The last small game seasons of the year in Missouri will wrap up Tuesday.
The rabbit season has been open since Oct. 1, and the squirrel season, the state’s longest, has been open since May 22.
Squirrel hunters can take 10 per day, and rabbit hunters can harvest six daily, with a restriction on swamp rabbits.
I honestly haven’t heard from anyone about how the rabbit and squirrel hunting has been going, but I have seen a decent number of each as I’ve traveled around.
I usually make an effort to get in one rabbit hunt each year, always late in the season, and may break out the 20-gauge this weekend if time allows. A couple rabbits to make a nice stew is plenty for me.
The Light Goose Conservation Order in Missouri kicked off Monday, and while I haven’t heard any reports of birds being taken yet, there still are plenty of snow geese around.
The area around the Otter Slough Conservation Area is loaded with snow geese, and Butler County Conservation Agent Clarissa Lee told me there have been good numbers of birds hanging out near the St. Francis River.
In some years, the Light Goose Conservation Order gets a lot of attention from out-of-state hunters and guides, mostly because the licenses are so cheap, so you may run into some if you’re out and about looking for geese.
As always, remember to be extremely safe, and get permission before heading onto private lands. Most landowners hate snow geese, but they hate trespassers even more.
Crappie fishing at Wappapello Lake has been pretty good lately, and some really nice fish have been taken.
Good numbers of crappies between 11 and 13 inches have been caught fairly regularly, and one person I know even landed a 16-incher.
As always this time of year, the upper reaches of the lake near the channel will be your best bet.
If you’re looking for an alternative, it’s getting close to time for some really good walleye fishing.
As it gets later into February, male walleyes will begin to congregate at the head of deep pools in the St. Francis, Black, Eleven Point and Current rivers, waiting for the big females to show up.
They can be caught on nightcrawlers, shiners or any kind of hardware like deep-diving crankbaits or spoons.
Usually by the first week of March, if the water temperature is right, the females will move into the shallows at night and spawn.
Those big females can weigh 12 pounds or more, and while you’re certainly allowed to keep them, it may be a better idea to put them back. Those larger fish produce much greater numbers of young walleye than smaller ones do, so they’re important for perpetuating the species.
Another fishing option would be Pool 1 at Duck Creek Conservation Area.
During the winter months, good catches of big black crappies are possible, and the lake’s pickerel always are aggressive in the cold water.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Missouri Department of Conservation, completed a feral hog aerial-gunning operation Jan. 18-20 in an effort to help reduce hog numbers on the refuge.
This year, the helicopter team was able to take 37 hogs, according to refuge manager Ben Mense.
“They flew Mingo and Duck Creek,” Mense said.
During last year’s aerial operation, more than 400 hogs were removed.
This year’s lower numbers, Mense said, were “a good indicator.”
“We’ve been seeing less hog sign on the refuge. We’ve been struggling to find hogs on the ground, and the helicopter sort of confirmed what we’ve been seeing.”
Officials, Mense said, are “definitely not saying we don’t have any, but the population is significantly reduced from what it was.”
Without as much food competition between deer and hogs on the refuge, Mense said, officials are “hoping our deer population comes back a little bit. We’re not seeing any issues there, but without that competition, they should be able to thrive again.”