Puxico, Missouri - Bald eagles are large birds of prey and in winter they follow waterfowl flocks that often settle on southern wetlands in large numbers. Together, eagles, geese and ducks provide a dramatic winter show. Hosted by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Eagle Days event includes wildlife viewing opportunities outdoors and indoor nature programs Saturday, Feb. 7, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Pat Holloway, an MDC education consultant, said families and visitors of all ages can expect a fun, adventurous event that will help conquer cabin fever.

”Join us for an outdoor nature experience and discover cool facts about bald eagles, which were chosen as our nation’s symbol in 1782,” Holloway said, adding that visitors are encouraged to dress appropriate for outdoor winter weather.

Staff from Dickerson Park Zoo will present educational programs featuring a live eagle throughout the day. The Mingo National Wildlife Visitor Center will display items related to eagles. Several outdoor spotting scope sites on Mingo National Wildlife Refuge and Duck Creek Conservation Area (CA) will provide opportunities to view eagles, ducks and geese in the wild. Both Mingo and Duck Creek are expansive areas, so visitors are encouraged to pick up a brochure containing a map of the eagle viewing stations when they arrive.

All Eagle Days activities are free. Mingo National Wildlife Refuge and Duck Creek CA are located along highway 51, north of Puxico. For more information about Eagle Days events, call Mingo National Wildlife Refuge at (573) 222-3589 or MDC at (573)290-5730. To learn more about eagles and places to view them in Missouri, visit the MDC website at mdc.mo.gov/events/eagledays.

Article by Candice Davis.  Photo submitted by MDC.

Jefferson City, Missouri - Missouri’s 2014-2015 deer-hunting closed Jan. 15 with the conclusion of the state’s archery season. The Missouri Department of Conservation reported that the total deer harvest for the current season was 260,552, which is 7,978 more than the 252,574 deer checked during the previous year.

Hunters checked 51,755 deer during the current archery season with top counties being Jefferson with 1,080, St. Louis with 1,063, and Franklin with 1,032. The harvest for the previous year’s deer archery season was 1,248 fewer at 50,507.

The 2014-2015 archery turkey season also closed Jan. 15 with a total of 2,587 birds checked compared to the previous year of 2,546 birds checked. Top counties were Greene with 64, Franklin with 60, and Callaway with 54.

For more information on the 2014-2015 deer harvest, and past-year deer harvest summaries, go online to http://mdc.mo.gov/node/29442.

MDC also reported 14 hunting incidents during the 2014-2015 deer hunting season. Four were fatal and involved a fall from a tree stand, a heater explosion in a deer blind, a gunshot wound from another hunter, and a heart attack while hunting.


Dates for the 2015-2016 firearms deer season are:

Urban portion – Oct. 9 through 12
Early youth portion – Oct. 31 and Nov. 1
November portion – Nov. 14 through 24
Antlerless portion – Nov. 25 through Dec. 6
Alternative-methods portion – Dec. 19 through 29
Late youth portion – Jan. 2 and 3
The 2015-2016 archery deer and turkey season will run Sept. 15 through Jan. 15, excluding the November portion of deer season, Nov. 14 through 24.

Conservation makes Missouri a great place to hunt deer and turkey. For more information, go online to www.mdc.mo.gov.

Jefferson City, Missouri - Missouri youth, archery, and firearms turkey hunters can apply online for managed hunts during the 2015 spring turkey season beginning Jan. 9 to Feb. 28 through the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) website at mdc.mo.gov/node/11252. Managed hunt details and application procedures are outlined on the webpage. Application results will be available beginning March 13.

Spring turkey hunting youth weekend will be April 11 - 12 with the regular spring season running April 20 - May 10.

Detailed information on spring turkey hunting will be available in MDC’s 2015 Spring Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet available online at mdc.mo.gov in late January with printed booklets available from permit vendors and MDC offices and nature centers around the state beginning in mid-February.

Conservation makes Missouri a great place to turkey hunt. To learn more, go online to mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/turkey-hunting.

Photo taken by Anthony Beeson.

Deputies say Brandi Lee, 34, was last seen wearing a heavy, pink coat.

She left her home on Highway H on foot around 12:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 12.

She is described as a white female, 5-feet, 1-inch tall and 95 pounds with a petite build.

According to the sheriff's department, her house is located south of Highway FF on Highway H.

They say search crews are staging down the road at a church at the intersection of Hwy. H and County Road 538.

If you don't need to be in the area, deputies ask that you avoid it because the search crews are using dogs to try and pick up her scent. They say they do not need volunteers at the moment.

If you have any information, you're asked to call the Bollinger County Sheriff's Department at 573-238-2633.

Missouri - As winter sets in, some of our wildlife, like turtles, seem to disappear. According to Bruce Henry, a natural history biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), turtles are still here, they just have ways of hiding away to stay safe from the elements.

Instead of hibernating, cold-blooded turtles slow their metabolic processes down tremendously when temperatures drop, he said.

“They’re in a dormant, inactive state,” he said.

When temps drop they seek out environments that will provide the most stable temperature to wait out the winter months.  Turtles have to save energy in order to survive the winter, so if they have to endure fast temperature changes, it costs them some of their fat stores, which puts them in danger.

“For example, a common snapper may descend to a deep submerged log pile in a pond or creek and curl up and wait out the winter with little movement, if any,” Henry said, adding that even the turtle’s respiration and heart beat rates will decrease dramatically to help save energy.

“Instead of breathing, aquatic turtles can absorb oxygen from the water through their skin,” he said.

Box turtles dig burrows and red eared sliders burrow into mud at the bottom of wetlands for protection from extreme winter temperatures.  They won’t eat as much food throughout the winter either since eating will increase their metabolic rate.

“Slow and steady is the name of the game for a turtle to survive the winter,” Henry said.

Henry said people can help turtles by providing good places for them to hide. They need soil to burrow in the forests, plants to take shelter in in the wetlands, and overall healthy habitat and waters where they can seek refuge from the cold.

“Like us, turtles need a place to take shelter from the cold,” he said. “That shelter can be a rotted-out log on the south slope of an Ozark woods or a downed cypress treetop in a bootheel slough.”

“Turtles and other wildlife are tremendously stressed when temperatures decline to the levels we experience in Missouri,” he said. “The main thing people can do during the winter months make sure they don’t disturb habitat unnecessarily when weather conditions are bad.”

For example, a pond drained in the winter may freeze many of the aquatic species that may have been able to move to nearby wetlands had the temperatures been higher.

“Wildlife can’t survive the disturbances or destruction of habitat while they struggle against adverse weather conditions,” he said.

To find more information on winter wildlife and what you can do to help them, go online to mdc.mo.gov.