Welcome to this month’s Nature’s Calling,
I’m Lucas Bond with the Missouri Department of Conservation.
The three-year ruffed grouse restoration project is now complete.
In early September MDC and Wisconsin DNR
worked together to reintroduce the last 100 birds to Missouri.
Ruffed grouse are native to Missouri and the population
has been declining due to loss of habitat.
That’s why MDC and Wisconsin DNR worked together to change that by restoring Missouri’s population
through grouse translocations and intensive habitat management.
Grouse trapped in Wisconsin were given a thorough health exam and banded before being
transported to the Show-me state where they were be released in east central Missouri.
Reina Tyl: The Riverhills region has kind of been really a stronghold,
or kind of the last stronghold for grouse in Missouri.
We’ve had some restoration efforts there in the past.
And so, that’s part of the reason why we chose that specific area.
And the Riverhills is between Columbia and St. Louis in counties that
border the Missouri River on the northern edge of the river.
Grouse are unique in many ways.
One specific feature that male grouse show
during their life cycle is distinctive courtship at dawn and dusk in April.
Missouri is home to more than 800 black bears and that number
continues to increase by 9-percent each year.
That’s why Missouri is having its first ever black bear hunting season Oct. 18- 27.
400 Missouri residents were randomly drawn in July to receive a black bear hunting permit
for the first ever black bear hunting season.
This year’s black bear season allows a maximum total harvest of 40 bears.
Black bear hunting is only for Missouri residents
and limits the hunting to three Black Bear Management Zones.
Laura Conlee: So, we have three black bear management zones in the
southern part of the state, also known as BMZs.
BMZ 1 is in the southwestern part of the state and that zone has a 20-bear harvest quota.
BMZ 2 is in the eastern part of the state and
is one of the bigger BMZs and has a 15-bear harvest quota.
And the remainder of the southern part of the state, BMZ 3, has a 5-bear harvest quota.
And those harvest quotas will essentially shut down the season if those quotas are reached.
So, it’s really important for hunters to remember,
they have to call in each day before they intend to hunt to find out if their zone is open.
The hunters drawn are required to have their hunter education certification
or be exempt by age before they purchase the permit for 25 dollars.
Hunting hours will be a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset.
Hunters will be allowed to use archery and firearms with allowable methods
being the same as those for deer and elk, except for the use of atlatl.
Baiting and the use of dogs is not allowed during the black bear season.
This year is the 2nd year for the elk hunting season in Missouri.
Five lucky hunters were randomly drawn to take part in the elk hunt starting in mid-October.
The Archery portion of elk season runs Oct. 16 through 24.
If the hunters don’t harvest an elk during the archery portion,
they get the chance during the firearms portion.
The firearms elk season runs Dec. 11 through Dec. 19.
Aaron Hildreth: October portion was chosen so that hunters could
interact with the bulls. And it’s as close to breeding season as possible.
And then the December portion was chosen to minimize conflict with the deer season,
and the elk are really spread out at that time.
Missouri’s second elk season comes after years of restoration efforts of the native species by MDC
and numerous partners including Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation,
and many supporters including local communities and landowners.
Each of the five hunters drawn can harvest one bull elk that
has at least one antler being a minimum of six inches long.
The five permits may be used within Carter, Reynolds, or Shannon counties
excluding the refuge portion of Peck Ranch.
You can learn more about ruffed grouse, black bear hunting,
and elk hunting on MDC’s website at mdc.mo.gov.
Thanks for watching and remember Nature’s Calling.
Get out and enjoy Missouri’s outdoors.