November marks busy time for hunters

Now is a busy time of the year for hunters. With the fall firearms turkey season that ran through the entire month of October, the weekend youth deer hunt last Saturday and Sunday, Middle Zone duck season opening on Nov. 2, and the quail season opening Nov. 1, hunters have been out in full force.

Fall Firearms Turkey Season

The fall firearms turkey hunt, which ran through the entire month of October, ended with 5,929 turkeys being taken. That number was the smallest fall harvest since 1987. Greene County led the state with 208 birds checked, followed by Webster with 158.

Harold Foster, Monett, passed up the firearms season this year, in favor of bow hunting.

"With the long archery season that runs through Jan. 15, after the gun deer season this month, I can find more time to hunt," he said.

While the number of fall firearms turkey hunters has decreased, archers have seen their fall harvest numbers increase. Back in 1987, archers took 108 turkeys, while last year, they took 3,217 birds.

"Those numbers show how much archery has grown over the years," Foster said.

Youth Weekend Deer Hunt

Last week was the annual Youth Weekend Deer Hunt for children, age 6 to 15. One youth hunter who got off to a great start this season was 13-year-old Karlie Baxton, of Aurora.

Early Saturday morning, she was in the woods, waiting for a deer to pass by. It didn't take long before she and her mother, who was assisting her, saw a big buck being chased by several foxes.

"A short time (later), another buck made an appearance , but he smelled us and ran away," Karlie said. "About 20 minutes later, a four-point buck showed up.

He left, so we moved behind another tree where I could get a better shot when the buck I shot appeared. I told my mother to make a grunt call so he would stop. He did and I shot and he dropped."

Baxton shot her first deer four years ago and has taken one during the youth hunt every year since.

Children shot 18,676 deer over the weekend statewide hunt. Vernon County had 194 deer taken.

Quail Season

As the 2013 quail season opened in Missouri Nov. 1, Bob Walker and Tom Johnson, Springfield, were talking about the "good old days" of quail hunting.

"It's sad to see what has happened to the quail," Walker said. "Places where I used to hunt have been bulldozed or just don't have the birds anymore.

I checked a favorite hunting spot last year on opening day and only flushed one small covey. Not too many years ago, there would be four or five coveys in the same area. It was disheartening, to me."

"It's a statewide thing,' Johnson added. "I have hunted in the Ozarks and in the grain fields of North Missouri and the quail are disappearing everywhere.

I know bird hunters who have given up hunting for the quail. Loss of habitat is a big cause of the decline, but I still think they will make a comeback.

We will never see the excellent bird hunting we had in the past, but I hope we will see the day when I can take my grandson hunting and we can see good dog work and find a few birds to shoot without feeling bad about it."

Quail hunting this year isn't like it once was, but these two hunters -- along with many others -- will be walking behind pointers and setters in search of this great game bird, remembering the "good old days."

A survey by the Missouri Department of Conservation showed a slight increase in quail numbers this fall for the first time in several years.

Middle Zone Duck Season

The late summer flooding has dampened the outlook for duck hunters, but over the past week, birds have been pouring into the state.

"We had a little more than 2,000 ducks last week, but we have seen more birds come in during the past few days, so we should have a good start of the season," Josh Cussimanio said on opening day at Schell-Osage Wildlife Area. "There is a mixture of greenwing teal, gadwalls and pintails. We had a good stand of food until the flooding ruined a lot of the food plots."

A forecast of lots of ducks heading into Missouri this month has waterfowl hunters ready for a good season.

As leaves fall and cool weather sets in, hunters will be out in force this month.