In the March 2008 issue of

River Hills Traveler

The new advocacy group, Voice of the Ozarks, was organized in January 2008, is concerned about the Missouri Conservation Department's decision to restrict access to the Sunklands Conservation Area in Shannon County, but MDC District Supervisor Clint Dalbom told Traveler writer Bill Cooper only some off-road trails were closed to protect fragile sinkhole habitats.

The estimated cost to install a concrete cut-off dame in the center of the earthen Corps of Engineers Clearwater Dam has doubled to $175 million since the project was undertaken, reports Traveler editor Emery Styron. The Corps now expects the project to be complete in 2012.

A successful turkey hunt on public land rekindles writer Don Rathert's kinship with the natural world. The March issue is loaded with turkey stories to help prepare hunters for the April 21 opening of the season. Bill Cooper describes his wife's confident harvest of her first gobbler on her first outing. Kathleen Brotherton reports that Native Americans knew turkeys as keen-eyed but dim-witted and counted turkeys as their most important game bird. Tim Huffman interviews Essex, Mo., taxidermist Larry McMullin to find out what preparations to take for a good mount.

Rudi Rudroff tells one on himself. It seems Rudi could not resist grabbing his gun and taking a shot when a gobbler interrupted his bath in the great outdoors. Photo not included, you'll be relieved to learn. Charlie Slovensky gives some tips on tactics in case you're ready but the birds aren't.

Charlie Slovensky is none too pleased by the prospect of counting a deer's points before taking a shot. At that point, deer hunting stops and specimen evaluation takes over, he opines.

Also on the fishing front: Darrell Taylor surveys experts on both sides of the question of whether fish learn and remember their experiences of hitting different plugs. Barbara Baird takes Jim Rogers' course in fly-casting and lives to tell about it. Bob Todd finds a warm winter day to take a nice walleye on the Black River.

Jim and Donna Featherston finish their two-parter on Col. Timothy Reeves of Doniphan, a farmer, preacher, teacher and accidental Confederate commander of the 15th Missouri Cavalry.

Pat Kettle shares recipes from Rolland Love's new cookbook, Homegrown in the Ozarks, Mountain Meals and Memories.

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