jdmidwest

1: Dept of Ag should be the governing body on pen raise domestic deer, not the MDC. MDC is tasked at protecting our wildlife, forests, and riverways. They should not be burdened by the problem as there are no licenses purchased to fund it in deer farming other than some permits to raise the deer. A hunter in a high fence does not buy a license for the deer he shoots, he pays for it. The sale and trade of the deer creates taxable dollars that do not go to the MDC the same way as licenses, fees, and Pittman Roberts. That money goes to state and federal coffers that fund the Dept. of Ag. If they lack biologists, let them hire some to do the job. 2: Captive deer are livestock. They have been raised in a pen, they are fed and watered by humans, they are tagged in the ear like cattle or hogs, and they are bought and sold for profit. Wildlife can't be treated that way. 3 and 4: They relaxed that testing when the EHD epidemic broke out during the drought. They knew what was causing the deaths and knew it probably was not CWD. I am not aware of the current requirements, since my friend has been out of the business, I have not really kept up with it. It was before the EHD, every head of a deer that died had to be sent for testing. They are numbered and there is little room for cheating. Records are kept of deer populations in a farm herd and the tags they possess. The bottom line is that legitmate deer farmers try real hard to prevent any disease in their herds. They go out of their way to install barriers between their herds and the outside world. Wild deer carry disease too. They sure don't want to get blue toungue in their high priced herd deer. Its just a matter of common sense. I am not aware of how other states manage captive deer, but MO has a pretty good program and track record. To my knowledge, there is no current live test you can perform on a deer to see if it is carrying CWD. Little is really known about it. What needs to be done is finding out more about the desease, not pointing fingers and saying the sky is falling.

How many do you know? Dozens, many of them are local here in SE MO. I could fire a rifle and hit one less than 1 mile down the valley. I thought the one you did know was out of business? He is, he lost his half of his herd to a cattle disease, EHD. What did he do with his heard? Free Range them?? He sold them to a registered breeder in Michigan. At 5K to 20k per deer, you don't just free range them. It certainly isn't out of line to point the finger at the very people that brought this disease into this state. Did they? Or were they infected by a wild deer? Much like didgymo and felt soles, there is just a knee jerk reaction and someone needs a fall guy. There is simply not enough known about the disease at this point to draw any real conclusions. Most of the professionals have a lot of money invested in their herds. They raise them for many reasons, pets, urine, antler products, resell, genetics, and high fence hunting. Many of the products and research done by them is beneficial to the average, one weekend a year deer hunter. Bashing the group as a whole is like condemning all sportsmen based on the actions of a few poachers.

There are several off of 72 before you get to Salem near the Huzzah. They were part of a big fish hatchery system at one time. Forestry service has taken them over long ago and one has camping there, no privies. I think they are simply called Huzzah Ponds.

Funny, most deer breeders I know are avid hunters of wild game. They just raise deer to shoot in pens for the lazy, clumsy hunters that pay for the prize of a big set of horns. I think it is way out of line to bash deer breeders. The ones that I know are all responsible sportsmen and very meticulious about their herds. If they have a diseased deer in the herd, it would do them a very big financial deficit to their wallets. Why would they want to promote the spread of disease into the wild when they would stand to lose so much in their own herd?

I thought the greenery gave it away. Is anybody seeing that yet?

I know the one near Bunker, Little Scotia Pond. They closed the campground in the round of cutbacks of the Clinton years, but you can still drive back the broken road bed to the ponds but the area is in disrepair. Might even find a meth lab or two. I used to run that are alot years ago and fished and camped there a few times. Never really did much good.

That does it, time to start walking.

Cleaned out the strawberry beds today. They were covered with oak leaves from the trees in the yard. I usually wait until the new greens come out and use a small rake to remove the oak leaves, old vines and strawberry leaves. They were already up about 3 to 4 inches today. This warm snap has really started things hopping. Strawberries always put out runners and there are several rooted plants growing in the yard outside of the beds. I dig them up and fill in the holes in the beds with the new/younger plants. All of my beds are second and third season. Past experience, third season plants produce less and will be replaced next spring with new starts. We will see if that holds true this season. I looked over my horseradish and debated on digging up roots and expanding that also, but ran out of daylight. I willl probably move that into a richer, loamy soil in a raised bed to get them to perform better also. They have not done much the last few years, just little thin spindly roots.

A electric fence does wonders. I killed a doe once in season that had a load of shot in her ham from a shotgun. That was the poorest, toughest doe I ever put a knife into. Many pellets under the hide and many in the meat too. She was not limping either and had healed up. I would find something other than a shotgun to keep them out. If you are going to shoot one, just kill it, clean it, and eat it. Poaching is not any greater offense than harrassing, shooting, or maiming a deer. And then you solve the problem for keeps.

I need to find a spot like that. I wonder how many come up and never get spotted?

I have seen the flowers, just never knew they had a name. They are around when mushrooms pop.

What's a trout lilley? Dandelions are showing here on the north hillsides, bees will be happy happy. First major source of food for them.

I think the first is a black caddis or grannom, which would be about right for this time of year. Black elk hair caddis would be a pattern to tye for the adult. Kinda hard to tell from the pic. http://www.flyfishingwis.com/html/black_caddis.html http://www.west-fly-fishing.com/entomology/caddis/grannom.shtml

Water temp at a local lake was at 55 degrees this weekend, somehow. It was cold and rainy all day Sat and 29 degrees Sunday morn. Somehow things are warming up. Looking at the forecast and how things are starting to show around here, I may go out this weekend and look for some greys. Even though it seems early, it looks like a warmup is coming. I tend to see mayapples blooming and trilliums around when the mushrooms are peaking around here. I have seen no mayapples yet. But I am getting the itch.

Ground is still pretty cold around here. Leaf litter packed tight this year from the snow and sleet. They should stick out good when they pop up. Grass just started showing some green here this week. Last year it was hard to find them with the leaves all fluffed up and dry. I will give it a week or so. Peak usually is April 17 thru first part of May here. There may be a few grays next week.

I could have pegged Ness as a Mac type. BTW, I hate the new versions of Office also. But in your case, it was probably the reference to the south of the border runs that triggered it. The main point of the matter is, there is really no reason to go out and dump money on new computer just because XP is about to expire under normal circumstances. Most security issues with XP have been patched and locked down. Your main security should come from an advanced modern browser, up to date antivirus and internet security, and keeping key software up to date. That is the key even with Win 8.

There has been alot of hoopla lately since Microsoft dropped an update a few weeks back thru Windows Update urging people to get a new computer. Many have fallen for it and many new computers have been sold because of it. Here are my thoughts on the matter. Windows XP will continue to run and your computer will continue to perform as it does at the present time. The world will not come to an end for those that have XP computers on April 8, despite all of the scare tactics to drum up new sales. It is really only businesses that have to worry about it and the possible security issues that may develop. The Windows updates and patches will cease to exist. The only versions of Internet Explorer that presently run on XP are out of date and should have been replaced with modern browsers like Firefox, Opera, or Chrome for security while browsing. Outlook Express should be upgraded to a modern mail client like Thunderbird or simply use webmail clients like Gmail. Hackers will probably not even worry about trying to hack XP any more than they have over the last 14 years. As long as you have a modern browser installed, modern and up to date antivirus and internet security packages, you should have nothing to worry about. Always keep Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Shockwave, and Java software up to date also as many hackers tend to slip viruses and malware in that way also. Linux flavors are an option, most have an interface to make ease of interaction similar to Windows. But the options for software are limited and there is a whole new learning curve to the software that may intimidate many novice users. Windows 7 has been dropped for sale by MS also, but there are still companies out there offering it as a downgrade option on new computers. Since the patch for Windows 8.1 came out, many of the issues have been solved with the interface that was a problem with 8. It would be the route to go on a new computer.

Back then, were you a user or just a mule?

Too deep and too swift. They may even prohibit fishing in the spring branch if I remember right. Why would you want to?

D looks good. But I still have the old one too.

Local shop in Altenburg, MO carries the fish frozen and you can buy them by the box. Bones and als like a fiddler catfish about a 9 inch fish. It is also a big hit at the fair held in that same town in the fall served on a slice of white bread. I was aware of stocking in the St Francois and management in the 11 Pt. But I did not realize they were also stocking Current and Black.

I want some green onions this year, but I have a hard time finding onion seeds. Doesn't anyone grow them anymore? Onion sets and bulbs are not he same. You need to start them from seed to get good, tender green onions. I remember they used to come in rolls of seed tape so they would be evenly spaced.

Did they ever do anything with the Camp Zoe yet?

Lettuce and snow peas under glass in one raised bed is all I have now. Peas are up to about 2" now. Still waiting for main plot to dry out so I can get in and form up my raised beds. Calling for a chance of snow here tonight.

10 pounds seems to be the norm now too. Like you, I have heard stories about bigger ones in Black River, but that all went away in the 80's. And it has been about 10 years since I fished for them on the Black. They are few and far between. With all of the efforts in the St. Francois, I have never heard of any larger than 18". There used to be some nice ones in 11 PT, but the largest I have ever caught there has been about 22". The survey did not even mention another fishery, the Castor River. While I never catch any big ones, there are several there. It is the only MO stream that I actually put in and fish for them solely any more.