The North and Middle zone youth duck seasons in Missouri will be held this weekend, and while it doesn’t really seem much like duck hunting time yet, there are plenty of birds around to make for a fun hunt.
“I just did a count yesterday, and we had about 23,000,” said Luke Wehmhoff, area manager at the Otter Slough Conservation Area. “We picked up a bunch of birds. I think these couple of cold fronts and all the snow up north is helping us out.”
The area, he said, has a lot of pintails and teal, while numbers of wigeon, gadwall and mallards are growing.
Youth hunters are “going to get a really cool show of birds working,” Wehmhoff said.
At Otter Slough, there are expected to be at least 35 hunting positions open for the youth season.
“There will be a slot box out front, with each slot designating an open hunting position,” said Wehmhoff.
With no reservations, hunting positions will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
And, just like in the teal season, a few units will have more than one position open because of their size.
At the Duck Creek Conservation Area, officials expect to have around 15 hunting positions open for the youth season.
Just like at Otter Slough, Duck Creek will use a self-check system and have first-come, first-served hunting position allocation.
Shooting hours at both areas will be from one-half hour before sunrise until 1 p.m. each day.
There are some stipulations about adult mentors accompanying youths during their hunt, so be sure to check the regulations booklet to make sure you’re good to go.
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Missouri Department of Conservation came up with a classification system a while back for its managed waterfowl areas, based on the prevalence of the virus in each county.
Under the system, each area can be designated as green, yellow, orange or red, depending on positive case numbers in that county.
Recently, the department placed Otter Slough and Duck Creek in its yellow category, meaning there will be some changes to the morning draw once the waterfowl season opens in a couple weeks.
With the yellow designation, both areas will allocate all hunting positions during the regular duck season to online reservation holders.
Of course, it seems a few reservation holders always fail to show up, and staff will allow a poor line drawing for any spots left open by no-shows.
That number will change from day to day, but I wouldn’t imagine more than three or four spots to open up on any day, so you’ll have to determine if it’s worth taking that chance.
Access to the drawing room also will be severely limited, and staff will draw pill for each hunting party.
“We’re going to ask one person per party to come to the window. Everyone else should stay in the truck,” said Wehmhoff.
Only two people will be allowed in the building at once, and “from the time they get in the building, they have five minutes to pick their hunting position and then they’re out,” said Wehmhoff.
Most waterfowl areas across the state currently fall under the green or yellow categories, though a couple in the St. Louis region are classified as orange. There are no red designations so far.
A report from the Department of Conservation this week highlighting its summer wild turkey brood survey tells a tale hunters already know — bird numbers are down significantly.
The survey reports summer turkey sightings across the state to determine nesting success, and the numbers have been low for several consecutive years.
This year’s statewide poult-to-hen ratio was 1.0, which MDC said is 11% higher than last year.
In our area, the ratio was 1.1, similar to last year.
Basically, what it all means is turkey hunting will remain pretty bleak for a while until numbers rebound.
Personally, I don’t think they will rebound until something is done about the absurd numbers of predators either eating the eggs in the nest or killing the young poults.
As far as the fall firearms turkey season, it’s on pace to be the worst ever.
With a little more than a week to go, a mere 1,458 birds have been taken statewide. That means hunters need to take another 500 to match last year’s record-low total, and with acorns falling and birds staying in the timber to feed, I wouldn’t expect that to happen.
Locally, hunters have taken four birds in Butler County, one in Carter County, 16 in Reynolds County, six in Ripley County, 17 in Stoddard County and 18 in Wayne County.
The Butler County Coon Club will host a UKC hunt beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
There will be no bench show.
The hunt will be based out of the club’s headquarters, off County Road 608.
For more information, contact Terry Uhl at 573-714-1624.
Bowhunters continue to have success, and the statewide archery harvest is up to 22,383 deer.
We’ve reached the point in October when buck movement will really start to pick up, so we should see a big increase in the harvest in the next couple weeks.
Locally, hunters in Butler County have taken 271 deer, and in Carter County, the tally is 268.
Dunklin County hunters have tagged 29 deer, and in Reynolds County, they’ve arrowed 288.
Ripley County hunters have killed 265 deer to this point, and those in Stoddard County have taken 250.
Wayne County tops the region with 509 deer taken so far.