If you want to take part in a managed deer hunt this fall in Missouri, the time to apply for it is now.
The Missouri Department of Conservation is offering more than 130 managed deer hunts, some in conjunction with other agencies, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Hunts are offered for bowhunters and centerfire rifle hunters as well as those using muzzleloading weapons, plus several are available for hunters with disabilities.
Close to home, several bowhunts are offered at the Otter Slough Conservation Area between mid-September and mid-January, while the annual bowhunt at the Peck Ranch Conservation Area will be held Nov. 3-7.
New this year are four bowhunts inside the city limits of Cape Girardeau, with week-long hunt dates ranging from Nov. 8 through Dec. 5.
The most popular managed hunts in our region each year are the muzzleloader ones held at the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge and Peck Ranch.
Both of those hunts will be held Dec. 4-5, with 80 people drawn at Mingo and 200 at Peck Ranch.
A little bit north of our region is the St. Francois State Park, where there will be a centerfire rifle hunt for 60 hunters available Dec. 11-12.
Youth-only hunts again will be available, including the Mingo Nov. 6-7, Peck Ranch Oct. 2-3 and at the Ozark National Scenic Riverways/Big Spring area Oct. 16-17.
Hunts for those with disabilities will be offered Oct. 16-17 at Wappapello Lake, Nov. 13-23 at the Coldwater Conservation Area in Wayne County, Nov. 6-7 at Clearwater Lake and Dec. 4-5 at Mingo NWR.
Mingo also will host a hunt for four recovering soldiers from Fort Campbell in Kentucky on Nov. 2-3.
You can apply for a hunt through the month of July on MDC’s website at mdc.mo.gov, and you can apply either singly or with a group of up to four total hunters.
Unlike spring managed turkey hunts, deer taken on a managed hunt do not count toward your season limit.
The results of the random drawing will be posted to MDC’s website beginning Aug. 15.
Poplar Bluff’s SEMO Youth Shooters trap team competed last weekend at the AIM (Academics, Integrity and Marksmanship) state shoot at Linn Creek, Missouri, with several members earning accolades.
In the Junior Gold division, Hannah Cash earned first place honors and also had the ladies high score with 196 out of 200 clay birds broken.
Tayler Hillis earned third place in that same division with a score of 195.
Layne Clubb earned his 50-straight patch, while Noah Innes shot his first 25 straight.
The team’s Pre-Sub division squad earned a second-place finish with members Lillie Johnson, Kaidyn Powers, Trustan Alexander, Nolan Barker and Waylynn Slavings.
The Sub-Junior squad took second place in their division with members Sam Johnson, Madison Cash, Cody Grobe, Cooper Rideout and Logan Hart.
The Gold squad took home the third place trophy with members Hannah Cash, Dylan Hale, Nicole Bertholomey, Hillis and Clubb.
In handicaps shooting, Hart took first place in the Sub-Junior division, while Rideout took second.
In Junior handicaps, Abby Prewitt took second place and earned her 50 patch, while Garret Cooper earned third place honors. Cole VanMatre also got his 50-straight patch.
In Junior Gold handicaps, Clubb took first place, while Hillis was second and Hannah Cash was third.
In doubles competition, Hannah Cash won first place in the Junior Gold division, with Clubb right on her heels in second place.
Another trap shooter from Poplar Bluff was recognized recently for not only his shooting skills, but also his academic success.
Austin Stoner was named to the Scholastic Clay Target Program’s All-Scholastic team for the third time.
Stoner held a GPA of at least 3.0, plus scored at least 190 clay targets out of 200 and received multiple recommendations.
Stoner, who competes with the Arnold Junior Shooters team, was the high overall Junior Doubles shooter at last weekend’s AIM shoot, plus was the Junior doubles and singles champion at the recent Arkansas State Shoot.
I watched with great interest Tuesday when the Missouri Department of Conservation hosted a webcast about the state’s wild turkey population and the department’s management program.
Biologist Reina Tyl basically said after turkeys were restored long ago, the population grew until the carrying capacity of the land was reached. She also said restored turkey populations tend to decline after a period, based on habitat availability.
She reported the department’s data suggests poult survival is a “big red flag,” and a study underway is trying to determine the main causes of mortality in young birds.
Some factors in turkey production, Tyl said, include an increase in nest predator species, a loss of quality nesting habitat, maturing forests with expansive canopies which inhibit undergrowth, changing weather patterns and lower insect abundance.
MDC, Tyl said, is looking at potential regulation changes for the trapping and hunting of nest predators, but it’s too early to tell if things will change.
A more conservative fall turkey hunting season has been suggested by many hunters, but with a harvest rate around 1%, Tyl said, such a change would have little to no effect on the overall population.
An established turkey population can sustain up to 30% of its male population being removed each year, Tyl said, and Missouri hunters currently are estimated to be taking about 23% of the adult males each spring.
About 5% of all hunters fill a second tag each spring, Tyl reported, so reducing the bag limit from two to one bird would not make a significant difference.
According to Tyl, about 80% of turkeys taken in Missouri’s spring season are killed in the first two weeks, while about one-quarter of all hunting trips are in the third week.
Given what was presented, I’m still not sure what MDC plans to do other than suggest landowners improve their habitat.
Finally, it looks as if the local wild blackberry crop is behind schedule.
We should be elbow deep in blackberries right now, but from what I’ve seen, it still may be another week or two before the berries ripen, and that’s only if we get some much-needed rain.
Without rain, the existing berries, and there are plenty of them, will burn up in the sun before they can ripen to maturity.
Paul Davis is the outdoors editor for the Daily American Republic and can be reached at pdavis.dar@gmail.com.