Fresh Afield

Part of being a good hunter means honing your skills so every shot you take counts. With the cost of ammunition rising, the incentive to do that just keeps growing too.

One way our staff are trying to help Missouri dove, waterfowl and upland game bird hunters be the best wing shooters they can be is through special training sessions in CONSEP, the “Cooperative North American Shotgunning Education Program.” Tony Legg, Hunter Ed Coordinator for the Missouri Conservation Department whose office is just down the hall from mine, heads up the program.

Several free seminar/workshop sessions will be held across the state from August into early October. Sign-up is necessary though, so our staff can limit the size of groups to ensure quality, individualized hands-on training.

What you learn is practical: how to better estimate distance, how to improve marksmanship skills, and how to better match choke and shells. Tony mentioned, “I’ve had long-time hunters at the beginning of the program say they don’t expect they’ll learn much that’s new, but by the end of it, they’re amazed at how much better they’re able to shoot, especially with the nontoxic steel shot.”

So if you have any interest in being the best you can be and making the most of your time and ammunition too, check out the CONSEP schedule. See what Tony and our training team can do for you. You’ll be amazed or your money back! (Just kidding—it’s free. But you might still be amazed.)

Who doesn’t like a bargain? If you donate to conservation or other causes you support, you most likely get offers to double those dollars now and then because some generous donor has agreed to a match. A lot of Missourians probably don’t realize that each year that they buy at least one hunting and/or one fishing permit, they’re automatically increasing the money that’s going to come back through the federal government to our state for conservation efforts. The funding is based on the number of active permit buyers for hunting and for fishing (not on how many permits each person bought).

Billions of dollars have helped wildlife and fish conservation thanks to two federal laws, the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act and the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act. The P-R Act is funded by a tax on ammunition and firearms, while the D-J Act is funded by taxes on sport fishing equipment, electric outboard motors and motorboat fuel, and duties on fishing tackle and yachts.

The respective sets of funds are divided among the states. Our potential return is based on the number of individuals buying permits and by the relative size of our state. So if you only buy a permit every few years, then on the off years you’re letting some of that federal money go to other states.

Since the total numbers of dollars available and numbers of permit buyers varies from year to year, there isn’t a set amount of dollars any state can expect. But last year, for every person who bought at least one hunting permit, Missouri has received about $17 in federal aid, and for every fishing permit buyer about $11 in federal aid. The money makes a big impact on conserving wildlife habitat, supporting boating accesses, hunter education, shooting ranges and much, much more. Seems like a bargain to me.

Exciting news just arrived that the team of five Missouri students from Parkway North High School placed 2nd in the Canon Envirothon held in Arizona this year. Each will receive $4000 scholarship. They faced the challenge of 54 teams from 46 states and 8 Canadian provinces.

To win, teams show what they know about resource management and environmental science at a series of hands-on outdoor stations covering forestry, aquatic ecology, wildlife and soils/land use. Then they work as a team to give a convincing presentation on a key conservation/environmental issue (this year’s issue was recreational impacts on the environment).

The competition is all about helping the next generation learn to conserve our natural resources and deal with the complex issues that arise in balancing the quality of lives with the quality of the environment. To compete at the international level, more than 100 high school teams in Missouri studied throughout the year and entered regional contests, then the top 3 in each region entered the state contest. Schools large and small, urban, suburban and rural all compete.

Though I’ve never attended the international contest, hearing the students at the state level is impressive enough. Judy Stinson, who has worked with Missouri’s Envirothon since the state began participating 11 years ago, said the only thing heated in this year’s contest (held in temperate Flagstaff) was the competition—but that was intense. Two of the five on the Parkway North team were among last year’s 4th place winners.

The latest news is good. As of yesterday, Max Alleger reports that 40 prairie chickens (hens and chicks) have successfully made the move from Kansas to Missouri, with a little help from the Conservation crew of trappers and transporters. The crew will keep working until they reach their goal of moving 50 birds to join the males brought to Missouri last spring. Although some of the males moved then have since left for greener prairie (or at least moved off the prairie we had hoped they’d settle on), 8 remain there.

According to Max, “The rest remains up to the birds, I suppose. Each adult translocated was fitted with a new transmitter so that habitat use preferences can be monitored for a full year.”

Someone asked in response to my post last week why they’re trying this 2-phase approach. Max told me the reason is basically that females are more likely to stay put when moved to a booming ground (spring mating ground) where the males already have established themselves. So the males were brought to Missouri in phase 1 in hopes they’d settle in. Some did it seems. Also, the biologists wanted to move the females with their chicks because the female birds would be more likely to stay with them when they were released on the new grounds. Max said it has worked elsewhere.

Working with nature isn’t easy. And the future of prairie chickens in Missouri isn’t clear. But it’s exciting to see people and the process in action as they try to keep a rich mix of life thriving out there.

A few weeks ago I mentioned what people can do to keep some invasive species out of Missouri. Well, the bad news just arrived that one invader, the emerald ash borer, was just found in southeast Missouri at a campground near Lake Wappapello. Though it’s not certain yet, it is very possible that someone bringing firewood from out-of-state brought the insect here. But experts are inspecting the area to see how far the insect has spread from the original trap in which they were first found before they determine the next steps to keep it contained.

Once they do spread, emerald ash borers will kill the ash trees they contact. There is no known cure for the damage they inflict. Help stop them from destroying these excellent trees: tell your friends to avoid bringing in firewood from out of state because that’s the most likely way these insects will get here. We are the most southern and western state to have them. There’s still a chance to keep them from spreading, but it just got more difficult.

It’s hard to imagine, but just 60 years ago, wild deer, turkey, eagles, and geese were all rare in Missouri. But the Missouri Department of Conservation worked with landowners, communities and others to reintroduce them and get their numbers growing again. Now the hope is to match that kind of success with the Greater Prairie Chicken, a bird I highlighted on an earlier blog.

What’s exciting is the work a conservation team is doing over the next two weeks. Max Allegher, who is heading our prairie chicken recovery team, is with them in Kansas this week for the second part of two-stage release of prairie chickens in Missouri. The first stage was capturing male and female chickens in Kansas, bringing the males back to Missouri, putting a radio transmitter on the females and leaving them in Kansas to lay eggs and raise the young chicks. Now the team is back in Kansas collecting the females and their chicks to bring them to join the male chickens in Missouri.

Instead of waiting to report what the later outcome of all this effort is, I thought you might want to share in the action as it unfolds. So here’s an update from Max:

“After two days of initial work we have located hens previously tagged and released in the area. One hen with three (1/4 to 1/3 grown) chicks was flushed yesterday afternoon. After completing initial telemetry work, we are shifting gears a bit today. Brent, Aimee and Frank will use all three telemetry units to more precisely locate some of the birds, while Steve Clubine and I make rounds and attempt to contact landowners. We will also be working on our capture technique in the field over the next few evenings. All is going extremely well. Max”

Two key things you need to know about prairie chickens: they’re very social birds and the same group tends to mate in the same area each year. That area is called the lek. By relocating a good number of the birds as a group to one new place that has just the right kind of habitat they need, biologists hope to make them feel right at home—or as the biologists would likely say, “to reestablish a viable population.”

Having the right kind of places to breed, to raise young and to spend the winter are critical for the prairie chickens’ survival. The fact that most native prairie is gone from Missouri today is why these birds are so rare here now. The good thing is that the Conservation Department is working with a whole group of landowners, other organizations, and agencies known as the Grasslands Coalition to help create the kinds of habitats the prairie chickens need.

Those loud belching-croak sounds coming from my pond suggest an army of bullfrogs has appeared out of nowhere. I never really thought much about bullfrogs beyond enjoying their loud calls and an occasional taste of frog legs. But when I called Jeff Briggler, our Missouri Conservation Department herpetologist, he said the “army” most likely spent the winter right there in the muddy pond bottom.

Now they should be scattered like sentries guarding their territories around the edge. Occasionally a fight will break out when two equal-size bullfrogs meet at their territory borders. Though Jeff hasn’t seen such an event himself, he has heard that they push, shove and grapple with each other like sumo wrestlers. What an image….

Since bullfrogs are the biggest frogs in North America, growing to more than a pound, they’re the sumo bodies of our frog world too. (The green frog, which looks similar to bullfrogs, are about half their size, and overwinter under rocks in creeks and springs instead of in the mud of pond and lakes.)

Another thing that surprised me (besides the sumo wrestling image) was that bullfrogs can live up to 10 years. And they take 18 months just to transform from a tadpole into adult frog. That’s a big difference from other frogs that can make the change in just 3 weeks. So you won’t find bullfrogs using those little spring pools of water that dry up quickly—they need steady water year round. The many ponds Missourians have built over the years created some great bullfrog habitat. Jeff mentioned that bullfrogs historically were in the woodlands of eastern North America. People moved them further west, where they actually outcompete the more native frogs.

I asked if the best time to hear and see them (with flashlight in hand) is just after dark, but even though they’ll call in the evening, the best time to hear them may be in the darkness before morning light, maybe 4 a.m. I think I’d still settle for the evening chorus myself. If you want more than just a sight and sound—if you’d like a taste of frog—the frogging season opened June 30 at sunset and runs until Oct. 31. They really do taste a bit like chicken.

Summer is about to sizzle. If you have an ounce of curiosity (or have handy a 2 to 5 year old who’s in a constant state of magical wonder at all things life offers), you should consider adding the “Singing Insects of Missouri” to your CD collection. It comes with a colorful poster that identifies and explains 20 of the common summer insect sounds you’ll hear. The set is $8 plus shipping/handling and tax if you’re in Missouri. You can get it onlne at www.mdcnatureshop.com, or call toll-free 877-521-8632 to order it.

As summer progresses the insect calls will really be picking up. During the day there are some, but at night there will be even more. It’s worth stepping out into the dark to hear them. If you’re lucky enough to be near a grassy field or at the edge of woods you’ll see the fireflies too. Then throw in an occasional screech owl and you’ve got a free multi-sensory show of light and sound.

Last weekend was the perfect time to stroll along the edge of the woods for two reasons. First, the wild raspberries were ripe and practically jumping off the stems. Second, it was bizarrely cool and pleasant for a July day in Missouri. Since we’d had 3.5 inches of rain just a few days earlier, water was still flowing in the creek near the paths by the berries. I stopped and looked back up the creek and the water was sparkling and burbling as it rippled against the rocks. That, birds calling, and a container of berries in my hand was just about heaven.

The Missouri Natural Events Calendar mentions that the wild blackberries typically ripen the first week of July. They don’t seem to be ready yet where I live. But I could care less—they’re nothing to me compared to the bursts of berry (and less mess of seeds) in the wild raspberry. Plus, the gracefully arcing, dusky blue raspberry stems are a lot less nasty in terms of thorns.

Camping and boating travelers beware! You could be bringing some nasty hitchhikers into the state in your firewood or on your boat. The emerald ash borer and the zebra mussel are two creatures that will wreak havoc once they get a solid foothold in Missouri. Sometimes it seems like problems in nature are just too big to fix, but in these cases there really are things you can do to help protect our trees and our waters before it’s too late

Emerald Ash Borers (EABs) are a type of beetle from Asia that first appeared in Michigan in 2002. Since then they have spread to several states. More than 50 million ash trees have already been killed by EABs. All North American ash trees are susceptible, so this beetle could eventually kill of most of our ash trees.

A federal quarantine prohibits moving firewood from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana into Missouri or other states. What you can do to help stop the emerald borer is use only local firewood. If you already brought some in from elsewhere, burn it quickly to kill the insects in it.

In the case of zebra mussels, once they start multiplying in an area, they’re almost impossible to eradicate. They’ll clog water intakes, disrupt aquatic life, and cost a lot to address the many problems they cause. The good thing is that you can avoid carrying these (whether they’re full-sized adults or the small larval form) by inspecting your boat, being sure to clean it off, drain water from the motor, boat, livewells, etc. and thoroughly dry it in the sun before you put it on another body of water. Zebra mussels have been found in the Lake of the Ozarks, Lake Taneycomo and in the Arkansas part of Bull Shoals Lake, so it’s especially important to avoid spreading them within the state to other bodies of water.

It’s easy to forget they’re lurking about, but ditching those hitchhikers is something you can do to keep Missouri’s woods and waters healthy.