Warm weather and a full moon aren't conducive to great deer hunting, but a stout cold front usually is. And of course, wouldn't you know it, Missouri's late youth season deer hunters experienced both extremes last weekend.
Youth hunters ages 6-15 killed 2,556 deer statewide during the second portion of the youth season, falling short of the 3,115 they took over the same period last year.
When combined with the first segment, young hunters killed a total of 16,116 deer during their two special seasons. That's a fare bit below the overall total of 20,3378 they took last year.
Locally, youth hunters fared very well, with Wayne County ending up the best in the state with 47 killed and Ripley County ranking second with 46 taken.
In Butler County, youngsters killed 29 deer, and in Stoddard County, the harvest was 20.
Young hunters in Dunklin County stuck it out and tagged seven deer, while those in Carter County took home 14.
There are only two firearms deer seasons left in Missouri this fall, the Nov. 30-Dec. 2 antlerless season in select counties and the statewide alternative methods season, set to run Dec. 22-Jan. 1.
The archery season also continues through Jan. 15, and a check of the Telecheck numbers shows bowhunters still seem to be having some pretty decent success.
Pretty Stale
You'd think the cold weather which blasted through earlier this week would've brought some new ducks into the region, but for the most part, you'd be wrong. Despite the cold, windy weather on Tuesday and Wednesday, there really haven't been a lot of new birds showing up. Of course, that means the ones which are here are about as stale as month-old bread.
At the Otter Slough Conservation Area, biologist Kevin Brunke reports 37,500 ducks this week. Unfortunately, that's a gain of only about 2,400 since last week. Brunke also said this was the worst November he could remember as far as hunting success goes.
On the bright side, there are about 55,000 snow geese at Otter Slough.
At the Duck Creek Conservation Area, biologist Nicky Walker reports 36,800 ducks this week. That's actually a decline of about 6,200 birds from a week ago.
There also are about 3,000 white-fronted geese on the area this week.
All of Pool 2 is now flooded, Walker said, and up to 35 positions will be available each day.
The boards also are closed on Pool 3 and it is slowly filling up.
"I'm hoping we can start hunting it late in the first week of December," Walker said of Pool 3.
Pools 7 and 8 at the adjacent Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, she noted, will require rainfall to fill as there's not enough water in Pool 1 to do so this fall.
"Everything is saturated, so the last few rains have been productive," she said. "It won't take much, but we just need rain."
Fortunately, that may happen this weekend, when rain is predicted to hit the area.
At the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, manager Ben Mense reports close to 60,000 ducks on the refuge this week, which is the same as last week.
Don't forget, Missouri's South Zone duck season will reopen Monday and continue through Jan. 27.
Mingo Closures
If you plan on visiting the Mingo refuge this weekend, you'll need to take note of some temporary closures because of the annual managed muzzleloader deer hunt.
Beginning Friday evening, the Rabbit Ridge and Job Corps entrances will be closed to the public, and the only way in will be at the main entrance off Highway 51.
While Red Mill Drive will remain open to the public, Bluff Road will be closed west of the boardwalk trail parking lot.
The hunt will take place Saturday and Sunday in the area west of Ditch 4.
Beginning Monday morning, all roads and entrances will be open again.
Also at Mingo, the visitor center has reverted to its winter hours and, starting immediately, will be open from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday until the end of February.
And ... the Ozark Highlands Auto Tour will close for the winter starting tomorrow evening. It will reopen in March.
Good Fishing
I'm still getting reports of good crappie fishing at Wappapello, with most saying they're finding fish in shallow-water brush, especially in the afternoons.
With that in mind, your best bet is to cover a lot of water until you find some crappies, then fish a similar pattern and depth when you move locations.
Big Event
Twenty-two teams fished Saturday's Wappapello Crappie Club tournament, one of the biggest the organization has had this season.
At the end of the day, the team of Chad Maddox and Josh McMullin came out on top, hauling in 7.36 pounds to the weigh-in. They also had the day's second-largest crappie, weighing 1.36 pounds.
Taking the second spot with 6.87 pounds was the team of Chris Channell and Billy Fowler, and third place went to David Tropf and Edwin Younger with 6.82 pounds.
Fourth place was earned by Chuck Chism and James Chism with 6.72 pounds, and the top five was rounded out by David Mayberry with 6.58 pounds. He also had the day's biggest fish, a dandy one weighing in at 1.83 pounds.
The Wappapello Crappie Club's next scheduled tournament is set for Dec. 16.
Elk Meetings
Finally, don't forget about next week's open houses the Department of Conservation is hosting about the future of Missouri's elk herd and a potential hunting season.
As previously reported, the department could begin very limited hunting for elk starting in 2020, though it will be dependent on population dynamics and growth.
Three open houses, all running from 6-8 p.m., will take place Monday at Van Buren High School, Tuesday at Ellington City Hall and Thursday at Eminence High School.
Given the potential for a great amount of interest in elk hunting, each open house could be a bit crowded, so you might want to get there early.