Rabbit, squirrel seasons wrap up Saturday in Missouri

The last remaining small game hunting seasons are closing in Missouri on Saturday, giving rabbit and squirrel hunters only a couple days left to head afield.

At this point, everything has been pressured for quite some time, so the hunting might not be especially easy. However, I have seen quite a few gray squirrels and a good number of rabbits while driving along area backroads, so the potential is there for a strong finish.

Snow Geese

Once those two seasons close, the only remaining hunting opportunity left this winter (unless you count crow hunting) is the Light Goose Conservation Order.

The hunting pressure for snow geese in the flatlands has been, as you would expect, fairly heavy. Besides the locals chasing geese, there looks to be a number of out-of-state guide services working the region, something that has increased steadily the last several years.

The Light Goose Conservation Order continues through April, but the next two weeks will easily be the best hunting. After that, snow geese will become much more scarce and hard to locate as they work their way back north.

Water Rising

With the latest round of rain, Wappapello Lake is on its way back up again.

One angler told me he went to the lake Tuesday, and in the Holliday Landing area, the water was muddy and had a stiff current. He saw only one other boat and promptly turned around and went home.

The lake, as of Wednesday morning, was sitting at just over 361 feet, so it was just a foot above summer pool.

Given the amount of rain expected to fall across the entire watershed, the lake will come up some.

The latest information on the discharge from the dam shows 4,400 cfs going out, so maybe that will be enough to stem the rising water.

Over at Clearwater Lake, the water level has fluctuated quite a bit lately, and the graph showing it looks a bit like a roller coaster.

As of Wednesday morning, the lake was on its way back down again after topping out overnight at 497.15 feet, which is only about 3 feet higher than normal.

As far as our local rivers, predictions from the National Weather Service show the Current River at Van Buren is expected to top out Friday at around 7.5 feet, and at Doniphan, it should reach 5.7 feet by Saturday.

The Black River is expected to reach 13.8 feet on the Poplar Bluff gauge around mid-day Thursday before falling back below 10 feet on Sunday.

Current projections for the St. Francis River show it topping out around 11.6 feet by Thursday evening.

It’s important to remember all the projections at this point are based on predicted rain, so reality could end up being better or worse.

Trapping Closures

Trappers pursuing river otters and muskrats have only a few days remaining in their season, which closes Feb. 20.

After that, the only remaining trapping seasons still open will be for beaver and nutria.

Remember, before selling any river otter or bobcat pelts you may have, you’ll need to have a conservation agent place a tag on them.

Waterfowl Workshop

About 20 people turned out for the Department of Conservation’s waterfowl workshop in Dexter Tuesday evening. It was the sixth of 13 public meetings to gather hunters’ thoughts on duck zone boundaries and the timing of duck seasons in the state.

What many hunters, especially the huge numbers of younger duck hunters now in the sport, may not know is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dictates how each state can set its waterfowl hunting seasons, and every five years, those parameters can be changed as long as they fit in the federal framework.

For instance, the feds allow for statewide seasons or up to four zones in a state. If zones are utilized, the number of splits in the season is limited.

New this time around is the option for states to use two distinct zones, but if they do so, there can be no more than three season segments.

MDC biologist Andy Raedeke, who oversees the state’s waterfowl program, says turnout at the meetings so far has been light, leading him to believe most hunters likely are satisfied with the current regulations.

“My impression so far is that folks seem to be generally happy,” Raedeke said.

During the last public meetings five years ago, Raedeke noted, less than 40% of hunters wanted to see zone boundary changes.

Zone boundaries can change every five years, he said, and he noted he was surprised nobody at the Dexter meeting Tuesday expressed a desire to move the Otter Slough and Duck Creek conservation areas into the South Zone, something which usually is brought up when the meetings are held.

Harvest data from 2011 to 2016 from Stoddard County, Raedeke said, shows 55% of all public land ducks killed are taken in November, with the rest in December or early January. However, in a bit of irony, most hunters at the public meeting five years ago wanted to hunt later into the winter.

You can see the dilemma managers face when trying to set season dates and boundaries.

If you can’t make any of the remaining workshops, MDC has a public comment form on its website where you can put in your two cents.

Go to mdc.mo.gov, hover over “hunting and trapping” at the top, then click on “Species A to Z.” From there, click on “waterfowl,” then “reports and prospects” and finally, “duck zones and season dates.” The survey form can be found at the bottom of that last page.

If you’re reading this online, the link is https://moconservation.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2hqbDq8QoaP9VGJ.

NWTF Convention

Finally, if you need something to do this weekend, the National Wild Turkey Federation’s annual convention and sport show is going on through Saturday at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tenn.

If you’re a turkey hunter, you’ll feel like a kid in a candy store at this event, where there is an untold number of different types of calls and turkey hunting gear available, usually at a pretty good discount. There also are plenty of opportunities to learn from the best minds in the industry.