The November 2009 issue of
River Hills Traveler

Our Annual Deer Hunting Edition

"Where the big ones grow" is the title of our cover story by Bill Cooper on a 2008 northeast Missouri deer hunt he calls the "most exciting of my lifetime." That's saying a lot for Cooper, who killed a massive buck that rough-scored 150. Cooper's story leads into nine pages of deer hunting information you won't want to miss. Reknowned Ste. Genevieve artist Al Agnew supplied the front cover art, a painting titled "Fall Classic."

Here's a rundown on the rest of our deer season package:

•Missouri Wildlife Code changes effective July 1 affect deer hunters in several ways, including antler-point restriction, youth and nonresident permits, urban deer hunting zones and the timing of the antlerless and muzzleloader portions of the firearms deer season. We've got all the details.

•Rudi Rudroff slipped on a pile of acorns last year and bruised his posterior, but he decided to study up on this most common forest foodstuff that supplies much of the diet for wildlife.Acorns are high in fat, carbs, calcium, potassium and more. Animals tolerate the bitter taste of tannins better than humans. Rudi tells you more about acorns that you'd think to ask.

•Age and sex don't matter to Charlie Slovensky, the deer's, that is. Charlie explains why he is an any-deer hunter.

•1,242 deer were harvested in the urban part of the firearms deer season. Boone County led the way with 247 deer. St. Charles County was a distant second with 160. The highest season total in recent years is 2,077 deer in 2004.

•Hunting really is best on a clear, frosty morning. That's just one of the tips Tim Huffman finds useful in a new book, Hunting the Whitetail Using Data & Discoveries, by Lynn Ketner and Tommy Garner. Huffman shares numerous ideas from the book, which he calls "the best basic and advanced source I know of for helping you see and harvest more deer, especially bucks."

•Deer camp may be more fun than hunting for many outdoors folks. It's the place where hunting wisdom and tradition is passed from generation to generation. Howard Helgenberg shares experiences from the south Missouri deer camp he's been part of for more than 30 years.

•Did you ever wonder how folks who run hunting farms manage to produce trophy wildlife? Chuck Smick wondered and he interviewed Brett and Sharon Wilson, who farm 2,000 acres in western Kentucky, to find out. The Wilson's share their secrets of profiding high quality food and cover.

Not every reader is a deer hunter, so there's plenty more in Traveler for those with other interests:
• State parks are feeling the budget knife. One hundred state parks employees were summoned to meetings Oct. 20 where they learned details of a plan to slash $3.7 million from the budget for the remaining seven months of the fiscal year. The division expects to eliminate 100 positions.
• Traveler's editorial this month recommends taxing Intenet sales as a way to make up some of the slumping sales tax revenue that his hammering the Department of Conservation, State Parks and many other units of government.
• Long-time canoe outfitters and outdoor industry leaders Gene and Eleanor Maggard were honored with induction into the Missouri Tourism Hall of Fame.
• Bob Todd and Dale Kipp took a three-day fall float on the Current River, caught some fish, took some nice photo, shivered some and ate very well.
• Mike Amantea, a University of Missouri School of Journalism graduate student from Ballwin, is winner of this year's Buck Rogers Scholarship awarded by Missouri Outdoor Communicators, an organization of writers, editors, photographers and web journalists.
• There's nothing like a trip to a trap rock quarry, writes Jo Schaper. You don't know what trap rock is? Read and find out. Jo visited the Iron Mountain Trap Rock Co. in Arcadia Valley.

November's bounty includes quail, ducks, deer, geese and more, writes Bob Todd in his "Seasons" column. Speaking of quail, Jim Featherston shares an excerpt from his book manuscript, The Youngest Sheriff, recalling a late November day in 1950 when no lawyers or defendants showed up for law day in Ripley County Circuit Court, and at the suggestion of Sheriff Featherston, the Honorable Judge Randolph H. Weber ordered the court be adjourned and "all court officials go bird hunting."

Missouri Conservation Department News Coordinator Jim Low writes that quail numbers are holding their own in Missouri due to early nesting, but the pheasant population is still dwindling.

Venison goes great in stews and Swiss steak, reports Pat Todd in her recipe column, The Iron Kettle.

After buffalo, corn was the food item of most importance to Native Americans, according to Kathleen Brotherton. She details some of the many Indian legends concerning corn and the various uses made of all parts of the plant.

Waterfowl hunting is possible, but limited, this year at Duck Creek Conservation Area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is replacing the 50-year-old control structure along Cato levee.

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