03-20-2008, 07:10 PM
1. Trout parks plan youth fishing events in May (w/pic) 2. Online hunter education a hit with one family 3. Howard County farmer?s story reflects quail resurgence
Visit www.missouriconservation.org/news to access text and illustrations for these stories and Conservation Department news archives or to subscribe to this weekly news release package. Visit www.mdc.mo.gov/news/images/fullsize/20071208.jpg for a high-resolution jpg file of this week?s photo. Go to www.missouriconservation.org/seasons for the Conservation Department's weekly "Outdoor Calendar."
News contact: Jim Low, Jim.Low@mdc.mo.gov, 573/522-4115, ext. 3243
"Not only have ethical hunters resisted the creeping alienation between humans and the natural out-of-doors, they have fought to resist the growing alienation between humans and the ?nature? each person carries within. Hunters celebrate their evolutionary heritage and stubbornly refuse to be stripped of their atavistic urges-they refuse to be sterilized by modern culture and thus finally separated from nature.? - Ann S. Causey, from ?Is Hunting Ethical,? in John A.
Murray?s A Hunter?s Heart
Cutline for 3/21/08 All Outdoors photo<br />
Missouri?s four trout parks plan special Kids Fishing Day events in May. For details, call: Montauk Hatchery near Salem, 573/548-2585; Roaring River Hatchery near Cassville, 417/847-2430; Bennett Spring Hatchery near Lebanon, 417/532-4418; or Maramec Spring Park near St.<br />
James, 573/265-7801.<br />
(Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo)
1. Trout parks plan youth fishing events in May (w/pic)
Each of Missouri?s four trout parks set aside one day especially for kids.
JEFFERSON CITY-Four events in May offer children age 15 and younger a chance to learn about trout fishing, enjoy beautiful spring weather and spend quality time with family and friends.
Each year the Missouri Departments of Conservation and Natural Resources and The James Foundation organize Kids Fishing Day events in cooperation with local sponsors. The DNR owns and operates Bennett Spring State Park near Lebanon, Montauk State Park near Salem and Roaring River State Park near Cassville. The James Foundation owns and operates Maramec Spring Park near St. James. The Conservation Department operates trout hatcheries at each facility, supplying the raw material for fun and lasting memories.
MONTAUK STATE PARK
Montauk?s Kids Fishing Day runs from 6:30 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. May 3.<br />
Kids can pick up free trout tags at the hatchery office from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 2 or on the day of the event. A section of the spring branch from the CCC Spillway to the Social Hole will be reserved for the youth anglers and stocked with trout all day. Volunteers will be on hand to help young anglers. Children are encouraged to bring their own fishing equipment.
Parents are welcome to help, but only one pole may be used between an adult helper and a child. Adults may not fish by themselves in the area set aside for Kids Fishing Day.
Local sponsors will provide hamburgers, hotdogs and soft drinks from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for participating children. Activities offered throughout the day will include a stream table exhibit, door-prize drawings and trout-fishing seminars, such as fly tying and fly casting..
Volunteers are needed to help with this event. Individuals wishing to volunteer do not need to be experienced anglers. If you would like to volunteer or donate to Kids Fishing Day, or for more information, call<br />
573/548-2585 or e-mail Tom.Whelan@mdc.mo.gov.
ROARING RIVER STATE PARK
Kids Fishing Day runs from 6:30 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. May 17 and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 16 at Roaring River. Youth participants can pick up free trout tags at the hatchery office any time the day before each event or on the day of the events. They also will receive stringers, fish posters, fishing activity coloring books and other educational material.
The area from the first low-water bridge upstream to the hatchery will be reserved for youths. This area will also be stocked through out the day. Volunteers will be available to help young anglers. Children are encouraged to bring their own fishing equipment. However, some equipment will be available for kids to borrow. Parents are welcome to help kids, but only one pole may be used between the helper and the child. Adults are not allowed to fish by themselves. Free hotdogs, chips and soda will be available 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Seminars on fish cleaning, fish cooking, archery, knife sharpening, knot tying, fly tying and fly casting, jig tying, how to fish Roaring River and other subjects will be offered throughout the day. The Conservation Department?s mobile shooting range will be on hand, too, or participants can take hatchery tours to see how trout are raised.<br />
Other activities will include a live snake program, a make-your-own trout fishing T-shirt station and critter-stamp headband making. The nationally known ?Fishin? Magicians? will also present two programs.
Kids who attend two classes will receive prizes. Those who attend fly casting classes will be entered in a drawing for complete fly-fishing outfits. Those who attend an archery class will be entered in a drawing for a bow. In addition, trophies will be awarded to boys and girls with the biggest fish and the biggest stringer. There will also be a drawing for free taxidermy mounts among youngsters who catch trout weighing over<br />
3 pounds.
Volunteers at Roaring River Kids Fishing Day events need not be experienced anglers. To volunteer, call 417/847-2430 or email jerry.dean@mdc.mo.gov.
MARAMEC SPRING PARK
May 17 is Kids Fishing Day at Maramec Spring Park. The park will open at 5:30 a.m. with fishing starting at 6:30 a.m. and continuing until<br />
8:15 p.m. Kids fish free, and there will be no parking fee for cars with kids 15 and younger.
The entire upper half of the spring branch will be reserved for their exclusive use. Rainbow trout will be stocked throughout the day to help ensure fishing success. Volunteers will be on hand all day to help kids with fishing. Kids are expected to bring their own fishing equipment.
The Maramec Spring Trout Fishermen's Association will sponsor fishing contests from 6:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. A casting contest will be held at 11 a.m., with 11 trophies to be awarded. Free hotdogs and soda will be provided. Prizes galore will be given away all day long, including bicycles, 50 fishing rod-and-reel sets, other fishing equipment, savings bonds and numerous attendance prizes.
There will be exhibits, contests and activities from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. in the area around the registration tent. These include making fish-print T-shirts, critter stamping, a stream table, aquarium fish display, taxidermy, photographs, aquatic entomology and games. Fly fishing demonstrations and classes will be held on the stream.
Kids who want to fish must pick up a free fishing tag at the Millfield Shelter adjacent to the fishing area. Included with the free tag is a ?goody bag? containing a variety of free items. These will be available the day before Kid?s Day and all day Saturday. The first 1,500 kids to arrive will receive a special ?Kid?s Fishing Sports Bottle.?
For more information call 573/265-7801 or email paul.spurgeon@mdc.mo.gov, or visit www.mdc.mo.gov/2921.
BENNETT SPRING PARK
Bennett Spring will host Kids Fishing Day from 6:30 a.m. until 8:15 p.m. May 3. Lunch will be provided for the kids from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Educational programs will be held from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., including fly tying, fish cleaning and cooking, a shooting trailer, the World Bird Sanctuary and a nature center touch tank. For more information, call 417/532-4418.
-Jim Low-
2. Online hunter education a hit with one family
Father and son find online learning combined with field experience the perfect way to launch a lifetime of shared outdoor experiences.
TROY, Mo.-For 50 years, hunter education has meant attending 10 hours of classroom training. Come July, Missourians will have a second option<br />
- online training plus a field day to give their knowledge a practical test. One family that has tried it is sold on the concept.
Kenny Dearing took his parents by surprise last fall when he told them he wanted to go deer hunting.
?I had taken him out to the range and let him shoot the gun and tried to entice him somewhat,? said Kenny?s father, Ken. ?With him growing up and playing sports and all that, he had never showed that much interest and I didn?t really want to push him. And then he just comes up one day and says ?I really would love to do this. What have we got to do???
According to Kenny, peer pressure stimulated his interest in hunting.
?All my friends go hunting,? said Kenny. ?They always bring pictures to school and gloat about it. I wanted to get my own and gloat about it.?
Ken, who has been a deer hunter for 35 years, was delighted. He went to the Missouri Department of Conservation?s web page to see what legal requirements his 12-year-old son had to meet to take part in the two-day youth deer hunting season. He knew that Kenny would need to be hunter-education certified. If Kenny did not have a hunter-education certificate, Ken would need one to accompany his son on the youth hunt.
?I decided I might as well take hunter education with him,? said Ken. ?You can always learn something new.?
While Ken was pleased with his son?s newfound interest in hunting, it created a bit of a time crunch. Like most families, the Dearings were busy, and only one hunter education class was available in their home town.
?Hunter education was going to take up an entire weekend,? said Ken, ?and with my schedule as busy as it is and his football schedule, we were trying to find a way to do this that was a little easier for him and me. Then we stumbled across the internet-based training.?
The Dearings became part of a trial run of the Conservation Department?s new web-based hunter education. The agency tested the program in a few areas in 2006 to see how it worked and what hunters and instructors thought of it. Students worked their way through the training materials and then had to pass an online test in time to qualify for a six-hour field day that completed the training. It took some work, but the Dearings finished the online course in time.
?It was a great way to go,? said Kenny?s mother, Janet. ?They did it in the evenings and had a lot of fun together.?
Kenny said the online portion of the course worked well for him, because he could work at his own pace.
?The only hard part was all the reading,? he said. ?I?m not really much about reading. The field day was just like redoing everything we had already learned. It was actually kind of fun.?
Ken said the practical exercises in safe firearms handling, crossing fences and establishing safe fields of fire were priceless.
?Walking around with a stick instead of a gun helped him learn those lessons,? said Ken. ?The instructors were just excellent, the way they made sure every kid understood exactly what to do. I was really impressed. I even learned some things I didn?t know.?
With both portions of the online/field day training successfully completed, Ken and Kenny were set. The used their camper at Mark Twain Lake as their deer camp, hunting on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
They hunted from dawn to dusk both days of the Youth Portion of Firearms Deer Season, using a ground blind. They saw only one deer and were not able to get a shot. But Ken said the weekend was wonderful. He got to sit quietly with his son for two days, teaching him how to pick a deer out among the fall foliage, what signs to look for on the ground, where to sit and other deer hunting lore.
Walking through the woods, Kenny surprised his dad by pointing out dangerous situations, such as a thick patch of trees where it would be difficult to keep the muzzle of his rifle pointed in a safe direction, or a spot where he might fall, losing control of his firearm.
?He learned all that stuff in the field day,? said Ken. ?It really stuck with him.?
As the November Portion of Firearms Deer Season approached, father and son continued their preparations. They spent time at the shooting range, going through six or seven boxes of ammunition until Kenny was completely comfortable with his lever-action .30-30. Ken bought a ?buddy stand,? a tree stand with room for two hunters. They put it up together - more quality time alone with his son. The stand allowed them to sit together in an elevated platform. On opening day, they saw three deer.
?We saw a nice buck,? said Ken. ?I could have shot it, but it wasn?t about me. It was about what Kenny could do. I was proud of what he had learned in hunter education. He couldn?t get the deer in the scope quick enough and he said, ?Dad I can?t get a good shot,? and he just lowered his gun. That?s the way it should be. I had told him, if you can?t get a good shot for a clean kill, just let him walk away.<br />
There will be another one another day. He did a real good job.?
On the second morning of the regular deer season a big deer came along.<br />
Kenny was catnapping when his dad nudged him awake so he could hear the sound of the deer walking through the leaves behind them.
?I told him, ?Kenny, there is a deer coming. Just wait; she?ll stop. If she?s looking at you just wait. Eventually she?ll drop her head or she?ll turn. If you have a clean shot, take it.? At that point he said, ?I can get her,? and he pulled the trigger.?
Kenny?s target practice and hunting ethics training came together at that moment. The deer, a 160-pound doe, fell where she stood, stopped cold by one lethal shot.
?I?m very excited,? said Ken. ?This is an interest we can both share together. There?s no TV, there?s no cell phone, there?s no video machine. It?s just quiet time that we can bond as father and son. My daughter is actually interested in getting involved as well.?
Kenny got a first-deer certificate from the Conservation Department. He spends much of his spare time now reading books, watching outdoor shows and cruising the Internet to learn all he can about turkey hunting. He and his dad plan to hunt the spring turkey season.
Conservation Department Hunter Education Coordinator Tony Legg said online hunter education is designed to make formal training in hunting safety and ethics more readily available. He said the online option is designed to augment traditional classes, not replace them.
?Online training is a great thing for families with busy schedules,? said Legg. ?It also is going to be a big help to people who live a long way from where hunter education classes are offered.?
He said the Conservation Department was very conscious of the need to maintain the quality of hunter education training as it designed the online course. He said the field day ensures that students get interactive time with instructors. ?Nothing can take the place of a real, live teacher for certain things,? he said, ?and the practical exercises add an extremely important element to the training.?
Legg said the new approach also makes hunter education more appealing to young people, who are learning to do everything online. ?Serving people means making services available where they live,? he said.<br />
?For a lot of young people, that means the Internet.?
Legg said the online course covers the same material as traditional hunter-education classes. After completing the course, students can take as many practice tests as they need to prepare for the final exam. The exam itself is different for every student. Difficulty is tailored to the student?s age, and questions are selected from a pool of several hundred, yielding a virtually endless number of variations.
?The chances of getting more than one or two of the same questions on two tests are limited,? said Legg. ?You have to know the material pretty well to pass, just like in a regular hunter education class.?
Passing this exam is a requirement for attending a field day and obtaining hunter-education certification. At the field day students must pass another written test. This ensures that their online test was not done by others.
?When we announced plans to offer an online version of hunter education, lots of people were understandably concerned about whether it would lower the standards,? said Legg. ?We have built in safeguards to make sure that doesn?t happen. With the added hands-on training, I think online hunter education actually is stronger in some ways than classroom training alone.?
The Conservation Department plans to launch the online hunter-education course in July. Information will be available at www.mdc.mo.gov in June.
-Jim Low-
3. Howard County farmer?s story reflects quail resurgence
The future of Missouri bobwhites is in private landowners? hands.
FAYETTE, Mo.-The bobwhite quail has a special place in Oran Boulden?s heart, thanks to spending his formative years on a farm in Howard County. His love for the jaunty little game bird makes him a natural ally for soil and wildlife conservationsts. It also makes him and like-minded farmers the future of quail in Missouri.
Boulden, a regional representative for Case-New Holland farm and construction equipment, came home to Missouri three years ago and took over management of his family?s 160-acre farm north of Fayette. He had been gone for 17 years, much of it in Nebraska, where he hunted quail and pheasant every weekend. Some seasons, he and his hunting buddies harvested as many as 300 quail.
He brought his English pointers with him when he moved back to Missouri but soon discovered that even the relatively modest 100-quail-per-season hunting of his youth had vanished. Not that the family farm had ever been much good for hunting. Boulden recalls that even in his youth he had to look elsewhere for quail.
?When I was in college in the early ?80s we hunted quail heavily in this area,? recalls Boulden. ?I never hunted the farm, because there was never any birds there. I think it was habitat. If it wasn?t trees or crops it was fescue. There were some tree lines taken out, and our farming practices consisted of heavy tillage. We disked twice in the spring and chisel plowed in the fall.?
If anything, the quail situation was worse when he returned home. It wasn?t hopeless, though. Bobwhites still called from an abandoned railroad right-of-way north of the family farm. Then he found Brent Vandeloecht.
Vandeloecht is a private land conservationist with the Missouri Department of Conservation. It is his job to help landowners fulfill their conservation ambitions. Boulden called him even before moving back to Missouri, looking for ways to bring quail back to his family farm.
?I?m a quail hunter myself,? says Vandeloecht. ?Wildlife management in general is a passion for me. That?s what I do on weekends. I?m always doing something to try to improve the wildlife habitat on my own property.?
Boulden?s farm actually had fairly good potential for quail habitat.<br />
About three-quarters of the land consisted of small fields. There were two 4- to 5-acre hayfields, four row-crop fields ranging from 15 to 19 acres and two fields of 6 and 7 acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). A sprinkling of woodlots made up the remaining quarter of the farm.
Quail thrive in a patchwork of small fields and woodland. A mix of weedy edges and crops provide food. Diverse grasslands create nesting areas, and a brushy edge between fields and woods provide shelter from weather and predators. Such diverse landscapes were the norm during the bobwhite quail?s heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, but they are increasingly rare today.
While the Boulden?s farm had potential, it lacked some key elements of quail habitat. For one thing, it did not have the kind of grassland suited to quail nesting. And while it had a mix of forest and open land, the dividing line between forest and field was razor sharp. There were almost no brush piles or shrubby cover in between.
Together, Boulden and Vandeloecht developed a plan to remedy these deficiencies. To make the plan affordable, they tapped resources provided under the federal farm bill.
The CRP paid for Conservation Practice 33 (CP-33, habitat buffers), planting native, warm-season grasses around the edges of crop fields.<br />
These strips of little bluestem and sideoats grama grass and native broadleaf plants make excellent quail nesting habitat. They also help prevent loss of valuable topsoil to erosion.
Erosion was a real problem along the creek running through the Boulden farm. In this area, CRP paid for Conservation Practice 21 (CP-21, riparian filter strips), planting native, warm-season grasses even more densely than under CP-33, but still good quail habitat.
Boulden and his son, Jordan, created patches of woody cover for quail at the edges of cropland and CRP fields by felling small trees, a practice known as edge feathering. They got help from the Conservation Department converting some of the fescue grass on their farm to native, warm-season grasses. By the end of their first year?s labor they began to see results.
?I was out on the tractor in October of 2006 planting wheat and flushed about 12 quail,? said Boulden. ?I was really excited. I called Brent right away and said, ?Hey, I saw a covey of birds!?<br />
That is the first time I have seen birds on the property since 1980.?
In the spring of 2007, while working near some of the edge-feathering, Boulden saw a cock bobwhite and two hens nesting around the new cover.
More recently, he has been a little discouraged by tough breaks from the weather. He has not seen any quail since last year?s late-spring freeze and December?s devastating ice storm. But Vandeloecht says the farm now has what it takes to sustain quail through hard times.
?They did a really good job of establishing their warm-season grasses and got a really good stand,? he said. ?They have done about 2 acres of edge feathering, which is quite a bit of work on a 160-acre farm.<br />
He?s got some high-quality woody cover and plenty of nesting habitat. I think his birds should make it.?
Boulden and his son continue to work at creating quail habitat. They use no-till farming practices, and they leave 15- to 20-foot strips of soybeans and other crops standing beside edge-feathered areas to ensure that quail have food close by when sitting out winter storms. They plan to spray herbicide to reduce fescue and get legumes growing around edge feathering, and they are working to get better stands of warm-season grasses growing on levees. Finally, they are working with Conservation Department foresters to develop a forest stewardship plan for the farm.
?Quail habitat didn?t disappear overnight, and it doesn?t come back overnight,? said Vandeloecht. ?It takes time, and you have to keep at it every year, but the Bouldens are gaining on it. They are in it for the long haul.?
Vandeloecht said more than 90 percent of Missouri?s total acreage is privately owned. Consequently, the future of bobwhite quail in the Show-Me State hinge on the efforts of people like the Bouldens.
?Creating quail habitat on conservation areas and all the other public land in the state can?t bring back the bobwhite,? said Vandeloecht. ?We can offer help, but it is going to take a lot of folks like Oran and Jordan to make it happen.?
Visit www.missouriconservation.org/news to access text and illustrations for these stories and Conservation Department news archives or to subscribe to this weekly news release package. Visit www.mdc.mo.gov/news/images/fullsize/20071208.jpg for a high-resolution jpg file of this week?s photo. Go to www.missouriconservation.org/seasons for the Conservation Department's weekly "Outdoor Calendar."
News contact: Jim Low, Jim.Low@mdc.mo.gov, 573/522-4115, ext. 3243
"Not only have ethical hunters resisted the creeping alienation between humans and the natural out-of-doors, they have fought to resist the growing alienation between humans and the ?nature? each person carries within. Hunters celebrate their evolutionary heritage and stubbornly refuse to be stripped of their atavistic urges-they refuse to be sterilized by modern culture and thus finally separated from nature.? - Ann S. Causey, from ?Is Hunting Ethical,? in John A.
Murray?s A Hunter?s Heart
Cutline for 3/21/08 All Outdoors photo<br />
Missouri?s four trout parks plan special Kids Fishing Day events in May. For details, call: Montauk Hatchery near Salem, 573/548-2585; Roaring River Hatchery near Cassville, 417/847-2430; Bennett Spring Hatchery near Lebanon, 417/532-4418; or Maramec Spring Park near St.<br />
James, 573/265-7801.<br />
(Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo)
1. Trout parks plan youth fishing events in May (w/pic)
Each of Missouri?s four trout parks set aside one day especially for kids.
JEFFERSON CITY-Four events in May offer children age 15 and younger a chance to learn about trout fishing, enjoy beautiful spring weather and spend quality time with family and friends.
Each year the Missouri Departments of Conservation and Natural Resources and The James Foundation organize Kids Fishing Day events in cooperation with local sponsors. The DNR owns and operates Bennett Spring State Park near Lebanon, Montauk State Park near Salem and Roaring River State Park near Cassville. The James Foundation owns and operates Maramec Spring Park near St. James. The Conservation Department operates trout hatcheries at each facility, supplying the raw material for fun and lasting memories.
MONTAUK STATE PARK
Montauk?s Kids Fishing Day runs from 6:30 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. May 3.<br />
Kids can pick up free trout tags at the hatchery office from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 2 or on the day of the event. A section of the spring branch from the CCC Spillway to the Social Hole will be reserved for the youth anglers and stocked with trout all day. Volunteers will be on hand to help young anglers. Children are encouraged to bring their own fishing equipment.
Parents are welcome to help, but only one pole may be used between an adult helper and a child. Adults may not fish by themselves in the area set aside for Kids Fishing Day.
Local sponsors will provide hamburgers, hotdogs and soft drinks from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for participating children. Activities offered throughout the day will include a stream table exhibit, door-prize drawings and trout-fishing seminars, such as fly tying and fly casting..
Volunteers are needed to help with this event. Individuals wishing to volunteer do not need to be experienced anglers. If you would like to volunteer or donate to Kids Fishing Day, or for more information, call<br />
573/548-2585 or e-mail Tom.Whelan@mdc.mo.gov.
ROARING RIVER STATE PARK
Kids Fishing Day runs from 6:30 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. May 17 and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 16 at Roaring River. Youth participants can pick up free trout tags at the hatchery office any time the day before each event or on the day of the events. They also will receive stringers, fish posters, fishing activity coloring books and other educational material.
The area from the first low-water bridge upstream to the hatchery will be reserved for youths. This area will also be stocked through out the day. Volunteers will be available to help young anglers. Children are encouraged to bring their own fishing equipment. However, some equipment will be available for kids to borrow. Parents are welcome to help kids, but only one pole may be used between the helper and the child. Adults are not allowed to fish by themselves. Free hotdogs, chips and soda will be available 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Seminars on fish cleaning, fish cooking, archery, knife sharpening, knot tying, fly tying and fly casting, jig tying, how to fish Roaring River and other subjects will be offered throughout the day. The Conservation Department?s mobile shooting range will be on hand, too, or participants can take hatchery tours to see how trout are raised.<br />
Other activities will include a live snake program, a make-your-own trout fishing T-shirt station and critter-stamp headband making. The nationally known ?Fishin? Magicians? will also present two programs.
Kids who attend two classes will receive prizes. Those who attend fly casting classes will be entered in a drawing for complete fly-fishing outfits. Those who attend an archery class will be entered in a drawing for a bow. In addition, trophies will be awarded to boys and girls with the biggest fish and the biggest stringer. There will also be a drawing for free taxidermy mounts among youngsters who catch trout weighing over<br />
3 pounds.
Volunteers at Roaring River Kids Fishing Day events need not be experienced anglers. To volunteer, call 417/847-2430 or email jerry.dean@mdc.mo.gov.
MARAMEC SPRING PARK
May 17 is Kids Fishing Day at Maramec Spring Park. The park will open at 5:30 a.m. with fishing starting at 6:30 a.m. and continuing until<br />
8:15 p.m. Kids fish free, and there will be no parking fee for cars with kids 15 and younger.
The entire upper half of the spring branch will be reserved for their exclusive use. Rainbow trout will be stocked throughout the day to help ensure fishing success. Volunteers will be on hand all day to help kids with fishing. Kids are expected to bring their own fishing equipment.
The Maramec Spring Trout Fishermen's Association will sponsor fishing contests from 6:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. A casting contest will be held at 11 a.m., with 11 trophies to be awarded. Free hotdogs and soda will be provided. Prizes galore will be given away all day long, including bicycles, 50 fishing rod-and-reel sets, other fishing equipment, savings bonds and numerous attendance prizes.
There will be exhibits, contests and activities from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. in the area around the registration tent. These include making fish-print T-shirts, critter stamping, a stream table, aquarium fish display, taxidermy, photographs, aquatic entomology and games. Fly fishing demonstrations and classes will be held on the stream.
Kids who want to fish must pick up a free fishing tag at the Millfield Shelter adjacent to the fishing area. Included with the free tag is a ?goody bag? containing a variety of free items. These will be available the day before Kid?s Day and all day Saturday. The first 1,500 kids to arrive will receive a special ?Kid?s Fishing Sports Bottle.?
For more information call 573/265-7801 or email paul.spurgeon@mdc.mo.gov, or visit www.mdc.mo.gov/2921.
BENNETT SPRING PARK
Bennett Spring will host Kids Fishing Day from 6:30 a.m. until 8:15 p.m. May 3. Lunch will be provided for the kids from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Educational programs will be held from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., including fly tying, fish cleaning and cooking, a shooting trailer, the World Bird Sanctuary and a nature center touch tank. For more information, call 417/532-4418.
-Jim Low-
2. Online hunter education a hit with one family
Father and son find online learning combined with field experience the perfect way to launch a lifetime of shared outdoor experiences.
TROY, Mo.-For 50 years, hunter education has meant attending 10 hours of classroom training. Come July, Missourians will have a second option<br />
- online training plus a field day to give their knowledge a practical test. One family that has tried it is sold on the concept.
Kenny Dearing took his parents by surprise last fall when he told them he wanted to go deer hunting.
?I had taken him out to the range and let him shoot the gun and tried to entice him somewhat,? said Kenny?s father, Ken. ?With him growing up and playing sports and all that, he had never showed that much interest and I didn?t really want to push him. And then he just comes up one day and says ?I really would love to do this. What have we got to do???
According to Kenny, peer pressure stimulated his interest in hunting.
?All my friends go hunting,? said Kenny. ?They always bring pictures to school and gloat about it. I wanted to get my own and gloat about it.?
Ken, who has been a deer hunter for 35 years, was delighted. He went to the Missouri Department of Conservation?s web page to see what legal requirements his 12-year-old son had to meet to take part in the two-day youth deer hunting season. He knew that Kenny would need to be hunter-education certified. If Kenny did not have a hunter-education certificate, Ken would need one to accompany his son on the youth hunt.
?I decided I might as well take hunter education with him,? said Ken. ?You can always learn something new.?
While Ken was pleased with his son?s newfound interest in hunting, it created a bit of a time crunch. Like most families, the Dearings were busy, and only one hunter education class was available in their home town.
?Hunter education was going to take up an entire weekend,? said Ken, ?and with my schedule as busy as it is and his football schedule, we were trying to find a way to do this that was a little easier for him and me. Then we stumbled across the internet-based training.?
The Dearings became part of a trial run of the Conservation Department?s new web-based hunter education. The agency tested the program in a few areas in 2006 to see how it worked and what hunters and instructors thought of it. Students worked their way through the training materials and then had to pass an online test in time to qualify for a six-hour field day that completed the training. It took some work, but the Dearings finished the online course in time.
?It was a great way to go,? said Kenny?s mother, Janet. ?They did it in the evenings and had a lot of fun together.?
Kenny said the online portion of the course worked well for him, because he could work at his own pace.
?The only hard part was all the reading,? he said. ?I?m not really much about reading. The field day was just like redoing everything we had already learned. It was actually kind of fun.?
Ken said the practical exercises in safe firearms handling, crossing fences and establishing safe fields of fire were priceless.
?Walking around with a stick instead of a gun helped him learn those lessons,? said Ken. ?The instructors were just excellent, the way they made sure every kid understood exactly what to do. I was really impressed. I even learned some things I didn?t know.?
With both portions of the online/field day training successfully completed, Ken and Kenny were set. The used their camper at Mark Twain Lake as their deer camp, hunting on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
They hunted from dawn to dusk both days of the Youth Portion of Firearms Deer Season, using a ground blind. They saw only one deer and were not able to get a shot. But Ken said the weekend was wonderful. He got to sit quietly with his son for two days, teaching him how to pick a deer out among the fall foliage, what signs to look for on the ground, where to sit and other deer hunting lore.
Walking through the woods, Kenny surprised his dad by pointing out dangerous situations, such as a thick patch of trees where it would be difficult to keep the muzzle of his rifle pointed in a safe direction, or a spot where he might fall, losing control of his firearm.
?He learned all that stuff in the field day,? said Ken. ?It really stuck with him.?
As the November Portion of Firearms Deer Season approached, father and son continued their preparations. They spent time at the shooting range, going through six or seven boxes of ammunition until Kenny was completely comfortable with his lever-action .30-30. Ken bought a ?buddy stand,? a tree stand with room for two hunters. They put it up together - more quality time alone with his son. The stand allowed them to sit together in an elevated platform. On opening day, they saw three deer.
?We saw a nice buck,? said Ken. ?I could have shot it, but it wasn?t about me. It was about what Kenny could do. I was proud of what he had learned in hunter education. He couldn?t get the deer in the scope quick enough and he said, ?Dad I can?t get a good shot,? and he just lowered his gun. That?s the way it should be. I had told him, if you can?t get a good shot for a clean kill, just let him walk away.<br />
There will be another one another day. He did a real good job.?
On the second morning of the regular deer season a big deer came along.<br />
Kenny was catnapping when his dad nudged him awake so he could hear the sound of the deer walking through the leaves behind them.
?I told him, ?Kenny, there is a deer coming. Just wait; she?ll stop. If she?s looking at you just wait. Eventually she?ll drop her head or she?ll turn. If you have a clean shot, take it.? At that point he said, ?I can get her,? and he pulled the trigger.?
Kenny?s target practice and hunting ethics training came together at that moment. The deer, a 160-pound doe, fell where she stood, stopped cold by one lethal shot.
?I?m very excited,? said Ken. ?This is an interest we can both share together. There?s no TV, there?s no cell phone, there?s no video machine. It?s just quiet time that we can bond as father and son. My daughter is actually interested in getting involved as well.?
Kenny got a first-deer certificate from the Conservation Department. He spends much of his spare time now reading books, watching outdoor shows and cruising the Internet to learn all he can about turkey hunting. He and his dad plan to hunt the spring turkey season.
Conservation Department Hunter Education Coordinator Tony Legg said online hunter education is designed to make formal training in hunting safety and ethics more readily available. He said the online option is designed to augment traditional classes, not replace them.
?Online training is a great thing for families with busy schedules,? said Legg. ?It also is going to be a big help to people who live a long way from where hunter education classes are offered.?
He said the Conservation Department was very conscious of the need to maintain the quality of hunter education training as it designed the online course. He said the field day ensures that students get interactive time with instructors. ?Nothing can take the place of a real, live teacher for certain things,? he said, ?and the practical exercises add an extremely important element to the training.?
Legg said the new approach also makes hunter education more appealing to young people, who are learning to do everything online. ?Serving people means making services available where they live,? he said.<br />
?For a lot of young people, that means the Internet.?
Legg said the online course covers the same material as traditional hunter-education classes. After completing the course, students can take as many practice tests as they need to prepare for the final exam. The exam itself is different for every student. Difficulty is tailored to the student?s age, and questions are selected from a pool of several hundred, yielding a virtually endless number of variations.
?The chances of getting more than one or two of the same questions on two tests are limited,? said Legg. ?You have to know the material pretty well to pass, just like in a regular hunter education class.?
Passing this exam is a requirement for attending a field day and obtaining hunter-education certification. At the field day students must pass another written test. This ensures that their online test was not done by others.
?When we announced plans to offer an online version of hunter education, lots of people were understandably concerned about whether it would lower the standards,? said Legg. ?We have built in safeguards to make sure that doesn?t happen. With the added hands-on training, I think online hunter education actually is stronger in some ways than classroom training alone.?
The Conservation Department plans to launch the online hunter-education course in July. Information will be available at www.mdc.mo.gov in June.
-Jim Low-
3. Howard County farmer?s story reflects quail resurgence
The future of Missouri bobwhites is in private landowners? hands.
FAYETTE, Mo.-The bobwhite quail has a special place in Oran Boulden?s heart, thanks to spending his formative years on a farm in Howard County. His love for the jaunty little game bird makes him a natural ally for soil and wildlife conservationsts. It also makes him and like-minded farmers the future of quail in Missouri.
Boulden, a regional representative for Case-New Holland farm and construction equipment, came home to Missouri three years ago and took over management of his family?s 160-acre farm north of Fayette. He had been gone for 17 years, much of it in Nebraska, where he hunted quail and pheasant every weekend. Some seasons, he and his hunting buddies harvested as many as 300 quail.
He brought his English pointers with him when he moved back to Missouri but soon discovered that even the relatively modest 100-quail-per-season hunting of his youth had vanished. Not that the family farm had ever been much good for hunting. Boulden recalls that even in his youth he had to look elsewhere for quail.
?When I was in college in the early ?80s we hunted quail heavily in this area,? recalls Boulden. ?I never hunted the farm, because there was never any birds there. I think it was habitat. If it wasn?t trees or crops it was fescue. There were some tree lines taken out, and our farming practices consisted of heavy tillage. We disked twice in the spring and chisel plowed in the fall.?
If anything, the quail situation was worse when he returned home. It wasn?t hopeless, though. Bobwhites still called from an abandoned railroad right-of-way north of the family farm. Then he found Brent Vandeloecht.
Vandeloecht is a private land conservationist with the Missouri Department of Conservation. It is his job to help landowners fulfill their conservation ambitions. Boulden called him even before moving back to Missouri, looking for ways to bring quail back to his family farm.
?I?m a quail hunter myself,? says Vandeloecht. ?Wildlife management in general is a passion for me. That?s what I do on weekends. I?m always doing something to try to improve the wildlife habitat on my own property.?
Boulden?s farm actually had fairly good potential for quail habitat.<br />
About three-quarters of the land consisted of small fields. There were two 4- to 5-acre hayfields, four row-crop fields ranging from 15 to 19 acres and two fields of 6 and 7 acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). A sprinkling of woodlots made up the remaining quarter of the farm.
Quail thrive in a patchwork of small fields and woodland. A mix of weedy edges and crops provide food. Diverse grasslands create nesting areas, and a brushy edge between fields and woods provide shelter from weather and predators. Such diverse landscapes were the norm during the bobwhite quail?s heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, but they are increasingly rare today.
While the Boulden?s farm had potential, it lacked some key elements of quail habitat. For one thing, it did not have the kind of grassland suited to quail nesting. And while it had a mix of forest and open land, the dividing line between forest and field was razor sharp. There were almost no brush piles or shrubby cover in between.
Together, Boulden and Vandeloecht developed a plan to remedy these deficiencies. To make the plan affordable, they tapped resources provided under the federal farm bill.
The CRP paid for Conservation Practice 33 (CP-33, habitat buffers), planting native, warm-season grasses around the edges of crop fields.<br />
These strips of little bluestem and sideoats grama grass and native broadleaf plants make excellent quail nesting habitat. They also help prevent loss of valuable topsoil to erosion.
Erosion was a real problem along the creek running through the Boulden farm. In this area, CRP paid for Conservation Practice 21 (CP-21, riparian filter strips), planting native, warm-season grasses even more densely than under CP-33, but still good quail habitat.
Boulden and his son, Jordan, created patches of woody cover for quail at the edges of cropland and CRP fields by felling small trees, a practice known as edge feathering. They got help from the Conservation Department converting some of the fescue grass on their farm to native, warm-season grasses. By the end of their first year?s labor they began to see results.
?I was out on the tractor in October of 2006 planting wheat and flushed about 12 quail,? said Boulden. ?I was really excited. I called Brent right away and said, ?Hey, I saw a covey of birds!?<br />
That is the first time I have seen birds on the property since 1980.?
In the spring of 2007, while working near some of the edge-feathering, Boulden saw a cock bobwhite and two hens nesting around the new cover.
More recently, he has been a little discouraged by tough breaks from the weather. He has not seen any quail since last year?s late-spring freeze and December?s devastating ice storm. But Vandeloecht says the farm now has what it takes to sustain quail through hard times.
?They did a really good job of establishing their warm-season grasses and got a really good stand,? he said. ?They have done about 2 acres of edge feathering, which is quite a bit of work on a 160-acre farm.<br />
He?s got some high-quality woody cover and plenty of nesting habitat. I think his birds should make it.?
Boulden and his son continue to work at creating quail habitat. They use no-till farming practices, and they leave 15- to 20-foot strips of soybeans and other crops standing beside edge-feathered areas to ensure that quail have food close by when sitting out winter storms. They plan to spray herbicide to reduce fescue and get legumes growing around edge feathering, and they are working to get better stands of warm-season grasses growing on levees. Finally, they are working with Conservation Department foresters to develop a forest stewardship plan for the farm.
?Quail habitat didn?t disappear overnight, and it doesn?t come back overnight,? said Vandeloecht. ?It takes time, and you have to keep at it every year, but the Bouldens are gaining on it. They are in it for the long haul.?
Vandeloecht said more than 90 percent of Missouri?s total acreage is privately owned. Consequently, the future of bobwhite quail in the Show-Me State hinge on the efforts of people like the Bouldens.
?Creating quail habitat on conservation areas and all the other public land in the state can?t bring back the bobwhite,? said Vandeloecht. ?We can offer help, but it is going to take a lot of folks like Oran and Jordan to make it happen.?