Outdoor living

Sunday, April 18, 2004

When the rain started falling just prior to the start of the 2004 Youth Only Turkey Hunt, George Spencer, Kansas City, felt better about not getting his son a permit.

"I heard the weather report and knew we couldn't go Easter Sunday, so I told my son, Jack, that we would go during the regular season. I had a friend that took his son Saturday and they got nothing but wet." However, there were 3,258 successful youth hunters who did bag their birds over the weekend. The total kill fell short by 402 birds from last year's spring youth hunt. Bob Harper, Warrensburg, said he was surprised that the total was as high as it was considering the weather and Sunday being Easter.

Harper said, " Since we were going out of state for Easter, I knew we couldn't hunt and when it rained on Saturday, I was glad we passed it up this year." The three leading counties were; Franklin with 83 birds checked, Laclede 62 and Osage 61.

A father and son appeared at a Laclede check station to see how many successful hunters brought in their birds. The youngster didn't want his name mentioned because he had two opportunities to take a big gobbler, but missed. He was still shaking each time he told how close he came. Several veteran hunters consoled him by telling him how they too, had missed their first bird. "You'll get one soon," Bill Little, Bolivar, told him. That brought a smile to the youngster's face.

This and that in the outdoors while waiting for the regular spring gobbler season to open Monday: The white bass run is still going strong in feeder streams in the Ozarks. Limits of big whites have been common in most of the usual hot spots. Crappie have also been showing up on many stringers.

It may seem there are many more anglers on the lakes that ever, but the latest report from the Interior Department shows that nationwide permit sales have declined 2% stating that there were 600,000 fewer fishermen than the year before.

One more reason to wear your life jacket while fishing...Seventy percent of all boating fatalities are from drowning. In almost 90 percent of these drownings, the victim was not wearing a life jacket, while they did have access to a floatation device in the boat.

Most of there drownings occurred withing a few feet of safety. More than 90 percent of the drownings were on inland waters, from boats under 20 feet in length. Sounds like fishing boats, don't they? On the subject of fishing, a nationwide survey showed anglers who take short trips are the norm. More than 90 percent on fishermen fished within their state, which shows that anglers would rather fish than drive.

Morel mushrooms are popping .... Dave Leonard, Sedalia, found more than 50 morels over the weekend. He said he was offered $25 for them, but refused saying, " I'm not about to sell my first big batch of morels. They are headed straight for the frying pan."

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