Will the Missouri Department of Conservation just-finished four-year pilot program of antler restrictions in 29 counties be junked or expanded to more areas of the state? Will timing of the firearms seasons be changed to move the antlerless portion into October, open the November portion the weekend before Thanksgiving and move the muzzleloader portion to late December?

MDC says hunter input online, in writing and at 16 meetings across the state will be weighed in determining changes in management of the state’s deer herd.

The pilot antler restriction program launched in 2004 in 29 counties required a buck to have a minimum of four points on one side to be legal. The intent was to shift harvest pressure from bucks to does, helping balance the male-female ratio and put more bucks in older age classes.

The department says the male-female balance makes managing the herd easier because fewer does need to be taken to affect the population size. Surveys have indicated many hunters want to see more bucks in the older age classes.

How did the program work? In the central Missouri counties involved, the doe harvest increased an average of 13 percent, but not in the 22 northern counties with high deer populations. Adult buck harvest increased by 20 percent.

The department says that based on hunter response and biological results from the pilot study, it will decide whether to expand antler restriction regulations to other counties or abandon it for the 2008 deer seasons.

The department believes it could help balance buck-doe ratios and produce more adult bucks by changing the season timing as outlined above beginning in 2009.

In 2007, the seasons were:
• Archery — Sept. 15-Jan. 15, excluding the November portion
• Urban counties — Oct. 5-8
• Youth — Oct. 27-28
• November — Nov. 10-20
• Antlerless — Dec. 8-16.

Remaining meetings are as follows:
• Feb. 4, Marshall High School Little Theater, 805 S. Miami Ave., Marshall
• Feb. 5 — Burr Oak Woods Nature Center, 14-1401 N.W. Park Road, Blue Springs
• Feb. 6 — State Fair Community College, 2503 W. 16th St., Sedalia
• Feb. 7 — St. George Catholic Church Basement, 611 E. Main, Linn
• Feb. 11 — West Plains Civic Center, 110 St. Louis St., West Plains

Comments can be registered online at www.mdc.mo.gov/16184 or sent in writing to Missouri Department of Conservation, Deer Management Considerations, 1110 S. College Ave., Columbia, MO 65201. The department asks you to state in which county you hunt most. whether you want the 4-point antler restriction in that county and whether you support the proposed season timing changes.

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What’s a wetland worth? The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is asking the state’s citizens to help them find out the answer to that question.

The department’s Water Resources Center is conducting an online survey to help state decision makers determine the value Missouri’s wetland resources. Survey results will help the agency develop economic tools to evaluate wetland compensation and costs the public is willing to pay for the replacement and creation of wetlands.  

Many of Missouri’s historic wetland areas have been replaced with productive farms and developments in low-lying areas, often in floodplains. Those that remain are important Missouri water resources, serving as waterfowl habitat, storing floodwaters and cleansing our waterways.

Any Missouri citizen may participate in the wetland survey by visiting the department’s Web page at www.dnr.mo.gov/env/wrc/survey.htm. All information needed to complete the anonymous survey is provided online. Results of the survey will later be published by the department.

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The Missouri Department of Conservation has decided not to
test special restrictions on catfishing in central Missouri. The agency
held four public meetings in July and August to gauge anglers’
attitudes toward a possible trial of more restrictive flathead and blue
catfish regulations. Eight out of 10 anglers who commented on the proposed regulations said they did not want the change.

In a catfish angler survey the Conservation Department conducted in 2002, 55 percent of Missouri River catfish anglers who responded expressed support for some form of harvest restrictions on
flathead and blue catfish if it increased their chances of catching a
trophy-sized catfish.

The agency was considering restrictions on an 82-mile reach of the
Missouri River from Glasgow to Jefferson City and part of the Lamine and lower Blackwater rivers. The changes were designed to increase the
number of large flathead and blue catfish.

The Conservation Department is seeking anglers and business people to
join a catfish-management stakeholder group. The group will meet to
discuss catfish management with Conservation Department biologists. For more information about this advisory group or to ask questions or submit comments about catfish management, contact Resource Scientist Kevin Sullivan, P.O. Box 368, Clinton, MO 64735, phone (660) 885-6981, e-mail Kevin.Sullivan@mdc.mo.gov.

Speaking of Missouri River catfish, check out the story on catching monster catfish in the Big Muddy in the January-February issue of River Hills Traveler.

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WINONA — Southeast Missouri residents have a new educational and
recreational resource in their back yard. Visitors to the heart of the
Ozarks also might want to visit the newly opened Twin Pines Conservation Education Center (CEC) for a glimpse into the region’s natural and cultural history.

This 456-acre area on Highway 60, 1.3 miles east of the junction with
Highway 19 North in Winona, is the home of an interpretive center that
emphasizes Missouri’s forest heritage.

Grand opening will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 19.

Many programs, special events and classes are available by
appointment. For event information and registration, call (573)
325-1381.

Regular hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through
Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday.

Besides organized activities, Twin Pines offers opportunities for
hiking, birdwatching, nature photography and other nature-related
activities. A trail through the area provides access to pine-oak
woodland and several other forest types.

Twin Pines CEC places a special emphasis on the history of the
Ozarks’ timber industry. Displays at Twin Pines include vintage
logging equipment, a log cabin and an early 20th century schoolhouse.

Youth fishing clinics for largemouth bass, hybrid sunfish and channel
catfish is allowed in 2-acre Mule Camp Pond by special permit only.
Hunting is not permitted at Twin Pines CEC.

News release from Missouri Parks Association

Columbia, Missouri, November 28, 2007 — Conservation leaders in Missouri regard the vaunted $180 million settlement between state officials and Ameren for the Taum Sauk Reservoir disaster as a complete sellout to Ameren. It does nothing to protect Church Mountain, the most critically threatened resource in the Taum Sauk Region, the largest and most biodiverse complex of state-owned wildlands in Missouri.

“We are bitterly disappointed by this settlement,” said Terry Whaley, President of the Missouri Parks Association, “because we and virtually the entire spectrum of conservation organizations in Missouri have repeatedly said to public officials that securing Ameren’s land on Church Mountain for the people of Missouri far outweighs in importance any other possible land or monetary settlement.”

Organizations joining with the Missouri Parks Association in efforts to protect Church Mountain and secure it for the state include the Conservation Federation of Missouri, the Nature Conservancy of Missouri, Audubon Missouri, the Open Space Council for the St. Louis Region, Ozark Chapter Sierra Club, the Missouri Coalition for the Environment and many smaller groups.

Governor Blunt, DNR Director Doyle Childers, and Attorney General Nixon all indicated at various times during the past year that Ameren’s property on Church Mountain was part of the settlement negotiations, along with a Katy Trail extension to Kansas City. They apparently caved in because of Ameren’s refusal to give up Church Mountain, on which the utility has long planned to construct a second and much larger reservoir, and probably also because of the exorbitant price tag on other elements of the settlement. Of the $180 million settlement total, the negotiators agreed to a value of $33 million for the extension of the Katy Trail into Kansas City, for example, allowing Ameren a $15 million credit for the recreational value plus a payment of $18 million for construction of a new co-linear trail, an exorbitant cost made necessary by Ameren’s refusal to give up its right-of-way on the Rock Island Line.

In the settlement, Ameren is giving the state only a 20-year right of first refusal in the event Ameren decides to sell its property on Church Mountain to a third party, but it is reserving to itself “and any affiliated entity” the right to develop or “otherwise utilize” the property—likely for a second pumped storage hydroelectric plant.

The negotiators for the state reportedly accepted Ameren’s price-tag of more than $60 million for its approximately 1300 acres on Church Mountain, then gave up their efforts to acquire it. Yet Ameren acquired most of this acreage around 1960 when the going rate for such land was about $5 per acre, and even at the going rate of about $1000 per acre for wild land in the Ozarks today the value would be only about $1.3 million. The exorbitant price tag likely reflects the value to Ameren of a second pumped storage plant on the mountain. Ameren’s entire cost for the $180 million settlement and for the rebuilding of the Taum Sauk Reservoir will apparently be covered by insurance, while Missourians’ interest in the protection of the natural resources of the Taum Sauk region is being sold out.

“In the wake of the reservoir disaster,” said MPA’s Terry Whaley, “it is simply unthinkable that these lands so critical to the complex of state-owned wildlands and natural areas in the immediate vicinity would remain vulnerable to industrial development.”

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One of the most heated topics in Missouri - Quality Deer Management vs Traditional Deer Management

I thought I would pass this along in hopes that River Hill Traveler would help educate the public instead of telling the public what to think or what ever you think might help Missourians make an educated decision.

This is the last year of the experimental antler restriction and the MDC will evaluate the results and present these to Missourians at public meetings and on the web to get input on where MDC should go with it.

Thru the grapevine I am hearing talk about changes that were coming down the pipe for 2009 deer seasons.

It is doubtful that Antler Restriction will go state wide. This is in doubtful because some areas of Southeast Missouri are against it. (Example - http://www.riverhillstraveler.com/march-06-antler-point-restriction.php) You will have to scroll down to it.

Quote from the River Hills Traveler “One reason there is so much opposition to the idea is that most folks in this area think the deer population could stand to grow a little more, not shrink.”

Again opinion not fact, The deer population in Missouri stands at an all time high. Look at  Wayne county Firearms season history, this year alone it was in the top 8 counties out of 118 in harvest. The last I checked Texas and Oregon County are in the Ozarks and are in the top 3 of harvest. How many deer do you want?

Did your article ever show that in the states with Antler Restriction that the harvest of deer actually went up all but the first year.

Wayne County Firearms Harvest 1996 = 1,706
Wayne County Firearms Harvest 1998 = 1,562
Wayne County Firearms Harvest 2000 = 1,634
Wayne County Firearms Harvest 2001 = 1,761
Wayne County Firearms Harvest 2003 = 1,537
Wayne County Firearms Harvest 2004 = 2,527
Wayne County Firearms Harvest 2005 = 2,117 (With 876 Bucks, 324 Button Bucks “1,200 Total Bucks” and 917 does)
Wayne County Firearms Harvest 2006 = 2,655 (With 1,341 Bucks, 369 Button Bucks “1,710 Total Bucks” and 945 does)
Wayne County Firearms Harvest 2007 = 3,103 (With 1,507, Bucks, 437 Button Bucks “1,944 Total Bucks” and 1,159 does)

Quote from the River Hills Traveler “A lot of hunters voluntarily limit their harvest to bucks even through deer of either sex may be taken.”

That is the problem and with proven by the harvest numbers, just in your county alone. What does this mean to the deer population and you? Well let’s take a look in areas that have been study, that has been TRADITIONAL DEER MANAGEMENT over the years.
DOES = 85% of the deer population
BUCKS 2 ∏ years old or less = 10% of the deer population.
BUCKS 2 ∏ years old to 4 ∏ years old = 5% of the deer population.
BUCKS 4 ∏ years old and up = 1% of the deer population.
Remember it takes around 3 ∏ years old before a Buck is even consider a mature whitetail. Also when a buck reaches 3 ∏ years of age with the correct nutrition the buck has reached 80% potential of its antler growth compared to a 1 ∏ year old only has 10% of its antler growth. If a buck reaches 4 ∏ years of age it has reached 90% of its potential antler growth. The traditional deer population is considered un-natural since does have been protected.
Quote from the River Hills Traveler “Generally, hunters would prefer to take an eight point deer over a four or six pointer.”
Then why are you showing only one side of the story. When a shift is made and does are no longer protected then the quality of the entire herd benefits but the bucks end up with the biggest benefit, because they get older.
Study’s that have what is called QUALITY DEER MANAGEMENT the population changes for the better.
DOES = 50% of the deer population
BUCKS 2 ∏ years old or less = 12.5 % of the deer population
BUCKS 2 ∏ years old to 4 ∏ years old = 25% of the deer population
BUCKS 4 ∏ years old and up = 12.5 % of the deer population

If you look at the numbers you have a 1 to 1 ratio between bucks and does and you can then see a visible rut and now have a more natural deer population.
Quote from the River Hills Traveler “Here, on the other hand, hunters either can’t see deer at considerable distances or find themselves too close at hand to have time for examining deer with optics. It is much more difficult to count points here.”

I believe you don’t give your reader’s much credit. I realize people think I am a redneck, but I can count up to four, I do own a optics and if the Bucks get that close to hunters in the Ozarks, then why do you need optics to count.

Quote from the River Hills Traveler  “Does here tend to mature later than up north, producing fewer fawns over a life time. Taking an Ozark doe, therefore, has more impact on the deer population than it does up north.”

If this was a biological fact then I guess all the states like TEXAS and in the south would have fewer deer. Comments like this are opinion not fact. All Whitetail Does from Canada to Florida have to the chance to breed 2 to 3 times and doe fawns are able to breed within their first year.

Quote from the River Hills Traveler ”In the Ozarks, the other side of the coin is that in some areas, hunting pressure is so low that an antler restriction probably wouldn’t have the impact on the doe population that you might fear. (On the other hand it would have little impact on bucks, either.)”

I tell my kids if you don’t ever try, how will you know. Quality Deer Management is not about Big Antler Deer that is just a by product, it is about having a balanced age structure of mature bucks to does. How much research is out there, that you are basing you opinions on? I believe in common sense, well common sense is going to tell you that shooting the majority of 1 ∏ year old to 2 ∏ year olds you won’t have many 3 ∏ to 4 ∏ year olds. Will you. In Wayne County with 62% of the harvest are bucks and out of them 28% of them Button Bucks.

Does anyone know how many buck with LESS than 4 points one side was taken in the Ozarks. NO, and we will never know, because we are not in the study.
AS SOON AS WE PICKED UP A BOW OR GUN AND SET LAWS WE CHANGED NATURE AND STARTED MANAGING THE DEER HEARD. WE HAVE FOREVER CHANGED IT AND IN KNOW WAY NO MATTER WHAT WE DO CAN WE GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING WHEN IT WAS UNDER NATURALLY SELECTION. 
In my humble opinion we owe it to the what ever the game to try to get it back to what nature intended. Since the wolf, cougar, bear no longer are the main predators we skew the deer herd to the most unnatural state in modern times as the main and responsible predator in controlling the natural section. Traditional deer management does not do this again in my opinion.
Here in a couple of weeks there will be a big effort from the MDC to get information out to the public.
As a writer it is our job to show people how to make a informed decision not to make the decision for them. With deer meetings across Missouri coming soon I hope that you might consider putting in the Newspaper a series of articles of information from states that have had it for years and compare that to Missouri

Here is the other side of the fence, that are not opinions but true data and FACT based on history, in which a typical hunter may never see. UNLESS WE SHOW THEM WHERE TO LOOK, then they can make up their own mind.

Arkansas – Has had antler restriction for years. - http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/198342/

Pennsylvania – The Deer Hunting Capital of the world has so much data on their website - http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=465&q=151329

Michigan – Has a four year study - http://www.qdma.com/articles/details.asp?id=40

Texas – Part of the stated has just started it. - http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/game_management/deer/antler_restrictions/

New York – Is now getting ready to start. - http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/27663.html

Mississippi – Antler Restriction - http://www.whitetailinstitute.com/info/news/sept04/2.html

Georgia – Is where it all started. - http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us/content/displaycontent.asp?txtDocument=262&txtPage=4

Louisiana- Antler Restriction - http://www.wlf.state.la.us/pdfs/hunting/programs/dmapnewlettev6i1.pdf

Allen Morris

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Traveler is looking for a someone in Traveler Country (the southeast quarter of Missouri, including St. Louis) to blog on outdoor topics for our area. If you monitor what’s going on with the Missouri Conservation Department, Department of Natural Resources, National Park Service, mining and utility companies and the overall fishing-floating-hunting-hiking-biking scene and would like to keep our readers up-to-date, we’d like to hear from you. There’s room for discussion on everything from fish and game regulations, to Ozark National Scenic Riverways policies, to what’s going on with St. Joe State Park.

There’s no money in this position, but it’s a heck of a soap box.

If you’re interested, contact Emery Styron, Publisher, River Hills Traveler
emery@riverhillstraveler.com

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You have the this month opportunity to see world-class bicycle racing in Traveler Country. The first Tour of Missouri will bring the Tour de France champion and U.S. National champion to the Show Me State for a six-day, 15-team race starting in Kansas City and ending in St. Louis, Sept. 11-16.

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Spain and American Levi Leipheimer, the third-place finisher at that race, have been announced as members of the Discovery Channel Team, along with U.S. National Champion George Hincapie of Greenville, S.C and other top competitors.
The event is patterned after the successful Tour of Georgia and Amgen Tour of California. Race director Jim Birrell calls the event “a great postcard of Missouri to the world” and Lt. Governor Peter Kinder says the race will capture the imagination of the state and could pump millions of dollars into local economies along the route.

Here’s some detail on the legs in or near Traveler Country:
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, STAGE 4 - Lebanon to Columbia, road race, 133 mi. (214 km). START: 10:30 AM EST FINISH: 3:25 PM The race will snake through Guthrie, and Ulman, highlighted by a sprint in Jefferson City, and will finish in downtown Columbia.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, STAGE 5 - Jefferson City to St. Charles, road race, 126.6 mi. (204km). START: 11:30 AM EST FINISH: 3:40 PM Starting against the backdrop of Missouri’s Capitol, the course features a serpentine route along Highways 94 and 100, passing through Augusta, Hermann and Washington en route to the finish in St. Charles, near the Lewis and Clark Rendezvous.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, STAGE 6 - St. Louis, circuit, 74 mi. (119 km). START: 1 PM EST FINISH: 3:50 PM The start and finish will take place Union Station. Riders will race seven circuits of 10-plus miles through urban terrain, including the northeast part of Forest Park and passing by the north and south sides of St. Louis University.

For more information, go to http://www.tourofmissouri.com

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The Outdoor Expo at the Busch Shooting Range in St. Charles County Saturday, July 28, attracted some 1,400 people to test firearms, practice skeet-shooting and casting, and visit booths of various outdoor providers from gun and archery dealers to game farms.

In the photo, seven-year-old Marek Nelson of Union, Mo., aims a 9 mm Beretta pistol under the direction of shooting range volunteer Mike Stassi.

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By Emery Styron
River Hills Traveler

Don Collop of the Flying T—E Ranch, Rutledge, Mo., added historic flavor to the Outdoor Expo at Busch Shooting Range on Saturday, July 28.

Collop is a “cousie,” that is a chuckwagon cook, and brought along his 1910 wagon and cooking acoutrements, for the education of the many hunters, anglers, campers and others who attended the event and might want to compare notes on outdoor cooking.

Lonehand.com’s website credits Texas rancher Charlie Goodnight with creation of the prototype chuckwagon in 1866, during the era of the great cattle drives from Western lands to railheads in Kansas. Goodnight rebuilt a Studebaker wagon to carry water, firewood and provisions and cowboys bedrolls. Key features were the hinged lid of the chuck box, that dropped down to provide a work surface, and a canvas hammock suspended beneath the wagon to carry any scarce fuel collected along the way.

Collop’s wagon was manufactured by Peter Shetler in Chicago and first retailed by Roberts Bros. & Green Mercantile in Centralia, Mo. He has it outfitted with typical cowboy cooking gear. He and his wife, Evelyn, enjoy taking the wagon to schools and various events to make presentations on the cowboy way of life. Rounding out the chuckwagon gang are “hoodlums” (that’s what the cousie’s assistants were called) Hershel Linnenbringer and Gary Gooch.

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