan VanderFeltz - Administrative Assistant

Emma Kessinger - Creative Director

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Executive Committee:

Bill Kirgan, President

Ginny Wallace, President-Elect

Steve Jones, Vice President

Benjamin Runge, Secretary

Bill Lockwood, Treasurer

Board Members:

Richard Ash

Mossie Schallon

Gary Van De Velde

Dick Wood

Nathan McLeod

Jake Swafford

Emily Tracy-Smith

Jim Low

Ryan Verkamp

Ralph Duren

Katherine Brookshire

Leanne Tippett-Mosby

Adam Sapp

Emily Schrader

Jennifer Battson-Warren

Kyle Carroll

Bill Cooper

Dana Ripper

Zach Morris

Bill McGuire

Lisa Allen

Tom Westhoff

Mike Schallon

Katie Marsh

Governor Jay Nixon

Wes Swee

David Urich

Shirley Wolverson

Susan Wrasmann

Jeff Meshach

Kathie Brennan

Laurie Wilson

William Hall

Michael Meredith

Alexander Scott

Ryan Coovert

April Hoffman

Jean Nock

Eric Rahm

Dave Murphy

Troy Beilsmith

ABOUT THE MAGAZINE

Conservation Federation (ISSN 1082-8591), Copyright 1938, is published 6 times a year in January, March, May, July, September, and November by the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM), 728 West Main, Jefferson City, MO 65101. Of each member’s dues, $10 shall be for a year’s subscription to Conservation Federation. Call (573) 634-2322 to become a member. Periodicals Postage paid at Jefferson City, MO.

Send address changes to:

Conservation Federation 728 West Main Jefferson City, MO 65101

FRONT COVER

This picture was taken by Dan Bernskoetter in Cole County using a Canon R6 camera, Sigma 500mm F4 lens at 1/125 sec., f/8 and ISO 2000.

Thank you to all of our Business Partners.

Platinum

Gold

Doolittle Trailer

Enbridge, Inc.

G3 Boats

Silver

Forrest Keeling Nursery

Lilley’s Landing Resort & Marina

Missouri Wildflowers Nursery

Bronze

Association of Missouri Electric Coop.

Black Widow Custom Bows, Inc.

Burgers’ Smokehouse

Central Electric Power Cooperative

Drury Hotels

Iron

AJ's Automotive & Air Conditioning

Bass Pro Shops (Independence)

Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures

Big Bear Butcher Shop

Boone Electric Cooperative

Brockmeier Financial Services

Cap America

Central Bank

Community State Bank of Bowling Green

Custom Promotional Branding

Pure Air Natives

Redneck Blinds

Rusty Drewing Chevrolet

Roeslein Alternative Energy, LLC

Mitico Quaker Windows

Starline, Inc.

St. James Winery

HMI Fireplace Shop

Hodgdon Powder Company, Inc.

Missouri Wine & Grape Board

NE Electric Power Cooperative, Inc.

New Florence Wood Products

NW Electric Power Cooperative, Inc.

Ozark Bait and Tackle

Woods Smoked Meats

Dickerson Park Zoo

Farmer’s Co-op Elevator Association

FCS Financial

Gascosage Electric Cooperative

General Printing Service

GREDELL Engineering Resources, Inc.

Heartland Seed of Missouri LLC

Hulett Heating & Air Conditioning

Independent Stave Company

Joe Machens Ford

Lewis County Rural Electric Coop.

Marble Graphics II LLC

Midwest Mailing Services

Missouri Native Seed Association

ModernLitho Jefferson City

Moneta Group

On Time Toner and Supplies LLC

Truman’s Bar & Grill

United Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Your business can benefit by supporting conservation. For all sponsorship opportunities, call (573) 634-2322.

The Katy and Rock Island Trails — Unique in America!

There are hundreds of significant historic sites, thousands of miles of scenic coastline and millions of acres of rugged mountain ranges in America. There is only one longest rail-trail and it is ours! For the first time, Trails Across Missouri, — the Katy and Rock Island, tells the story of these remarkable routes in a colorful, photo-filled book.

The Rock Island Trail begins in Kansas City at the edge of the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot and connects to the Katy Trail in Windsor. On these trails, visitors have the opportunity to experience all of Missouri — from Kansas City to St. Louis, from the Great Plains to the Great Rivers.

When the Katy was first conceived in the 1980s, it was more than bold: Many thought the effort was destined to fail. No similar project of this scale had been undertaken in the United States. The rails-to-trails movement was just beginning. A century before, surveyors and financiers had worked for decades to create a contiguous path across Missouri for a railroad. Little could they have envisioned that their work was destined to become a bike path that would draw visitors from around the United States and the world. Additionally, in many places in rural Missouri, these trails provide the only public areas to walk or ride — they bring state parks to the people.

In the mid-1980s, two serendipitous events occurred. Ted Jones, from Williamsburg, Missouri traveled to Wisconsin and rode on one of America’s first Rail-Trail projects. Second, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (the MKT or KATY) Railroad, after many years of flooding and meager profits, decided to abandon its right-of-way across Missouri. With an effort led by Ted and his wingman Darwin Hindman — and with the enthusiastic support of thousands of supporters — the trail ultimately became a reality. About twenty-five years after the Katy Trail opened, in 2016, the Rock Island Trail from Pleasant Hill to Windsor became a reality.

I worked with Ted Jones and was a friend of his wife Pat. To say Ted Jones was a maverick would be an understatement, it took someone like him to envision such an audacious idea. Ted built and managed a major securities firm based in St. Louis but lived on a farm 80 miles from the city throughout his career.

The creation of the Katy Trail threw open a window on Missouri that wasn’t there before. Most Missourians and visitors couldn’t get next to or smell a ripening cornfield. Of course, views of these farm fields — and the often hidden, wide Missouri River were there — but you had to be a riverboat captain or railroad engineer to see them. The Katy allowed anyone with a pair of walking shoes or a bike to have these same experiences. Opening these views to all, while bringing new life to the small towns along the way, was the vision of Ted and Pat Jones.

Right - A shady allee on the Katy Trail near Weldon Spring Conservation Area west of St. Louis captures the beauty of the Katy experience.  The trail alternates from shady river bottom tree tunnels to open stretches along fields of corn and soybeans. (Photo: Magnificent Missouri)

Left - Highway 94 and the Katy Trail stretch east toward St. Louis from the Peers Store, one of many businesses created for the arrival of the Katy Railroad in the 1890s. (Photo: Magnificent Missouri)

Most parks have restricted boundaries. They’re often associated with towns, sometimes maybe an entire county. But two parks, together 280 miles long, extending through dozens of small and large communities, under highways and over innumerable creeks and tributaries? It is a miracle they were created and it is a daily feat of organization and creativity to keep them going! Missouri State Parks has worked since the trails opened to make sure the Katy and Rock Island are ready to welcome visitors whenever and wherever they arrive. The trails have no single-entry point. There are hundreds of possible places to start and end and a myriad of ways to arrive — by car, train, or bike! Some ride or walk for a mile on the Trail and take an hour to do it. Others have ridden the entire length, from one end of the Katy Trail to the other, in about a half-day.

Anyone who has ridden all 280 miles of the Katy and Rock Island will attest to the familiar themes they found along the way — agriculture, old railroad towns, the Missouri River, and hometown bars and shops. Of course, different parts of the trail are proud of their own histories and unique stories. Those who have ridden or walked these unique trails will see some familiar places. For those who haven’t, we hope the book will inspire you to begin planning your trip!

To purchase your holiday copies for the trail-lovers in your life, visit the Peers Store on the Katy Trail or go to magnificentmissouri.org.

Dan Burkhardt

It’s Always the Season for Giving

Those who don’t contribute to the articles in this magazine would not know that the articles are submitted close to 60 days prior to publication. So, as I sit on this Friday before Labor Day in the 90-degree heat and can hear myself sweat, I’m wondering what to write that would make sense to those reading the November/December issue. The obvious might be something concerning the height of the fall hunting season, or perhaps a year in review would be appropriate.

In the midst of my pondering what to write, recent events came to mind and I found a whole new direction. In the past few weeks, several examples of generosity have befallen CFM. It began with a call from a former classmate and CFM member asking if we could contribute some fishing equipment to an organization that holds summer camps for the children of parents who are incarcerated. It seems he has a large lake on his property where he allows the children to fish. He stated that many of the kids come from the city and have never had the opportunity to catch a fish or even put a worm on a hook. He stated that about 25 kids fish at a time and their equipment was old and not in working order. After getting the approval of the CFM executive committee, we will work with one of CFM’s business partners who owns a tackle shop to provide the needed equipment. The generosity of our member allowing the children to fish in his lake, along with the generosity of our business partner to furnish the needed equipment at his cost, set the tone for my thinking of the act of giving that knows no season.

My next example of generosity came from a call from our Executive Director Tyler Schwartze, who said that he had worked with a couple of members who wished to make a very substantial financial donation to help fund several efforts in which CFM is involved. They believe very strongly in the dedicated staff and the commitment of our organization to doing good things in the Capitol and across the conservation landscape. Like many who can make such sizable contributions, the givers wished the donation to be made without fanfare. We will be forever grateful for members believing in our mission and the financial contributions associated with that confidence.

Because this article will be published during the holiday season when giving and being thankful for our many blessings will be the norm, I think it’s important to note that gifts can provide opportunities for those less fortunate, as well as financial gifts toward worthy causes.

As you plan your end-of-year giving during this season, be creative to that your gift can be felt by more than the recipient; perhaps something from our Holiday Auction or Mega Raffle tickets or even a CFM membership for someone. We also need your donations of goods and experiences for our fundraisers, which will benefit not only CFM but the recipients.

Finally, the most precious gift of all, consider giving some of your time to expose someone to the great outdoors.

Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year!

Bill Kirgan

2024 Events Schedule

88 Annual Convention - March 1-3

Let your voice be heard at the Annual Convention. The event will include meetings, awards, auctions, and so much more. Held at the Lodge of the Four Seasons in Lake Ozark.

Conservation Day at the Capitol - April 3

Join conservationists from across Missouri on the radio for a day of celebrating and supporting conservation and natural resources. The broadcast will air from 6 am to 10 am on 96.7 FM or KCMQ.com.

Wild & Wonderful Duck Race - April 13

Join us for a wild and wonderful day of family fun and learning about Conservation Federation of Missouri with some outdoor activities and an exciting duck race.

CFM Life Member Event - June

CFM will be hosting its 4th annual life member only event.

Conservation Federation Banquet: Columbia - July 11

Fish or kayak then eat a fantastic meal while supporting CFM at Bass Pro Shops in Columbia.

Pull for Conservation: Central - August 10

Take your best shot at the 18th annual Central clay shoot at Prairie Grove Shotgun Sports.

Affiliate Summit - September 5

CFM affiliate organizations are invited to network and learn with fellow professionals.

Conservation Federation Online Auction - September 9-20

Enjoy a fun and interactive online auction with many great trips and prizes.

Conservation Federation Banquet: St. Louis - October 17

Join us for a fantastic meal while networking and supporting CFM.

Holiday Online Auction - December 2-13

Bid on many exciting items just in the time for the holidays.

CFM MISSION:

To ensure conservation of Missouri's wildlife and natural resources, and preservation of our state's rich outdoor legacy through advocacy, education and partnerships.

Why I Became a Life Member of CFM: Randy Doman

I’ve devoted my entire professional career to the protection and conservation of Missouri’s fish, forest, and wildlife resources. I understand just how important partnerships and advocacy are for the longterm health of these resources, and CFM has been an exemplary partner in leading those efforts.

As I transition out of one phase of my career, retiring as Chief of MDC’s Protection Branch after 27-years of dedicated service, I’m excited to continue my conservation efforts as a life member of CFM. Having worked closely with CFM’s Executive Director Tyler Schwartze and his team over the years, I know firsthand how dedicated, passionate, and effective CFM is in protection our conservation heritage. I’m excited to take a greater role within this fine organization.

Protecting and conserving our conservation heritage, while engaging with new audiences, has never been more important than it is right now. I’m acutely aware of the threats facing our beloved wildlife resources, and the human health benefits that come from spending time in a flourishing, vibrant, and safe outdoor setting.

As a life member, I’m thrilled to continue my conservation work alongside such a dedicated team of volunteers!

LIFE MEMBERS OF CFM

Charles Abele

* R. Philip Acuff

* Duane Addleman

* Nancy Addleman

Tom Addleman

Nancy Addleman

* Michael Duane  Addleman

James Agnew

Carol Albenesius

Craig Alderman

* Allan Appell

Victor Arnold

Bernie Arnold

Richard Ash

Judy Kay Ash

Carolyn Auckley

Doug Audiffred

Ken Babcock

Bernie Bahr

Michael Baker

* James Baker

Dane Balsman

Timothy Barksdale

Lynn Barnickol

Jamie Barton

Michael Bass

Robert Bass

Don Bedell

Thomas Bell

David F. Bender

Rodger Benson

Leonard Berkel

Barbi Berrong

Jim Blair

John Blankenbeker

Andy Blunt

Jeff Blystone

Kim Blystone

Glenn Boettcher

Arthur Booth

* Dale Linda Bourg

Stephen Bradford

Marilynn Bradford

Robin Brandenburg

Mark Brandly

Kathie Brennan

Robert Brinkmann

Katherine Brookshire

* Scott Brundage

Bill Bryan

Alan Buchanan

Connie Burkhardt

Dan Burkhardt

Charles Burwick

Brandon Butler

Randy Campbell

Brian Canaday

Dale Carpentier

Joe Cater

* Glenn Chambers

Bryan Chilcutt

Ed Clausen

* Edward Clayton

* Ron Coleman

Denny Coleman

Rhonda Coleman

Liz Cook

Bill Cooper

Elizabeth Copeland

Mark Corio

* Bill Crawford

Andy Dalton

DeeCee Darrow

Ryan Diener

Joe Dillard

Randy Doman

Tim Donnelly

Cheryl Donnelly

Ron Douglas

Chuck Drury

* Charlie Drury

Tom Drury

Ethan Duke

Mike Dunning

William Eddleman

John Enderle

Theresa Enderle

Joe Engeln

Marlin Fiola

* Mary Louise Fisher

Howard Fisher

Andrew Fleming

Matt Fleming

Howard Fleming

Sara Fleming

Lori Fleming

Paula Fleming

* Charles Fleming

Bob Fry

Manley Fuller

David Galat

Gene Gardner

Matt Gaunt

Jason Gibbs

Timothy Gordon

Blake Gornick

David Graber

Tim Grace

Jody Graff

Richard & Sally Graham

* Joseph Gray

Tyler Green

Jason Green

Gery Gremmelsbacher

Debbie Gremmelsbacher

Jason Gremmelsbacher

Bernie Grice Jr.

Mark & Kathy Haas

Tom & Margaret Hall

Christopher Hamon

* Deanna Hamon

J. Jeff Hancock

Herman Hanley

Keith Hannaman

Elizabeth Hannaman

Lonnie Hansen

John Harmon

* Milt Harper

Jack Harris

David Haubein

Jessica Hayes

* Susan Hazelwood

Mickey Heitmeyer

Loring Helfrich

* LeRoy Heman

* Randy Herzog

Todd Higgins

Bill Hilgeman

Jim Hill

April Hoffman

Mike Holley

Rick Holton

CW Hook

* Allan Hoover

John Hoskins

Todd Houf

* Mike Huffman

Wilson Hughes

Larry Hummel

* Patricia Hurster

Kyna Iman

Jason Isabelle

Jim Jacobi

Aaron Jeffries

Robert Jernigan

Jerry Jerome

Roger & Debbie Johnson

* Don Johnson

* Malcolm Johnson

* Pat Jones

Steve Jones

John Karel

Thomas Karl

Jim Keeven

* Duane Kelly

Cosette Kelly

Junior Kerns

Todd Keske

Robert Kilo

* Martin King

Bill Kirgan

* Judd Kirkham

* Ed Kissinger

Sarah Knight

TJ Kohler

Jeff Kolb

Chris Kossmeyer

Chris Koster

Dan Kreher

Carl Kurz

* Ann Kutscher

Larry Lackamp

Kyle Lairmore

* Jay Law

Michael Leach

* Gerald Lee

Debra Lee

Mark Lee

Randy Leible

Wade Leible

* Joel LeMaster

* Norman Leppo

* John Lewis

Bill Lockwood

Leroy Logan

Christine Logan - Hollis

Bob Lorance

Ike Lovan

Wayne Lovelace

Kimberley Lovelace-

Hainsfurther

Jim Low

Mark Loyd

Emily Lute-Wilbers

Martin MacDonald

Michael Mansell

Steve Maritz

Danny Marshall

Edward Martin

John Mauzey

Bill McCully

Chip McGeehan

Teresa McGeehan

Justin McGuire

Nathan "Shags" McLeod

Jon McRoberts

Richard Mendenhall

Tom Mendenhall

Donna Menown

John "Mitch" Mertens

Cynthia Metcalfe

Walter Metcalfe

Larry Meyer

Stephanie Michels

Brooks Miller

Mitchell Mills

Joshua Millspaugh

Davis Minton

Lowell Mohler

John Moore, Jr.

Gary Moreau

Johnny Morris

Mary Morris

Zachary Morris

John Mort

Leanne Mosby

Steve Mowry

Diana Mulick

David Murphy

* Dean Murphy

Richard Mygatt

* Steve Nagle

Rehan Nana

Robert Naumann

J. Roger Nelson

Jeremiah (Jay) Nixon

Gary Novinger

Frank & Judy Oberle

Larry O'Reilly

Charlie & Mary O’Reilly

Beth O'Reilly

Anya O'Reilly

Jeff Owens

Austin Owens

Sara Parker Pauley

Scott Pauley

Randy Persons

Edward Petersheim

Albert Phillips

Jan Phillips

Glenn & Ilayana Pickett

Jessica Plaggenberg

Becky Plattner

Zach Pollock

Jerry Presley

Albert Price

Nick Prough

Kirk Rahm

Kurtis Reeg

John Rehagen

David & Janice Reynolds

Carey Riley

Kevin Riley

Mike Riley

Dana Ripper  John Risberg

Mary Risberg

Ann Ritter

Charles Rock

Derrick Roeslein

Rudy Roeslein

Charles Rogers

Kayla Rosen

Gerald Ross  Pete Rucker

Benjamin Runge  Tyler Ruoff  William Ruppert  Tom Russell  Jacob Sampsell  Bruce Sassmann  Jan Sassmann  Frederick Saylor  Michael Schallon  Mossie Schallon * Evelyn Schallon  Thomas Schlafly  Pamela Schnebelen  Don Schultehenich Deb Schultehenrich  Tyler Schwartze * Ronald Schwartzmeyer  Timothy Schwent  Travis W. Scott  George Seek  Arlene Segal * E. Sy Seidler * Sara Seidler Joshua Shadwick  Anita Siegmund Emily Sinnott  Douglas Smentkowski  Gary & Susanna Smith  Zachary Smith * M.W. Sorenson * Ed Stegner  Jeff Stegner  Everett Stokes  William Stork Jr.  Winifred Stribling  Norm Stucky  Mary Stuppy * Mark Sullivan  Jacob Swafford  Jim Talbert  Norman Tanner  Travis Taylor  Richard Thom  Don Thomas  Tim Thompson * Jeff Tillman  Robert Tompson  Mike Torres  Matt Tucker

David Urich

Jennifer Urich  Alex Uskokovich  Gary Van De Velde  Barbara vanBenschoten  Lee Vogel  Albert Vogt  Frank Wagner  Ray Wagner * Julius Wall  Ginny Wallace Mervin Wallace  Randy Washburn  Mary Waters * Henry Waters, III.  Daniel Weinrich  Michael Weir  Robert Werges  Evelyn Werges Bennish  Tom Westhoff  Gary Wheeler  Georganne Wheeler Nixon

Rayburn Whitener

Mark Williams  Dennis Williams

Dr. Jane Williams  Stephen Wilson  Michael Wilson

Laurie Wilson

Jonathan Wingo  Jon R. Wingo  Michael Wiseman  Daniel Witter

Brenda Witter

* Addie Witter  Owen Witter

Dick Wood  Howard Wood

Joyce Wood  Nicole Wood

Charles M. Wormek  Brad Wright Evan Wright  Suzanne Wright  David Young  Judy Young  Dan Zekor  Daniel Zerr

Jim Zieger  Robert Ziehmer  Emily Ziehmer  Lauren Ziehmer  Colton Zirkle  Ethan Zuck  Guy Zuck

Mark Zurbrick *Deceased

The Conservation Federation Nominations And Nominating Committee Ballot

The Nominating Committee received 12 applications for board members. Upon review, the Committee found that all applicants met the requirements specified in CFM by-laws. Candidates are listed below for CFM members’ review. Each candidate's bio and short video will be available on the CFM Website. www. confedmo.org/boardelections

Voting in the 2025 election will take place electronically during January. The results will be announced before the CFM Annual Convention. They will serve a 3-year term. If you have any questions, please contact the CFM office.

At-Large Board Positions (4 positions open):

C. Stephen Heying

John Hickey

Taylor Jones

Cydney Mayfield

Jake Swafford

Nevin Waters

Jane Williams

Scott Wilson

Executive Committee (2 positions):

Jean Nock

Kyle Carroll

National Wildlife Federation representative (1 position):

Dana Ripper

Treasurer (1 position): Ryan Verkamp

Mid MO Prescribed Burn Association

Mid MO Prescribed Burn Association (Mid MO PBA) was started in 2022 with a mission to help central Missouri landowners overcome hurdles that limit the use of prescribed burning: lack of experience, training, equipment and, most of all, peoplepower to help conduct the burn. A grant from the National Wild Turkey Federation, along with donations from Mid MO Uplanders Quail Forever Chapter located in Columbia, MO, and private donors, was used to purchase a trailer and burn equipment available to its members.

Although the group has only been around for a couple of years, they have averaged 60 paid members and over 250 volunteers since their formation! In those two years, they have helped numerous member/ landowners improve habitat on their properties, from grasslands to woodlands and have completed 21 burns totaling over 610 acres in 7 different counties. In addition to helping those landowners, these burns have been a great way for volunteers to get experience on the fire line while gaining the confidence to lead a burn on their property in the future.

The Mid MO PBA is headed into its 3rd fire season and meets once a year in June to renew memberships, recap the previous year, talk about future equipment purchases, prep for upcoming prescribed fire opportunities, and build comradery among its members! The Mid MO PBA is also working with its landowners to host upcoming training opportunities in conjunction with the Missouri Prescribed Fire Council. Such training will include fire break preparation, black lining techniques and spot-fire sequestering.

If you are interested in learning more about Mid MO PBA or becoming a member/volunteer, send an email to midmoprescribefire@gmail.com or follow them on Facebook at MidMOPBA. You can also learn more about Prescribed Burn Associations in Missouri by visiting the Missouri Prescribed Fire Council website at moprescribedfire.org

Affiliate Organizations

Anglers of Missouri

Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives

Bass Slammer Tackle

Burroughs Audubon

Society of Greater Kansas City

Capital City Fly Fishers

Chesterfield Citizens Committee for the Environment

Columbia Audubon Society

Conservation Foundation of Missouri Charitable Trust

Dark Sky Missouri

Deer Creek Sportsman Club

Duckhorn Outdoors Adventures

Festus-Crystal City Conservation Club

Forest and Woodland Association of Missouri

Forest Releaf of Missouri

Friends of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park

Greater Ozarks Audubon Society

Greenbelt Land Trust of Mid-Missouri

Greenway Network, Inc.

James River Basin Partnership

L-A-D Foundation

Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance

Land Learning Foundation

Legends of Conservation

Magnificent Missouri

Mid Mo Prescribed Burn Assn.

Mid-Missouri Outdoor Dream

Mid-Missouri Trout Unlimited

Midwest Diving Council

Mississippi Valley Duck Hunters Association

Missouri Association of Meat Processors

Missouri Atlatl Association

Missouri B.A.S.S. Nation

Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative

Missouri Birding Society

Missouri Bluebird Society

Missouri Bow Hunters Association

Missouri Caves & Karst Conservancy

Missouri Chapter of the American Fisheries Society

Missouri Chapter of the Wildlife Society

Missouri Coalition for the Environment

Missouri Conservation Corps

Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation

Missouri Conservation Pioneers

Missouri Consulting Foresters Association

Missouri Disabled Sportsmen

Missouri Ducks Unlimited- State Council

Missouri Environmental Education Association

Missouri Environmental Education Projects

Missouri Forest Products Association

Missouri Grouse Chapter of QUWF

Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation

Missouri Master Naturalist

- Great Rivers Chapter

Missouri Master Naturalist

- Hi Lonesome Chapter

Missouri Master Naturalist

- Meramec Hills Chapter

Missouri Master Naturalist

- Osage Trails Chapter

Missouri Master Naturalist

- Springfield Plateau Chapter

Missouri National Wild Turkey Federation

Missouri Native Seed Association

Missouri Outdoor Communicators

Missouri Park & Recreation Association

Missouri Parks Association

Missouri Prairie Foundation

Missouri River Bird Observatory

Missouri River Relief

Missouri Rock Island Trail, Inc.

Missouri Rural Water Association

Missouri Smallmouth Alliance

Missouri Society of American Foresters

Missouri Soil & Water Conservation Society-Show-Me Chapter

Missouri Sport Shooting Association

Missouri State Campers Association

Missouri State Parks Foundation

Missouri Taxidermist Association

Missouri Trappers Association

Missouri Trout Fishermen's Association

Northside Conservation Federation

Open Space Council of the St. Louis Region

Outdoor Skills of America, Inc.

Ozark Chinquapin Foundation

Ozark Fly Fishers, Inc.

Ozark Land Trust

Ozark Riverways Foundation

Ozark Trail Association

Ozark Wilderness Waterways Club

Perry County Sportsman Club

Pomme De Terre Chapter Muskies

Quail & Upland Wildlife Federation, Inc.

Quail Forever & Pheasants Forever

Renew Missouri

River Access Coalition

River Bluffs Audubon Society

River City Foundation

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

Scenic Rivers Invasive Species Partnership (SRISP)

South Side Division CFM

Southwest Missouri Fly Fishers

St. Louis Audubon Society

Stream Teams United

Student Air Rifle Program

Tipton Farmers & Sportsman's Club

Tri-Lakes Fly Fishers

Turtle Conservation Group

United Bowhunters of Missouri

Wild Bird Rehabilitation

Wild Souls Wildlife Rescue Rehabilitation

WildHERness

Wonders of Wildlife

World Bird Sanctuary

Young Outdoorsmen United

Conservation Leadership Corps 2024 Float Trip

Early in August, 10 Conservation Leadership Corps (CLC) students extracted 220 lbs. of trash, including 4 tires, from the waters of the Niangua River at Bennett Springs State Park near Lebanon, MO. In one 11-mile float, five canoes were filled with scrap metals, plastics, fishing lines, and what seemed like entire clothing lines—all gathered to help keep the well-traversed waters clean for both visitors and wildlife to enjoy—and yes, for CLC to establish bragging rights.

Students first camped at Bennett Spring State Park on the eve of the float. Campfire introductions, s’mores, careers, life, and s’mores were all major subjects of conversation. Did I mention we made s’mores? With CLC’s annual fall workshop taking place September 13-15th, this event allows us to break the ice and hint at the upcoming resolution drafting process. It was also our first chance to meet new additions to the program.

Of the 10 CLC students that participated, 3 were brand new members! CLC’s team of officers used the opportunity to share some wisdom — if I do say so myself — that we’ve gained from college, internship experiences, CYCL (Confluence of Young Conservation Leaders), convention, and more. The float itself allowed students to hone their outdoor skills with a paddle, build their confidence on the water, and get some more practice with species identification.

We spotted Bald eagles, Turkey vultures, Red-tailed hawks, Box turtles, and a plethora of songbirds! We also got a taste of what Missouri Stream Teams does in the effort to clean waters across the state: from navigating forwards and backwards without flipping, avoiding large tree limbs and men with inflatable tubes, to braving shallow waters as the hull of our canoes scraped against the rocky riverbed.

Halfway through our float, in waist-deep water, I spotted two fellow CLC students dragging a large object in front of a wall of riparian plants that lined the riverbank. As I parked my canoe to assist, out of the shallow waters emerged an entire Porta-Potti, full of water – and hopefully, nothing else. Unable to haul this Johnny-onthe-Spot on the spot, we decided to use our collective strength to push it as far as we could towards the bank. It was a stark reminder of a question we must consider while participating in any stream clean: What can we realistically take with us, and what must be left behind?

Volunteer service work is an important part of Conservation, and we CLC students enjoy getting our hands dirty to help even if we can’t fix everything, everywhere, all at once. Conservation can get messy, but it is an ongoing endeavor of persistence, and the CLC is here to help where we can!

Troy Beilsmith CLC President

CLC students show off the 220 lbs. of trash they collected by the end of the float. (Photo: CFM)

Table Rock’s Alluring Bass Fishing

During its halcyon days in the 1960s, Table Rock Lake conjured up my childhood dreams of catching a giant bass.

Our annual family trip to the southwest Missouri reservoir gave me some of my earliest experiences trying to catch bass. While working my lure through the lake’s flooded timber I constantly envisioned a monster bass jolting my rod with a vicious strike. I never caught that elusive bass, but the opportunity to catch a trophy fish was there since the lake yielded numerous wallmount largemouth bass in its early days.

The lake’s appearance has changed today as the standing timber has thinned and shoreline development continues to sprout everywhere, but visiting anglers still have a good chance of catching that once-in-a-lifetime bass from “The Rock.” The lake’s bass population has also evolved throughout the years so now anglers have a multiple choice of largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass to pursue in the 43,100-acre reservoir.

“That makes the lake really unique because you can catch 4- and 5-pound spotted or smallmouth bass and also meanmouth (a cross between a spotted and smallmouth bass),” says Brian Snowden, a local guide and seven-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier.

Table Rock features an array of water clarity from its three major tributaries: James, White and Kings Rivers. “You can fish stained water if you go up the James and the Kings rivers, and you can fish the clearer water on the lower lake, and the White River stays clear,” discloses Snowden.

The lake also contains plenty of bass-appealing structures, such as long gravel points, creek and river channel bends, rock ledges, bluffs and humps. Although the flooded timber has dwindled, the bass still seek cover in the remaining hardwood pole timber and the petrified cedar trees.

Since anglers can fish a variety of depths and structure and cover in a wide range of water clarity, bass fishing remains good throughout the year at Table Rock. Its deep clear waters make The Rock an excellent wintertime bass fishery. While wintertime cold fronts can shut down fishing, the local experts overcome this problem by concentrating on bass in deep water. Even if they have to break through ice at the ramp, local anglers can consistently catch deep-water bass through the winter.

The lake’s clear waters also make this reservoir ideal for sight fishing in the spring and finesse tactics such as split-shotting and drop-shotting. Night fishing for bass is also excellent from late spring through fall on the lower end of the lake. Spring and summer rains will darken the waters in the upper reaches of this reservoir, so anglers still have opportunities to pitch and flip jigs and do some power fishing with spinnerbaits and crankbaits.

Two state record catches prove that Table Rock has plenty of big bass potential. Table Rock has yielded the state record spotted bass, a 7-pound, 8-ounce heavyweight caught by Gene Arnaud in April 1966 and the state record hybrid black bass (a cross between a spotted and smallmouth bass) weighing 5 pounds, Mark Fann took 10 ounces in March 2004.

John Neporadny

Left - Guide Brian Snowden catches bass throughout the winter. Right - Table Rock Lake is loaded with quality smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass. (Photos: John Neporadny)

Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures

Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures is a family owned outfitter in Texas County specializing in turkey and deer hunts. Our primary focus is to provide limited quality hunts to our clients, while also improving and preserving the land. We are proud to partner with CFM and their staff to continue conservation efforts in Missouri.

Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures is a beautiful and diverse property in Raymondville, Missouri. It offers a unique experience to see conservation at work with an abundance of Eastern turkey and Whitetail deer. The original property of 2,000 acres was purchased in 2010 by Howard Wood (Bee Rock Land, LLC) from The Nature Conservancy, and now consists of just under 12,000 acres. Currently 6,500 acres is used for guided hunts with the remaining being sub-leased to individuals for private hunting. Specializing in deer and turkey, our goal is to provide a quality hunting experience and promote conservation in Texas County. In an effort to improve and preserve the land, the management team works year round on the property in partnership with The Missouri Department of Conservation.

Ranch Manager Bill Houchin, got the outdoor bug at an early age and hasn't been able to shake it! He spent 40 plus years in the woods where he learned farming for wildlife and the ups and downs of chasing deer and turkey. All those years of experience led him to his passion, helping others to find success in hunting, sharing awareness of conservation, and passing along the traditions to more generations of hunters.

Ranch Assistant/Hunting Guide Andy Hicks, also started out early at the age of twelve bowhunting deer and turkey with his dad, who he credits as his mentor. It was that first successful deer hunt that told him this was what he wanted as a career. He has worked in land and wildlife management, graduated from a Colorado guide school, and guided whitetails in Illinois. He states "My family and hunting are the biggest things that get me out of bed in the morning to leave the land better than it was found".

Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures would like to thank CFM and their affiliates for everything they do for conservation in Missouri and we look forward to our continued partnership.

GREDELL Engineering Resources, Inc.

GREDELL Engineering Resources, Inc. (GER) is based in Jefferson City and has an office in Springfield. GER offers civil engineering design with an environmental focus throughout the state. We routinely complete unique projects, like shooting range assessments and clean up. GER supports environmental stewardship and proper management of Missouri's natural resources. GER is a business partner with CFM because we like the breadth of their membership (hunters, fisherpersons, and gun enthusiasts to bird watchers and conservationists) as well as the 'middle of the road' approach they take to their legislative activities.

GER's extensive technical and regulatory knowledge and experience allows us to see the big picture while focusing on the client’s project objectives in addition to the intricate details inherent in environmental design and regulation. GER has completed the firing range design (MSHP) and shooting range assessment, as well as lead recovery and soil stabilization for MDC at a variety of shooting ranges across the state of Missouri. As consultants, our approach is to work closely with your staff to ensure the end results meet your organization's needs and the requirements of your project.

Winter Activities

Many people look at the winter season as a time to curl up in front of the fireplace with a good book and wait for Spring. Outdoor enthusiasts know that each season brings a variety of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. If you stay inside when the snow is flying, you are missing out on a great chance to enjoy nature.

Growing up on a farm helped me realize that even when winter winds were blowing, livestock needed food and water and they depended on us for their well-being. The area wildlife was mostly self-sufficient, but the birds appreciated the feeders we hung in the yard and the occasional deer would come through looking for a meal or fresh water from the holes we cut in the pond ice. When I wasn’t doing farm chores, I spent my time running a trap line along our creek. Scouting for animal sign, especially after a freshly fallen snow, helped me identify the different species and understand how they spent their time.

I spent several years when I was a young adult as a fur trade era reenactor. During that time, I attended several winter or “frozen foot” rendezvous. These encampments were a perfect opportunity to test out my gear in a cold, wet, snowy environment and see if I could survive the week without too much discomfort.

Hiking in winter, especially when there’s a new blanket of snow on the ground, can be a peaceful and quiet activity. The snow muffles your steps and it is often possible to walk up on wildlife undetected. You can also observe tracks and try to identify what left them. This a perfect time to get the kids off their devices and into the outdoors. Buy nature guides and see how many animals you can spot in the snow. It is also a good idea to purchase a guide that helps you identify trees in winter as well.

For those of us that love the outdoors, each season brings its own favorite activities and pursuits. If you’re not taking part in all Missouri has to offer, you’re missing out on a wealth of family fun and memories. (Photo Courtesy of Mike

Winter is also a great time for photographing wildlife and nature scenes. You do not need expensive equipment to capture excellent images. Many of today’s cell phones have great built-in cameras and can take print quality images. It is a good idea to do a little research on how to frame images and use natural lighting when you take a photo. With a little planning the results can be surprising.

Fishing and hunting are still part of the winter outdoor experience as well. If the temperature drops enough to make pond ice safe for walking, try your hand at ice fishing. Panfish often bite well through the ice.

For those of us that love the outdoors, each season brings its own favorite activities and pursuits. If you’re not taking part in all Missouri has to offer, you’re missing out on a wealth of family fun and memories.

Capps)

Mike Capps

Committed to Community and 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 well-being 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

The Old Barn

The forecast for the opening day of the firearms deer season was for rain with a chance of thunderstorms. My son was out of town. My grandson was at college in Kansas. It would not be the same, so why not stay home?

What was I thinking? It is the opening morning I am talking about. It is a tradition. How many years in a row have I enjoyed this special day? It did not matter if I was going to be by myself. I would not let the rain stop me.

The alarm jarred me from my sleep. I got the coffee pot going, brushed my teeth, did my duty, grabbed my hunting clothes and rifle, filled my thermos, and was out the door. I could see stars in the night sky. Maybe, just maybe, the weatherman was wrong. My truck stopped at the metal gate on the gravel road.

I got out to open it. No rain! I continued on down the road, crossed the creek, and pulled up to the old barn standing majestically in the field.

I planned to leave the truck and hike across the field to a tree where my stand waited. I got out. The thunder rumbled. Lightning cracked and lit up the dark sky. I was sure thankful I had gone to the bathroom before leaving home. My hair would have stood on end if I had any.

I quickly forgot about walking across a field with lightning flashing while carrying a rifle and sitting in a metal treestand. Then the sprinkles started, the thunder and lightning continued and I got back in my truck. As I sat there thinking about what to do, the sky lit up again like heaven opened up. I swear I heard the angel chorus singing hallelujah and trumpets bugling.

There before me was the answer that would save this day. I would deer hunt from the old barn’s hay loft. My son, grandson and granddaughter had all taken deer from the old barn before. So had I.

I jumped out of the truck, grabbed all my hunting stuff, and ran inside. Then I remembered I had a folding chair I used when hunting in blinds in my backseat and ran back out to get it. The rain was getting heavier. The old barn would keep me dry. It was still dark, so I was in no hurry to climb up in the barn loft. With wide eyes, I looked around. My headlight assured me no wild animals were in the barn ready to attack me. I also made a mental note not to step in all the groundhog holes in the dirt floor.

The old barn was built over 100 years ago by Christopher Columbus Meadows. I remembered the old black and white picture the owner of this land had shown me of Christopher Columbus holding a horse by the reigns and standing next to the barn.

My headlight shines on the big, stacked rocks and handhewn beams that are the foundation on which the old barn has stood for all of those years. I look at the ax marks on the wood support beams. and I can imagine Christopher chopping and shaping the log to become this foundation. I imagine him in the wooden wagon, pulled by the horse in the picture, going down to the creek to find the flat rocks for the beam to set on.

I look around at all the weathered wood that covers the old barn. There was no electricity in this valley when they built it. It would not be for another 30 years or more. So, how did they get the wood boards for the barn? How has the wood lasted this long? There is no paint or sealant of any kind on it. Where did they get the old, rusted hinges and nails? I will never know the answers.

My mind travels back in time. I see the horse in the picture standing in a stall. I see corn stalks stacked in another area. Maybe this was where they milked the old cow. Is that daylight coming through the cracks? It sounds like the storm has let up. I better get up in the loft.

I climb the stairs. They are just as sturdy as they were when built. I do step carefully around rotted boards on the loft floor. I set up in the big opening. It is where hay was brought in from below to the barn loft.

My chair is comfortable. I pour a cup of coffee and stretch out my legs. It is a great way to hunt deer, when it is rainy, or not.

I look around the old loft, still amazed at how they built the old barn this big and how it has stood this long. The owner tells me it is home to barn swallows, field rats, mice, a pair of black vultures that come here to raise babies every year, and the groundhogs who made all the holes underneath and will probably be the biggest reason the barn comes down someday.

The rain stops. I see a buck by himself with a weird set of antlers. On the left, it is normal but only three points. On the right, it is short with two points and ugly. He is slowly walking across the field with his head down. I figure all the boys have teased him about his weird rack and the females don’t want anything to do with this ugly buck.

I think for a moment about putting him out of his misery. I click off the safety. But then, I think maybe next season when he grows back a new set of antlers, they will be a lot better. The ladies will like him. The bucks that made fun of him will regret it when he kicks their butt. I click on my safety.

Rain starts again. He will be the only deer I see this day. That is okay. I do not know why it is until we get older we realize that deer hunting is not just about getting a big buck you can put out on social media to brag about. Deer hunting is about sunrises and sunsets, the wildlife that go about their daily routines not knowing you are there. It is about memories you make with family and friends or alone in a barn.

This day will go into my storehouse of memories. Before I get too old and as long as it remains standing, I would like to have a few more days of deer hunting from the hay loft of the old barn.

Cover - The over 100-year-old barn. (Photo: Larry Whiteley)

Christopher Columbus Meadows who built the old barn.

(Photo Courtesy of Bob Kipfer)

Larry Whiteley

Outdoor News

Preparing for A Hunting Adventure: A Comprehensive Checklist

Are you prepared for your upcoming hunting season? Proper preparation, rather than scrambling at the last minute, is essential for a successful hunting experience. A simple checklist can serve as a quick starting point that can be tailored and expanded based on your adventures. Here are a few important items to consider as you begin your preparation:

Checklist:

1. What animal you are hunting.

2. Location.

3. Season, method, and respective dates.

4. Current hunting license: Make sure to have your tags and stamps.

5. Rules and Regulations.

6. Hunting setup: Blind, stand, or mobile.

7. Legal shooting time: Research in advance using resources like the Farmer’s Almanac.

8. Gear preparation.

Example Gear Checklist for a Midwest Whitetail Hunter:

1. Inspect your firearm or bow each season:

• Ensure your firearm is clean and oiled, sighted and functioning correctly.

• For bows, inspect strings and wax as needed; check gears and cams and ensure sights are zeroed. Consult a trusted bow technician for necessary assistance and confirm your draw weight complies with regulations.

• Verify that you have the appropriate ammo and broadheads for your hunt.

• Inspect arrows and/or bolts.

2. Hunting pack:

• Inspect stitching, zippers, frames, and straps.

• Empty and check all pockets to avoid any accidental items that could violate regulations, such as a lead shotshell in a designated lead-free area.

3. Hunting settings:

• Is it a mobile setup, ground blind, tree stand, or tree saddle?

• Inspect chairs, blinds, tree stands, and tree-hunting saddle equipment.

4. First-aid kit: Ensure it is well-stocked.

5. Emergency contacts: Have a list ready.

6. Calls: Gather the calls you plan to use.

7. Field dressing/drag kit: Ensure knives are sharp.

8. Lighting and optics: Check headlamp and optics batteries.

9. Protective gear: Verify you have eye and hearing protection.

10. Snacks and hydration.

11. Portable battery charger: For your mobile phone, GPS and other electronic devices.

12. Leave No Trace items: Include necessary items to minimize your impact on the environment.

13. For suppressed hunts: Ensure you have your ID and Tax Stamp.

14. Safety protocol: Ensure someone is aware of your hunting location and time frame.

Each person's list will differ and be subject to change with each hunt. The key is to have a comprehensive checklist and a pre-hunt routine to ensure you are well prepared. This way, you minimize the risk of forgetting anything essential for a successful hunt.

Having a support group like wildHERness to help you practice both field skills and hone your packing skills can make all the difference. Additionally, finding buddies through similar outdoor groups gives you a great platform on which to brag once you harvest an animal!

A Day of Fun and Community at Prairie Grove Shotgun Sports

On August 10, 2024, the Conservation Federation of Missouri hosted a memorable event at Prairie Grove Shotgun Sports in Columbia, MO. Approximately 200 attendees gathered for a day of shooting sports, camaraderie, and community spirit. The weather was perfect, starting at a cool 55 degrees in the morning and warming up to a pleasant 78 degrees by the afternoon.

This event served as a vital fundraiser for CFM. The funds raised will support various conservation initiatives.

A highlight of the day was a shotgun workshop hosted by the CFM Young Professionals, led by Emily Schrader. The workshop focused on engaging young conservationists and providing them with the tools and knowledge to become effective advocates for Missouri’s natural resources.

The event was made possible by the generous support of 35 sponsors. The list of sponsors was impressive, featuring names such as Central Electric Power Cooper, Midway USA, Association of MO Electric Coops, Joe Machens Ford, Ozark Bait & Tackle, AJ’s Automotive Air Conditioning, Brian Bernskoetter of Capitol Solutions Consulting, Moneta Group, Hulett Heating & AC, Heartland Seed of MO, Brockmeier Financial Services, MO Conservation Pioneers, Bass Pro Shops, Whitetails Unlimited, Midwest Mailing Service, United Bank of Union, Chariton Legacy Farm, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, SelecTurf, Jim Lewis Tire, G3 Boats, Scott and Sara Pauley, Mike & Mossie Schallon, Buchheit, Boone Co Lumber Co, Conservation Employees Credit Union, NE MO Electric Power Coop, Platte-Clay Electric, Graf’s Sons Inc., Peters Brothers Turkey Farms LLC, Big Bears, Columbia Hy-Vee, Truman’s Bar & Grill, Bee Seen Signs, and Starline Brass.

Volunteers played a crucial role in the event’s success, with over 30 individuals from CFM board and members and four groups—Sea Cadets, Mid-Mo Prescribed Burn Association, Lake Ozark Watershed Alliance, and Capital City Fly Fishers—lending a hand. This year, the event introduced a new Meat Shoot and a 50/50 shoot, adding to the excitement and competitive spirit of the day.

For a complete list of winners, please visit our website. This event was a testament to the power of community and the shared love for conservation and outdoor sports. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year!

Mark your calendars for our 2025 event, scheduled for August 9, 2025, at the same location. We can’t wait to create more memories with you all!

The Russell family competing at the team shoot, showcasing their skills and teamwork at the Conservation Federation of Missouri’s event.

Left - Noah Brocato and Mark Burns proudly holding the MDC Traveling Trophy for 2024, celebrating their victory as the winning team.

The Adventures of Frank & Ed: A Billion Zillion Birds

Hello, we’re back again for another episode of The Adventures of Frank & Ed. This is a special edition because I get to introduce you to grandson #3. Frank & Ed’s little brother Albert will be joining us on this bird watching adventure. Little brother Al is eight months old at the time of this adventure while brother Ed is three and brother Frank is five.

Load 'em up for a road trip, boys! We’re going bird watching today. “Bird Watchin’,” says Ed. “Yep, bird watchin’ but a special kind of bird watchin’,” I told them.

Frank asks, “What kind of birds?” “Migratory waterfowl”, I reply. Every fall and spring huge flocks of waterfowl make a rest stop at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge. Loess Bluffs is about an hour and forty-five-minute drive north of Kansas City up I-29. Buckle up boys, and settle in for the trip.

Frank asks, “What’s a migrating waterfowl”?

Each year in late November and again in February, flocks of hundreds of thousands of snow geese migrate through, stopping over at Loess Bluffs. Weather conditions have a lot to do with when the flocks of geese, ducks, swans, and eagles arrive there and leave heading south in the fall and back north in the early spring. Waterfowl fly thousands of miles south each year when the snowy cold conditions of their northern homes freeze the water they like to swim in, and the snow covers their food making it hard to find enough to eat. Their winter homes are in places like Mexico, Central America, and South America. In the Spring as North America warms back up the migrating waterfowl head back north to nest and raise their families.

We arrive at the Refuge around 10 am, just as thousands of geese are returning from their morning feeding session. There is a one-way 10-mile auto tour loop road around the refuge for access to the viewing ponds. We have timed our bird watchin’ trip perfectly. It’s a beautiful 40-degree sunny day and there are hundreds of thousands of geese here.

Ed yells, “it's sooooo loud papa”. “Oh my gosh, all those birds are really loud,” Frank says while covering his ears. “How many birds do you think are out there” I ask. Ed says, “ I think maybe a thousand,” but Franks says, “A Billion – Zillion”!

Trying to explain to someone who has never heard what 700,000 geese sound like is impossible to do. You must hear it for yourself to appreciate it. Over the next couple of hours, we watch Snow and Blue geese, Canada geese, Mallard, Gadwall, Pintail, Shoveler, and Teal ducks. We also saw several Tundra Swans and Bald Eagles. A pair of binoculars are a great asset to get a better view, but we did see several geese, ducks, and bald eagles very close to the road.

The bald eagles follow the huge flocks of geese because they are easy prey, especially the older birds as well as some that waterfowl hunters wound. That is why waterfowl hunters are required to use non-toxic ammo to hunt. That way if an Eagle does ingest some shot from a wounded bird, it will not poison the aagle. You will notice what seems to be a lot of dead geese laying around. But think about this for a minute.

If only 1% of seven hundred thousand geese die that would be 7,000 dead geese laying around. You won’t see that many, but you get the idea why the Eagles follow the flock.

Frank, Ed, Al, and their Dad, Mark were all amazed at the sights and sounds of that day and I am sure we will return again someday. But I think the boy's favorite part of the day wasn’t the thousands of geese they saw and heard or the bald eagles that sat in the trees right next to the road, or the big beautiful Tundra Swans swimming around. It went something like this: After our first stop on the wildlife loop road, I said, “Ok, boys, get in the back of the truck”.

Frank looks at me and says, “In the back of the truck, papa”? “Yep”, I say as I open the camper shell window and drop the tailgate of my pickup. Ed’s face lights up with a smile as he grabs a goose feather lying on the ground nearby and yells, “I got your feather goose, help me up, papa”!

We traveled the loop road slowly, stopping several times to see and hear the birds. Frank and Ed were really enjoying the freedom from the NASCAR type harness car seats required these days. Even little Al enjoyed sitting in his dad’s lap without being buckled in. Ahhh, the simple pleasure of hanging your head outta the window while feeling and hearing the great outdoors – that’s the stuff memories are made of.

To plan your adventure to Loess Bluffs, check out the website for all the info including weekly Waterfowl and Eagle Surveys at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (fws.gov).

Jeff “Papa” Blystone

Loess Bluffs is about an hour and forty-five-minute drive north of Kansas City up I-29. Each year in late November and again in February, flocks of hundreds of thousands of snow geese migrate through, stopping over at Loess Bluffs. (Photos Courtesy of Jeff Blystone)

Mostly True Tales from a Missouri Duck Club

Magic – A slow day waterfowl hunting affects the mind. The sky is pointlessly empty, yet somehow you think a conjuring will make a difference. Pour some coffee. Look at your phone. Eat a snack. Step into the brush to answer nature’s call. Scientifically analyzed anecdotal evidence tells us waterfowl are more likely to arrive during these magical moments of diversion. And so you act giving fair warning to your hunting partners with the obligatory incantation, “All right gang, get ready. I’m going to (fill in the blank). That’ll bring in the ducks.”

But the most powerful charm for summoning birds from the clouds involves the decoys. You’ve stared at them for an hour or two, but nothing has happened. You’ve silently analyzed the location of the sun, movement of the wind and ripples, presence of shadows, and you wonder how a pair of gadwall arrived undetected, landing 20 feet out when you weren’t looking. Your conclusion? It’s time to adjust the decoys.

You step out and wade into the spread, separating a pair of dekes that have found a way to annoyingly, rhythmically clunk together in the chop. You pick up another and toss it, and drag a few more to another location, all along thinking, how do I make them look natural, enticing, not too tight, not too loose? Your hunting partners watch and wordlessly judge your choices. And as you work, a half dozen greenheads cup and lock, and quickly peel off. No one can shoot because, well, you’re standing in the decoys. More evidence of duck marsh witchcraft, right? You wade back to the blind shaking your head, as one decoy follows your right leg like you have popcorn in your pocket, line wrapped around your boot. You pitch it back into the flock and it lands atop another where, of course, it immediately begins clunking against its mate. Back into the decoys you go.

Adjustment accomplished you settle back into position within the camo, you eye the newly configured deployment with satisfaction and wait. A few teal buzz the set and soon a pair of big ducks approach low enough for a shot. Someone squeezes the trigger. The dog awakens from his nap, launching to recover the wounded, and after a few rounds of hide and seek, he swims back to the blind, a confused bird clutched in his mouth. It’s been awhile since the dog had anything to do, forgets his training, and drops the bird in front of the blind as he shakes off the water. Everyone watches in horrified silence as the bird flies off. The dog watches too, unconcerned, and I’m suspicious the duck and dog came to some agreement on the swim back to the blind.

“Well, things have improved since I moved the decoys,” says the hunter from Michigan.

“They’d be better if you would’ve moved the right ones,” sniped a voice from the far end of the blind, words flying faster than #2s from an Auto-5.

“I’d be doing better if your dog didn’t let my bird fly away,” came the retort and volley.

“You’d be doing better if you killed the duck,” said the man from Arkansas. “Next time don’t just scare it.”

I hit my call a few times at an empty sky to trim the conversation back to civility. “Cease fire boys.” And the watching and waiting resumes.

The Plunge – Veterans Day. Many old timers still call it by its original name, Armistice Day. A moniker remembered by waterfowlers in part because of the 1940 storm which occurred on this day. A storm that brought plunging temperatures, gale-force winds, and snow drifts. By some estimates, as many as 200 people died, including 85 duck hunters. An oft reprinted story, as reported by famed journalist and outdoor writer Gordon MacQuarrie gives the horrific details.

But in this year of 2023, we worried not about winter storms. It was sunny, the temperature was 60 degrees, wind was ESE at six mph. And there would be no Armistice Day migration of birds south this year. We would hunt the birds we have.

Sitting in an adjoining, well-camouflaged layout boat was Nancie. A big man with an offset center of gravity, wearing a knee brace, snugly gathered within his XXL waders. We had hunted this spot together successfully many times before, tucked into the cordgrass, sun and wind at our back, shallow open water and duck food to our front. But today, expectations were low, and perseverance would be the key.

An early opportunity presented itself and I watched as the man from Brobdingnag dropped the first bird of the day and prepared to rise from the depths of his layout boat. Grunting and groaning, he pushed himself up on all fours, finally achieving a full standing position. Stepping out carefully without his hand-made cedar wading stick, he bravely waded 10 yards out through water knee-deep on a normal man. A summer drawdown had firmed the bottom nicely, giving courage to even the most cautious, and within a few minutes, the first duck of the day had been retrieved.

Late morning another bird dropped, and again the hunter grunted and groaned, and the duck boat ballet began once again. The hunter stood and yowled, “Cramp, cramp,” pausing briefly to stretch before stepping out. Carefully, again, he waded to the bird drifting slowly in the breeze and slight chop. Heading off the floater, the hunter teetered momentarily as he leaned to grab the duck’s upright feet. Suddenly, a well-articulated string of wickedly profane words erupted from among the decoys. As the hunter’s speech echoed across the marsh, the air turned blue, eagles flared, muskrats dove for cover, beavers stirred inside their lodges, and geese rose from their refuge to observe the flailing disturbance.

The hunter had fallen. And in that moment, I lifted my eyes and gun and watched the sky. It is a well-known fact that ducks like commotion in the decoys and I was certain a big flock of greenheads would most certainly arrive at any second.

“Bring me my stick,” the hunter called, propped on all fours in the chilly water. “I can’t get up.”

The “stick” is an effective brace, best used while wading the mucky bottom of the wetland. The hunter’s wife would later remind him of this valuable point during his after-action review and post-event confession.

“Did you have your wading stick?” she asked. “No, I left it in the boat,” he sheepishly replied.

She completed her supportive assessment with the helpful, obvious observation. “Dumb***, that’s what it’s made for.”

I walked out to Nancie to evaluate the situation and survey for injury other than pride. Handing him his wading stick from a safe distance, it was clear this would not be enough to raise him from the bottom. “I’d help you, but you’d take me down. I’ll get your boat,” I said.

I pushed the boat out to my companion and as he leaned forward, it provided the leverage needed to help him rise up from the murky depth of 24 inches of water. Coat sleeves dripping, he walked his boat back to shore where he regained composure and gathered his gear. His day was done. Order restored, the hunter, waders partially filled, stepped up into his boat. Towering once again and wobbling a bit he grabbed his push-pole and shoved off. Listing a bit to one side, he headed north back to camp for a hot shower and moments of silent reflection. And as I watched him disappear down the boat channel without further disaster, the sky remained quiet and I waited for the flock of greenheads I was certain would soon arrive. After all, it was Armistice Day.

Rules – The wind was stiff. Sustained out of the northwest at 15 mph with gusts near 25. A good day for flags, free-range plastic, and duck hunters. As I snugged my jacket collar around my neck gaiter, the man from Michigan snapped shut his 12 gauge over and under.

“So, what are your rules?” he asked.

We had hunted together only once before, so it was thoughtful for him to ask about expectations. Generally, we are a picky bunch. Feet down, close in is preferred, but sometimes you just take what they give you.

“No rules. Take the shot if you think you got it. I pass more than I shoot, I like it to feel right, and sometimes I just like to watch the birds,” I replied. “And you?”

“I don’t shoot them on the water. I mean if they land and get up, I figure, if they made it to the decoys, they win.”

“Very honorable. How does the dog feel about that?”

“Dunno, haven’t asked her,” he said, a slight smile showing behind his bushy whiskers.

Not long after, two mallard drakes wheeled in hard and fast. I dropped one as the other landed in the decoys momentarily to my left, lifting upward as quickly as it arrived. Amidst the commotion, I heard the Michigander shoot.

“Guess I broke my own rule,” he muttered quietly as a few feathers floated down and away.

“That didn’t take long. Fine line between rules and guidelines, eh?”

“Yeah, forgot to mention the five-second rule. He didn’t stay long enough to earn immunity.”

Dan Zekor

Cover - The most powerful charm for summoning birds from the clouds involves the decoys. (Photo: Dan Zekor) Top - Many memories and great conversations can be had from the confines of a duck blind. (Photo: Dan Zekor)

The Case for Oaks

Hopefully, that man planted an oak. According to Andrew Hip, Paul S. Manos and Jeannie CavenderBarnes in a 2020 article in the Scientific American (SA), “Oaks are keystone specie foundational to the functioning of the forests they form across the Northern Hemisphere. They foster diversity of organisms across the tree of life, from fungi to wasps, birds and mammals. They help clean the air, sequestering carbon dioxide and absorbing atmospheric pollutants. And they have shaped human culture, feeding us with their acorns and providing wood to build our homes, furniture and ships. Indeed, oaks have proved so valuable to people that we have immortalized them in legends and myths for centuries.”

Hunters especially appreciate the fact that white oak acorns are “the chicken nuggets of the woods”, as Clay Newcomb calls them. They are a major food source for many species of game animals, from squirrels to raccoons to bears and wild turkeys. In fact, over 100 vertebrate species eat acorns. Red Oak acorns are second in preference only to the whites in the woods so far as deer and turkeys are concerned. Red oak acorns contain more tannin than the whites do, making the whites a little sweeter. Both are critical to many species and the natural systems in which they function.

Scientists believe that the two species descended from a common ancestor. The major difference in the two groups of oaks today is the way the acorn crop comes about each year. “The red oak group is composed of species with bristle-tipped leaves. In most red oak group species, pollen takes a full year from the time it lands on the female flower to fertilize the seed, so that acorns—the fruits of these trees—pollinated in one year only ripen in the next. Species in the other major lineage, the white oak group, have no bristles on their leaves (the lobes are rounded).

…white oak acorns almost all ripen the same year they are pollinated, sometimes germinating before they even fall. Gray squirrels preferentially cache red oak acorns to eat at a later date because they are less likely than white oak acorns to go bad before the squirrels can get back to them.” (SA). This delayed pollination of one major group and not the other, helps even out the acorn crop in years when a late frost knocks out that year’s white oak acorns. The reds, pollinated the year before, fill in the gap.

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That’s a pretty intelligent system and reason enough to plunk a few in the ground each spring. By planting a white oak or any species of oak, we benefit in the long run far more than just having provided a few more meals for the local furbearers. Much more.

Approximately 60 percent of all Oak species live in the America’s. This astounding variety, along with the fact that the oaks in this region account for more forest tree biomass than any other woody plant genus in North America and Mexico, makes them the single most important group of trees in the continent's forests. In other words, a “keystone species”. (SA)

We see the whitetail buck eating acorns on our game cameras. What we don’t see as readily is the major role oaks (and other native species) play in the life cycle of insects, and the insects make the world go around. Author Douglas Tallamy says in his book, Nature’s Best Hope, that “E. O. Wilson called insects,“The little things that run the world”, because of the many essential ecological roles they play every day,” He continues, “Insects pollinate 87.5 percent of all plants, and 90 percent of all flowering plants and plants turn energy from the sun into the food that we and an unimaginable diversity of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and freshwater fishes need to exist. Insects are the primary means by which the food created by plants is delivered to animals.”

In addition to that, “Oaks are a major food source for caterpillars and saw flies. Caterpillars and saw flies are just two groups of insects but they have a huge impact on the food web. They are larger, more numerous and more edible and more nutritious than other insects.” (Tallamy). More specifically, these groups of oak dependent insects are the larval stages of moths, butterflies and sawflies plus the 4000 species of bees native to North America. In other words, that oak tree is the energy source for many of the bugs that make the world go ‘round.

You can’t be much more efficient with your time than when you plant an oak tree. The benefits are many and long-lasting.

The Missouri Department of Conservation makes some species of native plants and trees, including oaks, available each fall when the new list from the George O. White nursery comes out. Oaks are available in bundles of 10 or more. You should consider placing an order and planting a few in the spring.

George O. White State Nursey Contact information: George O. White State Forest Nursery Missouri Department of Conservation 14027 Shafer Road PO Box 119 Licking, MO 65542 573-674-3229 Fax: 573-674-4047.

Kyle Carroll

Cover - White oak acorns are preferred by many species of wildlife. (Photo: Kyle Carroll)

Top - Many species of wildlife key on acorns as a food source. (Photo: Kyle Carroll)

Great Stuff from Old Magazines

Recently, a friend gave me an armload of old outdoor magazines from his grandpa’s attic. Here are some of the interesting tips and advertisements from those days of yore:

Hunting & Fishing Magazine ran this ad in May, 1953 the year and month I was born, or 71 years ago. This reel apparently was not well received and was discontinued in 1959: “Waltco’s NY-O-LITE reel is made of DuPont Nylon, a material they developed in 1935. The reel weighs four-ounces and can take abuse no other reel can take. Requires no lubrication for the life of the reel and has nothing to rust or corrode, absolutely impervious to salt water. $13.50. You can match it with a two-piece spinning rod for $24.95. It’s like fishing with a feather.”

Hunting & Fishing Magazine ran another interesting ad in their May, 1953 edition. Tenite mentioned in the ad is a brand of cellulosic thermoplastic material produced by the Eastman Chemica Company in 1929: “Get lucky, stay lucky, fish with a Lucky Bunny Bait. A new idea in lures, a deadly bait for all fish. It’s an omen of luck, a genuine rabbit’s foot with a hook and tenite head in flashing colors—red, yellow and green. Snappy, rippling, jumpy, lively, quivering motion in the water fish can’t resist. More life-like in the water than 99% of artificial lures. Keeps its shape, wet or dry. Get your Lucky Bunny Bait now, only $1.35.”

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Can’t Trust Anyone: “Returning for a rope to drag his harvested deer shot in Idaho, a hunter found that thieves had broken into his car and stolen a two-way radio, jack, lunch box, thermos jug, blankets and camera. Leaving his rifle in the car, he went back for the deer that was stolen too. Back at the car his rifle was missing, so he drove home before thieves claimed his ride home. Outdoor Life, January, 1967.

Crop Rotation: “A farmer angry over deer eating his winter wheat, covered the field with manure then turned on a floodlight that night to see how his repellant was working. He was not pleased to find the deer had moved and were eating the shrubbery in his yard.” Outdoor Life, August, 1964

This 1964 advertisement from Safari Outfitters, Inc. that ran in Outdoor Life will make some of you groan, it did me. “Ireland: 14 days salmon, trout, pike, fly jet and stay at a castle. Fish private waters. Package includes round trip fare from New York, guide, accommodations, food, licenses and rental car: $585.00.

Yugoslavia: Exotic fishing for grayling, rainbows, brown trout up to 15 pounds, huge pike and huchen trout up to 90 pounds. First-class accommodations, guides, rented car, licenses and round-trip fare from New York, allinclusive for 14 days: $730.00.

Gas Attack: Wildlife personnel didn’t fall for the “Out of Gas” sign on an automobile parked on a back road the day before hunting season. When the owner returned with rifle and a brace of squirrels, the officer took him to court.” Outdoor Life: December, 1961.

Here’s a unique lure advertised in a 1961 Outdoor Life edition: New…The very first powered lure. It swims like a live minnow and buzzes like a bee for four hours without changing the battery. Powered by small standard flashlight battery, instantly replaceable. Travels in straight lines or wide curves by simply setting rudder. Unconditionally guaranteed. Set of three, $13.95 postpaid.

Someone loan me a time machine. This advertisement rain in Field & Stream, February, 1964: “Fishing Supreme, solid comfort at El Tarpon Tropical, Carmen Mexico. Mexico’s finest fishing resort, remotely situated with all modern facilities. Gulf-River-Reef-Lagoon fishing for tarpon, snook, snapper, barracuda, mackerel, grouper, Cuban snapper, trout, shark and jackfish.

No time-clocks on boat. Excellent food, bottled water and sanitary conditions with showers. $38.00 per day!”

Hat Trick: “Jim Buck, Concord trout expert catches grasshopper bait with a slingshot. “Just load it with dust and fire away,” he said. “This stuns them and you can fill your bait box in no time. Beats walloping then with your hat.” Outdoor Life. December, 1962.

One Shop Shopping for a Firearm in Outdoor Life, June, 1964: “The Harrington & Richardson you might know today as H&R offered a combination of two rifles and two shotguns in one gun. This included two rifle barrels, .22 and 30.30 calibers and two shotgun barrels, a 20 and .410 gauge. You just had to switch barrels to choose your caliber. Price: $76.50.” Today the equivalent would be $781.28.

Inflation: A sporting goods dealer said when he started his business in 1930, you could buy a good fishing rod for 39 cents, a reel for 25 cents, line for a dime and half a dozen hooks for another dime. Outdoor Life, August, 1962.

Not Recommended for Firearm Safety: “Hunter bagged a quail on a Connecticut game preserve without firing a shot. The bird flushed and flew straight at the hunter about three-feet off the ground without swerving. The frightened hunter, out of self-defense, accidently rapped the quail on its head with his shotgun barrel.” Outdoor Life, August, 1962.

Poly Chokes were invented in the 1920’s. I had one on an old goose gun in my youth and it worked very well. They are not recommended for steel shot and have mainly been replaced by screw-in choke tubes. Here’s how it was advertised in a September, 1953 edition of Field & Stream: “What’s better about this gun? A half-million wing shots could tell you that it used to be an ordinary cylinder bore gun that threw a thin pattern at 40 yards a flock of ducks could fly through. They’d tell you it will now shoot a killing pattern from 15 to 50 yards. You see, he has a Poly Choke on his gun.”

Tale of Tails: “A dog wags it’s tail, a hound wags it’s stern, a fox it’s brush, an otter it’s pole, a rabbit it’s scut and a deer it’s butt.” Outdoor Life, June, 1964.

Kenneth L. Kieser

stories were always great. Photo: Kenneth

(The

L. Kieser)

DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION

Three Men Charged With 2023 Illegal Killing of Elk in Shannon County

It started in November 2023 with a report to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) of a mature bull elk found shot dead and left to rot near Klepzig Mill in Shannon County. It ended recently with 15 charges being filed in court against three Missouri men.

A local 14-year old-deer hunter reported finding the dead mature bull elk near Klepzig Mill in Shannon County during the 2023 opening weekend of firearms deer season, Nov. 11 and 12. Shannon County Conservation Agents Brad Hadley and Logan Brawley led the investigation and found the entire animal left at the scene. The carcass was transported to MDC’s Central Regional Office and Conservation Research Center in Columbia for a necropsy and further investigation.

Over the nine months of the poaching investigation, conservation agents from MDC’s Ozark, Central, St. Louis, and Southeast regions interviewed numerous deer hunters in the area along with other people passing through the area for information related to the investigation. They deployed two conservation K-9 agents that logged more than 28 miles while searching the immediate area for clues and evidence. The agents also contacted local businesses and used their surveillance-video footage, along with footage from elk-population-monitoring cameras in the area, to help identify the poachers. Agents served five search warrants and submitted numerous items of possible evidence to forensics labs.

The investigation recently ended with three men from the Bonne Terre area being charged for multiple violations of the Wildlife Code of Missouri.

“The three men also killed deer that they failed to Telecheck and were therefore in illegal possession of,” explained Agent Hadley. “The illegal elk killing and wanton waste by leaving the carcass represent two charges each, the deer killing without Telechecking and illegal possession of the deer represent two charges each, and the littering charge for each make five charges each.”

Hadley added that the resolution of this senseless act speaks to how much people in Missouri value our wildlife and support efforts to conserve and protect it.

“From the 14-year-old hunter who first reported it, to the other hunters and people passing through the area who provided tidbits of information, to the local businesses who gladly shared their pertinent security videos, to the prosecutors and courts that granted the search warrants, to the forensic examiners who quickly analyzed items brought to them – THANK YOU!”

Agent Hadley added that every person who helped was appalled by the killing and complete waste of the elk, and every one of them contributed considerably to the success of the investigation.

“Public support of conservation is critical to conservation success,” said MDC Protection Chief Randy Doman. “Our conservation agents work hard to build public trust by thoroughly investigating incidents reported by the public. We could not have solved this case without the many members of the public who helped us. Thank you!”

Poaching — the taking of wildlife outside of season, without the proper permit, or in other violation of the Wildlife Code of Missouri — hurts Missouri wildlife and those who appreciate it as hunters, anglers, and nature watchers.

The Operation Game Thief (OGT) hotline allows Missourians to protect nature by reporting poaching. Please report possible violations of the Wildlife Code to your local conservation agent or call OGT at 800-3921111. Callers may remain anonymous and may be considered for a reward. Learn more at mdc.mo.gov/ about-us/about-regulations/operation-game-thief.

The History and Future of Missouri State Park’s (WIN) Women in Nature MISSOURI STATE PARKS

Women being active, in and around nature, is a tale as old as time. In fact, most of history has involved women actively participating in a variety of outdoor activities up until the most recent decades. From 2009 to 2019, the frequency of outdoor outings for women has done nothing but decline. In 2019, 51% of the population were female, yet only 46% of females were outdoor participants. The biggest decline in outdoor participation was in young female adults, ages 18-24 years old, in 2019; showing a decrease in outdoor recreation of 4.9%.

With the world ever evolving to include so many options for staying indoors and stagnant, it was surprising that in 2020, the highest rate of outdoor recreation participation was recorded at 53% of Americans ages 6 and over. That shows that 7.1 million more Americans participated in outdoor recreation in 2020 than in the year prior! The year 2020 proved many things, but mostly that people wanted to get outside again, especially women!

Missouri State Parks thought that this would be the perfect year to ramp up their already popular, yet sporadic, all-women outdoor program to include it in different regions of the state. The program began in 2016 after a naturalist noticed a woman setting up to camp for the weekend. The woman struggled to get her tent set up and get a fire going by herself. After witnessing that experience, the idea to offer an outdoor learning experience for women to gain skills and confidence; empowering them to do these activities on their own, blossomed.

The first all-women event was held at Lake of the Ozarks State Park in 2016; located in the picturesque 1930’s CCC built Girl Scout and Boy Scout camp – Camp Pin Oak. This event was given the name GLAMP and was held once a year to bring ladies together for a fun weekend filled with different outdoor activities for them to try out.

After three years of GLAMP, Missouri State Parks was able to serve approximately 200 participants! Not wanting to keep the ladies waiting for more, GLAMP evolved into a program that could be offered across the state and multiple times during the year.

The Women in Nature (WIN) program was created in 2019 through popular demand, with GLAMP remaining the cherry on top at the end of each year! Over the years, WIN has proven to be a fantastic opportunity for women to get outdoors and be taught by other women who already possess the knowledge, and are more than willing to share.

The future of Women in Nature is nothing but bright! Recreation Section Chief, Rebecca Young, who has had her hands in the project since day one believes the future of WIN, ”should be taking the existing framework; creating more outdoor recreation programs for other underserved populations of Missouri, such as, the deaf and hard of hearing community and for those that have mobility issues.”

We at Missouri State Parks hope that this program encourages women to feel comfortable and safe in our parks, and we hope to see more opportunities to serve other communities within our great state of Missouri!

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Rabbit Hunting with Smith and Wesson

After I retired from the Department of Conservation, I treated myself to two Labrador puppies since my old lab had recently died. I hunted quail and pheasants with labs for decades. All of my previous labs were given to me as adults and arrived with a host of issues and bad habits requiring considerable effort and time to correct. Now I could train these new lab puppies from scratch skipping the agony associated with correcting problems with an exasperating lab. Mrs. Urich named my new lab puppies Smith and Wesson.

I also hunted rabbits with a pack of beagles and a basset hound. My Labradors always went rabbit hunting with me and their primary job was to sit next to me and retrieve the rabbits. The labs often saw the rabbit before I did, charged ahead and ruined the shot. I knew with four young Labrador eyeballs sitting next to me on high alert for a rabbit fleeing from the beagles, my chances of getting a shot were low. I decided to teach Smith and Wesson to resist chasing a running rabbit when they saw it. I soon learned teaching a lab to be steady to a shot was easy compared to teaching it to ignore a close, fastrunning rabbit.

I routinely trained all my labs while the beagles chased rabbits on our 40 acres in Moniteau County, which was managed for rabbit habitat. Once the beagles were baying and chasing the rabbits, I worked with Smith and Wesson teaching them to sit, come and retrieve while they were highly distracted by the racket the beagles were making. They desperately wanted to join the beagles.

One evening I was working on blind retrieves. I had two white bumpers and my camera with me. I set the camera and one bumper down in the tall grass and used the other bumper with the labs. After some time, I noticed one of the beagles standing behind me with the other white bumper in its mouth. In over two decades of training and hunting with beagles, not one of them ever brought me anything except for trouble. I was concerned this beagle also moved my camera. I walked back to where I set the camera on the ground and it was gone. It was a point and shoot camera in a small black case. I looked for some time in the knee-high native grasses and forbs but I couldn’t find it.

Smith and Wesson had abandoned me and joined the other beagles to chase a rabbit. For the last several months, I had trained both labs to come when I called them and to find stuff. It was time for a practical exercise. I had both dogs sit next to me and I gave them the blind retrieve command as I bellowed out, “Find my camera.” Two minutes later Smith was sitting in front of me with the camera in his mouth. The beagle had moved it about 60 feet and I would have never found it.

Later in the winter, I was hunting rabbits on private land near Versailles. Smith and Wesson were sitting next to me. The beagles were trailing a rabbit and making an incredible racket. Both labs were shaking with anticipation. I made their wireless electric collars vibrate as a reminder to not move. As the beagles got closer, Smith stood up, moved three feet forward for a better view and sat down. I called him back. Then one of the beagles came into the open field about 20 yards ahead and both labs stood up, took two steps forward and sat down again. Once again, I got them back to my side. The beagles moved off to the right but kept getting closer. The rabbit was going to run out into the open from the right and both dogs knew it. Smith moved forward and in front of me for a better view to the right. I called him back. Then the rabbit broke out of a thick clump of grass about three feet to my right, ran in front of Wesson who took one step forward and caught it, undoing weeks of training.

After this rabbit catching incident, I mostly gave up and would make the labs sit about 10 feet behind me. They would gradually scoot up on their bottoms until they were even with me waiting for the rabbit to appear.

Two years later, I was hunting pheasants in western Kansas with a friend and his French Brittany. We were walking through a long and wide native grass pasture with a large number of yuccas which made excellent habitat for jackrabbits. We flushed one which took off with the three dogs eagerly chasing it. There is something about a jackrabbit dogs can’t resist. I think it is the big ears which the dogs visually lock onto. A young lab can run faster than a jackrabbit but the jackrabbit can execute sharp turns and evasive maneuvers a lab can’t match. All three dogs disappeared over a hill following the jackrabbit but came back a few minutes later.

Before they returned to us, they flushed another jackrabbit and all three dogs disappeared over the hill again. They flushed a third jackrabbit on the way back but this time the French Brittany just watched it run off. Smith and Wesson were just getting warmed up and took up the chase again. We moved on and the labs eventually caught up flushing more jackrabbits and running off at full speed. It was really very funny and amusing. After six chases, Smith and Wesson were bleeding from small puncture wounds on their legs and chests from running into the sharp, stiff yucca leaves. When they flushed the seventh jackrabbit, they just watched it run off. What they really wanted was a cold drink of water and a refreshing swim in a pond or stream in order to invigorate themselves for the next rabbit chase.

I couldn’t accommodate these needs so they walked behind me with tongues hanging out as we continued through the pasture. Actually, this worked out well because when the labs moved ahead it meant there was a pheasant close and I needed to get ready.

Wesson on the left and Smith on the right after finding and recovering my lost camera, which is in Smith’s mouth.

(Photo: David Urich)

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I never had trouble with the labs running after jackrabbits again plus they were much better at not chasing cottontail rabbits running in front of them. I got a lot more shooting at rabbits. By the time they were eight years old, they were excellent at sitting beside me while a rabbit ran in front of them trying to escape the beagles. They still usually saw the rabbit before I did and they would raise their ears slightly when they sighted the rabbit. This was my cue to get the gun up. All my labs were more alert than me on our rabbit hunts for reasons I never completely understood.

Both labs were helpful with beagle management on our hunting trips. Keeping track of six beagles and a basset hound was tough at times especially if the rabbit hunting was poor and I was hunting by myself. The beagles would disperse and finding a silent beagle was sometimes difficult. Smith and Wesson were excellent at tracking down beagles and leading me to them.

The last four weeks of the rabbit hunting season were often difficult, especially when I was hunting by myself. The deer seasons were over and there were an amazing number of unrecovered deer. My beagles easily and frequently found them. Their rabbit hunting stopped and they were silent while snacking on deer parts.

I was hunting on the Davisdale Conservation Area, Howard County, late in the rabbit season when all 7 dogs stopped baying. I had no idea where they were, but I noticed a large native grass field in the distance. I suspected the dogs were in the grass. After I walked to the edge of this field, I had the labs sit followed by the blind retrieve command as I bellowed out, “Find my beagles.” The labs disappeared into the grass and in less than a minute there was growling and snapping as the labs took away whatever the beagles were eating. My dogs never dined well together. I dragged the beagles out of the grass one and two at a time on leashes and tied them to a tree. It took about 30 minutes to round them all up with the help of the labs. Then I called Smith and Wesson who emerged from the grass carrying large deer bones. Typically, I had to move about a quarter of a mile away with the beagles on leashes to keep them from running back.

Eventually Smith and Wesson were too old to hunt and I raised and trained two more labs from puppies. Mrs. Urich named them Weatherby and Remington. I gradually stopped hunting rabbits with beagles as the dogs got older and our sons left home.

Hunting with our sons was the primary reason I had such a large pack of dogs. Our sons, as the family canine technicians, were also responsible for the care and feeding of the beagles and all this work shifted to me. Plus, it was difficult to find someone to care of the dogs when Mrs. Urich and I traveled.

I trained Weatherby and Remington to hunt quail and pheasants but I didn’t have to go through the significant, agonizing effort to teach them to not chase a rabbit running by at full speed. Since I still hunted with others who had pointing dogs, I had to teach them to honor a point which was much easier. Both dogs have significant experience chasing jackrabbits but their enthusiasm for extended and multiple chases is waning. This is excellent because I hunt pheasants in South Dakota where there are lots of jackrabbits. I have to keep a wireless electric collar on Weatherby because he seamlessly transitions from pheasant and quail hunting to chasing deer. But he is getting better at resisting a good deer chase. He is getting old enough to realize chasing deer is a huge waste of energy and there is usually no cold drink of water and pond to cool off in when he is done with an extended, high-speed run, especially on a warm winter day.

Cover - David Urich with Smith and Wesson and some of the beagles plus the basset hound. (Photo: David Urich) Top – David Urich holding up rabbits after a successful hunt with Smith and Wesson and the beagles. (Photo: David Urich) David Urich

Katheryn Louise Paullus: Female Wildlife Conservation Pioneer

Katheryn L. Paullus, the first woman wildlife graduate student in the School of Fisheries and Wildlife at the University of Missouri, died at the age of 100 in Longmont, Colorado on April 16, 2024.

With a particular passion for ornithology, Katheryn began her graduate work in the fall of 1945, compiling one of the earliest research studies involving the bobwhite quail. The only earlier work by a Mizzou scholar, “The Late Fall and Early Winter Food Habits of the Bobwhite Quail in Missouri,” was conducted by Leroy Joseph Korschgen, dated 1946.

Katheryn completed her Master’s thesis in 1947 under direction of the William J. Rucker Professor of Zoology, Dr. Rudolf Bennitt. Her study on “Wing-Length, Molt, and Productivity of Bobwhite Quail in Missouri in 1945 and 1946” was included in Wildlife Review and found worthy of citation over 20 years later in the Rutgers University publication, “The Bobwhite Quail: Its Life and Management” (Rosene, 1969).

Her unpublished manuscript is included in the Walter Rosene Wildlife Collection at the Mississippi State University archives, as well as in Ellis Library at the University of Missouri in Columbia. It is interesting that she obtained much of her study material (quail wings) via the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Nature Knights program. She specifically noted the help and assistance of Dr. Forrest Olin Capps who was chief of MDC’s Education Section at that time.

Katheryn was born February 15, 1924 in Coldwater, Missouri (Wayne County) to Frank and Roxie Paullus. She was the oldest of three children, the fourth generation on the Southeast Missouri family farm that began as a Spanish land grant. The Paullus family worked closely with the University of Missouri Extension and the Missouri Department of Conservation, giving “serious thought and effort to conservation of soil, water, and timber resources.” Her father, Frank, was “one of the first, if not the first, local landowner to place wooded acreage under the Forest Cropland program of the Conservation Commission” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1952).

Early education included attendance in the one-room Paullus School (named after her great grandfather) and charter membership in the Coldwater 4-H Club which began in 1934. In later years, her mother (along with many other conservationists) repented well intended efforts in which she led Katheryn and many other young 4-H members to plant an abundance of multiflora roses, following promotion of the species to control erosion and provide cover and winter food for wildlife. The multiflora rose was later identified as an invasive species.

Graduating from Patterson High School in 1941, Katheryn continued her studies at Park College (now Park University), near Kansas City. After completing her freshman year, she joined her sister at the State Teachers’ College (now Southeast Missouri State University) in Cape Girardeau, for her sophomore year and then transferred to the University of Missouri in the fall of 1942, where she first lived in Albert Hall.

Feature Story

Paullus was a good student at MU often getting grades of S or above on an F to E scale. Her major professor noted that she was dependable, but perhaps a little too industrious for her own good. During undergraduate years, she worked in limnology on a plankton study for Dr. Robert S. Campbell, the school’s first limnologist who arrived in 1944.

In March 1945, before she received her AB, her major professor recommended her for a summer job with the Tennessee Valley Authority, working in their malaria research program. He highly recommended her for the position and said, “We consider Miss Paullus as a clearly superior student, both personally and intellectually, and shall be very glad to have her as a graduate student.” She got the job which was to study the relation of plankton and chemical factors to the production of the malaria mosquito. After her summer internship, her supervisor had this to say, “Miss Paullus’ services have been very satisfactory… She has been somewhat handicapped in her field work by not being able to drive a car very well.”

After obtaining her AB in 1945 and BS in Education in 1947, Katheryn found herself surrounded by male figures in her pursuit of a wildlife career, as depicted in an early photo of the Wildlife Research Unit. Despite being advised by her professors of the lack of employment opportunities for women in wildlife conservation and that the “field of wildlife study is not an easy one in which to locate a woman,” Katheryn persisted. She earned a Master’s degree in Field Zoology in 1947 from the School of Fisheries and Wildlife at the University of Missouri, becoming the first female to do so. When asked about being the only woman in wildlife conservation at Mizzou, she simply said, “I guess nobody thought of it back then.”

Just as predicted, Katheryn found no work openings for a woman conservationist. After graduating from Mizzou, she obtained a position as an instructor at UT Martin (the University of Tennessee Junior College at that time), teaching biology and botany for three years. She moved on to work as a technician in the Medical Division of the University of Tennessee at Memphis and then became a faculty member in botany at Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College).

With an affinity for hiking in the mountains, she moved to Colorado in 1964 and taught biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder before retiring and moving to Longmont.

Although never obtaining a position in wildlife conservation, Katheryn maintained a strong interest in the field, especially with plants and birds. She was a longtime member of the Foothills Audubon Club and served as a field observer as recently as 2021. She remarked, “Although I didn’t find a niche in wildlife work, I still think it terribly important.”

Katheryn Paullus helped lead the way for women studying various fields of conservation in Missouri. Both “Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences” and “Forest Resources” now fall under Natural Resources Science and Management within the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at Mizzou. Each of the following scholars listed were the first females with their respective degrees at the University of Missouri.

• Master’s Degree in Wildlife (Field Zoology) –Katheryn Paullus (1947)

• Master’s Degree in Fisheries – Sandra A. Chambers (1971)

• Master’s Degree in Forestry – Virginia M. Michelbacher (1978)

• PhD in Wildlife – Jane E. Austin (1988)

• PhD in Forestry – Debra Mercein Duncan Crunkilton (1989)

• PhD in Fisheries – Diana Papoulias (2001)

Joe G. Dillard & Mary E. Paullus Bangert

Cover - With a particular passion for ornithology, Katheryn began her graduate work in the fall of 1945, compiling one of the earliest research studies involving the bobwhite quail.  Top - Students and staff of the University of Missouri Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit in 1947. Front Row, l to r: Allen Brohn (student), secretary (name unknown), Katheryn L. Paullus (first female student in wildlife at Mizzou), Kenneth Rowe (student), and Leroy Korschgen (student); Row 2: Ted Shanks (student), Wayne Murray (student), Lester Berner (student), George Acker (student); Row 3: George Arthur (student), Dr. William H. Elder (Associate Professor of Zoology), Dr. Robert S. Campbell (Fisheries Professor), Dr. Paul D. Dalke (Unit Leader), and Dr. Rudolf Bennitt (William J. Rucker Professor of Zoology and Katheryn’s advisor). (Photos: MU School of Natural Resources)

Establishing Prairie Grasses and Wildflowers with Seed

For anyone who sows seeds of green beans, squash, carrots, and other garden vegetables in the spring or summer, the idea of broadcasting seed in the winter can be confounding. But unlike vegetable seeds, which germinate in warm weather, seeds of prairie grasses and wildflowers must go through a cold spell to germinate.

This strategy protects seedlings of perennial grasses and wildflowers. If they were to germinate in summer or early fall, after mature seeds are released from plants and come in contact with soil, they could germinate. However, the tiny seedlings—too young to have developed robust root systems—would likely die in the first hard frost.

Prairie plantings provide numerous benefits, including wildlife and pollinator habitat, stormwater management and stream protection, carbon storage, and of course, beauty. They also provide nutritious, drought-tolerant forage for livestock. Prairie plantings are not a substitute for the remnants of unplowed, old-growth prairie, whose native biodiversity can not be matched with plantings, but prairie plantings—or reconstructions—provide vital habitat for many grassland species, and, established between remnants, help rebuild habitat connectivity on working lands and land in conservation ownership.

The following information provides an overview of establishing a prairie planting from seed. For more in-depth information, Learn more from the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s (MPF’s) Grow Native! program: https://grownative.org/learn/natives-for-gardening/nativegardening-overview/.

Also, consult a Private Land Conservationist in your region with the Missouri Department of Conservation for help creating a planting plan and in-depth information on seeding rates and cost-share opportunities.

Site Preparation

For best results, the soil should be completely free of grass and weeds before planting seed. The best way to do this is by killing existing vegetation either by covering the area for at least two months with plastic or carboard, or with a non-selective herbicide such as glyphosate. At least two herbicide applications are usually required (one in spring and one in late summer) to eliminate existing vegetation. If weeds germinate after the “last” application, spray again in late October or early November on a warm sunny day.

If a layer of thatch (dead vegetation) covers most of the soil, burn or mow and rake the area so the seed will come in contact with the soil when you sow it, but do not till. Do not till: Tilling degrades soil structure and also exposes weed seeds.

Seed Selection

Local seed—for example, collected from original prairies within a certain distance from your site—is usually considered a best management practice, but can sometimes be hard to come by, and even the term “local” is debatable given various site locations. Your goals and/ or funding sources can be the determining factors in your decision about seed provenance. Here in the lower Midwest, numerous Grow Native! professional members sell native seed and are a wealth of information on successful seeding.

Another important factor in seed selection is deciding how diverse your mix will be and how much seed is needed. A diverse planting will be the most resistant to invasion from non-native, invasive plants and more closely resemble unplowed prairie remnants. However, there are also sound reasons for choosing a less diverse mix (including your budget).

How much seed to sow? At least five pounds of wildflower seed and approximately two pounds of grass seed per acre is a generally accepted minimum amount for a planting. While some may consider this too light, various seeding rate studies have shown that over time lighter seeding rates are just as successful as heavier rates. How light a seeding rate can be is not really known, but the above rates provide a good starting point for a planting.

When choosing grasses for a seed mix, some aggressive species might be excluded (or their rates greatly reduced in a mix) until less aggressive native grasses and wildflowers have established. The following native species are usually aggressive in plantings: Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), ashy sunflower (Helianthus mollis), Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) and tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima). Also, avoid cultivated species (cultivars) of grasses, as some may also be aggressive.

There are tools to help calculate seeding rates, such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service seed calculator that calculate seeds per square foot instead of pounds per acre. Seed calculators that measure seeds per square foot have the advantage of accurately accounting for the variability of seeds per pound across all species. This helps eliminate over-planting of certain species while fine-tuning a seed mix.

Cover - A Vicon seeder, with seed ready to be spread, at a prepared reconstruction site at MPF’s Carver Prairie in late winter 2018. The seeder attaches to the back of a tractor or ATV. (Photo: Jerod Huebner)

Top - With more than 120 species documented, this prairie planting at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Prairie Fork Conservation Area is one of the most diverse plantings in the state. (Photo: Carol Davit)

Sowing or Broadcasting Seed

Seed can be sown in several ways, depending on the size of your area. Hand broadcasting works well in areas of one to two acres or less. If you select this method, mix the seed evenly with one bushel of inert material for every 1,000 square feet of planting area. Slightly damp sawdust, vermiculite, potash, ground corn, or other inert material makes it much easier to evenly distribute the seed. Take one-half of the total mix and distribute it evenly over the entire area. Then, take the remaining half and spread it over the same area, walking perpendicular to your first pass. Roll the site with a roller or drive across it with a car or truck to firm the seed into the soil. Do not roll the site if the soil is wet. When planting areas over two acres in size, use a broadcast seeder mounted to an ATV or tractor. Mix the seed with inert material as previously described. Seed drills can also be used to plant seed.

Sow the seeds on the surface evenly in late November through February. Freezing and thawing will help move the seeds into the top of the soil and break seed dormancy. Many of the wildflower seeds will germinate during March and April, but the warm-season grasses won’t germinate until May or June when the soil temperature reaches 60 degrees F. (Wildflower seeds are best sown in the dormant season.

Grasses can be sown until the end of May. Seed mixes usually contain both wildflower and grass species and therefore should be sown from November through February.)

Note: Some seeds also need to be scarified (breaking down the seed coat to allow water to penetrate into the seed) in order to germinate. In the natural world, seeds are scarified a number of ways, including passing through the body of an animal. The process can be mimicked by sanding or nicking the seed coat.

Early Establishment Stewardship

By April, seedlings of wildflowers should be noticeable, with grass seedlings following in May and June. And along with the seedlings—plenty of annual weeds! Unlike perennial prairie plants, which generally invest in root growth before shoot growth, annual weeds “live fast and die young”—they flower and set seed in one year, and usually tower over smaller prairie seedlings.

Seedling growth and vigor can be promoted by removing weed biomass. This reduces competition for sunlight, moisture, and soil nutrients. When a planting is about knee high, mow the area with a mower blade set at 6 inches. Doing so will cut taller annual weeds. Repeat mowing as needed throughout the growing season. Also, scout for any longer-lived invasive plants like Johnson grass and sericea lespedeza. Spot spray as needed. After the second year of establishment, prairie plants should be taller and annual weeds should diminish. The planting can be mowed again as needed. In the third fall/winter, provided there is enough standing vegetation to act as fuel, a prescribed burn will further reduce weeds and benefit the prairie plants.

For more information, watch the recorded MPF webinar on establishing prairie plantings at MPF’s YouTube channel.

Jerod Huebner and Carol Davit

Jerod Huebner is the MPF Director of Prairie Management based in Joplin. Carol Davit is the MPF Executive Director and based in Jefferson City.

"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.

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The Ozark Queen Reigns

Lake Taneycomo long cemented itself as one of the best trout destinations in the country. The best part? It is still great and getting better.

Lake Taneycomo was created with the completion of Table Rock Dam in 1958, thus changing the water source from the White River to the tailwater of Table Rock Lake. It did not take long for it to become a premier trout fishing destination. Its popularity has skyrocketed in recent years, with the landing of two state record brown trout within six months and an increase in overall fish size and quality. Taneycomo’s sustained reign as arguably the best trout tailwater in the nation is remarkable, but no accident.

MDC Efforts

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) stocks ~560,000 rainbow trout and 15,000 brown trout annually in the lake. In 2018, stocking numbers were decreased for rainbows. “The stocking changes implemented in 2018 have greatly improved the quality of the rainbow trout,” said Shane Bush, MDC Fisheries Biologist. Shane is the guru of Lake Taneycomo for the MDC and its efforts.

Since 2018, the density of rainbows over 16-inches has increased four times its starting point. The number of sampled rainbows over 16-inches hit its highest in 2020 and 2021 and is stabilizing around the same, high number since 2022. MDC plans to stock 503,000 total rainbow trout in 2024.

Triploid brown trout, which are sterile and do not go through the reproduction process, have been stocked since 2009. In 2022, MDC changed things a bit by stocking 5,000 triploid Crawford strain brown trout. Crawford strain brown trout tend to be less migratory, so the hope is they are less likely to go over Powersite dam in high water events. MDC plans to stock triploid brown trout yearly for the foreseeable future, with 2,200 planned to be stocked in total this year.

“We expected to see more trophy brown with the triploid stockings and the size structure of the rainbows would increase with decreased stocking numbers, and that is exactly what happened,” said Bush. The future looks great, or even better, according to Bush. “We plan to continue the current stocking regime and monitor annually to determine if changes are necessary.

The combination of the slot limit, decreased stockings, and increased water flows over the past few years have created optimal conditions for our trout to grow larger.”

Pressure and Popularity

Lake Taneycomo’s Trophy Area, from the cable below Table Rock Dam to Fall Creek, requires anglers to release all rainbow trout between 12 and 20-inches. This slot limit, habitat improvements, creel surveys, water quality monitoring and surveillance by agents ensures Taneycomo’s viability as an excellent fishery year after year.

Since the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the number of visitors to the lake has increased. But it’s handling the pressure just fine. “Based on our surveys, there have been no negative changes to the quality of the fishery due to fishing pressure,” Bush said. “They may be tougher to catch, but the quality is still there.”

Phil Lilley, owner of Lilleys’ Landing Resort and Marina on Upper Lake Taneycomo, has seen a huge increase in trophy sized trout over the last few years. “When we purchased the resort in 1983, there was already an ongoing discussion within the fishing community about the decline in big trout,” Lilley said. “People thought the scud population was decreasing due to pollution, but in hindsight it was the huge increase in stocking numbers at the time—too many trout and not enough food.” Now, there are trophy trout documented at Lilleys’ Landing almost daily in the summer months.

Phil Lilley and the great people at Lilley’s Landing became dedicated to maintaining the trophy number of trout in Lake Taneycomo. “In the mid-1990s, Branson Trout Unlimited implemented a trophy release program to award a pin and certificate to every angler who released a 20-plus inch fish,” said Lilley. “After the chapter closed, we continued and improved the practice, adding more incentives for releasing trophy trout.”

Any angler who catches and releases a 20-inch or larger trout on Lake Taneycomo receives a special patch, certificate, pin, and recognition on Lilleys’ social media sites. They have created tiers to the trophy recognition, having a 24 and 27-inch club, and the coveted Taneycomo Hall of Fame, reserved for anglers who catch and release a trout over 30-inches. As of early 2024, there are 26 members of the Taneycomo Hall of Fame.

It is incredibly rare to catch a 30-inch trout, let alone release one alive. Having 26 entries since 2019 is an incredible testament to the quality of fish in Lake Taneycomo, and the amazing effort from Lilleys’ Landing to promote catch and release.

This is especially important since there are more guides on the lake than ever before. With most booked daily from May-October, incentivizing catch and release of trophy fish is paramount to keep the size trending upward. “I’m sure there will be a point the growth and number of trophy trout levels off, but we have not seen it yet,” Lilley said. “There are many variables that affect the health of Lake Taneycomo.”

Record Potential

Lake Taneycomo has staked a claim on the state record brown trout for decades, with the most recent being caught by retired guide Bill Babler of Shell Knob in September 2019. The behemoth fish measured 41.25-inches and tipped the scale at 40-pounds 6-ounces, just over 2-pounds shy of the world record. Paul Crews of Neosho caught a brown in February 2019 weighing 34-pounds 10-ounces. His record lasted only six months. There have been a few sightings of a giant brown over the last year that would likely topple Babler’s current record.

These truly world class fish have lessened in population since then, but large trout remain—and are growing as you read this. “Lake Taneycomo has all the ingredients to grow truly large rainbow and brown trout,” Bush affirmed. “With the increases in size being seen, a new state record rainbow being caught is highly possible in the next few years.” Since 2022, six rainbows over 30-inches have been recorded by Lilleys’ Landing, with one not surviving. People are not catching 30-inch rainbows in the lower 48 with regularity like they are on Lake Taneycomo.

“I believe we can grow a world record brown trout in Lake Taneycomo with the continuation of the triploid brown stockings,” Bush believes. “Within the next 6-8 years, it is definitely possible Taneycomo will take the title from New Zealand.”

Right - Lauren Plunkett with a trophy brown on Taneycomo. Left - The author with a 23-inch brown caught in July 2023. (Photos: Ryan Miloshewski) Ryan Miloshewski

12 Signs You Should Harvest More Does

How many does should you harvest? It’s a perennial question for our organization and many deer hunters. Here are 12 signs to look for that indicate you need to take more than you have been.

Managing deer populations for optimal health is about balance, as depicted in the scene above. If deer numbers are in balance with available forage and cover, or if available forage outweighs deer numbers, little or no doe harvest is necessary. But few hunters or deer populations are in that condition. If the scales tip toward heavy deer numbers, quality forage grows scarce. Doe harvest combined with habitat improvement prevents the scales from tipping in that direction.

Full Buck Tags, Empty Doe Tags

One of the best ways to manage doe harvest across time is a very simple one: Take a doe for every buck you kill. In some places, hunters need to take two does for every buck until they get caught up. But if you always take at least one doe per buck, you’ll likely never deal with an unbalanced buck:doe ratio or deer density that’s too high for available food. (Deer in some areas, such as northern New England and fringe whitetail habitat in the western U.S., aren’t productive enough to warrant a doe harvested for every buck, but these areas are the exceptions rather than the rule.)

If you can think back over recent hunting seasons and recall all the buck tags you punched, but you can’t remember the last time you tagged a doe, that’s a good sign you need to take more does where you hunt. Only 41% of hunters shoot a deer annually, and only 18% shoot more than one. That leaves a lot of unused doe tags each year.

Rattling and Grunt Calls Rarely Work

If you rattle antlers until your knuckles are skinned and grunt until you are hoarse without drawing a response from bucks, you probably need to take more does. First of all, there may not be many bucks in the area if they’ve been hit hard for many seasons. But in normal populations, bucks respond to sounds of fighting and grunting because they need to compete for breeding opportunities. When the adult buck:doe ratio favors does, a buck doesn’t have to hunt for long to find the next estrus doe and breeding opportunity. I mean, why fight if you don’t have to?

Where I hunt in Georgia, we used to have this problem. As we began to harvest an appropriate number of does while passing up a few yearling and 2½-year-old bucks, we balanced the buck:doe ratio. One of the first rewards was seeing bucks charge through the brush in response to rattling antlers and grunt calls.

Browse Lines

An obvious and glaring warning sign that gets overlooked often: a browse line in the woods. Strangely enough, they seem to hide in plain sight, because most people don’t even notice them until they’ve been shown. Simply, a browse line results when deer have inadequate forage and strip most green plant material from the ground to the highest point they can stretch to reach (or even stand on hind legs). People have sent me trail-camera photos of interesting deer they wanted me to see, and all I can see is the glaring browse line in the background.

In the worst cases, a browse line looks as if a laserguided, razor-equipped drone flew through the woods, slicing off leaves at a very specific height. Deer will eat mature leaves off tree limbs, strip leaves off vines, and gnaw sprouts from previously browsed stumps. At first they decline to eat most non-native plants, but eventually hunger drives them to choke those down, too. Of course, this destroys fawning cover, nesting cover and brood-rearing cover at the same time.

This is up there with the worst red flags you can see. You have too many deer and not enough food. You need to reduce deer numbers while increasing forage through habitat management until browse lines vanish.

Older Does in the Harvest

If you are already taking a few does, their jawbone age can help you determine if you need to take even more or maybe less. If there are a lot of really old does in your harvest, it’s a sign that does are living a long time and stacking up numbers in advanced ages. It’s a sign doe harvest is lagging behind deer productivity.

Our Deer Steward classes teach a specific guideline where this is concerned. As long as hunting effort (man hours per season) and fawn recruitment rates are similar, your doe harvest should include around 25 to 30% does that are 4½-plus years old. Less than 20% is a sign of a really young population, and you may be over-harvesting does. More than 40% and you may be under-harvesting them.

Kidney Fat

Healthy deer build up and maintain body fat that is especially important for winter survival. The abdominal cavity is the first place fat stores accumulate, so when you field-dress deer in fall, you should see ample fat in the pelvic area, under the spine, as well as under the skin.

In fact, the percentage of fat covering the kidneys is a reliable indicator of health that scientists can actually measure.

You can just measure with a quick glance. If you can barely recognize or locate the kidneys because they are encased in deep globs of fat, that’s a great sign! On the other hand, if the kidneys are naked or only sparsely covered in fat, that deer is not in great health or prepared for winter. If this is a common diagnosis among deer harvested in your area, take more does, and improve the habitat. Food Plot Cages

Put a simple browse exclosure in every one of your food plots. If the wire cage fills up with forage, but there’s only crop stubble and deer tracks outside the cage, then you don’t have enough deer food in that season and maybe all year long. This is one of the easiest tests you can do to learn if you need to reduce deer numbers through increased doe harvest. You can also place these cages in forested areas to measure browse pressure on natural forage.

Deer are Eating Crap Forage

Scouting for deer sign usually means looking for tracks, beds, rubs, and scrapes. If it’s not part of your scouting routine, you should also add signs of browsing on plants. Not only can you learn what deer are eating, you can learn if their diet is a sign of trouble. If deer are eating low-quality, tough-to-digest plants or plant parts, it’s a sign you have too many deer for available food.

This chronic condition can be a problem all year long in the worst situations, or it might only be a problem part of the year. Winter, for example, is the season of lowest food availability. Green forage is gone, and deer rely on woody browse like dormant buds and stems. But if winter browse is lacking, they’ll eat really poor foods, like cedar and conifer needles, or non-native plants like English ivy and Chinese privet.

You don’t want to see signs like this in any season. If you’re seeing it all year long, then you really have a problem. Tip the scales toward balance by reducing deer density and increasing forage and browse availability.

The Rut is a Dud

Do you witness bucks chasing does each fall? Are there lots of rubs and scrapes in the woods? What about buck fights? If the rut arrives and departs each fall without you witnessing these indicators, you might need to harvest more does.

These rut behaviors we witness as hunters are motivated by competition among bucks to locate, tend and breed estrus does. That’s why they fill the woods with sign of their presence and breeding status. That’s why they vocalize and chase after does. That’s why they are irritated by the presence of other bucks. But when does outnumber bucks significantly, less competition is required. A buck can easily find estrus does because plenty are available and few other bucks are around to grab them first. Taking more does to balance the buck:doe ratio will help intensify the local rut and make bucks more visible to you.

By the way, this is also why you should ignore people who advise stockpiling or protecting does to “draw more bucks to the area.” That’s bad advice that doesn’t work.

Non-Native Plants Rule

If the land where you hunt is infested with non-native plant species – like thickets of Chinese privet, autumn olive, multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, English ivy, cogongrass or a long list of others – then the carrying capacity for deer is very low. Deer won’t eat most of these species, and the ones they do eat are very poor quality forage.

Until you control these species, they’ll continue to dominate openings and suppress valuable native forages. You’ll need to maintain deer densities fairly low to maintain deer health, so doe harvest is important. But the sooner you control non-natives and begin restoring the native plant community, the sooner you can support more deer in good health.

Internal Parasites Are Abundant

Just like humans, deer are less able to fight off diseases, infection and parasites when they are in poor health. They just don’t have the physical constitution for their natural immune defense systems to operate effectively.

If you commonly find abdominal worms, stomach worms, lung worms, liver flukes, or other internal parasites when field-dressing your deer, that’s a sign you need to take more does.

Tick-Infested Deer

Speaking of parasites, ticks can also be a good indicator of an imbalance between deer and habitat. Do you see fawns with eyes encrusted shut by ticks? Do you see deer with the fringes of their ears gnawed away by ticks, or bucks sporting fat ticks on their antlers? Doe harvest might very well be a solution.

As with any other parasite, deer are more vulnerable to tick infestations when they are not in the best health to begin with. Also, deer serve as a stage in the tick life cycle. The higher the deer density, the higher the tick reproduction. This is why ticks and cases of Lyme disease are more abundant in suburban areas or any woodlands where deer are not managed through hunting.

A great combination for fighting ticks is doe harvest combined with a good prescribed fire plan. For obvious reasons, prescribed fire sets back tick densities. As long as deer density is also reduced, ticks have a hard time thriving.

You Hunt in a CWD Management Zone

A CWD Management Zone is a unique situation where habitat, food, rut factors and similar considerations are now less important. Maintaining a low prevalence rate of chronic wasting disease in local deer is the priority. Keeping deer density at a healthy level not only slows deer-to-deer spread of CWD but also maintains deer health and productivity at optimal output. The long-term sustainability of hunter harvest depends on this health and productivity.

We can continue to enjoy productive hunting in CWD zones for the foreseeable future as long as hunters work to help fight the disease, slow the spread, and support herd health. Adequate doe harvest is a key ingredient. So, if you hunt in a CWD management zone, follow your state wildlife agency’s guidance on doe harvest. Fill your doe tags whenever you can, and submit each harvested deer for CWD testing.

Lindsay Thomas Jr. Lindsay Thomas Jr. is the National Deer Association's Chief Communications Officer. He has been a member of the staff since 2003. Prior to that, Lindsay was an editor at a Georgia hunting and fishing news magazine for nine years. Throughout his career as an editor, he has written and published numerous articles on deer management and hunting. He earned his journalism degree at the University of Georgia.

Cover - Noppadol Paothong

Top - Not a good sign: Food plot cages full of forage but surrounded by dirt. Deer in this area do not have enough forage.  (Photo: National Deer Association)

The Wanderer's Comeback in Missouri

Hi Bob. Can we talk? I asked, genuinely nervous. I had only been a Raptor Rehabilitation and Propagation Project, Inc. (now the World Bird Sanctury) intern for 3 weeks. Who was I to tell the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) release coordinator I didn’t want the job he offered me? A week before, Bob asked me to help him with monitoring hacked Barn Owls with backpack transmitters. It was late June 1985. I was 23, fresh out of college, and I’m sure my voice was wavering under the pressure.

“I hate to do this to you, but I just found out the Project (we all used this shortened version for the original name of World Bird Sanctuary) is going to be hacking Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) in downtown St. Louis.” The word “Peregrine,” by the way, means “wanderer” in Latin.

It’s quite the appropriate name, for in the raptor world they are the long-distance migration champions. Birds hatched within the Arctic Circle sometimes show up at the southern tip of South America.

I heard disappointment in Bob’s voice when he said, “Gosh, I already started to train you.” There was an awkward silent moment that seemed to last an hour. Then, “Well, I know Walt (that’s Walt Crawford, founding director of The Project) is looking for hack site attendants. I guess I can offer the Barn Owl job to another intern.” I felt like hugging Bob, but settled for a hearty handshake and many thank yous. The Project’s Barn Owl work helped bring the species from endangered in Missouri to “species of least conservation concern” currently.

Through a college buddy and my Ornithology class at West Virginia University, I had grown much passion for Peregrines and their continental fight against extinction. Now, I was embarking on a cutting-edge yet decades-old technique that would ultimately help remove them from the Federal Endangered Species list in 1998.

“Hacking” is the process of releasing a raptor that was raised in captivity to the wild. Falconers developed the technique, allowing a young raptor that trusts humans to train itself to hunt. The process starts by placing the pre-fledgling, already-feeding-on-its-own raptor in a large, wooden box which has a conduit bar window that can eventually be opened or removed. The window allows the youngster to view the terrain it will eventually be flying around in. The box is built and placed so the falconer can approach the box and drop food in without the young raptor knowing the falconer is there. Feeding in the box for 7-10 days allows the bird to understand the box provides food. Once the falconer knows the bird has grown old enough to fly, the conduit window is opened, so the bird can fly free. When a raptor fledges, or leaves its nest, it doesn’t have the flight skills to catch prey on its own. The parent birds, or in hacking, the box, provides food during this time. Flying on its own in the wild allows the bird to gain the musculature and maneuverability to catch its own prey. Once the falconer knows the bird is killing prey, he/she will re-capture the bird and then retrain it to trust him/her. Of course, with wanting hacked Peregrines to survive in the wild, there’s no pre-fledgling human trust training or recapturing the birds once they are hunting on their own, but all the other steps above are the same. In fact, humans are hardly involved with birds that will be hacked to the wild, since we want them to be wild and independent of humans. Planned-to-be-hacked birds are either raised by their captive parents or with other similar aged, same species birds, so they grow up knowing what they are.

Back to June of ’85. Tony, the chief Peregrine hack site attendant, crawls through a hatch door on the back of hack box, which is perched on the 11th floor of the Pet, Incorporated building in downtown St. Louis. Tony hand captures one of the two male Peregrines in the box and hands the bird out to me. Suddenly my feet don’t feel like they are touching the ground. I don’t want to take my eyes off this incredible feathered missile, this fastest of all creatures on earth. Learning about them, how and what they hunt for prey, and their plight did not prepare me for this moment, but I wasn’t blaming anyone.

I was thinking more along the lines of, “If my college professors could see me now!” The stinging bite, penetrating the leather glove on my left hand, snapped me back to reality. Boy, can Peregrines ever bite hard!

During the breeding season, or when they are upset, Peregrines are vocally loud, so I can hardly hear what Tony is telling me. I was glad he explained everything well before he handed me a bird. Tony grabs the other bird in the box and hands it to Cheryl, the person who’ll spend the next month with me, sitting under a tree on the Arch grounds, monitoring the young falcons. A minute later, Tony takes off the false transmitters, affixed to the left leg of each bird, and replaces them with functioning transmitters, so we can track the birds in case we lose sight of them. Affixed to the right leg of each screaming bird is an aluminum and numbered, United States Geological Service band. This band officially registers the bird with the Bird Banding Lab, the organization that keeps tabs on bands that are seen or found, so we can gain longevity and travel knowledge on “The Wanderers.” While Tony is working, Walt and Pet maintenance personnel take the conduit window off the hack box front that faces the Arch grounds. After the transmitters and bands are on each bird, Tony crawls back into the box.

I hand him my bird, and he places it behind a baffle in the box, built specifically for this moment. Tony does the same with Cheryl’s bird, then loosely tapes a piece of cardboard over the baffle entrance and exits the box. Remember, the birds had been fed in the box for about 10 days before now. Because of the Peregrine food “leftovers,” the box is not smelling the best. We quickly remove old domestic quail carcasses and place fresh water and food in. Then Tony removes the cardboard that’s over the baffle entrance, shuts the hatch door and we all quickly leave. It’s important the young Peregrines come out from their hiding spot in a calm fashion. Yes, they can now fly, but we want them to take their first flight without being scared into it.

I kept a journal of all my observations, which I still have. We called these young males Alpha and Beta, since they were the first Peregrines ever hacked by the Project. Their first flights were clumsy, likened to a human baby taking its first steps. Unlike little humans, Peregrines gain their mobility skills quickly, and on the third day they each made their first flights back to the box for food. That’s a major milestone for any hacked bird, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

Feature Story

The Project went onto hack Peregrines in 4 locations in the St. Louis area, hacking a total of 40 birds before we finally achieved our goal, which I’ll explain later. What made the Peregrine an endangered species? It was because of the pesticide Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, more commonly known as DDT. This chemical was broadcast sprayed over areas that produced mosquitoes. DDT was great at killing this bothersome and disease transmitting insect. With broadcast spraying though, the majority of the pesticide went onto the ground or into the water. From the tiniest organisms to the birds Peregrines eat, DDT worked its way up the food chain. When it entered a female Peregrine’s body, it interfered with her ability to form a stout eggshell. Pre-DDT eggshells were easily strong enough to support the weight from the incubating female. During DDT spraying, the eggs broke under the weight of the female. Many generations of Peregrines died before they hatched, and as the older birds died without being replaced, so did the species. By the early 70s, 1 of the 3 subspecies of Peregrines in the U.S. (F.p. anatumi) became extinct in the wild. DDT was banned from use in the United States in 1972, but Peregrines remained endangered. Luckily there were many falconers in the country that had captive breeding pairs of Peregrines, and the youngsters from these parents helped fuel many a hacking project.

She was defending her chick; a chick whose egg she laid and incubated. It was the first chick hatched in the wild in over 80 years. The goal of any hacking project is to establish a wild, breeding-on-its-own, population. World Bird Sanctuary achieved that goal through the generosity of Southwestern Bell and many other organizations, lots of hard work and persistence.

Let’s take one more trip back to May 1991. Walt, his son Brian and I are standing in an office on the 32nd floor of the tallest building in downtown St. Louis; the Southwestern Bell building, then name changed to the AT&T building and now named the Beacon. The office belongs to Ann Goddard, president of the Southwestern Bell board of directors. Ann got the organization involved with hacking Peregrines. The year before Walt convinced Ann to place a Peregrine nest box on her office balcony, since with all the Peregrines WBS hacked over the previous six years, the chances were increasing that a nesting pair would soon take up residence. Brian and I walked onto the balcony, and a very angry, adult female Peregrine Falcon, which was hacked by WBS several years before, yelled and swooped at us many times.

Currently I’m the lucky guy that monitors the eastern Missouri Peregrine nesting population, and am happy to report there are 7-8 nesting pairs in the greater St. Louis area, and at least three other pairs nesting on Mississippi River cliffs and bridges from Alton, IL to Hannibal, MO. In May and June one of my jobs is to place bands on the chicks produced by these nesting pairs. I don’t consider it a job, though, even if the adult female sometimes strikes my helmet many times as I collect and then replace the chicks before and after banding. All the abuse only makes me love and respect even more this incredible raptor, and the conservation effort that brought it back from near extinction.

Cover - This female named Aurora, hatched and banded as a chick atop the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, in 2008, continues to nest at Washington University's Medical School near St. Louis's Forest Park.

(Photo: Jeffrey S. Meshach)

Top - The bands Jeff places on the left leg allows researchers to gain longevity and travel knowledge about Peregrines. Jeff banded this female in May 2023 at Ameren Missouri's Rush Island Energy Center, and she was photographed here in February 2024, 80 miles SE of Dallas TX. (Photo: Danny Pickens) Jeff Meshach

Girlfriend Getaway to Big Cedar Lodge and Top of the Rock

Girls just wanna have fun –and five of my high school classmates and I did just that during a girlfriend getaway last October to Big Cedar Lodge and its sister property Top of the Rock, in Ridgedale, just south of Branson.

We graduated from Springdale (Ark.) High School back in 1967, but just because our hair is turning silver and our joints are getting stiffer doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy getting together and having a good time. Although some of us hadn’t seen one another for decades, we picked right up as if we had never lost touch – so much laughing and talking and reminiscing. And we picked an excellent place to do it – Johnny Morris’s wonderland of worldclass attractions around the Branson area. Morris is the founder of Bass Pro Shops.

Booking adjoining rooms at Big Cedar Lodge worked out perfectly for the six of us. We could sit around the table, sipping wine and snacking, for late-night gab fests. There was so much to see and do right around the resort, that we barely made it into Branson proper.

We bought combination tickets at Top of the Rock for the self-guided Lost Canyon Cave and Nature Trail electric cart tour, which also included admission to the Ancient Ozarks Natural History Museum and to Dogwood Canyon, a nearby 10,000-acre nature park. The Lost Canyon tour was so much fun that all agreed that even if we didn’t make it to the other attractions, that tour alone was worth the ticket price.

After lunch at Arnie’s Barn, we toured the mind-boggling museum, visited the beautiful wedding chapel, watched the sunset cannon and bagpipe ceremony, and wound up the day with appetizers on the patio at the Buffalo Bar, enjoying the stunning views of Table Rock Lake.

My classmates came from California, Florida, Kansas and Arkansas to gather here in the Missouri Ozarks. For most, it was their first visit to the resort, and they were blown away by the world-class facilities, not to mention the stunning natural beauty of the Ozarks region, especially while it was dressed in its fall foliage finery.

During that October tour, we could see the preparations being made for the upcoming Nature at Night Holiday Light Tours, which kicked off last November and December. I rounded up my sisters and we went to Top of the Rock to do the holiday lights tour, and it was absolutely top notch. We also enjoyed the holiday lights trail at Big Cedar. Together, the sister resorts will be decked out with more than four million lights this holiday season. So if you’re looking for something special to do during the holidays, look no further than the winter wonderland at Big Cedar Lodge and Top of the Rock.

Home for the Holidays

From November 6 to December 31, the Home for the Holidays festivities at Big Cedar and Top of the Rock will include a variety of activities and programming.

The Nature at Night Holiday Light Tours on the Lost Canyon Cave and Nature Trail feature a festively lit journey along a 2.5-mile trail that meanders through Ozarks cave systems, under waterfalls, and across Amishbuilt covered bridges. The light displays portray historic Native American scenes alongside traditional holiday vignettes, with lots of wildlife, too.

Big Cedar offers an outdoor ice skating rink with a large lighted tree. Skating after dark amid the twinkling lights is a holiday memory in the making. Craft classes and cocktail-making courses offer something for all ages. Youngsters will especially enjoy breakfast with Santa, baking workshops with Mrs. Claus, and bedtime stories with Santa’s elves. The Grinch is reportedly planning to host an Ugly Sweater Party with green pancakes, green hot chocolate and grouchy crafts.

Nearby attractions

Nature lovers can head to nearby Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, another Johnny Morris property, near Lampe. With miles of hiking, biking, horseback riding and tram tour trails, plus trout fishing, museum displays, a mill demonstration, waterfalls and more, the park offers something for all ages. The two-hour, open-air tram tour takes you through the preserve and into Arkansas, past elk and bison herds. Of course, there is also a restaurant where you can fuel up for the next activity. At Dogwood Canyon, conservation is their mission. Visitors enjoy a carefully maintained landscape while learning about conservation and interacting with nature up close.

If you have time to go farther afield, head north to Springfield to visit the award-winning Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium, on the campus of the flagship Bass Pro Shop. For that matter, there is plenty to see and do within the giant retail outlet –huge aquarium tanks, flowing streams, several small museums, a shooting gallery, and a top-notch restaurant, Hemingway’s. You could easily spend a fun day at Bass Pro without even shopping – but most people enjoy the retail therapy, too.

Between Branson and Springfield, take a detour in Ozark to visit Finley Farms, another sister property. This restored mill on the Finley River is part of a sprawling gathering place that includes the Ozark Mill Restaurant, a riverside wedding chapel, other event venues, and an urban farm.

Conservation is the theme

What do all these venues have to do with conservation, you might be asking. The not-for-profit Johnny Morris Conservation Foundation is one of the most significant conservation foundations in North America. It reflects Johnny Morris’s passion for advancing conservation by honoring the traditions of hunting and fishing. The foundation operates many significant conservation attractions, which provide special destinations for friends and families to enjoy and learn about the great outdoors.

An example is the Ancient Ozarks Natural History Museum at Top of the Rock. The museum, which celebrates the people, wildlife and history of the Ozarks, houses one of the largest private collections of Native American artifacts anywhere; it is truly jaw-dropping. The experience is a powerful tribute to Native Americans, the first conservationists. The museum displays were developed in partnership with a council of tribal leaders from across the country. As Morris is quoted in the final hall of the museum, “We all live downstream.” A powerful reminder and lesson.

Cover - The lighted ice skating rink at Big Cedar Lodge is a place to make memories. (Photo: Barbara Gibbs Ostmann) Top - This lighted stag is one of many wildlife vignettes along the Holiday Lights Trail at Top of the Rock. (Photo: Big Cedar Lodge) Barbara Gibbs Ostmann

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Bass Pro Shops® is proud to serve the sportsmen and women of Missouri. Since our doors first opened in 1972, we have remained dedicated to the conservation and enjoyment of our resources in the state we call home.