Danielle Crafton of Portageville is this year's Miss Missouri Outdoors. She graces out cover this month. She is about to complete a journalism degree at Arkansas State University at Jonesboro, and was a candidate for Miss Arkansas in the Miss America pageant. Deer season takes up considerble space in this issue. There are a lot of changes this year that require a hunter to do some thinking about what he wants to get out of the season.

A Father's Day float on the St. Francis River found the water up river than expected, and to explore various side channels. Fishing was fair.The Cole Reunion was held in Boonville and a statue was dedicated to Hannah a foot or so above normal. The high water made it possible to paddle further up the Cole, Missouri's Pioneer mother. Auston Castleberry of Norman OK brought a rifle passed down from Samual Cole, Hannah's son, that was used to kill a panther at Boonville in the early 1800's.Jim Featherston's history column is about red liniment, a concoction that was known to be good for man, beast or, in some cases, chicken.Charlie Slovensky writes about virtual hunting - computer games. And there is a news story about a lower trout limit next year. Bill Cooper writes about one his best ever trout park trips - 36 trout caught in about an hour.Onondaga Cave State Park is celebrating about the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair with festivities and displays July 17. The cave was a feature of the city fair. People rode to Leasburg on the trail and then were taken by buggy or wagon to the cave for tours.It was Bob's day when he and Pat joined Gary Cravens and Conservation Department Director John Hoskins for a float fishing trip on Eleven Point River.
Bob brought up the rear, but it seemed the others mainly got the fish stirred up and ready to strike Bob's lure.An Englishwoman writes about a bicycle vacation at Lake Wappapello and Clearwater Lake, revealing that many of the same things that appeal to Missourians appeal to someone from London as well.There's more on the situation with Clearwater Dam and the possibility that at last the lake might be operated at a higher level. And a tour of Lost Valley Hatchery.There's a story on pond management by Chris Kennedy. You have to decide what you want from your pond before you can manage it well, Chris says.There's a short hiking trail to Welch Spring on Current River. A description of the trail is repeated below.Ever hear of tomato preserves? There's a recipe for them in the July issue. Also a sunrise/moonrise table, coming events, seasons, letters and news.
Hiking to Welch Spring on Current River
It is probably a little further than the posted quarter mile to Welch Spring, but not much. And you’ll probably be glad if you wear long pants if you walk this trail.
It is easiest to find the trail from Akers Ferry. Go north on Route K a couple miles, past the Devils Backbone, and look for a small sign on the left on a sharp curve. A gravel road leads down to Current River.
From the small parking lot, the trail follows an old road along the river most of the way, then cuts out into bottomland across what used to be trout runs. When we walked it, seed heads from grass were dropping across the path, making our choice of long pants a good idea.

Then the spring comes into view. It is among the top 10 springs in the world - one of several huge springs we take for granted in the Ozarks.
Behind the spring is what is left of a building where people once stayed to breath the curative vapors from the spring and cave system.
Back then, the spring was dammed to force it to flow through trout runs you walk through on the path. The runs empty into Current River. The value of breathing spring cave vapors may be questionable from the medical point of view, but the combination of spring water and trout has got to be good for you.
Today, the old dam is slowly washing away, the trout runs no longer carry spring water. As the spring pool lowers, the cave becomes more evident. It is said boats could go up in the cave at one time. In a few years that may be possible again.
There is said to be a trail that comes down to the spring from the upstream side, but we could see no connection to the trail that we followed on the downstream side.
The spring is a popular stop for people floating this section of Current River and for several miles below the spring, trout fishing in the river is better than average. The spring is part of Ozark National Scenic Riverways, a national park.
The Past - July, 1980
Traveler had celebrated the summer sport of girl watching for many years, mostly with candid photos taken on beaches and gravel bars. But in July, 1980, Terry Larkin became the first girl to actually pose for our camera. Terry worked at Park Road Grocery, near Sam A. Baker State Park.
Al Agnew had a story in that issue about the hazards of night fishing, such as trying to figure out how to get the hooks out of an angry owl that had grabbed a Jitterbug lure in mid air.
Bob and Pat Todd dined on Current River crawfish in camp one evening.
Missouri was saving money by reduced highway mowing, and the wildflowers along the roads were spectacular.
There was a feature on Route K Recreation Area on Black River upstream from Clearwater Lake. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had built a new campground on the east side of the river after the river ripped up its campground on the west side, not once, but twice. The west camp area has been used for camping for decades, but paving and development exposed the area to the ravages of floods.
The Conservation Commission made an unannounced visit to Lake Wappapello in June, where an experimental creel limit of 10 on crappie had things in an uproar. The rest of the state had a limit of 30, and the prevailing view nationally was that you could not overfish crappie. The Wappapello experiment wanted to test the possibility that you could indeed take too many crappie. Many in the Wappapello area thought MDC’s experiment was all wet and wanted it ended.
Bears were showing up in the Ozarks.
Deer season was announced. Hunter orange would be mandatory this year, and the season would be bucks only statewide - except for those who drew an any deer permit issued on a quota basis in the state’s 23 deer zones.
Rose Alexander, a country columnist from Bourbon, wrote about camping along the Meramec River in 1933.
And the historical column, the story of John Dunn Hunter was concluded. Hunter, who grew up as a captive of the Osage, became educated and wrote his memoirs later. His view of life in Indian society did not agree with the eastern view at the time that Indians were blood-thirsty savages. Nor was it believable in the early 1800s that Osage Indian boys could have ventured to the Pacific Ocean. But Hunter described the route taken, and it was later found to be accurate. His memory was of places and things one could not imagine if one had not been there.

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