Three members of Poplar Bluff’s trap team have garnered national awards for their performances during last year’s AIM (Academics, Integrity and Marksmanship) state and national competitions.
Dylan Hale, Hannah Cash and Tayler Hillis, all now students at Three Rivers College, were recognized for their shooting prowess.
Hale and Cash earned AIM All-State awards, while Hillis was named an AIM All-Star.
“These three kids are a perfect example. They put forth the extra effort,” said trap team coach Sandy Pike. “They research and constantly study the sport, and it paid off for them. They earned those awards and the recognition.”
“It feels great after working all these years to get a good state award that only five people have gotten,” Hale said.
He plans to continue shooting trap and competing in three-gun competitions.
“I definitely feel good about getting recognized,” said Hillis, who said she realized her shooting career has, in reality, been very short. “Looking back at where I started until now, it’s a short period of time.”
Hillis currently helps coach the Poplar Bluff team and is being courted by college coaches to continue her trap shooting career.
Cash is no stranger to awards, earning a national championship in her division as a high school freshman, but she understands the magnitude of her latest award.
“I got it last year too, but this year, I actually got captain, so I got high average in the state for my division,” Cash said.
Cash now helps coach the middle school trap team and plans to continue participating in the sport which runs so deep in her family.
The Bluff City Mallards will host its annual Sportsman’s Dinner and Auction Saturday at the Black River Coliseum.
The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. for a social hour full of games, raffles and a silent auction for various hunting gear, decoys, Ducks Unlimited merchandise and more.
A steak and chicken dinner will be served by Karon Campbell’s Tasteful Creations, followed by a live auction conducted by volunteer auctioneer Travis Birdsong.
Some of the items up for grabs in the auction include a Jack Daniels end table, rolling duffle bag, a Ducks Unlimited rocking chair and the Ducks Unlimited Decoy of the Year.
Several guns are expected to be given away during the event, chapter president Jeremy Wethington said.
“Right now, I’ve got us slated for about 20 guns,” Wethington said.
Examples of guns to be given away include the Ducks Unlimited Shotgun of the Year, a Beretta A400 in 20 gauge, the Rifle of the Year, of Christensen Arms Mesa Long Range, and a Kimber 1911 pistol with Vortex red dot sight.
Tickets to the event must be purchased in advance and cost $40 for a single or $65 for a couple. Greenwings tickets for youths age 17 and under cost $20.
Sponsorships are available for $300 and $600, and table sponsorships also can be purchased at $800, $1,200 or $2,000.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.ducks.org or by calling Wethington at 573-718-8167 or Grant Collins at 573-718-9737.
Area lakes and rivers remain a bit high, and with more rain expected Thursday, some are projected to rise again.
Wappapello Lake, as of Wednesday, was at 366.96 feet, about 12 feet above normal, and falling slowly.
Clearwater Lake remained nearly 30 feet high at 523.82 feet and was slowly falling.
The Black River at Poplar Bluff was at 10.39 feet Wednesday and was expected to fall to 9 feet by Thursday before rising again to 15.5 feet by mid-day Friday.
The St. Francis River at Fisk on Wednesday was at 16.3 feet on the gage and is projected to fall slowly to 15 feet by the weekend.
The Current River at Van Buren was slowly falling Wednesday and was at 5.73 feet on the gage, but it is projected to rise again by Saturday to 9.5 feet.
At Doniphan, the river was at 3.57 feet Wednesday and is expected to rise to 8 feet by Sunday.
Wappapello Lake could be a busy place Saturday, with two bass tournaments scheduled on the lake.
The Wappapello Bass Circuit will kick off its 2021 season Saturday with a tournament based out of the Redman Creek ramp.
Fishing is scheduled to begin at 6:30 a.m., with a weigh-in set for 3 p.m.
As in years past, the Wappapello Bass Circuit will hold a pre-event meeting at 6 p.m. Friday at the Wappapello VFW, off Highway D, to assign boat numbers.
The remainder of the organization’s schedule for 2021 includes tournaments on April 24, May 22, June 26, July 24, Aug. 21 and the two-day Classic on Sept. 25-26.
For information about the Wappapello Bass Circuit, give Justun Buchanan a call at 573-429-6312.
The Angler’s Choice organization also will kick off its 2021 season with a tournament Saturday.
The Angler’s Choice event will be based out of the Wappapello State Park, with fishing slated to begin at 7 a.m. and the weigh-in set for 3 p.m.
The remainder of the 2021 schedule for Angler’s Choice includes tournaments on April 10, May 8, June 5, July 10, Aug. 7 and Sept. 11.
Ken Owens is the tournament director and can be reached at 573-820-3715.
For those still running trap lines, the season for beavers in Missouri will close Wednesday, March 31.
The fur buyer who visits Poplar Bluff periodically is done for the season, so anything you have remaining will have to be sold elsewhere or saved until next winter.
I heard from MDC Fisheries Management Biologist Paul Cieslewicz the other day on the spawning efforts of the walleye they captured from the Black River a couple weeks ago.
All spawning is completed at MDC’s Chesapeake hatchery, and fry development looks good, according to Cieslewicz.
The hatchery was able to extract 1.84 million total eggs from the females sent to them, and the biggest fish, which weighed 14.25 pounds, accounted for 380,000 of those eggs.
The brood stock, which were taken from the Black River below the Clearwater Lake dam, were released into the Current River at Van Buren once the hatchery had completed the spawning.
This year, the Black River is slated to receive 40,000 fingerling walleyes.