jdmidwest

I have seen elk up close, and tasted them. I have a friend that raises them and I can buy one on the hoof if I want to. MDC elk are off limits and will only be hunted by a lottery ticket like in Ark. Meanwhile, many of my dollars are whizzed away creating a nice little hunting preserve. It is not restoring nature, it is a feeble attempt to restore a species that was not destined to live in MO. If you want to restore nature as it was s'posed to be, eliminate the original problem. Waterfowl management is a part of a nationwide interest due to migratory reasons, we have to do our part. Fish structures improve fishing that generates fishing interest that generates revenue. Private stockings is a way of giving back to the taxpayer that funds the dept. I don't have a reason for prairie chickens, I would rather have them stock more mountain lions so I can get a shot at one of them. Elk have no benefit unless someone can prove otherwise. That part of the state has always been economically depressed, it is called low cost of living, country style. That part of the state has always made a living off the land. If the land needed more browsing, why have deer and turkey been so plentiful in the past few decades without any elk? That part of the argument is BS, elk will never reach a population to affect the browse vegetation without mans manipulation.

I think the red thread adds a nice touch. Good looking ants.

But why? Other than a few sports minded persons that think there will be a viable elk population in MO and a few nature viewers, how do you justify the expense? They have been gone a long time. Our "native species" is extinct. Why waste all of the dollars just to be in vogue with other states?

Nope. SSR5 Rapala Shad Raps or SR5 Shad Raps in crawdad color are better producers. Then there are the little yammies in various colors that go good too. Yum makes a good craw.

Not if MDC shoots them when they tear down the fence and get out!!!! yehaa

They were native, then we killed them out. They tear up fences.

Maybe they can "reintroduce" mountain lions.

How did the MDC "help" the elk? I think they were perfectly happy where they were before they were herded, trapped, caged, transported, collared, then tossed in a fenced area far away from their native habitat.

They had to complete the research project. Final lesson, let's see how MO elk taste!

Send some down here. I planted some grass seed and fertilized the yard around the first of May, they were calling for good rains the next few days. They went to the north and south, I had to water the grass because the fertilize was burning the existing grass. I came down out of the hills near Fredricktown yesterday in the windstorm and the lowlands around Cape Girardeau were covered in a dust storm kicked up from croplands. We had a strong south wind all day yesterday. Record heat this weekend.

Good ole Ozark Chicken Snake. Seen several squashed on the road this week, must be mating or migration season. They love eggs as much as they do rats and mice. Kept one as a pet in college at the dorm, it was good amusment watching it constrict white mice.

It is officially dry here. Another month is slipping by without any significant rainfall. I recorded one rain a few weeks back of 1 1/4 in. Monday, I had 2 tenths and watered the garden the next day. Streams are trickling down to nothing. Ponds are losing water fast. The upside may be a good fish spawn this year, bass and goggle eye in streams have had a good year to raise on beds without any scouring floods to wash away the spawn. My yard crunches as I walk across it. Squirrels have raided my June strawberries for a water source. I water my garden every other day to keep the moisture content up, I have been doing it almost ever since I planted it. Hay crops are thin and when the fields are cut, they turn brown. A second hay crop will probably not happen this year.

It is one of the best stretches of the river for the most part, nice trout and smallies. Long deep holes and fast runs. Plenty of camping spots. Nice scenic bluffs. Walleye, Goggle Eye, and Pickeral are abundant along with most any other Ozark fish species. The only downside is, there are probably more jet boats in this area than the upper areas. Below the pullout at Riverton, the trout ends and the 11pt returns to what it was originally, a fine Ozark bass stream.

Just a few points. Current River and Jacks Fork are Federally Protected lands controlled by the National Park System, MDC does not have jurisdiction regarding the decisions. For that matter, neither should the Missouri Congress for the most part, it should be a Federal matter. MDC does own lands adjoining the NPS Scenic Riverways. There has been no PRIVATE ownership of the land in the Scenic Riverway System except for a few rare cases. All of the lands were bought out from the owners by the Federal Government to protect the riparian areas and preserve them in the natural state, or in some cases, to return them to their natural state after years of abuse. Most of the land was privately owned previously before the Scenic Riverway System was put in place. It is better now than it was in the past when large timber companies clear cut all of the lands and used it to transport the timber to the mills. Commercializing the river system has hurt it more than the private ownership of it did. Years ago, a float camp along any of the rivers were full of families that were interested in the outdoors, floating for fishing and hunting purposes. Now days, it is a cheap vacation to kill a weekend. How many do you see fishing seriously? And the NPS makes a cut on ever floater. Meanwhile, MDC complains about the numbers of the present generation that does not buy licenses to hunt and fish, they work hard to promote license sales. Most of the lands that some have described are leased by concessionaires from the NPS, and are controlled by the NPS for law enforcement reasons. Laws are in place to restrict any motor vehicle in the stream other than an agricultural crossing, they are not being enforced. RE the upper 11pt River, that is out of the NPS Scenic Riverway System and is private lands. I have already beat that dead horse to deaf ears with the MDC. IF there was an evident Fish Kill, maybe something could be done. Otherwise, Federal Dept. of Natural Resourses is in charge of water quality issues. Same dead horse on the Big River below HWY 8. And your pig farm. Too many chiefs that don't care what the rest have to say.

I would not "move" anything out of a watershed into another. Look at all the hoopla about crawdads and rock snot in the last year. But, like OB said, it is usually the result of fertile stagnant water. It could have been fertilzed by the management of the lake also, or from septic tanks. Many MDC lakes are fertilized by dumping bags of fertilize into them to make an algae bloom for young fish.

I saw pet cemetary, sometimes they come back....

Looks good. Soil looks good and black. Now if we could get some rain.

Nature. There has been some recent studies that Birth Control hormones from waste water is making them both male and female in the same fish. Google it or contact someone in fishery management.

We had a pretty dry winter and fall last year, the summer was hot and dry here also. The last major rain events here were when the tornadoes hit around the first of March. Since then I have recorded only about 2 1/2 inches of rain. Ponds and streams are low. Most are too low to float in a yak around here. I have been watering the garden since I planted it to supplement the low rainfall. But it has rained north and south of me more, just a dry band for several hundred square miles.

I have noticed that too, many more birds than in the past. I had one in the yard the other day, came out of a local pasture. Several were whistling the other day when we were fishing a creek. I see more along the roads lately too. But they are singles and pairs, no coveys.

Finally got around to tilling the main garden today for the planting season. For the first time in 12 years, I had it plowed with a tractor and plow to give it a good turning over. I started the plot with a tiller and it had never been plowed. I had been putting off planting in the main garden this season till the time was right. i had planted beans, cucs, and squash in a raised bed a few weeks ago about the time it turned off dry and then cold. The seeds never sprouted. There was frost Tues. here in low lying spots, but I think the danger has past now. I am moving things around this year. I moved the corn down to the lower end to make it easier for the squirrels to eat it. I am putting the tomato patch in the middle of the garden away from the area that I have used in the past. The rest will be scattered about. Does anyone have any certain order about placement of veggies in the garden? Do you avoid planting certain stuff next to the tomatoes? Do you switch things out every year or plant everything in the same place?

Its been a few weeks since the last morel. They were a part of the first batch. 1 site had morels this year, the other 4 good producers did not make a one. Another part in a farther away county did the same, only 1 batch. We went for 3 weeks without any rain and had temps in the 80's. This week has been more normal, but no morels. Any one having any luck finding them lately?

I hope you did not waste the liver on those fishy things.

o Open carry of a large handgun works for me! If I can't carry a gun, wild flycasting of a streamer.

I think Native Americans declined because Europeans had more firepower, diseases that they had not encountered, and a loss of resources that the Europeans exploited instead of managing.