Outdoor Guide Magaziine January-February 2021

OUTDOOR

GUIDE

January-February 2021

MAGAZINE

So long, Joel Vance... Page 6

Wildlife plates.......... Page 2

Winters past............ Page 4

Hunt results............Page 11

It’s shed time!.........Page 14

Groundhog’s Day......Page 17

30 CELEBRATING

YEARS

HUNTING • FISHING • CAMPING • BOATING • SHOOTING • TRAVEL Missouri - Illinois - And Other Exciting Outdoor Destinations

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Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

Wildlife artist adorns state’s plates

As an unapologetic advocate for the outdoors, I should have signed up for custom license plates as soon as the Conservation option was available. I am more than happy to donate to the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation, but paying any additional money to the state Department of Revenue is not really my style.

Then Missouri came out with our new Bicentennial Edition license plates, and while I hate to cast aspersions on the individual responsible for the design, there had to be a whole committee of people who looked at them and said, “Yeah, that’s the best we can do.”

Maybe on a 25-inch computer monitor or in a PowerPoint presentation with slide show explanation, the components all come together nicely. On a car bumper, even sitting still, they leave a lot to be desired. Trying to figure any of it out at 55 mph is a lost cause.

UH, WHICH STATE? Red, white and blue is a reasonThe bluebird, buck and able color scheme for our 1821bald eagle are options 2021 bicentennial celebration, for Missouri residents but everything else in the display looking to show their sup- fails to deliver. Apparently the port for conservation and wavy lines at the top and bottom pride in their home state. symbolize the rivers that have been

a vital part of our state for all 200 years.

The official seal of the state of Missouri as the main artwork faded in the background replaced the outline of the state on the old license plates. There is no way anyone other than a few state scholars would recognize it, and because of its subtle appearance, there is no way to tell which of the 50 official state seals it might be without microscopic inspection.

But the worst part of the new design, which I suspect we will have to live with for the next 10 years or so, is the size of the print for the word Missouri. Take a look at any other state’s license plate and the name stands out prominently. It’s like they’re proud of where they’re from.

A CONSERVATION RESCUE Fortunately, well-known wildlife artist Al Agnew and the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation have offered a solution.

New designs for specialty plates were revealed in 2020, using images of a bluebird, bald eagle and white-tailed deer that Agnew created and donated.

“The idea for my art to be on the license plates came about years ago via my long-standing relationship with the Missouri Department of Conservation,” Agnew said. “One of their employees eventually went on to head the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation, and he contacted us to see if we would be interested in working with them on a wildlife license plate.”

With a long history of support for conservation issues, Agnew and his wife, Mary (Wolk) Agnew of Ste. Genevieve County donated rights to the images to the foundation as another way to offer financial support to the natural resources of the state.

“Over the years, I am proud to say that my artwork has garnered over $5 million for conservation projects across the U.S. and Canada,” Agnew said. “Why not have some of those funds stay within the state of Missouri?”

IT JUST TAKES $25 A minimum $25 annual contribution to the state’s conservation heritage fund is required to order the specialty license plates. If you want to get two-year plates the donation is $50.

The foundation helps fund natural resource conservation and outdoor recreation. The group is separate from the Department of Conservation but does provide financial assistance to projects that protect forests, streams and wildlife resources.

“I have been very fortunate to get to travel the U.S. extensively

during my career and have worked with conservation agencies in many states,” Agnew said.

“Without a doubt, Missouri has the best in the U.S.Anything we can do to help support conservation efforts in our home state, we are Al Agnew adorned state plates. in.”

Following a donation to the foundation, those seeking specialty plates receive an Emblem Use Authorization (EUA) form to submit to the local license office. The EUA can be received anywhere conservation department permits are sold, including online, over the phone, by mail and from any licensed vendor such as sporting goods stores or conservation department offices.

The specialty license plate form is available online from the state Department of Revenue or from the local license office.

After completing the forms, they are mailed to the state along with the EUA and $15.

EXPIRING IN JULY Conservation plates can be ordered at any time, but all specialty license plates in Missouri expire in July. For more information visit mochf.org or call the Conservation Heritage Foundation at (573) 634-2080 or (800) 227-1488.

The three Agnew images on the new Missouri Conservation license plates first appeared on larger original works of art. Original paintings and fine art prints by Agnew can be found on his website, www.alagnew.com.

“The bluebird was called ‘Fencepost Blue.’ The whitetail is from a painting called ‘In the Open’ and the eagle is ‘Illumination,’ ” Agnew noted.

The deer, bluebird and eagle artwork is outstanding, and as a nice touch, you can read the state name on your license plates.

John J. Winkelman is director of marketing and sales at Liguori Publications. If you have news for Outdoor Guide Magazine, email ogmjohnw@aol.com and you can follow John on Twitter at @johnjwink99.

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January-February 2021

Back when winter was really winter

By BRENT FRAZEE

called off.

All for five inches of snow!

I hate to sound like a grumpy old man who starts his stories with the words, “Back in the day…” but I’m going to do it anyway.

I grew up in a place where winter was really winter. A five-inch snow was called

I always smile when Missouri residents act like the world is coming to an end when it starts snowing.

They load up on groceries, they are afraid to drive anywhere, and they stay home as school and work are

a dusting.

Back in Illinois and Wisconsin – where I spent much of my life – snow, bitterly cold wind chills and ice were part of life. Winter was considered a friend, not an enemy.

Instead of retreating inside for weeks on end, we were out in the elements, loving life on the tundra, as we called it. I remember snowmobiling across Wisconsin lakes such

as Winnebago at high speeds, the wind numbing my face.

You think you know wind chill? Try doing that.

IN THE SHACK… We often were headed for our ice-fishing shack, one of many arranged in neat rows.

We followed “streets” that had been plowed on the ice and knew where to turn by following street signs. Our shack even had an address.

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There were so many shacks on the ice in those days that it looked like a small village.

We had a heater in our shack and an old sofa overlooking a row of holes we had drilled in the ice. We used short icefishing rods to dip small ice jigs tipped with live bait into the cold water.

The fish were sluggish and didn’t want a lot of movement. But if the transducer of the flasher unit we were using picked up activity, we knew we had a chance of catching fish.

I remember days when we had a pile of yellow perch and walleyes on the ice by the time we were done. But the catching almost seemed secondary to the overall experience.

TALKING FISHING Even when the fish weren’t biting, we would visit the neighbors and talk fishing.

I remember one shack was decorated in an Old Milwaukee beer motif. The residents had a pyramid of empty beer cans on display and used a generator to illuminate an Old Milwaukee bar sign.

Other fishermen had shacks that we looked at as palaces. They had a loft with sleeping quarters and a downstairs with a cook stove and recliners to relax. Some even had a television set to watch the Packers.

Our group always talked about doing something like that, but we never got it done.

Once I graduated from college, I returned to that winter lifestyle when I started writing outdoors for newspapers in Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri.

THE EELPOUT FESTIVAL One experience stands out – the day I covered the International Eelpout Festival in tiny Walker, Minn., on the banks of Leech Lake.

The festival was the work of a marketing genius – a way to lift a lowly rough fish to royalty.

Thousands of people would descend on Walker, set up shacks and fish for the eel-like, bottom-dwelling fish. The festival was dubbed “The Greatest Party on Ice,” and it lived up to its reputation.

When they weren’t fishing, participants were taking part in ice bowling or curling, polar plunges, frozen T-shirt contests and even weddings.

Sadly, the festival had to be canceled last year because of concerns about pollution and ice conditions. Town leaders are trying to come up with a replacement party.

LOST ON THE ICE I also remember the day we traveled by snowmobile to the middle of Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota. We followed a guide and he took us to a spot so vast that we couldn’t see land in any direction. We caught fish from portable ice shelters, including some big walleyes, but we stayed a bit too late.

By the time we were done, daylight was fading and our guide became a bit disoriented. We took several paths, including one around some nasty looking heaves in the ice, before he finally led us to shore. It made for a good story, anyway.

I miss those days. Here in Missouri, the weather seldom gets cold enough to go ice fishing or snowmobiling for any extended period of time.

But I return to North Country every once in a while to remind myself of what winter is really like.

When I do, I always think of some of my fishing friends who are relaxing on a beach somewhere in Florida. And I say to myself, “They don’t know what they’re missing.”

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Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

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Ten-day bear hunt begins next Oct. 18

First Missouri bear hunt since the ‘30s

By CARL GREEN Outdoor Guide Editor

Plans are falling into place for Missouri’s return to bear hunting, now scheduled to be offered for 10 days next fall.

The Missouri Conservation Commission, meeting on Dec. 11, adopted rules for the hunt, which is intended to keep a lid on the state’s growing black bear population.

“As our black bear population continues to grow, a highly regulated hunting season will be an essential part of population management in the future,” said Laura Conlee, furbearer biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).

“The timing and length of the season, allowed hunting methods and a limited permit allocation, coupled with a limited harvest quota, will ensure a sustainable harvest of our growing bear population,” she added.

The state’s bear population is estimated at between 540 and 840 in an expanding range connected to larger bear populations in Arkansas and Oklahoma, both of which have bear seasons. MDC estimates

the population is growing about 9 percent a year and could double within a decade without hunting.

“A bear hunting season in our state will provide opportunities for Missourians to participate in the sustainable harvest of this valuable wildlife species,” Conlee added.

ON THE SOUTH SIDE The bears live south of the Missouri River and mostly south of Interstate 44, so the commission is creating three Bear Management Zones, and hunting permits will be limited within each zone.

Zone 1 includes the southwestern corner of the state, between the state line and I-44. The larger Zone 2 is the southeastern portion of the state, reaching as far north as St. Louis County. The largest is Zone 3, in central and western Missouri bordered by the Missouri River on the north and I-44 on the south.

The remaining areas north of the Missouri River are not in a bear management zone.

It will be the first bear season in Missouri since the MDC was founded in the 1930s.

Black bears reach up to 500 pounds in Missouri, MDC reports. They were abundant before European settlement but nearly eliminated by the late 1800s because of hunting and logging. A few Missouri

residents, applying for one of the three zones. A random drawing will be held by July 1 to select permit recipients, who may then buy a hunting permit for $25 for one bear. Hunters must 11 years or older and either have completed hunter education or be exempt by the time of the hunt.

Quotas – The harvest quota will be determined each spring by the Conservation Commission using MDC recommendations, including for 2021.

Landowners – LandownHunters may shoot one bear, and it must be a lone bear. er-specific permits will not be

– MDC photo offered, but at least 10 percent bears survived, though, and blocks with food additives are. of the permits will be allocated reintroductions in Arkansas Protection – Bears may not to owners of at least 20 contigualso increased bear numbers be disturbed, pushed, harassed ous acres within their zones. in Missouri. or taken from a den, and they They may register at mdc. must be lone black bears not in mo.gov/landownerpermits beTHE DETAILS the presence of others. Hunters fore applying for a permit.

Dates – The season will must wear hunter orange, make PROS & CONS begin the third Monday in reasonable efforts to retrieve October, which will be Oct. shot bears and must not leave The Conservation Commis18 in 2021, and cover either edible portions. sion has been holding hear10 consecutive days or until the Checking in – Tele-check- ings, open houses and taking hunt reaches its quota in each ing must be completed by 10 comments from the public for zone. Hunters must call each p.m. on the day of the harvest, more than a year. In July 2019, morning they plan to hunt to and shot bears must be left MDC compiled responses from find out if the quota has been intact as a field-dressed carcass those efforts and found that a filled. Hunting hours are half or quartered until the tele-check majority said the bear hunting an hour before sunrise to a is complete. The hunter must plan was “reasonable” but half-hour after sunset. submit a tooth from each har- also found a majority saying Rules – Hunters may use vested bear within 10 days to the Missouri bear population guns or archery. Use of dogs help MDC staff with research should be allowed to grow. and baiting will not be allowed, and management.

Amanda Good, Missouri including grain, bird feed, pet Permits – The permit ap- director for the Humane Sofood or food powder. Scents plication fee is $10, and the ciety of the United States, and minerals including salt are application period is May 1-31. was among those opposing not considered bait, but mineral Applicants must be Missouri the hunt.

“It’s inconceivable that a governing body with the word ‘conservation’ in it ignored the best available science by voting to open up trophy hunting on Missouri’s small bear population,” she said. “What’s even more disgraceful is the blatant disregard for the many Missouri residents who spoke out against the proposed season and the shameful catering to the extreme minority who want to exploit our wildlife for a bearskin rug.”

Among the final commenters were Kent Keene, representing the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, supporting the plan, and Butler MO resident Jessica Albright opposing it.

Keene saw multiple gains from the plan.

“In addition to the truly exciting opportunity that this will provide for Missouri’s sportsmen and women, the regulated black bear hunt will allow MDC to further rely on Missouri hunters to manage the black bear population, while ensuring the longevity of the species,” he said.

Albright said hunting bears with the state’s current low bear population would be irresponsible, noting that Arkansas has about 5,000 black bears and that the October time frame would coincide with the most popular time for hiking in Missouri.

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January-February 2021

Conservation’s hero, Joel Vance, dies

By BRANDON BUTLER Driftwood Outdoors

One of the most important conservation voices in Missouri history has gone silent, yet his words will live on forever. Joel Vance passed away Dec. 9. His work as a writer for 50-plus years inspired generations to enjoy the natural resources of Missouri and beyond.

He leaves a legacy as a legendary communicator that will stand the test of time. Vance is best known for his time spent with the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Vance’s family released the following statement: “Joel M. Vance passed away peacefully after a short hospital stay. We all got to see him to say our goodbyes in the ICU. He is no longer hooked up to machines. He is striding through an eternally sun-dappled quail field, strong and vibrant once again, a brace of favorite Brit-

tanies, Dacques and Chubby long gone, crisscrossing ahead through the fallen leaves.

“His hand is no longer cramped by stroke; he can pick Doc Watson tunes on his Martin guitar, and his song is pure, voice no longer crackling with age. His fingers fly across the keys; he no longer has to use his voice recognition software to share his insights with his readers. If you read his blog, you’ll know that a release from his concerns about the country that he loved soothes his soul.

We’ll miss him. His readers will miss him.”

ACCOLADES FOR VANCE Vance’s outdoor writing is recognized far beyond the borders of his beloved Missouri. He served as president and board chairman of the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA). He is also one the very few writers to have won three of the

subscribers to Missouri Conservationist magazine watched for his byline. The literary rapport he built with millions of readers came into play when he wrote the entire August, 1975, issue of the Conservationist, explaining what the agency would do if voters approved the one-eighth of one percent sales tax for conservation. They did approve it, and the stable, Joel Vance was a gifted dedicated financial foundation outdoor writer who covered it provides to this day has made Missouri for 50-plus years. Missouri the envy of nature lovers the world over. Some Outdoor Writers Association U.S. presidents have left legaof America’s major awards: cies less significant.”

Excellence in Craft for jourIN HIS WORDS nalistic excellence, the Jade of Chiefs for adherence to In April 2017, I interviewed and support of the principles Vance for an episode of The of conservation and the Ham Conservation Federation Brown Award for outstanding Podcast. It can be found on service to OWAA. the CFM website, www.conJim Low, who succeeded fedmo.org. To wrap up the Joel as a writer for MDC, said, interview, I asked Vance to “Joel became a familiar and give some sage advice to the trusted presence in hundreds next generation of Missouri of thousands of homes where conservationists.

His response was, “Every citizen of Missouri has a stake in the outdoors because it is, in my mind, the number one conservation state in the country and has been for many years.

And I think it is almost a duty of every kid growing up, even in the city or country, it doesn’t matter where, to get educated about the outdoors. There are great education programs the Conservation Department has about wildlife. Learn about the outdoors. Read about it.

Become interested.”

WHITEHEAD VIEW Bobby Whitehead, editor emeritus of Outdoor Guide Magazine, said, “Joel Vance was the best outdoor editor I ever knew. He was my longestrunning columnist in the Outdoor Guide. He was tough and didn’t hold back about how he felt. I’ll miss his honesty and heartfelt love and passion for all the people and places that make the outdoors in Missouri

so special.”

Jim Low, who is one of the most thoughtful outdoor communicators I have ever had the fortune of knowing, admired Vance and cared about him in a special way. Following in his footsteps, Low came to appreciate the work and life of Vance in a way most never could.

Low said, “Writing was always more than a vocation or even a passion for Joel. For him, it was akin to breathing, and continued until the grave claimed his restless pen.”

We should all be so lucky to live a life as full as the one Joel Vance just left behind. Missouri is a better place for having had Vance telling her stories of beautiful places, wonderful people and a conservation ethos without parallel for so many years.

For more Driftwood Outdoors, check out the podcast on www.driftwoodoutdoors. com or anywhere podcasts are streamed.

A great voice for conservation has fallen silent

By JIM LOW Missouri Outdoor Communicators

By now, most of you know that one of the most powerful voices for conservation has fallen silent. Joel M. Vance, treasured friend and mentor to

generations of outdoor communicators, died peacefully on Dec. 9. If I remember right, he was 86.

I am honored and daunted by having been asked to write a remembrance of Joel for MOC Talk. His career, like his personality, was outsized.

OUTDOOR

It would take a book to do justice to his legacy. What I know best about Joel is how he affected me. So I’ll stick to that and trust that what I saw of Joel is representative of his life.

Like most of you, my first exposure to Joel came

GUIDE

January-February 2021

MAGAZINE

HUNTING • FISHING • CAMPING • BOATING • SHOOTING • TRAVEL Volume 29, No. 1 • Published six times a year Office: 505 S. Ewing, St. Louis, MO 63103 News department — 618-972-3744

www.outdoorguidemagazine.com e-mail: news@outdoor-guide.com COVER created by Kathy Crowe, graphic designer.

Carl Green, editor – carl@labortribune.com John Winkelman, associate editor — ogmjohnw@aol.com Bob Whitehead, editor emer. – ogmbobw@aol.com Lynn Fowler, circulation manager Kathy Crowe, graphic designer — Account executives — Dan Braun, marketing director 314-256-4136 Lauren Marshall 314-256-4141 — Regional and specialty editors — Darrell Taylor Ray Eye Brent Frazee Brandon Butler

Curt Hicken Bill Cooper Thayne Smith Steve Jones

Bill Seibel John Neporadny Jr. Rick Story T. J. Mullin

Larry Whiteley Ted Nugent Ron Bice

– In Memoriam —

Joel Vance • Ron Henry Strait • Jared Billings • Charlie Farmer • Richard Engelke • Mark Hubbard • Spence Turner • Hank Reifeiss Kay Hively • Bill Harmon • Barbara Perry Lawton • Danny Hicks • Ron Kruger • TJ Stallings • John Sloan

Scott Pauley Tim Huffman John Meacham Bob Holzhei Jeannie Farmer Jerry Pabst Ryan Miloshewski

— Staff writers —

Claudette Roper Brad Wiegmann Mike Roux Craig Alderman Randall Davis Jo Schaper Jed Nadler

Kenneth Kieser Gerald Scott Russell Hively Roxanne Wilson Gretchen Steele Larry Potterfield Tom Watson

Don Gasaway Terry Wilson Bill Keaton Charlie Slovensky Michael Wardlaw Tyler Mahoney

through the pages of the Missouri Conservationist.

The one thing everyone recognized in Joel was his gift for humanizing any subject.

It didn’t matter whether he was describing a quail hunt, profiling a citizen conservationist, explaining why Missouri needed a conservation sales tax or documenting his own misadventures. His prose always brimmed with the warmth and zest for life that were the hallmarks of his own personality. He had the rare gift of being able to “write funny,” as he put it. His humor emphasized human foibles and the slapstick aspect of outdoor misfortunes.

Joel’s contagious love the outdoors and his insights into human nature earned him assignments from all the nation’s top outdoor magazines, not to mention the patronage of publishers. His lifetime literary output ran to the hundreds of thousands of news releases, magazine articles, monthly columns and books. If outdoor gear retailers had donated one ten-thousandth of one percent of sales that were traceable to Joel’s writing, he would have been a multi-millionaire.

But acquiring wealth was not his top priority. He was born to tell stories and – after the love of his life, Marty, and their children – that’s what he lived for. Writing wasn’t merely a vocation or even a passion for him. It was akin to breathing. Decades after his “retirement,” he continued to entertain, inform and edify readers. Only the grave could still his restless pen.

FIRST MEETING My first in-person encounter with Joel occurred while I was attending his alma mater, the University of Mis-

souri School of Journalism. I desperately wanted to work for the Conservation Department. To that end, I had earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife management. But my grades in math, chemistry and physics guaranteed I would never get into a master’s program.

I was good with words, so I decided that was my best chance of sneaking in the back door at MDC. One day after classes, I drove to Jefferson City and – unannounced – knocked on his office door.

Looking back, the most remarkable thing about that meeting is that he was there.

Joel based his writing less on phone calls and interviews than on personal outdoor experience (a fact that occasionally caused consternation in MDC’s upper echelons).

But he was in the office that day, and I introduced myself and told him I wanted to do what he did.

Dozens of established journalists would happily have sacrificed limbs to have Joel’s job. By comparison, I had little to offer, beyond passion and that wildlife degree. Looking at the scruffy wannabe writer in his guest chair, Joel might have decided

he was too busy to spend an hour with me. But he didn’t.

Instead, he took me under his wing. I came away from the meeting with solid career advice, and I kept in touch during the intervening years.

A decade later, when Joel quit his job (predictably, over a matter of principle), I had the unimaginable good fortune to take up his mantle.

For all that, I was not particularly special. Go to Joel’s Facebook page and read the hundreds of comments following his death notice, and you will discover that he mentored scores of aspiring communicators over the years.

Many of those adoring fans went on to become luminaries in their own rights. Joel wasn’t merely patient with young people who shared his passions. He became their friend, their mentor and promoter. He was as at ease and collegial with bashful 16-year-old admirers as he was with fellow outdoor legends.

Joel wasn’t perfect, but most of his faults also were among his most endearing traits. For example, he wore his heart on his sleeve to an extent that could be burSee GREAT VOICE page 9

Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

Page 7

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Poachers ruin deer camp experience Photos and Text

By BRANDON BUTLER Opening weekend of Missouri’s firearms deer season was a disappointment, to put it mildly. Only one of the six hunters in our camp took a buck. The weather certainly did not cooperate. Rain, wind and lighting all impacted our hunting efforts, but it was the brazen, illegal act of poachers that really ruined the experience we had anxiously waited for all year.

Saturday morning found me more than a mile deep in the forest, high upon an Ozark ridge. This same spot has been good to me over the last few years. It’s a long hike in but usually is worth it to experience the solitude and deer encounters. This year was different.

About 30 minutes after daylight, I heard a stick snap behind me. Sure I was about to lay my eyes on a big buck, I was dismayed to see another hunter working his way down the old logging road I was sitting on.

The nearest access site to this part of the public forest was more than two miles to the east. Obviously, this person had ignored the signs that clearly state motorized vehicles are not allowed. When he saw me, he waved and turned around.

BARRELING DOWN THE RIDGE To one-up that fella, my heart sank when I heard a vehicle headed my way at a rapid pace. Sure enough, a jeep came barreling down the ridge. I stood up in my stand and waved at them, but they didn’t see me. I guess they were driving too fast.

When they were less than 20 yards from me, I yelled, “Hey!” They stopped, complained about how many people were hunting, then turned around and went back the way they came.

Then the dogs started. If you have ever heard the horror stories of packs of hounds running deer through the Ozarks, let me tell you, in some areas it’s worse than you can imagine.

It goes on without regard for the fact that it’s both illegal and ruins the hunting experience for the majority of people out in the woods hoping for a deer to wander by.

With hundreds of thousands of acres of public land around, I still had two packs of hounds run through my 40 acres on opening morning alone. From that point on, the hounds were constant. Pickup trucks with dog boxes just casually cruise into the hollow and release their dogs to run the long drainages and ridges.

ONE TRADITION RUINS ANOTHER The argument is it’s their tradition. Well, it’s illegal for a number of reasons, including the ethics of running deer, but what I’m most concerned with is how it ruins the hunting experience for everyone around who is trying to hunt legally. It ruins our traditions.

I have invested so much time and money in my dream hunting property. I have greatly

Guest Editorial

improved my land’s wildlife habitat. I plant food plots and try to hold deer on and around my place. Then on opening weekend, pack after pack of hounds are released and run everything off. The dogs don’t know property lines and their owners, who do, simply don’t care.

Then the worst of the worst happened. It’s still hard to believe it was real. Four of us were sitting around a campfire on Sunday night.

We’d had a rough weekend but were looking forward to the crowds thinning out on Monday.

It was around 8:30 p.m., so it’d been dark for three hours. We watched a truck roll down the hill leading into the hollow. It drove past my house and out into a private field about 100 yards off my land. They stopped not 50 yards behind my neighbor’s cabin. This field belonged to a man who recently died, so some may have been aware it was not being guarded.

The field lit up like someone had turned on the lights at Busch Stadium. Before we had time to register what was happening, a shot rang out. Then another. The shooter was so close to us, we could see the muzzle flash. We couldn’t understand how this was happening.

They had obviously seen our campfire and knew the lights were on in our neighbor’s cabin. They were overly aggressive in their poaching, with no regard for the two homes within 100 yards of where they were shooting.

A ‘DUKES OF HAZARD’ MOVE We took off down my hill to confront the poachers as they drove out of the field. They didn’t stop at our urging to do so, instead pulling a “Dukes of Hazard” move to speed up around us and flee the hollow. We don’t know what they killed. We looked for deer and blood in the field but didn’t find anything. It’s a large field. We were all left speechless.

One of the guys in my camp, Nathan McLeod, said, “I don’t want to sound like a big softie, but it hurt my soul. I felt so bad for the deer, I couldn’t even hunt the next day. It just ruined the entire hunting experience for me. It’s like the deer don’t have a chance.”

The endless chasing with dogs, road hunting, and spot lighting after dark eliminates the normal defenses of deer. It makes it hard to want to pull the trigger on one legally, because you know the struggle they live with. For an ethical, dedicated hunter, who loves wildlife and works to improve habitat and further the ethical aspect of deer hunting, it’s heartbreaking to know what we are up against. Especially when they rub it right in your face.

DISAPPOINTING TO VISITORS Three people in my camp came from Indiana. They each paid $265 for a non-resident deer license, and this is the experience they’ll take home. We bought groceries, gasoline, a motel room, bullets and more supplies locally.

Our little camp injected thousands of dollars into the local economy. It makes me so sad to see how little that is valued.

If you face a situation like this, remember, Operation Game Thief allows you to make reports anonymously. The number is 1-800392-1111.

Conservation officers and police are ready to act on reports of poaching.

January-February 2021

— Random Shots —

Never a bad time for a float Editor’s note: Following Joel Vance’s death (see Page 6), we are running this column in his regular spot as a tribute.

By JOEL M. VANCE Our kids actually weren’t born in a canoe, but a couple went canoeing before they were born. Our youngest, Amy, was only a month or so from birth when we camped with her on the North Fork River.

On the same river a few years later, she and I turned over in a rapids and she still has vivid memories of bobbing downstream as I held her up and tried to get my footing in the gravel, all the time shouting, “There’s nothing to worry about!”

Of our five children, she is the most reluctant to canoe floater/camp. Wonder why?

But it’s still relatively rare for canoeists to camp overnight on the river. Most are day floaters, out by dusk, which is fine with me.

Any time is fine for a family canoe camp, but September is a transition month. Nights turn cool, daytime temperatures are bearable, especially after the tropical brutality of July and August here in the Midwest. Labor Day has come and gone, along with 90 percent of the summer floaters.

ANY TIME IS GOOD Once, my wife and I canoed with a club from Kansas City on New Year’s Eve on the Current River and had the experience of watching Nancy Jack, a legendary long time Ozark rivers paddler, drift downstream dressed as the new year, oversized diaper and all, while another canoeist exited clad as the geriatric outgoing year. So there is no season out of bounds for a dedicated canoe tripper.

Another time, four of us canoed the Current with our bird dogs, stopping to hunt the bordering fields and fishing for trout as we went. It was about 13 degrees and we got caught in a snowstorm to boot. But we caught trout and found several coveys of quail.

Most states have a guide to their canoe streams. We’ve used guides from Arkansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri and Minnesota – check with the natural resources or conservation departments. Missouri’s many times reprinted guide, Ozark Wilderness Waterways, now not only contains maps and descriptions of Ozark streams, but also floatable north Missouri streams and rivers. Dr. Oscar (Oz) Hawksley wrote the original version, as well as guides for rivers in other states. Oz, a teacher at Central Missouri State University, probably turned more students onto the outdoors than anyone in the history of the state.

THE MISSOURI BOOK His Missouri guidebook has a built-in shelf life, because everyone carries it in the canoe and ultimately either by upset or rainstorm, it gets soaked and unusable, requiring the paddler to buy a new one.

The best guide to family canoe camping is common sense. Assuming there are first-time canoe campers wondering how to go about it, here are a few suggestions that should have the force of law: 1. Keep valuables, a change of clothes and bedding in a dry pack that cannot, under the most extreme conditions, leak. A friend once failed to secure his expensive camera and turned over a few feet short of the gravel bar

we were camping on, instantly creating a paperweight or possibly a trot line anchor.

2. Tie everything in that you don’t want to watch float down the river, never to be seen again.

3. When in doubt, get out and wade the canoe. I confess that after a half-century of floating together, my wife Marty and I turned over on the Niangua River after I failed to follow my own advice. I lost my sunglasses and she dunked her hearing aids, but miraculously they dried out unharmed. It could’ve been a far more costly incident.

4. If an upset is imminent, jump, fall or otherwise exit the canoe and try to keep it upright.

5. And, in the words of a Wyoming leaflet on grizzly bear encounters, “Don’t panic.”

A SIMPLE DRY PACK Here’s a simple and effective dry pack: line a rigid-frame hiking backpack with a couple of heavy garbage bags. The frame keeps the bottom of the pack off the wet bottom of the canoe. Valuables go inside the inner garbage bag, which is sealed (twist the top of the bag, double over and tie with a Twist-Em).

Then seal the second bag and strap the pack itself shut.

Overkill maybe, but if you’ve never faced a long night in a soaked sleeping bag, you haven’t experienced true misery. My Wisconsin cousins assumed they couldn’t turn over. They sat up all night around a campfire in wet clothes. Coincidentally, even though it was June, the temperature dropped to a record low. My sons and I, dry and warm in sleeping bags, enjoyed a good night’s sleep.

I’ve used .50 caliber ammunition boxes for many years. They store cameras, watches, billfolds, and other fragile valuables. Line them with ethafoam, the hard packing material that protects shipped electronics. Make sure the rubber seal of the ammo box is pliable and tight. And an ammo box is no protection if it isn’t shut when you tip over. Ask my friend who took two Pentax cameras for a swim on the Gasconade River.

STARS BEYOND COUNT The secret to stability is to balance the weight in the canoe and keep it low. There is no shame in wearing a life jacket, euphemistically called a “Personal Floatation Device.”

I once rescued a youngster who, not wearing a PFD and not able to swim, waded a bit too far into the Current River and was floundering downstream when I did a running dive and fielded him.

Between the dramatic upsets, though, are years of tranquil drifting down Midwestern streams, running the occasional Class One or, at most, low Class Two riffles.

A Coleman lantern casts tall shadows against the dark trees, gargling its familiar sound. The canoes are overturned in case of rain, tents scattered on the flat spots.

The lantern goes out with a pop! And stars beyond count glitter and wink in the dark of the moon. The calling barred owl can stay up all night if it wants, but I’m going to bed.

No shame in wearing a ‘personal float device’

– Bill Nichols photo

Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

Page 9

Rural Ramblings

Winter is the quiet time of the year

By RUSSELL HIVELY

January and February are the winter months of most outdoorsmen and women. It may be time they like to spend outdoors, but fishing is slowed by bad weather and most hunting seasons are over. Still, just the sound of the wind in the bare branches, a cock cardinal bragging to the world, or the glimpse of a doe bounding from your approach are special and worth any outing. *** If possible, drive the dirt roads of Missouri. Get some mud or dust on that new, shiny pickup and see what nature really looks like. *** White-ribbon fishing areas of Missouri are popular. They contain trout and many are catch-and-release only in the winter, but they do provide fishing opportunities in the winter months. Newton County, in southwest Missouri has two white-ribbon fishing areas – Hickory Creek, which is in the city of Neosho, and Capps Creek on the eastern edge of the county. *** Soon the Missouri Department of Conservation will celebrate its 85th anniversary, having begun in 1937. *** Most outdoorsmen or

women are awed when they see a pileated woodpecker.

Measuring about 15 inches, it is the largest woodpecker commonly found in the state.

Pileated woodpeckers prefer to live in older wooded areas but at times have even been sighted on the lawn of some house in town. *** Is it true that the most famous woodpecker in the world, Woody, is a pileated woodpecker? *** Remember the day when you went hunting and saw no game? Or when you went fishing and didn’t get a bite? Not every outing is a success. Even armies have problems. Just remember that the very first bomb dropped by the Allies in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo. *** Sometimes winter seems to last forever. Did you recall that onion seeds need to be planted in February? *** Did you ever notice that some old hedge apple trees look like they were planted in a row? If so, they may be from stock planted as hedgerows by the early settlers in the 1850s. *** When hunting in fall, do you carry an onion in your

• Great Voice densome. When something offended his sense of right and wrong or threatened conservation progress, he was prone to jump into the fray with both feet. This trait cost him personally, when cowardly editors bent to advertiser pressure and refused to print his jeremiads canceled his columns.

HIGH NOTES, HIJINKS Joel also was possessed of a boyish enthusiasm that could get him into trouble. Recognizing that most outdoorsmen fall short of Jack O’Connor and Lefty Kreh, he turned his own misadventures into self-deprecating grist for his literary mill. Nor did he ever lack for maladroit partners to augment his story files.

Chief among his partners in slapstick comedy was his beloved quail-hunting partner, MDC’s late trout biologist Spencer Turner. Politically, they were an unlikely pair.

Spence was staunchly conservative, the polar opposite of Joel’s politics. But Joel never let that interfere with their friendship. It was just one more way that Joel and Spence’s big spirits showed.

During Joel’s tenure with

from page 6

the Conservation Department, Missouri’s more than 400 newspapers eagerly published his weekly news release package, “All Outdoors,” because it never failed to entertain as well as inform their readers.

My fondest memories of Joel involve bluegrass music, single-malt scotch and marathon story-telling. I picture him now, reunited with Spence and guitar-picking friends who went before him to that big jam session in the sky. We’ll see you by and by, old friend.

When I sat down to write this remembrance, I knew that I could not hope to capture all that Joel was and all that he meant to each of you and to the world. If you have wept while reading this homage, as I have done while writing it, I urge you to send your own memories to MOC Executive Director Kyle Stewart at kyle@tbwgroup. net, so he can share them in an appropriate forum. Joel will not soon be forgotten.

Let the remembering and the celebration of his life begin!

Jim Low, now retired, was the News Services Coordinator for the Missouri Department of Conservation.

pocket? You can cut down on the pain of an insect bite by taking a slice of onion and placing it on the bite for 30 minutes. *** The Missouri Department of Conservation is considering having black bear hunting in the state. Did Missouri once have grizzly bears? If not, why are the two bears on the Missouri state flag grizzlies?

*** Isn’t it nice that sitting in a deer blind can have special events such spotting a flying squirrel, listening to coyotes yelp at each other, or watching a small covey of wild quail feeding? *** Like the preacher said, “If that doesn’t light your fire, your wood is wet!” ***

Tea experts claim that rubbing tea on the human body can relieve the discomfort of rashes, stings and hemorrhoids. Constant rubbing of tea on the face is also supposed to reduce acne flare-ups. *** President Eisenhower is given credit for the U.S. Interstate highway system.

Perhaps he got his idea back in 1919 when an Army con-

voy attempted to cross the continental U.S. by road. It took them 62 days. Ike, as a Lt. Colonel, rode for part of the two-month trip. *** The winter months can keep a hunter or fisherman inside more than he likes, but memories of past fishing and hunting trips can be warming to the heart and soul. At least that’s what this Rural Rambler thinks.

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Outdoor Guide

Page 10

January-February 2021

Tips on cleaning guns and winter permits

By GERALD SCOTT

I like to think I’m as tough as the next guy, and I know I’m more enthusiastic about hunting, fishing or just being outdoors than most people.

That said, both my toughness and my enthusiasm are beginning to crumble in the face of the brutally cold temperatures that have descended on our area lately.

Barring a major change, deer probably don’t need to worry about my arrows. I can’t say as much for the rabbits’ need

to be wary of shotgun pellets.

To paraphrase something my grandfather used to say about quail, you don’t have to sneak up on rabbits in the dark, so my partner and I can confine our hunt to the “warmest” part of day.

But for the most part, I plan on dodging the cold by keeping a wall between me and the weather. After all, there are plenty of outdoor-related activities that can be done indoors.

RIFLE CLEANING Cleaning rifles has to be my

top priority. Given that it hasn’t been dropped in water or mud, a single pass with a bore snake and a quick exterior wipe-down each time it’s used is all the care a smokeless powder firearm needs over the course of the hunting season. But before putting so-called “modern” firearms away for an extended period of time, they need to be disassembled and thoroughly cleaned inside and out.

I hope all of my readers know that any firearm that uses blackpowder or a blackpowder substitute has to be cleaned

after it’s been fired even once, and that, if at all possible, this cleaning should be done within 24 hours at most. But what if the firearm was loaded but not fired?

Flintlock and percussion cap rifles can be unloaded either by shooting the round into a safe backstop or by pulling the bullet out of the muzzle and then dumping out the powder charge. In either case, the rifle must be given a thorough cleaning with a solvent specific to the type of powder used.

An inline muzzleloader that

N O O S G

was loaded but not fired can be unloaded by removing its breech plug, shaking out the powder charge and then ramming the bullet down and out through the breech. Then use a solvent-soaked patch to scrub away the breech plug grease.

Using a clean solvent-soaked patch, clean the lower few inches of the barrel, because this is the only part of the barrel that has sustained contact with either the bullet or the powder charge. Finally, working from the breech toward the muzzle, clean the entire barrel, finishing with a patch moistened with a corrosion-preventing oil.

(Author’s note: The definition of “thorough cleaning” is to keep at it until you’re positive the firearm’s clean and then repeat the process.)

RULES OUT OF STATE Another indoor activity that needs to be at least started as soon as possible is to prepare for an out-of-state big game hunt.

If you think you’ll be treated the way out-of-state hunters are treated when they come to Missouri, you’re wrong. I’m not aware of any state with lower non-resident license fees than Missouri.

A few states offer very limited types of non-resident permits over the counter, but Missouri is the only state that offers permits for all of the state’s general deer and turkey seasons to non-residents over the counter.

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or bears, you’re going to have to follow the host state’s rules.

This usually means applying for permits and submitting license fees months in advance of the season. The actual issuance of permits will be allocated by a drawing, and all or almost all of the applicant’s license fees are returned if he or she doesn’t draw a permit.

A few states with multiple species of big game have a single application deadline and drawing date, but having different dates for each species is far more common. The Internet has greatly simplified what was once a frustratingly complex process. The wildlife agency of the state you’re interested in should be easy to locate with any search engine. Then “all” you need to do is interpret the appropriate regulations and submit the required fees and paperwork.

BETTER ODDS Up to a point, units with longer odds of drawing a permit have more public land, more game, more trophy potential or some combination of the three. However, there are ways to swing the odds more in your favor. For example, when I hunt antelope in Wyoming, I choose the muzzleloader season. Due to a relative lack of interest in black-powder hunting, many good units offer a 100 percent chance of drawing a permit.

Let’s face it. When a true outdoorsman has clean guns and a chance to draw a permit for a glamorous out-of-state hunt, will he/she care how cold it is outside?

The Missouri Department of Conservation extended the deadline to Jan. 15 for enrollment in the Missouri Outdoor Recreational Access Program, which provides $15 to $25 per acre and habitat improvement financial assistance to landowners for allowing public access to their land for recreational activities such as hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing.

Landowners can select activities from all-access hunting and fishing, small game and turkey hunting, youth only hunting and fishing, archery

hunting, fishing only, or wildlife viewing. Properties must be at least 40 contiguous acres (5 acres for wildlife viewing or 1 pond acre for fishing only) and at least 20 percent quality wildlife habitat.

The program now has about 50 properties totaling 13,000 acres. Funding is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture; up to 7,500 more acres may be enrolled. More information is on the Department of Conservation website or go directly to mdc.mo.gov/property/Missouri-outdoor-recreationalaccess-program-mrap.

Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

Page 11

Veteran, 98, gets 9-pointer first weekend Missouri Department of Conservation

Robert McGrath, a World War II Marine veteran from Callaway County, took home a 9-point buck on private land as Missouri hunters completed a strong early firearms deer season.

The Department of Conservation congratulated McGrath, 98, who is from the Millersburg area and still owns property there.

“His family sent us the picture and says he has inspired and encouraged many generations of hunters, anglers, shooting sports enthusiasts and nature lovers,” a department spokesman said.

“They find it quite incredible that he can continue to go out and enjoy one of his lifelong passions. No matter what your

age, you can still get out and enjoy the outdoors, and bragging rights!”

The department reported that 80,525 deer were harvested Saturday and Sunday during firearms opening weekend, Nov. 14 and 15. Of those, 48,695 were antlered bucks, 6,867 were button bucks and 24,963 were does.

STRONG SEASON In the full November firearms season, Nov. 14-24, deer hunters in Missouri harvested 176,604 deer – 95,654 antlered, 16,045 button bucks, and 64,905 does.

Top harvest counties were Howell with 3,496 deer harvested, Franklin with 3,409, and Texas with 3,374. In the previous year, hunters had checked 179,960 deer during November, with 91,917 being

Robert McGrath brought home the buck. – MDC photo

Illinois opening hunt down a little

In Illinois, hunters harvested a preliminary total of 47,147 deer during the first weekend of the Illinois Firearm Deer Season, Nov. 20-22, compared with 50,173 deer taken during the first firearm weekend in 2019.

Illinois’ seven-day Firearm Deer Season was Dec. 3-6.

The muzzleloader season was Dec. 11-13.

Hunting opportunities in January are the late-winter antlerless season, Dec. 31-Jan. 3 and Jan. 15-17; CWD deer season in select counties, same dates; and archery deer season, through Jan. 17.

For more details on deer hunting, open counties and other information, check the Department of Natural Resources website at https:// www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/ Pages/DeerHunting.aspx COUNTY TOTALS Preliminary firearm deer harvest totals by county for the first weekend of the 2019 season,

followed by comparable totals for 2020, in the southern Illinois region include: • Alexander, 311, 257 • Clinton, 453, 474 • Bond, 500, 426 • Fayette, 1,004, 980 • Franklin, 853, 743 • Gallatin, 249, 232 • Hamilton, 717, 657 • Hardin, 602, 419 • Jackson, 1,422, 1,227 • Jefferson, 1,251, 1,080 • Jersey, 401, 350 • Johnson, 1,026, 857 • Macoupin, 1,025, 987 • Madison, 442, 379 • Marion, 995, 910 • Massac, 261, 219 • Monroe, 699, 667 • Perry, 882, 716 • Pope, 1,064, 884 • Pulaski, 209,177 • Randolph, 1,553, 1,340 • Saline, 602, 534 • St. Clair, 478.474 • Union, 913, 772 • Washington, 640, 599 • Wayne, 943, 861 • Williamson, 1,220, 943

antlered bucks, 17,330 button bucks, and 70,713 does.

“Hunters posted an impressive harvest total given the challenging conditions, particularly on opening weekend,” MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle said. “Typically, about half of the harvest occurs during the first two days of the season. Unfortunately, hunters were greeted by rain and high winds to start the season, resulting in harvest numbers falling behind last year’s mark early.”

MDC reported three firearms-related hunting incidents during the November portion

of the firearms deer season with all being non-fatal and self-inflicted.

THE HUNT CONTINUES Preliminary data shows that deer hunters in Missouri harvested 15,425 deer during the antlerless portion of the firearms deer season, Dec. 4-6. Top harvest counties were Callaway with 438 deer harvested, Morgan with 377 and Osage with 352. Last year’s antlerless-portion harvest total was 10,597.

“Much like the late youth portion of firearms deer sea-

son, Missouri deer hunters had some fantastic hunting conditions for the antlerless portion,” Isabelle said. “Cool, crisp mornings were followed by comfortable afternoons with very light winds. Weather-wise, we couldn’t have asked for much better conditions this past weekend.”

For current ongoing preliminary harvest totals by season, county, and type of deer, visit the MDC website at extra.mdc. mo.gov/widgets/harvest_table.

For harvest summaries from past years, visit huntfish.mdc. mo.gov/hunting-trapping/

species/deer/deer-harvestreports/deer-harvest-summaries.

OTHER SEASONS Archery deer season runs through Jan. 15. The alternative methods season was being held Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.

Find more information on deer hunting from MDC’s 2020 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, available where hunting permits are sold and online at huntfish. mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/ downloads/2020FDT.pdf.

Outdoor Guide

Page 12

January-February 2021

Outdoor Gallery Send in your favorite outdoor photo to news@outdoor-guide.com and you could be the winner of a $50 gift card from Kenrick’s Meats & Catering.

EYE ON THE PRIZE – Marty Eye, brother of turkey hunting icon Ray Eye, took this monarch in Mountain View MO during the firearms deer season this past November.

What a rack!

SIX-POINT DAY – David Hosking of St. Peters, author of the Prepper’s Guide column in the Outdoor Guide, took this six-point buck on opening day of firearms deer season in Gasconade County, at his place called Possum Lodge.

BONUS ROUND – Jeff Friedman of O’Fallon, MO, killed these two bobcats in a flood corridor just off the Missouri River, and also shot a buck, all during the Missouri firearms deer season. After he shot his buck, the bobcats came out to see what happened and he took them both.

FOURTEEN POINTER – Paul Hollis, owner of Redexim Turf Products in Fenton, MO, killed this nice 14-point buck in Crawford County, MO. It scored a 174!

HARVESTING FARMER – Young Dillon Prather got this nice eight-point buck on his family farm in Saline County, IL.

FIRST BIG BUCK – Hunter Crowe with his first big buck, taken the first weekend of shotgun season on private ground in southern Illinois.

Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

Page 13

Spencer issues third turkey book Jim Spencer, the bard of turkey hunting, has published a new book, “Bad Birds 2,” that is actually his third book about hunting turkeys, and he says it’s the best one yet.

“My life has been enriched by the pursuit of wild turkeys,” he writes in the epilogue.

“Bad Birds 2” is a collection of 33 columns under the title of “Bad Birds” that Spencer has written since 2001 for the magazine Turkey & Turkey Hunting,

developing a dedicated following. Topics also include “The Gift Bird,” “The Loaner Gun” and “Epitaph for a Turkey Hunter.”

Spencer sent along this sample, from a chapter called “The Homebody.”

“I clucked and purred a couple times on the slate, and when he gobbled again two minutes later he was closer. I kept mum. Two more gobbles and he was there, looking for the timid hen, coming through the thick woods in that jerky-headed

way turkeys have.

“Andy had told me he thought the gobbler had a thick, bushy beard, judging from what he’d seen of it the week before. The old bird was still riding the invisible bicycle to nowhere when I called Andy and told him he was right.”

This next sample is from “Hunting on the Shady Side of 70.”

“And I kill some turkeys these days. Not as many as you, maybe, but I tag one every once in a while.

Enough over the years, at any rate, to have dampened that desperate hunger for the kill that dominated my early turkey hunting.

“It hasn’t, though, lessened my desire to hear them gobble, to work them close, to converse with them in their own language on their own turf, to bend them to my will. That desire is still as strong as ever, and if that need to get inside their heads ever weakens inside mine, that’s when I’ll quit.”

“Bad Birds 2” is $22

plus $4 for shipping.

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FIRST DEER – Hannah Schilly,11, of Crystal City MO, got her first deer in Ste. Genevieve County while hunting with her father, Thomas Schilly, and her cousin, who also got a 10-point buck.

NICE TEN-POINTER – Cody Wiley with his nice ten-point buck taken on a family farm in Monroe County, IL.

RIVER RANGER – Mike Phelan took this behemoth during firearms deer season in Missouri right off the Missouri River.

He is from the old town of Centaur, now part of Wildwood.

ONE PER MAN – Nic Arnotti, of Caseyville holding the day’s goose hunt on Nov. 29 on private ground in Granite City, IL. They had a flock of 50 fly over the blind at 20 yards.

They could have shot a 3-man limit but only managed to get a one-man limit.

PINEY RIVER GOBBLER – Gregory Billings of Ste. Genevieve took this river hills gobbler while hunting with Bobby Whitehead, Outdoor Guide editor emeritus, during the fall turkey season. The gobbler was part of a group of six adults on a bluff overlooking the Big Piney River Valley.

NICE CATFISH – Buddy McCarthy, from Red Bud, IL, Service Workers Local 116, with a nice catfish caught on a private lake in Waterloo, IL.

Outdoor Guide

Page 14

January-February 2021

It’s shed time; here’s how to find them Photo and Text

By DON GASAWAY

Missouri deer hunters are winding down their hunting seasons but not yet in a position to ramp up the fishing.

There is still one hunting season left. Shed hunting will soon begin.

Collecting shed antlers has become more than a pastime while walking in the woods.

For the hunter/naturalist, it is a chance to learn about the deer and their habits.

For southern Illinois nature lovers and hunters, shed collecting is becoming a popular winter sport.

Deer grow their antlers beginning within a day or two after they shed the previous year’s growth. The growth hormone released from the endocrine system causes calcium, phosphorus and magnesium to leach from the bones of the buck.

They become salts on the antler pedicel by a network of blood vessels beneath the skin. The skin that covered the pedicel and grows rapidly over the newly forming antler is called velvet.

FAST GROWTH The velvet contains 12 blood vessels carrying blood to the antlers and a like number back to the body.

Some more blood courses

up through the center of the antler, causing the antlers to have an internal body temperature. Antler growth is one of the fastest known forms of tissue growth. The antler grows as much as a quarter-inch per day.

The process takes a terrible toll on the deer, draining it of much of his minerals. He will eat the surrounding vegetation, and if the soil minerals in the area are depleted, his antler growth will be less. He needs the minerals to grow big antlers.

Beginning on June 21, the longest daylight of the year, the lessening daylight triggers the pineal gland, the endocrine system and the testicles of the buck. As the testicles enlarge, they produce a tremendous surge of testosterone that causes the antlers to solidify from the base toward the tip. This hardening continues until just before he casts off the antlers.

One interesting factor in this process is that if an antler is injured, it will often grow in a “nontypical” shape.

Even after shedding, the next year’s antler and all future antlers are likely to develop in that same pattern.

TIME TO SHED The exact date when a whitetail buck will shed his

As winter days get longer, white-tailed deer bucks begin to lose those magnificent antlers that hunters prize.

anglers varies a lot from deer to deer and from one location to another. The time usually relates to the drop in testosterone levels after the rut is well over. The drop in testosterone level in turn relates to the length of daylight and darkness.

Usually, the bigger bucks drop their antlers first, which has given birth to the theory that more sexually active deer tend to shed first.

Deer lose their antlers sometime in late January or early February. However, some bucks will keep them

until late into spring.

FINDING THEM In order to be successful at finding shed antlers, one must look in areas where deer spend a lot of time during the late winter months.

It helps to question locals about the sighting of large numbers of deer during the winter months.

Once the number of deer in the area is established, wait until the snow melts before hitting the woods. It does not take much snow to cover an antler.

Cast antlers are not easy to see in the woods. Most of the time, unless one is looking right at it, an antler is difficult to find. Collectors report standing in a particular area for a long time scouring the area for an antler, when all at once one appears. It might even be in an area surveyed hard earlier with not an antler seen. As a rule of thumb, limit the search to about 15 to 20 degrees radius.

Bedding areas are a good place to locate sheds. It is because bucks spend so much of their winter time there. By staying there, they are able to get by with up to 30 percent less food.

Other good areas for sheds are the trails leading to feeding areas or right in the feeding area. After the rut the bucks are tired and hungry. They do not eat much during the rut. The physical demands of the rut weaken them severely. Bucks need to rest and feed to replenish their fat stores.

Haystacks or other winterfeeding areas cause deer to congregate. If the area is in a thicket, or near one, the fact that the thicket will cut the wind makes such areas attractive.

CHECK HERE South slopes are good locations in hilly areas.

Southern slopes get less snow and more sunlight. The first grasses of spring and the warmth on the colder days are greater on south slopes.

In more open country, fence crossings are a good place to check for sheds.

Because of the way a deer’s knees work, they land with their knees locked. If they are jumping a fence on hard frozen ground, the shock is often enough to jolt off one or both antlers.

One of the less common areas, yet a good one for shed collectors, is a wide-open field. Deer are attracted to the area under cover of darkness.

Not only are antlers easier to spot there, chances of rodent damage to the antler is less.

Finding shed antlers is by no means as easy as it sounds.

Somehow those antlers just seem to disappear once the bucks drop them. Rodents use them as a source of calcium and as a result, many are chewed quite a bit.

Collecting sheds can be fun. Perhaps the most fun is in the search. It is a great time for post-season scouting. It gives you a preview of what lives in your favorite hunting area. Bucks that drop those sheds have survived the hunting season.

For more from Don Gasaway, go to www.facebook. com/Don’s Journal.

Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

Page 15

Wild Wine Life

Venison Barley Stew warms you up

Photo and Text

By RAY MAXWELL

Venison Barley Stew has become part of the comfort food favorites for the family.

You will find the dish easy to cook, tasty and healthy.

Even though we enjoy this dish in the summer, you will find it very warming during those final cold winter and early spring days.

I prefer smaller size when chopping, but the size chopped for the ingredients is a matter of preference.

INGREDIENTS • 24-oz venison (chopped) • 2 cups celery (chopped) • 1 onion (chopped) • 6 carrots (chopped) • 1 cup peas • 3/4 cup mushroom

(chopped) (a favorite is chanterelles) • 3 potatoes (chopped) • 1/2 green pepper

(chopped)

• 1 28-oz can tomatoes

and tomatoes. Cook on low for 60 minutes, stirring periodi• 1 28-oz can tomatoes cally. After 60 minutes, add the (juiced) potatoes and continue to cook • 1 16-oz can beans for an additional 30 minutes, (drained) stirring periodically.

• 3/4 cup of barley Then add remaining in• 2 teaspoons minced garlic gredients – barley, beans and • 2 teaspoons “better than peas – and continue to cook on broth” chicken base low or simmer for additional (mix with the water) 60 minutes while periodically • 1 teaspoon black pepper stirring.

• 1 teaspoon paprika Once finished, it is ready to • 1 teaspoon thyme serve to the family and your • 2 bay leaves guests. (chopped)

• 4 tablespoons soy sauce • 3 1/2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce • 7 teaspoons beef bullion

(mix with the water) • 28 oz water

LET IT STEW Begin by browning the onion in vegetable oil then add the garlic, venison and dried spices.

Next add celery, carrots, mushrooms, green pepper, water with broth and bullion

TWO RED WINES The wines that we enjoy with this dish are the Persimmon Ridge Norton and the Villa Calcinaia Casarsa 2014.

Both wines work well with this dish by bringing fruit, acidity and structure. You will find big heavy tannins that are well-rounded and bring a nice mouth feel from both wines.

The Villa Calcinaia Casarsa is a single-vineyard merlot from the Chianti Classico region of Italy. You will find

that this wine appeals to the Napa wine drinker with the big weight and bold tannins, while appealing to the Bordeaux drinker with its elegance, all the while showing an Italian independence.

The red fruit and vanilla flavors and aromas, and that touch of earthiness, you will find to be a great pairing with this dish. Reward yourself for a successful deer season, and you can find this typically under $50 per bottle.

Persimmon Ridge Norton is that reliable quality Missouri Norton that you find pairing well with wild game dishes like this stew. We love the big red fruit, heavy tannins and hints of mushroom that this wine offers.

You can find the wine typically for less than $20 per bottle.

Enjoy the video version of this recipe and other interesting food and wine videos at Wild Wine Life on Facebook and Youtube. Please follow and invite your friends.

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The two red wines bring fruit, acidity and structure.

MDC closes offices on COVID concern

The Missouri Department of Conservation was closing its headquarters and the Runge Conservation Nature Center in Jefferson City to the public beginning Dec. 14 because of rising COVID-19 concerns. No date was set to re-open but staff will consider it early this year.

While the headquarters office will be closed to general visitors, it will still be staffed.

Visitors may include employees from other office locations who cannot conduct business over the phone or by email.

Those with official business may notify the office in advance to gain access by calling the front desk at (573) 751-4115.

The Runge Nature Center building in Jefferson City and its outdoor restrooms also were being closed to the public on Dec. 14. The nature center’s trails, pavilion and other outdoor areas remained open. Outdoor and virtual programs were continuing as planned, subject to face masks and distancing.

The closures come after the Department of Health and Senior Services classified Cole County in the “Extreme Risk” category due to the region’s COVID-19 positivity rate and case rate.

SOUTHWEST OFFICES The decision was made to close several offices in southwest Missouri at the same time, also because of COVID-19 concerns, including the Southwest Regional Office in Springfield, the Springfield Conservation Nature Center, the Andy Dalton Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center in Greene County, the Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery and Conservation Center in Branson, and the Bennett Spring Hatchery in Dallas County.

Fishing areas and trails adjacent to those centers remained open. Staff will remain on hand to answer phone calls, or go online to mdc.mo.gov.

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Outdoor Guide

Page 16

January-February 2021

Your Guide to

GREAT GEAR Tactical belt is ready for hard use and has gadgets, too

Barbarian’s tactical belts are great for outdoor activities, daily use and military training. They are 1.5 inches wide, made of heavy duty webbing, with metal buckles and key buckles.

The material is high-strength, fast-dry 1010D nylon, breathable and soft for comfort.

One feature is the quick-release, anti-pulling buckle that can be either locked or untied in just a second.

The belt is 45 inches long and fits any size within that length. The key clip can hold house keys and car keys.

Barbarian’s tactical belt sells for $22.99 at Amazon.com and comes in either black or green.

Big Agnes heavy-duty tent is made for summer or winter

The name Big Agnes stands tall among makers of heavyduty, winter-worthy tents, such as the Copper Spur HV2 Expedition Tent, considered a three-season-plus tent but still qualifying as an ultralight.

It’s designed for backpacking, mountaineering and ultralight backpacking.

The Copper Spur weighs just under 5 pounds, and its waterproof floor and fully taped fly keeps wetness out. The ripstop floor has waterproof laminate and fully taped seams.

Instead of a thick single wall that can become stifling in summer, this one has a double wall that lets you leave the fly at home to shed some weight and feel just right on warm nights. Mesh windows on the doors help ventilate, and the roof window can be zipped up when it gets chilly out.

It comes with two vestibules with nine square feet of space to store the gear plus media pockets and a gear loop inside.

The Copper Spur and other Big Agnes products are available at backcountry.com, where the Copper Spur sells for $499.95.

Ice fishing chair does it all when you’re on the ice

If you’re going to go ice fishing this year, you might as well check out the chair that’s designed from square one just for ice fishing – the Clam Outdoors Ice Chair.

Clam calls it an all-in-one, portable ice-fishing chair and gear storage system. It weighs 12 pounds and comes with a padded seat and shoulder strap.

It can hold up to six rod-and-reel combos plus tackle boxes and bait, with a fish bag included to store your next meal.

The chair has two rod-and-reel scabbards, four accessory compartments and an exterior pouch. The four-point leg system ensures stable footing, and reflective safety strips are placed on both sides.

The Clam Outdoors Ice Chair lists for $99.99 at Cabelas.com.

Handmade Leafy Suit is fully featured and looks like a tree

Mossberg 940 JM Pro semi-automatic named best new shotgun

Orvis winter gloves provide both warmth, dexterity

Cooking set packs bowls, cups, ‘foons’ into the pot

You might have better luck if you looked more like a tree, so consider this handmade Titan 3D Leafy Suit w i t h its Real Tree Edge pattern.

The two-piece suit is treated with water repellent and is built around a lightweight, breathable no-see-um liner. It has easy snap closure and elastic waist for the pants and jacket.

The pants have belt loops, a locking draw cord, zippered pockets and bottom zippers. The jacket has a removable mosquito mask and an attached hood with draw cord and two zip pockets.

The suit comes with a carry stuff bag. The whole thing weighs under 2 pounds and will not catch on branches nor pick up twigs and stickers. The leaves are soft yet large and firm and will sway in the wind.

The Titan 3D Leafy Suit Real Tree Edge Pattern was selling for $89.95 at etsy.com.

Winter is the time when outdoors people need great gloves.

So along comes Orvis with its technical Cold Weather Hunting Gloves, providing warmth when you need it while maintaining the highest level of dexterity.

The goat-leather palm and fingers provide excellent grip and feel. Fingers are articulated for added dexterity and comfort.

The glove is lined with 3-ounce PrimaLoft Gold Eco insulation, except for the trigger finger and thumb, for dexterity and safe gun operation. Durable nylon panels on the back of the hand resist abrasion and can take hard use.

The neoprene gusseted cuff is snug for warmth and flexible entry. A handy hook-and-loop closure is on the wrist.

The leather and nylon gloves come in black or brown in sizes S, M, L and XL for $119 at orvis.com.

Ice shelter sets up easily, stays put for up to three people

Pexmor offers a handy and affordable ice fishing shelter, in a pop-up hub style for up to three people.

It takes one person less than two minutes to set it up. Dimensions are 58 inches square and 65 inches high, and it comes with a rod and anchors.

It has a portable carrying bag, four detachable ventilated windows, two ventilation holes, a zippered door, a storage pocket and black, tough, waterproof Oxford fabric. The carry bag is 44 inches long. The windows can be transparent, keeping warmth inside while letting in the light.

The Pexmore ice fishing shelter was selling for $98.89 at Amazon.com.

O.F. Mossberg & Sons took the 2020 Caliber Award for Best New Shotgun with its 940 JM Pro semi-automatic competition shotgun in October, presented by the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers and Professional Outdoor Media Association.

About 150 submissions were narrowed down to three finalists, based on uniqueness, market need, product value, presentation and ingenuity.

Mossberg designers worked with champion shooters Jerry (pictured) and Lena Miculek on the auto-loading shotgun, offered in two 10-shot models with a gas operating system; slim profile; adjustable stock for length of pull, drop and cast; oversized loading port and operating controls; plus an HIVIZ TriComp sight system and Briley extended chokes.

The 940 JM Pro weighs 7 lbs., 8 ounces, lists for $1,078, and is available from Mossberg dealers.

You can count on REI to have the latest camping and backpacking gear. Now it’s a deluxe cooking set, the GSI Outdoors Halulite Microdualist II, with a 1.4 liter, hardanodized aluminum pot.

The set also has a strainer/lid for the pot, two 14-ounce insulated mugs with lids and two 14-ounce insulated bowls, all with low centers of gravity, and two folding fork-spoon utensils that they call “foons.” They fit into a combination sink and storage bag that weighs under 2 pounds fully loaded.

The Halulite pot distributes heat evenly for fast and efficient cooking, and the strainer/lid is crushproof. The handle locks into place for cooking and secures the entire set for travel.

The “foon” utensils can work as forks or spoons and fold down to 3.7” for packing. It’s not included, but an ultralight stove with fuel canister will fit inside the packed set.

The Halulite Microdualist II cooking set sells for $64.95 at rei.com or REI stores.

L.L. Bean offers free snowshoe pass with snowshoe purchase

L.L. Bean is encouraging customers to try snow-shoeing this winter by offering a free pass good for three days of snowshoeing at participating locations with each purchase of a new pair of snowshoes.

The catalog and website seller offers six pairs of highquality snowshoes ranging from $139.95 to $319.95, plus poles, carry bags and flotation tails that help users get through light powder or carry extra weight.

The passes are good at Cross Country Ski Areas Association affiliates through May 1. Go online to llbean.com.

Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

Page 17

Wildlife Wrangling and Outdoor Ramblings

A Groundhog’s Day like no udder

Photo and Text

By RANDALL P. DAVIS

As I write this column, the device that decrees degrees informs me it’s 32 notches colder this morning than yesterday’s dawn. The device, however, neglects to register that the last six weeks have been drier than an Arizona August.

So when you mix extended periods of cold, dry air, copious amounts of outdoor activity wrangling varmints, and the “new normal” of incessant hand washing and sanitizing, one can develop a certain debilitating epidermal malady. Yes, I have dry, cracked skin.

With that in mind, I was considering writing about groundhogs and Groundhog’s Day, but right now I’m painfully aware of every keystroke – especially with the fractured skin on finger and thumb tips. It’s a fabulous motivator to initiate typing with your knuckles.

These deep fissures I’m cultivating just outside my thumbnails have forced me to stall my interview with the illustrious rodent and seek measures to rehydrate the tortured epidermis, just enough so I can at least eat

my meals with a fork instead of a straw.

ALL THE USUALS I’ve tried all the usual medicines and remedies: cold cream, Vaseline, Cornhuskers lotion, O’Keeffe’s Working Hands Cream. I even wrapped the poor digits with bacon strips bounded by fishing line, but the only relief was a new affection from my bird dog.

At one point I attempted to give an old Nero’s thumbsdown right into the margarine bowl. But before the plunge could be completed, I caught my wife’s icy warning glare from across the table and realized the yawning maw in my flesh wasn’t so bad after all. Effort aborted.

Desperate, I shuffle to the closet and rifle through the dozens of concoctions for relieving most anything: burns, bee stings, ant bites, tick bites, dry eyes, wet eyes, gray hair, no hair, infections, imperfections – and this is just my stuff.

Finally, in the very back, shielded by Band-aids and Alka-Seltzer, was the little green square tin with the coy-looking bovine on the front, labeled Better Butter Udder Balm. Of course, it was exactly what I needed!

The Old Predictor of spring’s arrival can get testy this time of year.

IT WORKED FOR GRANDPA I remember my dad and grandfather using this stuff when they milked cows and how well it worked in the winter on those chapped udders. The cows appreciated it I’m sure.

Now, for those not familiar, udder balm has the consistency of axle grease.

It’s loaded with camphor

and other mystical medicines that dive deep into the skin and stay there, returning the ragged piece of jerky to a youthful flourish.

I’m still in the treatment program today, where I apply the balm liberally to the affected area and then walk around for an hour with my arms drawn to my chest and hands dangling like a stoned T-Rex.

It’s working wonderfully.

I can now feed myself and actually resume drumming my fingers when impatient.

THE OTTER’S OTHER BROTHER But I got to thinking one day, while immobile in the T-Rex position, if there were other uses for the miracle salve, even in the wildlife world. And I came up with these questions: • DOES IT …. bother an otter to utter the order authorizing another to bring Better Butter to balm the otter’s brother’s udder?

• AND IF …. the otter’s other brother’s udder demands Better Butter, should the bothered otter offer the father otter first, then shutter the daughter otter so she won’t shudder should she see father and brother otter’s awful udders?

Then, after another cup of coffee, I come to my senses.

Otters? Fathers? Brothers?

Udders? I didn’t pay much attention in biology class.

Silly me. I should have been more anatomically accurate, writing about whale’s scales and two-legged snails.

Now see how well Better Butter works. I wrote all this (and you actually read it) and

my fingers gave me a twothumbs up!

But now we still have the groundhog to consider, the Old Predictor of winter weather who, in a mere glimpse of a single sunrise, can reveal with soothsayer precision just how far off spring will be.

THE GROUNDHOG REPLIES I was able to sit down with the groundhog and ask for an early prediction. His reply: “All right, all right. Enough is enough. You humans think it’s so-o-o important if I see my shadow – or not – every 2nd of February.

“Look, it will be dark and cold. Could be raining or snowing. Someone will jerk me from my warm bed, plop me on a table and ogle me like I’m some naked Cleopatra.

Come on, man! I’ve been asleep for weeks. My eyes won’t even be focused yet.

“So here’s a tip – just put me back, get yourself a cup of coffee, and mark off the calendar days ... FOR THE NEXT SIX WEEKS UNTIL SPRING! There. Done. Predicted!”

Poor rodent must be suffering from cracked paws. Maybe he should talk to the otters.

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Outdoor Guide

Page 18

January-February 2021

Cold crappie, hot action at Truman Lake

Top anglers discuss winter fishing

Photos and Text

By TIM HUFFMAN

Water temperatures in the 30’s and 40’s don’t mean that fish quit eating. On the contrary, they need fuel to keep them going. They are cold-blooded and sluggish, but they will eat something when the opportunity is available.

JEFF FAULKENBERRY “January and February is the time I like to work the bluffs and fish deep,” said Jeff Faulkenberry, a longtime crappie and catfish guide at Truman (call 660-351-5420).

Faulkenberry said electron-

ics is a key for finding the fish, and that the time they spend on the bluffs is directly related to the water temperatures.

LiveScope electronics is the new thing, he said, but spider rigging still works in the winter through April.

“In March, the fish get more active and start moving up into the creeks as water temperatures rise,” he said. “Vertical jigging and spider rigging are both good, too. When the water is extremely cold, pay more attention to the baitfish than the wood. But as waters warm in March, start looking for fish to be more on the stumps and trees. Baitfish, stumps and trees are all important structures at Truman.

“Baits made locally around here, like Muddy Water Baits, work to catch crappie,” he

Truman Lake guide Jeff Faulkenberry swings a crappie into the boat. He says, ‘Pay more attention to the food source than cover in the winter.’

FISHING

added. “MidSouth Tackle and Bobby Garland plastics are also very good, too. I fish an orange jighead, usually 1/18-ounce, and in a dark color. Some good colors at Truman are blue/ chartreuse, black/chartreuse and blue/hot pink. Using minnows is good for catching more numbers of fish.”

TJ PALMER TJ Palmer moved his family to Truman Lake four years ago so they could be close to fishing and hunting. He and his son, Alex, started fishing tournaments as a way to spend time together and enjoy competition with other fishermen.

In three years, they have earned two Crappie Masters adult/youth Angler Team of the Year awards, won tournaments and caught a seven-crappie stringer of 19.64 pounds while competing in Mississippi. (For those grabbing a calculator, that’s an average weight of 2.80 per fish.)

“We fish 365 days a year when time allows,” Palmer said.

“We break ice with the boat to get out onto Truman. The good thing is there are few other boats on the lake, so we have most areas to ourselves.

“The best thing about cold water fishing is the concentration of the fish that time of year,” he added. “After you find them, you can sit on them and catch a lot of fish.”

Kelly Marriot displays a couple of Truman Lake crappie.

Fishing in the snow is one of the most peaceful, beautiful and productive times to be on the water.

wood are keys to finding and catching crappie.

He prefers the mouths of creeks in the coldest water. As soon as the weather warms just a little, he moves back into the creeks because the shallower areas warm quickly. It only takes a degree or two to bring shad into the shallows. Crappie and other predator fish quickly follow them in.

“Don’t be afraid to go to the very back of the creek,” Rogers said. “And any time you fish Truman, timber is a big deal, especially in the winter. My best tip at Truman would be to look for black stumps, those really dark ones, because they absorb light and heat up a little. Those attract fish more than others.”

KEVIN ROGERS Other experts agree that Tru-

man Lake is a hotspot even in the coldest weather. If you don’t like the cold, make plans to be there as soon as the weather starts to turn warm.

Kevin Rogers, a tournament fisherman and jigging expert, says, “To me, Truman is a single-pole jigging lake.

When water gets cold, I’ll be jigging beds right off the river channel, usually in the upper Osage or Grand arms. Look in 10 to 15-feet of water along the channel edges for natural cover and beds. Crappie come up out of the creeks into shallow water to feed, then go right back down.

“I’ll be using a 3/16-ounce jig on 15-pound-test braided line, and usually a black/chartreuse or black/pink color. I’m addicted to feeling the crappie hit my jig, and there’s nothing that can replace that feeling.”

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THE BIG SWITCH Two years ago he switched to fishing LiveScope and a onepole presentation. Garmin LiveScope is advanced electronics that provides a vertical slice of water, shows fish in detail and provides accurate depth and distance to the fish.

A long pole is used to pitch or drop a bait to the fish. Fishermen can still catch plenty of fish by dipping beside the stumps the old-fashioned way, but the LiveScope speeds up action by eliminating fishing in spots where there are no fish.

Vertical jigging can be done with a jig or minnow.Aminnow is always a good choice. A jig is easier to use, and when the fish cooperate, it’s an efficient way to fish. Palmer likes to learn a color pattern for the day, then almost any type of jig in that color will work to catch them.

Palmer says the Truman Lake area is a great place to raise a family and introduce your kids to the outdoors. Visitors to the lake can expect great fishing.

Other lakes have bigger crappie, but the numbers of good fish make it a fantastic place to have a great trip.

MATTHEW ROGERS Truman Lake fishing guide and Crappie Masters 2018 National Champion Matthew Rogers (on Facebook) recommends keeping an eye open for bait forage, saying bait and

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Outdoor Guide

Page 19

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Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

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Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

Page 21

Earth’s tilt is the reason for seasons Photo and Text

By JEANNIE FARMER Each moment of the year has its own beauty.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson It’s often said there are reasons for the seasons.

We know, of course, that they are not manmade, but have natural effects on the actions, activities and lifespan of all the earth’s creatures.

They are especially found in the energies, deeds and desires of most outdoor recreation enthusiasts, whether they be hunters, anglers, campers, RVers, hikers, boaters, floaters or other types of sports lovers. The qualities of seasons they prefer often control their leisure-time preferences.

Hunters, of course are more prone to favor late fall and winter, even when they produce cold temperatures and occasional snowstorms, for the taking of waterfowl, big game, upland birds and other species.

Meanwhile, some suffer during that time, while they are planning, waiting and enduring “cabin fever” and longing for the advent of turkey hunting seasons.

SEASONAL PASSIONS At the same time, many anglers are year-round recreationists. Some prefer spring, of course, for the pursuit of crappie, trout, bass and many others, while some, when conditions are favorable (especially in the north country) chop holes in iced-over waters seeking whatever they have to offer.

RVers, too, generally prefer the warmer months of spring, summer and fall, but many go south as so-called “snowbirds” to stay for the winter, while others find pleasure in full-time travelling throughout the land.

Most hikers, non-RV campers, boaters and floaters prefer the three seasons other than winter. Float fishermen, including those who cherish canoe-angling, are delighted with the coming of spring, summer and fall. All serve them well, except for times of storms and floods.

THE SUN’S ROLE It’s interesting to study the reasons for the season changes, regardless of where you may live on this good Earth.

Most can be attributed to, or blamed on, the Solis, described as a Latin word literally meaning “sun.”

Actually, the sun is an object that affects us all.

The National Weather Service explains this phenomenon with the following: “The Earth has an elliptical or circular orbit around the sun (every 24 hours).

Therefore, in January, it’s at

the closest point in distance to the sun and is furthest away in July.”

Does this influence our weather? No, not at all. It isn’t great enough to influence the earth’s climate.

However, the NWS also points out that: “The reason for the changing seasons is due to the Earth being tilted on its axis by an average of 23.5 degrees.”

About June 21 each year, the earth is tilted in such a way that the sun is positioned directly over the Tropic of Cancer, with the sun directly overhead putting the northern hemisphere in the direct path of the sun’s energy, producing long days.

Meanwhile, the southern hemisphere experiences short days because of its low angle.

Interestingly, on June 20 or 21, the southern hemisphere is experiencing winter because it tilts away from the sun.

EQUINOX ARRIVES In the northern hemisphere, the autumnal equinox comes about Sept. 21, with the sun revolving directly around the earth’s center, which we know as the equator, and its energy is balanced between the two hemispheres.

Spring equinox arrives March 21 and the sun is once again directly over the equator.

Winter starts Dec. 21 and we find the sun is positioned directly over the Tropic of Cancer again at 23.5 degrees south latitude. The southern hemisphere is receiving direct sunlight and longer days. Therefore, the northern hemisphere is tipped away from the sun resulting in short days and a low profile.

Other interesting facts regarding the Earth’s seasons are provided by NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration): “The Earth’s axis is an imaginary pole going through its center from ‘top’ to ‘bottom.’Each day, it spins around this pole making one complete turn. This explains why we have day and night.”

Thus, the reason for the seasons become most clear.

It’s the Earth’s tilt.

FOUR SEASONS TO ENJOY In my world, no matter the season – winter, spring, summer or fall – I believe in taking advantage of what the beautiful seasons offer.

I like to walk in the Great Outdoors and feel the Earth beneath my feet and the sun’s warmth upon my face.

I join others to embrace the pure white settings of snowy winter days and the loveliness of spring’s flowering trees.

In summer, a hike can make you warm and feel as if the earth is of service to your feet and the trails and paths you trod.

In fall, you’re provided the magical changing of leaves on trees, brush and even autumn flowers from deep greens to brilliant red, orange and gold.

Regardless of the season you cherish the most, or even if you love them all as I do, give thanks that they are yours to enjoy.

Canoeists float-fish on a scenic river with wooded shorelines and towering, majestic bluffs, a common scene in the Ozarks.

Outdoor Guide

Page 22

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Outdoor Guide

January-February 2021

Page 23

Claudette’s Kitchen

Pasta dish is all about versatility

By CLAUDETTE ROPER

“Well, that was sure bad timing, Mom! You know Christmas is always in the kitchen and dining room around food.”

I’ve raised such bright, observant children.

Admittedly, he is right.

However, when Mountain Man is in the mood to help me with a project, I’ll take it – even right before Christmas! After all, there’s my canning kitchen downstairs, I told myself. You’ll just have to run up and down the steps, I told myself. It’ll be worth it, I told myself.

It sounded so much easier before a sprained knee, an injured hand and a cut finger! But it’s all worth it – have I mentioned that yet?

As I write, half of my kitchen cabinets are torn out and soffits are coming down. The built-in oven is gone and the countertop stove is gone. It is such a thrill that I’d be willing to eat sandwiches for the next few months if necessary.

Mountain Man doesn’t seem to think that’s a good idea, and the rest of the family doesn’t think that’s a fitting Christmas feast – imagine that. The new stove may be the only thing in place for the holidays, but the Ropers will be feasting – or by the time you read this, it would be better said that the Ropers will have feasted!

SOUP AND STEW TIME In the meantime there is still daily food preparation to think about, and with all the activity, easy sounds really good. This is a great time to break out the soup and stew recipes. We’ve had mild weather for much longer than normal, but there’s a lot of cold hot-soup-type days ahead.

The recipe I’m sharing in this issue is tweaked from one my sister makes. She calls it “Pasta e Fagioli” from her favorite Italian restaurant, but I’ll tell you right up front that there was a big problem with it: vegetable stock and no meat. That won’t fly at my house, so the recipe I’m sharing is updated to suit us.

PASTA E FAGIOLI 1 pound Italian sausage 1 onion, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 1/2 cup carrots, sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes 2 19-oz cans cannellini 4 cups chicken broth 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, slivered (optional) 1/2 teaspoon each dried basil and dried oregano 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste) 1/4 red pepper flakes (optional) 1/2 to 1 cup elbow macaroni Fresh Parmesan cheese

It helps to have your cans already opened and the beans drained, rinsed and drained again.

In a large, heavy saucepan, heat the sausage over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery, Cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and as soon as you smell the garlic, add the tomatoes and stir.

With the exception of the Parmesan cheese, add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat

Trail grants available Missouri State Parks has opened the 2021 round for Land and Water Conservation Fund and Recreational Trails Program grants, available to cities, counties, school districts and universities for outdoor recreation projects.

To download applications and register for an application workshop, go online to mostateparks.com/page/55065/ outdoor-recreation-grants.

The deadline is Feb. 17.

“If this year has taught us anything, it’s that we all need access to quality outdoor recreation resources. These grant programs can help communities make access a reality,” said Mike Sutherland, director of Missouri State Parks.

For more information, contact the Grants Management Section with Missouri State Parks at mspgrants@ dnr.mo.gov.

and simmer covered for 15-20 minutes. Stir in the pasta and return to a boil. Reduce the heat again, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the pasta is tender.

Grate the cheese over individual bowls as the soup is served.

MAKE IT YOUR OWN Now for a little commentary. This is not baking a cake. If you don’t follow this recipe exactly, it will not fall flat. If you don’t have Italian sausage, try slicing some kielbasa into the pan instead. Regular sausage or ground turkey will work too, but it will change the flavor.

If you like garlic particularly well, add another clove. If you don’t have sun-dried tomatoes, skip that step. Don’t have cannellini? Use kidney beans.

Did you just have soup the day before with sliced carrots?

Try cubing them instead. What’s your favorite pasta? Use it in place of elbow macaroni. I think most Pasta e Fagioli recipes call for ditalini – good luck finding that where we live.

Don’t hesitate to make this your own. If you get really carried away, you’ll just have to give it a new name.

As we wrap this one up, it just occurred to me what this “bad timing” was really all about. Never having been a food-driven child, I’m convinced the son is more worried about what the new girlfriend will think on her first visit to the cabin. Bless his heart!

By the time you read this, we will have had most of the holiday festivities behind us, except maybe New Year’s Eve. Mountain Man and I want to wish you a blessed 2021!

OUTDOOR Ma rch - Ap ril

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July/August 202

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A SPECIAL TRIBUTE to Bobby Whitehead upon his retirement, starting on Page 18

The Big Woods

........ Page 5

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A Veteran’s Tale ..............

Beaver’s lesson

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She’s fishing again ... Page 4

Spring Turkey Hunt

..........Page 5

Missouri wildlife

.....Page 12

Elk hunt lottery ........ Page 5

.......Page 8

The Visiting Otter......

.Page 12

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Spoon feeding ........Page 15

A Bluegill Pond ..............

......Page 15

Spicy Squirrel ..............

Amazing wolves ......Page 24

CELEBRATING

Coyote language

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age 31 Fishing for Trout .............P

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Outdoor Guide

Page 24

January-February 2021

EXPERIENCE ELLINGTON &explore

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Hike the ozark trail

1

~ Only 2 Hours South of St. Louis ~

Clearwater Lake & Webb Creek Park- Hwy H –Early fall is

when a cracklin’ campfire feels the best. Bring the family to camp, boat, fish, and unwind on crystal clear Clearwater Lake. This area of the lake is formed where Webb Creek and Logan Creek empty into Clearwater Lake. The lake is Webb Creek Ma rina known for its crappie, catfish and bass fishing. Camping is available at Webb Creek Recreation Park; plus a full service marina with boat/wave runner rentals on site. Webb Creek Park features over 40 campsites, swim beach, playground, showers, picnic pavilions, boat launch, and more. Services are limited after mid-September but camping is still permitted. Call Webb Creek Marina at 573-461-2344 for marina, boat rental and campsite information or visit www.recreation.gov to make reservations. If you are interested in all the conveniences of home call Webb Creek Cabins for cabin rentals, 573-461-2244.

2

Black River and K Bridge Recreation Area- K Hwy –

Float, canoe, fish and explore the beautiful Black River this fall. Enjoy swimming, camping and picnicking right on the banks of the Black River. K Bridge Recreation Area and Campground offers playground, showers, electric and comfort way K Camping station, visit www.recreation.gov to make High reservations. Floats (raft or canoe) can be arranged on site by calling Jeff’s Canoe Rental at 573-598-4555. A small general store is also available on site.

3

Current River & Log Yard Gravel Bar -Hwy 106

to HH Highway- Fish, swim, camp and relax on majestic Current River. Great place to explore Current River. This area is often referred to as Cardareva by locals and is a favorite summer hangout. Primitive camping is available right on the river bank, camping is also available at the nearby School Yard with picnic tables, lantern hooks and fire pits. These sites are available on a first come basis. Bring your canoes, rafts and kayaks; a perfect day float….Powder Mill Camp Current River to Log Yard. Boat launch available.

4

Current River, Blue Spring & Powder Mill Recreation Area – Hwy 106 near Current River bridge

Powder Mill reopened summer 2020. Camping is available with views of the river, picnic tables, fire pit and lantern hook. Reservations are not available. Powder Mill is a perfect camp base for day trips to area attractions like Blue Spring, Rocky Falls, Peck Ranch, Johnson Shut-Ins, Elephant Rocks and more. Wild horses are often seen in the fields near the bridge. The Ozarks offers countless options for family adventure.

Blue Spring

5 Rocky Falls

- NN Hwy- A cascading crystal Rocky Creek drops from the Ozark Mountains into a lazy pool which eventually winds through the Ozarks to Current River.

A must see if you are in the area and fun for all ages. Wear non-slip shoes and use caution when climbing on the falls.

Picnic tables provided.

6 Current River Conservation Area

–Consists of 28,000 acres of state land. Deer, turkey, eagles, elk and a multitude of wildlife can be seen. UTV’s, ATV’s and vehicle traffic are welcome on miles of gravel roads and trails that wind through some 60+ food plots. Buford Pond, Missouri’s first fire tower, a 1926 log cabin and an earthen Fort Barnesville can all be found here. Buford Pond provides fishing and picnicking and is a favorite location of all. For hunting enthusiasts an unstaffed rifle and archery range are provided.

Current River Conservation Area is home to the Missouri Ozark Ecosystem Project, the world’s most comprehensive forest management study. This 100 year project spans over 9,000 acres.

Main park entrance located on South Road in Ellington, other entrances located off Hwy 106 and HH highway.

Primitive camping is available. Elk viewing and maps of the area are available at the main park entrance.

7

Local Flavor – While in town

you won’t want to miss the Reynolds County Museum. This Museum is filled with relicts from days gone by and the rich history of the Ozarks. Volunteers staff the establishment and are happy to answer questions; Open March-November, Tues-Fri, 10-4 or by appointment. Call 573-663-3233 for more information.

Reynolds Co Museum Want some nostalgia from a couple decades back; how about a drive in movie? One of only a few drive-ins left in the Midwest is located just south of Ellington on highway 21. 21 Drive-In opens in May with summer family favorites and offers movie events into the fall including Halloween and Christmas.

Wild Horses

8

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Blair Creek- Hwy 106 – This area is a favorite of the local’s spring, summer and fall. For the person who is looking for the unknown, adventure into the wild Ozark hills for the beautiful views, caves, swimming, picnicking. Here riding the back roads in ATV’s, UTV’s and 4-wheel drives is exciting and fun. Entrance located North of Hwy 106 across from Blue Spring entrance.

10 Ozark Trail

- Hwy 106- Blair Creek & Current River section; Hwy 106 – Whether you are looking for a one day hike or want to make a few days of it; hiking these sections of the Ozark Trail is rewarding and adventurous. Such splendid locations as Rocky Falls, Klepzig Mill and Buzzard Mountain Shut-Ins are located right on the trail. For the advenKlepzig Mill turous visitor this is a must!

11 Peck Ranch

- H Highway, Shannon County- Listen for the bugle this fall! Elk are now roaming the hills of the Ozarks and can be seen in Peck Ranch, Current River Conservation Area and the surrounding region. Thanks to the Missouri Department of Conservation’s recent Elk Restoration Program elk were released into the elk zone beginning in the summer of 2011. With the third release the summer of 2013 the elk herd is nearing 200 bulls, cows and calves.

Peck Ranch is open from sunrise/ sunset daily and offers a driving tour.

Bugling occurs in the fall, Sept-Nov. Check the Missouri Dept of Conservation website for park closing details.

Maps are available at park entrance.

Elk

2

Scenic Highway 106- This 26 mile drive between

Ellington and Eminence is known state wide for its scenic views and beauty, and is especially a favorite in the fall. This section of highway is also home to the Trans-America Trail and sees many bicycle travelers from April-October.

Bicycle enthusiasts say it’s one of the “toughest sections on the trail” and known for the steep hills & hollers.

9

8

10 4

7 6 1

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5 TransAmerica Trail

Blair Creek

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