Outdoors

Where the news is all good

The trails are cleaned off and well marked, the cabins neatly arranged and the food plots so green and full of crops that deer and turkey are easy to see. Rabbits are everywhere and there are dozens of species of birds, nesting throughout. The gravel swimming beach is shaded and the swimming-hole inviting. Kayaks and

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State record Dwarf Hack Berry honored

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) presented a State Champion Tree award to Tan-Tar-A Resort in Camden County for the largest known dwarf hackberry tree in the state. “The dwarf hackberry tree at Tan-Tar-A just happened to catch my eye as I was leaving the complex for lunch during the Missouri Natural Resources Conference,” said

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MDC’s Bushwhacker Lake switches to managed deer hunts

Application period for area’s six managed hunts begins July 1. Increasing hunter satisfaction at Bushwhacker Lake Conservation Area is the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) goal of this year’s deer-hunting changes at the 4,790-acre area in southwest Missouri. Beginning this fall, deer hunting at Bushwhacker will change from archery and alternative methods during those respective

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Many unaware of Missouri’s softshell turtle population

Photos by Missouri Department of Conservation Francis Skalicky, Missouri Department of Conservation 6:01 a.m. CDT July 6, 2016 (Photo: Missouri Department of Conservation) When it comes to little-known outdoor events in Missouri, it would be safe to say few are more obscure than the state’s softshell turtle season. If you didn’t know Missouri has a

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On a Gravel Bar Long Ago

I don’t know how old grandpa was then… but I was 13. We were camped on a Big Piney gravel bar below the mouth of Hog Creek. Grandpa Dablemont taught me so much on those river trips. He was the best outdoorsman I ever knew, descended from a Frenchman who stowed away on a ship

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Fishing Report

Taberville Report By Linda McCallister Dain Fish Farm The catfish are biting in the North Lake at Schell on lines fastened to noodles, not jugs. They are baiting with brown carp. On Saturday, a man won the catfish tournament down here at the bridge fishing with perch. He caught a 43 pounder on rod and

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STATE RECORD WHITE CRAPPIE

Austin Campbell (left) and Blake Moreland (right) with the state record 2-pound, 1-ounce white crappie Campbell caught on a trotline in an irrigation pond in Cass County.

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Same Old Thing… Continued

The new director of the Missouri Department of Conservation is Tom Draper. Truthfully, he has been the boss there for quite some time. To explain that, I had an interview with the latest director Robert Zeihmer, just a couple of years ago in his office in Jefferson City and Draper sat beside him as if

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Fish biting in Osage

Taberville Report by Bobby Dains Dains Fish Farm I went down there yesterday and caught a whole herd of fish. It was a little brusy with drifts coming down, but I don’t think it is quite so bad now. I was rod and reel fishing yesterday for carp on worms. Carp fishing was awesome. We

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