Outdoors

CWD deer management planned at Prairie State Park

Missouri Department of Conservation officials found a CWD-positive deer during firearms season on private land near Prairie State Park. In an effort to keep the disease from spreading, MDC is planning a controlled culling of deer within the park. Chronic wasting disease, or CWD, is a fatal, neurological illness that affects white-tailed deer, mule deer,

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Roaring River, Montauk State Parks release campsites

Missouri State Parks announces campsites previously on hold at Montauk State Park and Roaring River State Park will be released for guests to reserve in March and April. Both campgrounds will undergo improvements later in 2023, but will be temporarily available until construction dates are determined. The campsites released will be in campground Loop 4

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Black Death and Bad News

They are coming, and believe me, nothing seems to slow them down. They are non-native birds known as black vultures…an evil plague on the Ozarks. Black Vultures are compact birds with broad wings short tails and powerful wing beats, with white patches beneath the wings and coal black heads. They are carrion eaters but they

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Winter and Wildlife

During very cold and vicious winter weather, wild creatures need much more food than they need during the mild stretches that we love to see. The acorns that were as thick as I have seen them in a long time, become scarce in February and March, so we are coming upon the lean time of

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MDC offers free nature and outdoor skills programs in January in Kansas City

Learn how to shoot archery or how birds survive winter weather with some of the free programs offered in January at the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center in Kansas City. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) naturalists and instructors will lead sessions devoted to nature and outdoor skills. Among the programs offered: People huddle indoors

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The Pool Hall Kid

I went to work at the pool hall one afternoon, straight from school. Ol’ Jim and Ol’ Bill were there and they could tell I was pretty despondent. I was 13 years old and had just got my first pair of glasses. I wanted a girl friend awfully bad at that time and those glasses

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Muzzle-loader Hunters

You have to be smart to hunt with a muzzle-loader! If you aren’t giving some thought to what you are doing and you nonchalantly ram a bullet down the barrel before you pour the powder in, you have a problem. The powder absolutely has to go in first! Hunting with a ‘smoke-pole’ causes you to

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Let Cuivre River State Park recycle your Christmas tree

Give fish a gift this year by recycling your live Christmas tree. Cuivre River State Park will accept live Christmas trees for fish habitat until Jan. 15, 2023. Team members from Cuivre River State Park will join fisheries biologists from the Missouri Department of Conservation to sink the donated trees in Lake Lincoln in an

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