Mark Wehking, a member of the Missouri Whitewater Association, was kind enough to send us the results. As it turns out, it’s a 5 page Excel spreadsheet, with enough numbers and divisions to make an accountant happy.  I don’t claim to understand all the ins and outs of the various classes, but I thought we could at least list the winners here.

Saturday Slalom. Men: Brian Heikenen, Peter Witucki, Chuck McHenry (2 classes), Chris Pelzer, Milo Bookout, Pete Larson, Joe Satori.

Saturday Slalom. Women: Natalie Courson (2 classes), Piper Wall, Jojo Newbold, Joey Yeaple.

Saturday Boatercross: Men: Jerry Schafroth; Women: Piper Wall.

Saturday Downriver: Vince Swoboda, Diane McHenry, Chuck McHenry, Kurt Pelzer, Bill Miles Scott, Swafford. (this does not seem to be segregated by gender.)

Sunday Slalom. Men: Chuck McHenry, Jerry Schaforth, Brian Heikenen, Brian Heikenen/Pete Wituck.

Mixed: David Hirsch/Joey Yeaple.

Women: Joey Yeaple, Piper Wall, Michelle Grimm.

Fastest course times were between 203.06 seconds and 327.21 seconds. The downriver race was completed in 23 minutes, three seconds.

Forty people took part in the races. If you think this sport is for you, more information is available at www.mowhitewater.org.

1) Hunter Safety Education Online. Hunter safety education is available online.  The written part of the test is studied for and the test taken online. At that point, you register for a field day at one of the Conservation Nature Centers, and complete the hands on portion of the training. This helps time-strapped wannabe hunters to complete part of the training at their own pace, and without devoting an entire day to the effort. This is not just for turkey season; if all field days between now and May 10 are filled by the time you complete the course, (they were not at this writing) you will be all ready for other hunting opportunities later in the year.

2) Apprentice Hunter Authorization. This $10 authorization is not a hunting permit. It does authorize you to purchase such a permit without hunter safety education certification, but restricts you to hunting with a companion who is, and is at least 18 years old, or born before 1967.  This authorization lasts for two years, as which time you will have to become certified to continue hunting.

For more info, go online to mdc.mo.gov/regs/permits.htm.

Barney purple? Seems the brilliant metallic blue green beetles have a thing for the color. Maybe they think it goes with their exoskeletons. Who knows? The traps are triangular in cross-section, and 1 by 2.5 feet in size. They may blend with the redbuds right now, but shortly they will stick out against the green Ozark canopy.

These will be set out in an 8 mile radius of the Recreational Area. Another 250-300 will be scattered across the state, according to the Dept. of Conservation. Scientists now believe the infestation occurred five years ago; backtracking studies show that the infestation has spread about 1.5 miles from it’s original source. Since most of the life of the borer is beneath the bark, it’s hard to determine they exist until ashes begin dying and the distinctive adults appear. To make the traps more effective, they are coated with a chemical that smells like stressed ash trees. The borers land, and a trapped, since they are not strong fliers.

MDC, DNR, U of Missouri, the Army Corps and APHIS, the USDA plant and animal inspection agency, have declared war on this pest. Wayne County wood product companies are under special regulation to prevent its spread.

Outdoors people are being asked NOT to bring firewood along, or take firewood home with them, especially if they aren’t certain what type of wood it is, or where it has been. Ashborers are picky eaters — they target ash almost exclusively, but few of the general public can correctly identify wood from a cut log or stick. (Trap photo from www.ca.uky.edu)

Every month, after the Missouri Conservation Commission meets, they send out a news release summarizing what the Commissioners decided in the way of adding or subtracting rules and regulations, who gets the attaboys (Department awards) and who gets a thumbs down (the list of license suspensions and revocations.)

We summarized and reported that news on page 6 of the April Traveler, including a passel of new squirrel hunting regulations, which a sharp-eyed Traveler reader called us out on.

The squirrel hunting changes don’t go into effect until March 1, 2010.

Nowhere in the news release was a date given for the changes. I assumed (wrongly) that because they were mixed in with other things (like the attaboys and suspensions which are effective immediately) the entire news release applied present tense. It doesn’t. I was so busy chasing the belly boat portion of the story to find out if those were Southeast Missouri lakes, I neglected to notice the lack of an effective date on the squirrel regs.

Sorry for any confusion this may have caused. It’s just a squirrelly error on my part. And the regs still will take effect– just next year.
Jo Schaper

Civiello said that normal stocking was done for trout openers across the state, but the numbers of 12-inch fish will be reduced for the rest of the year, due to limited supply. Flooding at Table Rock Lake last year negatively affected trout both due to flooding and poor water quality, and other hatcheries had water quality issues, especially murkiness and water too warm for the fish as the slug of floodwater moved rapidly into and through the springs. MDC will monitor hatchery inventories, trout tag sales and other factors to keep the understocking from having more than minimal effect on angling.
This reduction does not affect trout stocking at Ft. Leonard Wood, nor will it have an effect on winter trout fishing in urban lakes. The latter are supplied from non-MDC hatcheries.

Somehow I missed this in the hoopla last year over the Year of the Frog. At http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/frog/id.htm MDC posted an online audio and visual guide to ID’ng Missouri frogs and toads. Tom Johnson started this effort many years ago, with first a tape and then a CD of frog calls, so that people out in the spring night could figure out just who was making a racket in the fishless ponds, road ditches, woodland swales and swamps where frogs and toads breed from late February to mid-summer. Getting with the 21st century, those same sounds are now posted online as free download MP3s, suitable as ringtones for any phone which can accept this format, or by people with the software to make the digital conversion to proprietary phone noises.
For four years now, every time my cell goes off, people look at the floor, expecting to see a toad, frog or oddly calling cricket. I suspect you can find similar MP3s out there for wild turkey, bobcat, owls, bears, katydids– almost any animal or insect that makes a noise.

Why limit yourself to yesterday’s Pop 40 tunes, or the small variety of ringtones on most phones? If you are an outdoors person, let your phone tell the world!

Turkey hunters in many parts of Missouri don’t need an expert to tell them the state’s turkey population is down.

  “I’m hoping that hunters will adopt a two-year strategy,” said Resource Scientist Tom Dailey. Dailey, who oversees the Missouri Department of Conservation’s wild turkey management program, said he expects a significantly smaller turkey harvest this year than in 2008. Hunters checked 46,000 turkeys in last year’s spring turkey season. He expects the number to be closer to 40,000 this year. Missouri has fewer gobblers this year than it has had in 20 years or so.

  “Three of the last four years have seen below-average nesting success,” said Dailey. “In fact, the number of poults (recently hatched turkeys) seen in the 2008 survey was a modern record low.”

  Weather records explain turkey hens’ poor success in recent years.  Turkeys’ strong nesting performance three years ago set the stage for a paradoxical 2009 spring turkey season. A strong year-class of three-year-old turkeys means there will be a good supply of big gobblers for hunters to pursue. The bad news is that such gobblers are notoriously gun shy. “Three-year-olds are trophy birds, with big spurs and long beards,” said Dailey, “but it’s the two-year-old toms that gobble so lustily it makes hunters” hair stand on end. A goofy 2-year-old will often run to a hunter’s call gobbling like crazy, but a 3-year-old is likely to sneak in silently, looking for the hen that’s supposed to be making those seductive sounds. Or, he might just stand out in the middle of a field waiting for the hen to come to him. They’re tough customers.”

  That, said Dailey, sets up a situation that could perpetuate diminished hunting opportunities. “I hope hunters don’t hammer the jakes on account of a lack of 2-year-olds. This year’s jake is next year’s two-year-old. I’m hoping hunters will focus on quality hunts for older birds and less on just bagging a turkey. The number of jakes already is down in many areas.”

  Asked why the Conservation Commission didn’t put jakes off-limits to hunters this year, Dailey notes that this would penalize hunters in areas where turkeys still are abundant. It also would put an unnecessary burden on hunters, who might have trouble distinguishing between mature and juvenile turkeys. “The recovery of our turkey flock will follow naturally when we get two or three years in a row of favorable nesting conditions,” said Dailey.

  Northern Missouri has recorded the biggest decline in turkey numbers, but Dailey says that is relative. Northern counties went into the current slump with larger turkey populations than south of the Missouri River. Consequently, many northern counties still will have good hunting.

“Things were down quite a bit in the north, but there was still more gobbling in the north than in any other part of the state. While hunters in many areas are bracing for lower turkey numbers, many of the people I talk to see no problem whatsoever in their areas.” Dailey noted that Franklin County usually is in the top three turkey harvest counties statewide. He said this east-central Missouri continues to have very strong turkey numbers, and last year’s poult count was good, so he expects the area around Franklin County to have good hunting again this year.

With a good carry-over of three-year old birds and reduced numbers of 2-year-olds and jakes, Dailey recommends hunters adjust their strategies. He said “patience” and “restraint” are this year’s watchwords “patience for those who want to shoot mature gobblers, and restraint for those who want better hunting next year.

  ”I think people are going to have to move around more to find birds,” said Dailey. “It’s a balancing act. You don’t want to sit there all morning in a spot where there is no gobbling, but there might be a bird there. Patience is important, but so is knowing when to move. If you’re pretty sure there are turkeys in an area, stay put. Rely less on gobbling response and more on good calling.”

  He said pre-season scouting is the best way to solve this dilemma. “Because there is going to be less gobbling this year, it is going to be more difficult for someone to come into a new area and find birds.  Hunters who put in the time to find those 3-year-old birds and learn their behavior patterns stand a much better chance of getting in a position where they get a shot.”

  This year’s spring turkey season starts April 20 and runs through May 10. The youth season is April 4 and 5. Details of hunting regulations are available in the 2009 Spring Turkey Hunting Information booklet, which is available wherever hunting permits are sold, or at mdc.mo.gov/hunt/turkey/sprturk/.–from MDC sources.