With all the rain we’ve had lately, Wappapello Lake is well above summer recreation pool. It crested Dec. 3 at 367.3 feet, more than 7 feet above normal, and has fallen only about 2 feet since.
The lake, according to Park Ranger Rosie Lemons, currently is falling at a rate of around four tenths of a foot daily.
At that rate, Lemons said, summer pool is expected to be reached around Dec. 15.
Dec. 15 is the traditional date to begin drawing the lake down to winter pool, Lemons said, though the management plan allows for a 15-day window before and after that date.
Since it is now within that window of opportunity, Lemons noted, officials will continue drawing the lake down until it reaches winter conservation pool, likely reaching that point sometime around the first of the year.
“We will release water at our current rate, which is between 3,500 and 4,200 cfs, and draw down until we reach recreation pool, and we’ll continue to draw down until we get to winter pool,” said Lemons.
The discharge cannot be increased beyond 4,200 cfs this time of year to speed up the process, Lemons said, because of legal limitations in the lake’s management plan.
Also, the early January estimate to reach winter pool is just that - an estimate - because any additional rainfall will add time to the drawdown.
If you’ve got questions about the lake, call the operations office at 573-222-8562.
The Wappapello Crappie Club will host a tournament Sunday, with fishing from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m.
You can pre-register for the tournament at Sundowner Marine, or you can do so on the morning of the event at the Sundowner pavilion.
Duck numbers on the region’s managed wetlands have fluctuated a little bit lately, with some seeing declines and others increases.
The count at Duck Creek earlier this week showed a mere 6,500 ducks on the area. That’s a small decline from a week ago, but honestly, with Pool 8 flooded, there likely are far more than what’s listed.
Adjacent to Duck Creek, at the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, biologist Brad Pendley counted 43,676 ducks this week, which is nearly double last week’s count.
“We have a lot more water now and a lot more ducks,” Pendley said, “and most are mallards.”
At the Otter Slough Conservation Area, this week’s count showed about 41,000 ducks, a small bump up from last week.
One thing duck hunters certainly want to see is a change in the weather. The region hasn’t seen a significant cold front in a long time, which would do wonders to move large numbers of new birds into the area. As it is, most have been here for a while and have learned to avoid the normal hunting spots.
Missouri’s record-setting archery season of 2019-20 continues to roll along, though the harvest has slowed quite a bit.
With five weeks remaining in the season, bowhunters so far have taken 55,826 deer across the state, not counting any managed hunts.
In Butler County, the harvest sits at 525 deer, and in Stoddard County, bowhunters have arrowed 647 deer.
In Dunklin County, 112 deer have been tagged, and in Wayne County, 950 have gone home with bowhunters.
Carter County bowhunters have taken 546 deer, and in Ripley County, they’ve killed 551.
During the managed muzzleloader hunt at the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge last weekend, 69 hunters were able to tag 16 deer, plus four feral hogs.
“We’re almost always between 20 and 30% success,” said Pendley, “so we were right where we should be.”
At the Peck ranch Conservation Area in northwest Carter County, area manager Preston Mabry said, 175 out of the 200 hunters drawn for the managed muzzleloader hunt showed up last weekend.
Overall, they killed 37 deer, including 20 does and 17 bucks, which is about average for the December hunt there.