As suspected, the drop in the temperature last weekend seemed to get a lot more bowhunters out into the woods, and the archery deer harvest reflected it.
As of midday Wednesday, 106 deer had been arrowed in Butler County, while 214 had been taken in Carter County.
In Dunklin County, the tally so far is 26 deer, and in Reynolds County, it’s 196.
Ripley County bowhunters have tagged 156 deer so far, and in Stoddard County, they’ve killed 187.
Wayne County still remains the hot spot with 262 deer taken.
Statewide, 17,137 deer have been tagged. And yes, that’s still far off last year’s total of 22,383 at this point in the season.
While trail cameras still are showing a lot of nocturnal movement, I have been seeing a number of bucks moving early in the mornings. For the second consecutive weekend, I had one standing literally a few feet from my tree, sniffing the buck urine I’d sprinkled on the ground.
Once again, I was caught off-guard by close foot steps and a sniffing nose (I actually have pretty good hearing … the woods have just been a bit damp, making things quiet), but the real problem this time was it was still so dark I could barely make out the deer mere feet away.
Additionally, I’ve seen a number of rubs and several scrapes, which they seem to be keeping open, so things are happening.
The Missouri Department of Conservation has released its annual spring turkey brood survey results, which rely on summer observations from volunteers and staff, and they’re pretty much a repeat of last year.
The statewide poult-to-hen ratio was 1.0. That’s 11% better than the previous five-year average, but 10% lower than the 10-year average and 23% lower than the 20-year average.
In the Ozarks East region, which includes Butler, Carter, Ripley, Reynolds, and Wayne counties, among others, the PHR was also 1.0, just slightly above the five-year average of 0.9. However, the 20-year average in the region easily was the lowest in the state at -38%.
Approximately 37% of hens seen in the Ozarks East region this summer were accompanied by poults, with an average brood size of 3.8
In the Mississippi Lowlands region, which includes Dunklin and Stoddard counties, among others, the PHR was 2.4, well above the five-year average of 1.3. Compared to the 20-year average in those counties, this year was up 20%.
Approximately 64% of hens seen had poults, and the average brood size was 5.1.
Reading between the lines, I’d say it’s time to focus my hunting efforts in Stoddard County.
MDC also worked on a poult study over the summer in an effort to try to determine why so few were surviving to adulthood. Those results have not been made available because it’s a multi-year project, but they could be very telling as to why the turkey population has declined so much over the last several years.
Speaking of turkeys, the fall firearms season in Missouri will continue through the end of the month.
We’re now two-thirds through the season and so far, a meager 1,155 birds have been taken statewide. That’s just a bit more than half of last year’s total season take of 2,127.
Hunters will have their work cut out for them with all the acorns around this October, keeping the birds in the woods, and at the end of the month, I’d expect to see a record-low harvest.
For young waterfowl hunters, Missouri’s youth duck hunting seasons for both the North and Middle zones will be open this weekend.
As always, shooting hours will be one-half hour before sunrise until sunset, with a six-bird limit (check the regulations book for a species breakdown).
At the Duck Creek Conservation Area, biologist Nicky Walker reports there should be about 15 positions open for the youth weekend, with a morning draw at 4:45 p.m.
At the Otter Slough Conservation Area, MDC Southeast Region Wildlife Supervisor Matt Bowyer said, the habitat looks great and bird numbers are strong (Ethan Hoggard photographed a group of at least 10,000 pintails there a few days ago and biologist Ryan Dirnberger counted close to 25,000 Tuesday).
There will be 29 spots available at Otter Slough during the youth season, and it also will have a 4:45 a.m. morning draw both days.
The South Zone youth duck season will run Nov. 20-21.
For regular-season hunters, the Middle Zone will open Nov. 6 for the first segment, so it’s getting close.
I finally was able to track down the results of the Current River Smallmouth Association Classic, held recently at Doniphan.
Kram and Caringer took first place out of 14 teams at the event, bringing 9.55 pounds to the scales.
Second place went to Barnes and Cooper with 8.88 pounds. The pair also had the day’s big bass, weighing in at 2.94 pounds.
Taking the third spot was the team of Leach and Powell with 8.71 pounds. They also had the second largest fish of the day, a 2.83-pound specimen.
Fourth place was earned by Hampton and Warren with 8.52 pounds, while the top five was rounded out by Nicholson and Nicholson with 8.31 pounds.
Leach and Powell wrapped up the Angler of the Year honors with a total season weight of 51.26 pounds. That just barely edged Sisco and Dougherty, who had 51.07 pounds, good for second in the standings.
The Current River Smallmouth Association has no more events on its schedule for this year, but Joe Dougherty will host a few winter tournaments.
Those are set for Dec. 18 at Van Buren, Jan. 8 at Doniphan, Jan. 29 at Van Buren and Feb. 12 at Doniphan.
Fishing hours during the winter events will be 7 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Fishing lately has been described to me as “sporadic,” with a few nice fish being caught occasionally. Otherwise, it’s been pretty slow.
The cooler nights should bring the water temperatures down, which should in turn bring the crappie into the shallow waters near the banks.
I haven’t heard any word yet, but MDC Fisheries Management Biologist Dave Knuth should be conducting his annual crappie trapnetting survey any time now. Once the results of that are in, I’ll let you know what he finds out.
The Butler County Coon Club will wrap up its season Friday with a UKC event.
This will be a hunt only, with no bench show.
The hunt kicks off at 7 p.m. from the club’s headquarters off County Road 607.
Paul Davis is the outdoors editor for the Daily American Republic and can be reached at pdavis.dar@gmail.com.