The Heartland Gobblers chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation will host its annual Hunting Heritage banquet Saturday, March 6, at The Grotto in Poplar Bluff.
The Grotto is located at the end of Aad Grotto Road, off Katy Lane, on Poplar Bluff’s north side.
The doors, according to chapter president Chuck Stewart, will open at 5 p.m. for a social hour with raffles, games and a silent auction.
“We’re hoping to have around 200 people,” Stewart said.
A pork steak dinner, prepared by Mike’s Meats and More, will be served around 7 p.m.
Following the dinner, volunteer auctioneers Haven Willis and Felix Baker will conduct a live auction for various items, including framed prints, hunting gear, NWTF exclusive items and more.
Around 20 guns will be given away over the course of the night, Stewart said, including the Gun of the Year, a 20-gauge Benelli Montefeltro shotgun with NWTF engraving.
Tickets to the event can be purchased in advance or at the door the night of the event.
Tickets cost $50 for an individual or $65 for a couple.
JAKES tickets, for youths age 17 and under, cost $20.
Sponsorships also are available for $280 and include two tickets, while table sponsorships cost $650 and include eight tickets.
The banquet, Stewart said, comes at a critical time for the National Wild Turkey Federation.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit right as the organization’s banquet season kicked off last year, and about two thirds of its events had to be canceled. The effect was a big hit to the bottom line, forcing changes to the way business was done in order to continue its mission of habitat improvement.
Last week’s weather situation took me away from the weekly outdoors column and prevented me from writing about a couple events on the schedule (fur buyer and an Indian Creek Bowhunters event), but things have returned to a more hectic normal this week.
While it’s been pretty slow in the outdoors, there is one big thing to keep in mind over the coming days, and that is the beginning of a new license year in Missouri.
If you’ve got a fishing or combination hunting and fishing license, and maybe a trout permit from 2020, they will expire Sunday. That means you’ll need new licenses on Monday.
If you happen to have a conservation order permit, it won’t expire until the end of April.
While you still can go to a permit vendor and have them print a paper permit for you, or you can purchase them on the Missouri Department of Conservation website (mdc.mo.gov) and print them yourself, the easiest way to buy new permits is to use MDC’s MO Hunting or MO Fishing smartphone apps.
Of course, not everyone has a smartphone, but if you do, the advantages of the electronic permits are many.
If you’re into fishing among crowds of people, Missouri’s four trout parks will open Monday.
A fishing permit and a $4 daily trout tag are required to fish at Montauk State Park, Maramec Spring Park ($5 for the daily tag), Bennett Spring State Park and Roaring River State Park.
The daily limit is four trout, except at Maramec Spring Park, where you can keep five trout per day.
Catching fish is not guaranteed, of course, especially when you’re standing elbow-to-elbow with other anglers, but there will be plenty of trout to go around. Staff at each park stock the water every evening, based on the estimated crowd the following day.
If you happen to pursue crows during the winter season, you’ve got just a few days left to do so because the season closes Wednesday.
The best way to hunt crows is to use an electronic caller and maybe a decoy or two, while hiding in some brush.
The less strategic and much less sporting way is to just snipe them with a rifle.
Wappapello Lake has opened back up after being mostly frozen over a week ago, but from the reports I’ve heard, fishing has been pretty tough.
One angler reported mediocre fishing Tuesday, even in his longtime best spots, with only a single fish reaching 9 inches long.
Apparently other anglers got the word because there have been very few people fishing the lake since to opened back up.
With warmer days ahead, hopefully things will stabilize and the bite picks up.
Area rivers are expected to rise ever-so-slightly over the next couple days before falling again, but if they can stay somewhat stable and the water temperature warms a bit, walleye fishing should really begin to pick up.
Early March is a good time to fish the tailouts of the larger pools, especially in the late evenings, as male walleyes begin to congregate there, waiting on the females to arrive for spawning.
Paul Davis is the Outdoors Editor for the Daily American Republic. Contact him at pdavis.dar@gmail.com.