Aimee's post earlier today about the untimely death of Splash the otter may be the first in a recurring series. The Missouri Department of Conservation decided earlier this month that trappers in the state will be allowed to capture and kill an unlimited number of the critters this year. Via the KC Star:The season will be Nov. 15 to Jan. 31. Biologist Jeff Beringer estimated the state's otter population at 15,000. Trapping is the preferred "management tool" because it causes
In this age of shrink-wrapped food and health scares, there are still folks who crave the taste of fresh-caught river fish. Jim Beasley casts his nets every day to feed that hunger.
thedonovan.comThe Belleville News-Democrat published a curious story this morning about St. Clair County's four year-long legal battle with a gun club in Caseyville. Since June 2001, the county has spent almost $200,000 in legal fees attempting to shutter a shooting range near Scott Air Force Base because they believe it is "a public danger."Many a concerned citizen has asked "I wonder where all those stray bullets are landing? In the school playground? In my backyard? In targets with littl
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hvargas/ / CC BY-SA 2.0Mother Nature has been oddly generous to Missouri outdoorsmen this year, and here's one more example. First we had that huge bumpercrop of paddlefish. Then our state's fishermen started breaking way more records than usual. Now the Missouri Department of Conservation is telling local duck hunters that there's "much to rejoice about" in a recent federal report on the North American duck population: apparently, our continent's duck populati
flickr.com/photos/mychatham​With Thanksgiving rapidly bearing down on us, surer than death and taxes, it came as alarming news yesterday when the Missouri Department of Conservation announced that this year's fall turkey-hunting season was the second-worst on record.Hunters only managed to bag 8,300 birds last month. That may seem like a lot to a city-slicker who thinks turkeys come from the supermarket, wrapped in plastic, but in 1987, more than 28,000 turkeys met their maker.What has gone wr
