hunting

Grilled or pan fried? Doesn’t matter…whatever you choose, you can’t go wrong with Missouri turkey (VIDEO)

May 16, 2015 By Bill Pollock

Grilled or pan fried…doesn’t matter. Missouri turkey is delicious.

Hard to believe that after nearly ten months of planning, studying, practicing and hunting, my time with the Missouri Department of Conservation and my journey with my two mentors, Kyle Lairmore and Jim Low, is coming to an end.

You’ve followed my steps from hunter education through deer, duck and now turkey hunting and I hope we’ve provided good information along the way to help you get started.

The final step, now that I was able to harvest a turkey on my first hunt, is to show you how to prepare this delicious meat that is a great protein source.

On our final video (watch below), Kyle will walk you through a quick and easy, pan fry and bake recipe that goes great with rice and vegetables. Ever since we’ve hosted Thanksgiving at my house, I’ve prepared our bird on a charcoal grill. So I was really interested to see how a Missouri jake would turn out. I was very happy with the results as we used the grill meat to make a delicious muffaletta from a recipe straight out of the Cooking Wild in Missouri cookbook. Of course, turkey season isn’t complete without Morel mushrooms! Another great resource is to get a copy of the Missouri’s Wild Mushrooms book.

In fact, for being a faithful viewer and reader of my hunting journey, I want you to have an opportunity to win these great books. Click here to sign up to win.

After going through the process of each hunt, if I had to pick a favorite, I would choose turkey. I mentioned several reasons in my last story, but the final decision came down to how delicious the meat tasted. I had heard from multiple people, hunters and non-hunters who all told me the same thing…store bought turkey doesn’t even come close to the taste of a native Missouri gobbler. Man, they were right!

What I learned about hunting is that the whole experience isn’t just about whether or not you harvest an animal. The best part of this final video shoot was cooking the food, sitting down at the table and sharing a meal, great stories with plenty of laughs. That’s what truly completes the experience.

Here’s a post on the Department of Conservation’s Facebook page that I think sums up what hunting is all about. This comes from Randy H.

Can’t thank you guys enough for these blogs. I started turkey hunting at 40 and brought my son along for the first time about 5 or 6 years ago at the age of 12. We have been every year and have yet to bag a bird although we’ve been very close. You guys are absolutely correct that the adventure and the stories are sometimes better than a kill. At 18 now, he chose to go hunt by himself for the first time last weekend and had one within shooting distance but couldn’t take the shot through the brush in the woods. Just hearing his stories were really cool and I was extremely proud and happy for him. My hope is that we can both bag our first birds in the same morning while sitting together. He will be going off to college in the fall and our times together will be fewer but I will always have the memories in my mind and in my heart. We still have this weekend…

I know I started this post by saying that my journey was coming to an end, but that’s incorrect. It is really just beginning.

I finished the training, got my gear and permits, and now it’s time to hit the field for my first hunt (Google Hangout)

November 29, 2014 By Bill Pollock

Bill Pollock sets his sights on a potential harvest as sunset nears in Gasconade County.

It was “D-Day” for me…as in deer. After spending the last couple of months becoming a certified hunter through the Missouri Department of Conservation, and hitting the range for practice, I got my warm clothes and hunter orange, picked up my tags and now I’m finally ready for my first hunt.

I was joined by Kyle Lairmore, Hunting Education and Shooting Range Coordinator from the conservation department, as we headed out to Pigg Hollow Farms in Gasconade County.

We set out in the afternoon after lunch and got set up in our elevated blind just after 2 p.m. After we got settled into the blind, I tried to take in my surroundings, using landmarks, such as trees, or different shades of coloring in the field to help determine distances that I knew would be within my shooting range of 150 yards and closer.

Then I scanned the field looking for any deer movement and kept my own movements and talking to a minimum. In our third Google Hangout of this series on Adult Onset Hunting, you’ll hear Kyle and I talk about how perceptive deer are of their surroundings. When you enter their environment, they are very in tune with things around them.

The biggest question I was asked by my family and friends was if I was nervous when I set my sights on my first harvest.

Yeah, I was excited, but I have been waiting for this opportunity. For the last few weeks, I’ve visualized how I would approach my first attempt. Constantly reminding myself to stay calm, control my breathing and to remember the most important aspect of a hunt is to go for a quick, clean, harvest.

My biggest concern was that I didn’t want to rush a shot, or take a bad shot with a low success rate to where I would just wound the deer and that’s not what I wanted to do.

I was more excited seeing a buck through the brush and then when I saw three yearlings and a doe behind us, but once I decided to make an attempt, I actually felt calm and confident for my first harvest.

How would things actually workout? Watch our Hangout as we take your through my first day of hunting from start to finish.

Know what you need to gear up for your first deer hunt of the season (Google Hangout)

November 13, 2014 By Bill Pollock

Kyle Lairmore (L) of the Missouri Department of Conservation shows Bill Pollock some tips on sighting in a rifle (Photo/Karen Hudson)

I started this series writing about the arrival of fall and cooler temperatures. Now, with the start of the deer firearm season starting on Saturday, our forecast calls for snow. Last year, hunters were out in short sleeves with temperatures near 70. That’s Missouri weather for you.

Welcome to part two in our series of Google Hangouts with the Missouri Department of Conservation.

In our first Hangout, I was joined by Kyle Lairmore, the Hunter Education & Shooting Range Coordinator and three others, who were interested in taking up hunting for a variety of reasons. I showed you how easy it was to take the online hunter education course and attend the skills session, where I took my test and earned my hunter education certification.

Before I take my first shot in the field this deer season, there are just a few more things we need to cover that all new hunters need to take into consideration:

1: Purchasing the proper permits and tags.
2: Getting out to the range to practice with the firearm
3: Picking out the right clothing to wear.

In this Hangout, Kyle will talk to us about the permits. Brian Flowers, Outdoor Skills Specialist, will discuss which firearms are best to use during deer season and why it’s important you get them sighted in properly. Finally, Jessica Moore, a first time hunter like myself, will share her humorous story about the difficulties of finding the proper clothing to wear.

It is your responsibility to have the proper licenses to hunt and to understand the limits that you are allowed to harvest in the field. The cost for a resident deer permit is $17 and you can also purchase an antlerless permit for $7, during the firearms season.

Kyle encourages you to pick up a pamphlet at one of the several conservation centers around the state which will help answer all of your questions regarding tags and permits. For your convenience, we’ve included one that you can download here.

2014 Fall Deer and Turkey Regulations

Bill Pollock shows off his first three shots while sighting in his rifle (Photo/Karen Hudson)

I suggest that when you go to buy permits, go to a conservation center near you. The volunteers and staff on site will be more than happy to assist you and answer all your questions.

Brian said when selecting a firearm that is best for deer hunting there are four calibers that stand out: .270, 30-30, 30-06 and 308 Winchester. Any of those will work well for a first time hunter. You also need to take into consideration your price range and available ammunition.

Brian also says when choosing a firearm, consider the distance you’ll be targeting deer from.

My advice to you…as you shop for a firearm, keep in mind your initial distance to target a deer is most likely going to be from 100 yards and in. As Brian mentions, the goal is a quick, clean kill. For a first time hunter, anything over 100 yards is pushing your skill level.

My other piece of advice. You have to watch the Google Hangout above on Jessica’s story about trying on clothes. Fashion has to take a back seat for warmth, comfort and flexibility.

You may suffer from Adult Onset Hunting. You’re not alone. Join others who are also ready to try hunting for the first time. (VIDEO)

November 2, 2014 By Bill Pollock

Bill Pollock, (left) work with another student during a recent Skills Session, hosted by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Bill Pollock, (left) works with another student during a recent Skills Session, hosted by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Lawmakers hear conflicting testimony on deer disease in Missouri (AUDIO)

July 16, 2013 By Mike Lear

The House Interim Committee on Cause and Spread of Chronic Wasting Disease in the Elk and White Tail Deer Population has heard two very different sets of information from those who do, and don’t, think captive breeders are to blame for the disease coming to Missouri.

A full hearing room listens to testimony from Doctor James Kroll of Stephen F. Austin University about chronic wasting disease management. (Photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The disease affects deer and other cervids. The first positive tests for the disease from deer in Missouri were found in 2010 in captive deer on private hunting preserves in Macon and Linn Counties in north-central Missouri. Since then, 21 total cases of the disease have been confirmed in the state, all in deer either on those preserves or within a ten-county containment zone near them.

Outdoor Guide Magazine conservation editor Steve Jones says that mirrors instances of CWD’s spread into other parts of the country.

“Tracking the spread of the disease on the North American map reveals clear association with the confined cervid industry. The massive geographic leaps such as the one that brought CWD to Missouri are clearly the result of the commercial movement of live cervids. Can it be proven? No. Is it obvious? Yes.”

Kevin Grace of White Tail Sales & Auction in Eldon argues that among about 8,000 captive breeders in the U.S. there have been only 54 positive tests for the disease since 2002.

“Since the infancy stages of this disease, there has never been a trace back or a trace forward, never, to cross the state line … in all this time, only one time has an infected deer been moved from one farm to another.”

After the Conservation Department made a presentation, Doctor James Kroll with Stephen F. Austin University in Texas was allowed to testify at length before several others were limited to two-minute blocks of testimony due to lack of time. He tells lawmakers he thinks chronic wasting disease is not as new to the state as Missourians have been told.

“It’s always been out there. Is CWD spreading or is testing spreading? The more we test, the more likely we are to find it.”

The committee’s chairwoman, Representative Sandy Crawford (R-Buffalo), says the main question it will consider is whether captive breeders should be subject to tighter regulations. She says changes considered last year by the Conservation Department would have “basically put some of our deer breeders, if not all of them, out of business eventually.”

On Monday, Jones told her committee it must consider such regulations or face backlash from the state’s hunting population.

“If the legislative response to this horrible disease places the needs of a small industry above the clear and urgent public interest, do not count on the continued silence of those 500,000 Missourians.”

The two sides also disagree over how great a threat, if any, the disease poses to the state’s deer herd.

Donald Hill, a deer breeder in central Missouri, insists that threat is being overblown by the Conservation Department for political gain.

“Conservation … we are their competition and they want us out of this picture. It doesn’t have anything to do with CWD … I can take everything they print in their magazine and I can dispute it with scientific evidence.”

Kroll suggests that the Conservation Department’s efforts to cull the local herd around where the cases of CWD have been found could actually hinder the natural evolution of a resistance to the disease.

“In order for an animal to adapt to any disease … you’ve got to have two things. You’ve got to have a large population and you have to have high genetic variability. Whitetail deer have both of them, and I fully anticipate genetic response, if it’s even necessary, to that disease.”

Crawford says the committee is also considering whether the legislature should change how the management of deer is conducted. Breeders want to be put under the control of the Department of Agriculture.

Their critics, like Richard Ash, Conservation Federation President, say they should remain under the control of the Conservation Department.

“We believe that there should be one entity that is looking at the regulatory actions. You can’t have multiple bosses … we believe that MDC should be responsible for all wildlife whether its native or non-native, captive or free-roaming.”

Others, such as Doug Smentkowski with the Mule Deer Foundation, urged compromise.

“Both sides need to seek common ground. There are items that both sides can move on and an agreement does need to be reached because if we don’t reach an agreement, they’re just going to keep fighting.”

The committee will meet three more times, once a month through October in Buffalo, Jefferson City and Poplar Bluff.

AUDIO: Testimony of Doctor James Kroll, Stephen F. Austin University 35:51

AUDIO: Testimony of Outdoor Guide Magazine conservation editor Steve Jones, 4:23

Planning to begin for elk hunting season, still years away

July 15, 2013 By Mike Lear

The Missouri Department of Conservation’s elk restoration program will eventually lead to an elk hunting season in Missouri. The Conservation Department’s elk experts have been given the green light by the Conservation Commission to begin some initial planning for such a hunt, though it is still likely three or more years away.

This map details the Conservation Department’s Elk Restoration Zone. (image courtesy; Missouri Department of Conservation)

Department Resource Scientist Lonnie Hansen says the Department has presented recommendations to the Commission about what criteria should be met before a hunt is held. A key consideration is population.

“Population needs to be growing, there should be a minimum number of elk out there, an acceptable bull-to-cow ratio, and certainly it has to be a certain time period after we’ve finished the actual restoration itself.”

Hansen says the elk population needs to reach 200 individuals and an annual growth rate of 10 percent before a hunt could be offered. He says the herd is expected to reach about 125 by this fall.

He also says the elk are still adjusting after being moved from Kentucky beginning in 2011.

“They’re still to some extent suffering from some of the stresses of capture, handling, disease testing and those kinds of things. By capturing elk in another state we kind of disrupt the social system, so it takes time for the elk to settle in.”

How long that settling in will take, Hansen says he can’t be sure. He says once that’s done it will be easier to judge how fast the population will grow, but he says an elk season could be possible as early as the fall of 2016.

This bull and cow elk were photographed on the Peck Ranch Conservation Area in Carter and Shannon Counties, part of the Elk Restoration Area. (photo credit; Reta Barkley)

Based on the Department’s recommendations, the Commission at its meeting earlier this month, instructed the Department to begin consideration of the guidelines for an elk season.

“We’ll have a committee make some recommendations whether it will be during the rut or after the rut or even specifically where it will occur. Those are just decisions we’re going to have to make down the road.”

An elk season won’t just help the Department manage deer in the Elk Restoration Zone in Shannon, Reynolds and Carter Counties in south Missouri.

“That might also allow us to manage elk that get into places where we don’t want them … will we be hunting elk in northern Missouri and other parts of the state? Certainly not elk that we’ve restored. Elk and row crop agriculture, for example, don’t mix very well. So, we don’t want them in places where we have row-crop agriculture and never expect to see elk like we have whitetail [deer]. We want whitetails everywhere in the state. We don’t want elk everywhere in the state.”

Hansen says an elk hunting season will have some positive impacts on the economy locally in areas where it is conducted, but it won’t have the same statewide impact as the deer seasons.

“Because it will be so limited I think the tourism, the folks that will go down just to see the elk is probably going to have more local impacts.”

For more on the elk restoration program in Missouri, visit the Department’s website.

Conservation Department turns to hunters to slow chronic wasting disease

May 31, 2012 By Mike Lear

The Conservation Department is spreading the word this summer of what it wants the state’s hunters to do to slow the spread of chronic wasting disease in Missouri’s deer herd.

Conservation Department officials collect samples from deer to test for chronic wasting disease. (photo courtesy, Missouri Department of Conservation)

CWD is a fatal, degenerative neurological disease effecting the nervous system of cervids like deer, elk and moose.

Deer Biologist Jason Sumners says it poses a serious threat. “Long term outlook for the deer population, particularly locally, isn’t good … Chronic wasting disease is a disease that will slowly accumulate over time and it is likely to have population level impacts, particularly locally.”

16 deer have tested positive for CWD in the state. 5 of those have been free-ranging deer and the rest captive, all in or within a few miles of a hunting preserve in northwest Macon County.

The Conservation Commission last week enacted some new regulations as part of the effort to slow the spread. One is a regulation prohibiting feeding deer or the placement of grain, salt and minerals in Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph and Sullivan Counties; what the Department is calling a “CWD Containment Zone” around the preserve where those 16 positive results have come from.

Sumners explains the idea behind restricting the feeding of deer. “The disease is transmitted from animal-to-animal, likely through social grooming, through nose-to-nose contact; those kinds of interactions.” Sumners says feeding deer draws them into groups where such interactions occur.

Another step is discouraging the moving of whole carcasses or certain parts out of that containment zone.

“The brain, the spinal cords contain the highest concentrations of infectious material and so that presents some opportunity to introduce the disease.” Sumners encourages hunters to “double bag that waste and send it to the landfill or dispose of it in your municipal trash that ends up in the landfill, or bury the carcasses.”

Sumners says once CWD-infectious material is exposed to an area, the threat of infection lasts a long time. “It appears that it’s at a minimum a number of years, and maybe much longer than a few years. There’s work being done to try to figure out how long the prions can persist in the environment … what kind of things may play a role in breaking down the prions, but these are very resilient.”

The Commission also removed the antler point restriction within the containment zone through September 15. Sumners explains, “The disease will spread across the landscape through the natural movement of animals and yearling males are protected by the antler point restriction and those are the ones that disperse and move long distances, and so we’ve removed the regulatory aspect that prevented the harvest of that segment of the population.”

The Department will host an informational meeting Saturday from 1:00 until 4:00 p.m. at New Cambria High School on CWD.

Find out more about the Commission’s latest actions and the Department’s efforts to fight CWD at its website.

Sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation