By PAUL DAVIS
Outdoors Editor
Missouri's final firearms deer season of 2017-18, the alternative methods season, came to a close on Tuesday with hunters taking home 10,027 deer.
That's just a bit short of the 10,602 they killed last year, but not even close to the record harvest of 15,907, set in 2009, when the season was for muzzleloader shooters only.
Bitter cold weather the second half of the 11-day season probably can be blamed for the harvest drop, since deer numbers, evident by the better archery kill this year, remain strong.
Locally, the harvest varied quite a bit, with some counties seeing higher numbers this year, while others were lower.
Hunters in Butler County managed to kill 79 alternative methods season deer, up from 69 last year, while those in Stoddard County tagged an even 100. That also is up from last year's 89.
In Dunklin County, the season tally was 28 deer, down from 37, and in Wayne County, the 102 deer taken this season was short of last year's 136.
Carter County hunters took home 81 deer in the late season, up from 72 in 2016, while their neighbors in Ripley County killed 121, well off last year's 163.
When the alternative methods season total is added to the youth, regular November and antlerless season harvest, the state had an overall firearms deer harvest of 229,401 (does not include managed hunts).
With firearms seasons all complete, the only remaining deer hunting left in Missouri this winter is the archery season, which continues through Jan. 15. By early December, bowhunters already had surpassed last year's season total, and it looks like this year's harvest will end up being in the top three highest ever recorded in the state.
Locked up,
moving out
As you can imagine, duck hunting is extremely limited right now, with pretty much all shallow waters frozen solid. That means any ducks remaining in the region likely are using deeper lakes and flowing rivers.
Of course, duck numbers have plummeted, just like the temperature, with most moving along on their southward migration.
At the Duck Creek Conservation Area, only 2,275 ducks and less than 5,000 geese remain.
With just a few days remaining in the Middle Zone season (it closes Sunday) and nobody showing up for the draw at Duck Creek earlier this week, a change has been made to the morning procedure there.
Effective immediately, there will be no draw at Duck Creek for the rest of the season. Instead, hunters can check in at the area's headquarters on a self-check basis, and as always, they cannot be on the area before 4 a.m.
According to Southeast Region Wildlife Supervisor Matt Bowyer, Pool 1 is 99-percent frozen solid with 3 to 5 inches of ice.
At the Otter Slough and Ten Mile Pond conservation areas, the morning draw will continue as normal.
"We have a few open holes and a few thousand ducks left," said Otter Slough biologist Kevin Brunke. "Ice is 3 to 5 inches thick over 99 percent of the area."
The South Zone remains open through Jan. 28, but unless it warms up enough to open up some water and move some birds back in, it'll be tough hunting there.
Iced Over
There's an interesting and somewhat uncommon occurrence going on at Wappapello Lake this week because of the cold weather. The lake has been pretty much completely iced over since Monday, but at the same time, the water underneath still was falling toward winter pool, leaving a bit of an air pocket. It's cause for some strange noises on the lake, even more so than ice normally does.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials, according to Park Ranger Doug Nichols, began slowing the discharge Tuesday as the lake fell to within a foot of the target winter conservation pool level.
All ramps are open, Nichols said, though anglers may have a tough time if they become ice-covered.
The few folks who have been hitting the water, he said, were literally hitting it - to break it up.
"You could say we're saving lives right now," he said with a laugh, referring to the lack of anglers keeping fish this week because of the ice. Before the freeze-up, Nichols reported fishing actually was pretty good, with nice crappies being caught in deeper water. "They seem deeper than normal."
Even with a bit of a warm-up projected for this weekend, it likely won't melt all the ice on the lake, which is 5 inches thick in places, too quickly.
"It may take a while to get back open," Nichols said.
Also of note, according to Nichols, are the lake's two waterfowl refuges, in Lost Creek and Asher Creek, which will reopen to anglers and visitors once the Middle Zone duck season closes Sunday evening.
Fishing Show
If the end of the hunting seasons has your attention leaning toward fishing, but you can't get out because everything is frozen solid, you could go get your fishing fix this weekend at the annual Let's Go Fishing Show at the Gateway Center in Collinsville, Ill. (just east of St. Louis, Mo.).
The show will run Friday through Sunday and feature more than 120 vendor booths, boats, kids activities, seminars from top anglers, a live animal exhibit and more.
For the antique fishing lure collectors out there (and I know a few locally), the National Fishing Lure Collectors Club also will have a display and offer free appraisals.
If you go, there's a $7 per person entry fee for adults, $3.50 for children ages 6-15 and those age 5 and under are free.