A Chink In The Armour Of Quick Draw!

[Feathers and Fins]

I completely agree, Shawnee should be managed for Chickens no doubt, what gets me is as often as I have hunted it I have yet to see even one, now a few miles away is Red Wing and I actually stoped taking people quail hunting there because I do not want to see one killed.

Managing Shawnee for DOVE is a joke they are there at most a week after season opens, It would be a far better use of money and energy to manage it for Quail, Turkey, Chicken and Waterfowl.

I do have to disagree with you though on the smaller areas. 100 acres is more than ample if managed properly to support Waterfowl habitat, Better quail and chicken habitat and even turkey and Deer. It doesnt even have to be managed just enhanced to bring the full potential to life. MDC is so keyed in on Chickens on so many areas it is blind IMO to the high potential small tracks can produce.

Its one of the complaints I have with MDC, They are blind by potential for multy specie land enhancment for the sake of one.

[jdmidwest]

Several areas that MDC owns could be managed a little better for waterfowl. They have tried at Apple Creek with levees and gates, but the area is located a long ways from any road way. I have hiked decoys back to it only to find it drained of water. Several areas around Poplar Bluff and Doniphan could be leveed up and gated, water could be pumped from streams and ditches that go thru the area. But that takes money and labor.

Most areas that are flooded corn are usually marked as No Trespassing and very private. Same goes with areas around big rivers to the levees, private land goes over the levees to the waters edge. If the rivers are in flood stage, then there are hunting opportunities in the backwaters, provided you access from public land.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Hey I know Redwing. Oddly enough a few years ago I was there wade fishing the pond and found one HUGE snapper! Anywhere else, I would have put him in the freezer. But I thought, buddy, you did a hell of a lot of walking to find this water, its all yours.

But as for Redwing, it is mostly native prairie and sits on top of a knoll. I think it is somewhere around 150 acres total and around 100 of that is native prairie. Now on the east side, down in the bottom sits a very nice large pond. You could almost sit in the very northeast corner of Redwing and shoot flyovers. But I think the main purpose of having Redwing is to preserve the native grass'. And I am ok with that.

Now just to the east of Redwing is Mo-No-I Prairie Conservation Area. It is about 300 acres of native prairie. It too was purchased with the purpose of preserving native prairie. But on the very north end are two draws that could possibly have a low dam installed to create a small wetland or two to attract waterfowl.

Back to Shawnee for a moment, yes it is a joke to manage for doves. But, I did see a group this last weekend. Also, more attention needs to be paid to the non crop land. The Cedar's are becoming very prevalent. And other woody vegetation is becoming more wide spead. And that is one of the reasons you don't see any GPC's. The 2011 report from the spring count showed 1 Lek and 2 males. As late as 2005 there were 14 males and 2 Leks.

At any rate, we need to get together sometime and contiue this conversation. I love talking this stuff.

[Feathers and Fins]

Chief, anytime you want to shoot over to Beaver for some striper or Duck let me know I have Coffee always and good cigars, I would enjoy the conversation. sounds like we both have a lot of the same feelings toward how conservation should work. Now if only we can convince the powers to manage for multy species not just singular.

[exiledguide]

As a non hunter I'd like to put in my 2 cents worth here. I quit hunting 50 years ago because one hunting season I went to hunt rabbits and the woods had turned into a subdivision! Thank goodness there was fishing. I can't understand why the MDC can't more for duck hunting. They certainly seem to have funds for Peck Ranch Elk Zoo and the River Otter experiment that now they admit on their own website was a mistake. If you don't have a place to hunt or it cost too much to travel to the limited areas how are you going to take kid duck hunting? As a sidenote I lived in Arkansas during the Elk hunting fiasco down there and we were told that eventuly the herd would be managed by hunting, yeah right, how many people who are not connected ever get a permit to hunt them? I'm 70 years old but I do plan to apply for an Elk permit some day but I know that I'm not connected enough to get one.

[Feathers and Fins]

I know 4 people who have been draw for the AR Elk. Funny they are all lifetime license holders!

MDC could manage the lands alot better and as i said before for multy species. They just get to narrow minded IMO. 100 acres heck 40 acres is alot of land if managed correctly. It takes the money for initial purchase and then for periodic maintenance but is possible. I have seen first hand what people can do on small tracks of land under 100 acres. I have seen ponds with hardwood hamock and riperian habitat on it. Sounds like a busy little area but some of the best bucks ive taken and deer hunts were on lands like that. Great Habitat in miles of farmland will attract game species and enhance peoples ability to use the land and more import will encourage the use by its productivity. Maybe that would get more kids off the Play Stations and X-Boxes and out in the woods with thier family.

[exiledguide]

I know 4 people who have been draw for the AR Elk. Funny they are all lifetime license holders!

MDC could manage the lands alot better and as i said before for multy species. They just get to narrow minded IMO. 100 acres heck 40 acres is alot of land if managed correctly. It takes the money for initial purchase and then for periodic maintenance but is possible. I have seen first hand what people can do on small tracks of land under 100 acres. I have seen ponds with hardwood hamock and riperian habitat on it. Sounds like a busy little area but some of the best bucks ive taken and deer hunts were on lands like that. Great Habitat in miles of farmland will attract game species and enhance peoples ability to use the land and more import will encourage the use by its productivity. Maybe that would get more kids off the Play Stations and X-Boxes and out in the woods with thier family.

Yea, I actualy talked to Bart and Danny Turbyfill at there Outdoor spots store in Benton AR about a year ago and they told me at that time they only new of one person in the area who had got a permit. You are so right about the kids, I did some volunteer work with hooked on fishing not drugs and I remember one group was Jessyville middle school age and at least half of them had never held a fishing rod in their hands. At my age I'm probably not going to be around to see it but in 20 years my generation will be gone and the next generation will have spent their early with a joystick or a mouse in their hand instead of a fishing rod or shotgun. If that happens I will feel that my generation failed as stewards of the land.

[Chief Grey Bear]

MDC could manage the lands alot better and as i said before for multy species.

They just get to narrow minded IMO.

Acutally I did a little checking and Shawnee Trail is also managed for waterfowl. http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/Applications/MOATLAS/AreaSummaryPage.aspx?txtAreaID=9016

100 acres heck 40 acres is alot of land if managed correctly. It takes the money for initial purchase and then for periodic maintenance but is possible. I have seen first hand what people can do on small tracks of land under 100 acres. I have seen ponds with hardwood hamock and riperian habitat on it. Sounds like a busy little area but some of the best bucks ive taken and deer hunts were on lands like that. Great Habitat in miles of farmland will attract game species and enhance peoples ability to use the land and more import will encourage the use by its productivity.

I think if you look at the MDC as a whole, that is what they do. But most MDC areas in SWMO were purchased for the reason of preserving some of the last, miniscule tracts of the once vast, mutil-million acre prairie that covered this part of Missouri. And because of that, these areas are very open and generally without features. And the purpose is to mangage it in what would be its natural state.

Maybe that would get more kids off the Play Stations and X-Boxes and out in the woods with thier family.

That is not the responsibility of the MDC. That is the responsibility of the parents.