2015: An up-and-down year for outdoorsmen and women

Duck hunter Miron Horn, El Dorado Springs, is pictured with his black lab watching and waiting for ducks to come in at Four Rivers Conservation Area. The duck hunting this fall was good in most sections of the state as thousands stopped on their southern migration. (Photo by Ken White/Special to the Daily Mail)

As we run out of time in 2015, a look back shows it was both good and bad for outdoorsmen and women.

For me, it started out good and ended up the same. Quail hunting was nothing like back in the 50s, but I was able to find birds where the habitat was good for holding birds. I caught fish from Truman to Table Rock.

In February, rabbit hunting was good and in March the fishing was good from trout to crappie.

One deer hunter who had a very good season was Ethan Grotheer, Fair Play, who had a unique hunt. Using his grandfather's Thompson center .50 Hawkin muzzleloader and a bullet that his grandfather molded himself, as well as wearing his grandfather's buckskin pants and using his powder horn, made it a memorial hunt. Grotheer took eight deer this fall ---- six with a bow and two with a gun. (Photo by Ken White/Special to the Daily Mail)

April, my favorite month, found the morel mushrooms starting to pop, the turkeys gobbling, while the crappie, white bass and walleye were doing spring spawning runs. May was nearly as good and included some excellent bass fishing.

June was great for top-water bass fishing. The bluegill and catfishing also cooperated. The first float trips also got underway.

July was a boating month with some good fishing thrown in for good measure. August had it's share of good outings as well.

September started off some good hunting and fishing with dove season kicking off the month. October found fishing good at Truman Lake, Stockton Lake, Bull Shoals,and farm ponds.

The fall turkey season opened for the entire month. Getting a limit of two birds was easier than usual. Waterfowl season opened and it started out better than in past years.

November, my second favorite month, kicking off the firearm deer season with nearly 200,000 deer checked by the state's more than 400,000 hunters during the November portion. Archers also had a good year and will continue through Jan. 15. Crappie fishing picked up this month as well.

December started out unusually warm, but the crappie fishing and duck hunting remained good. Just before Christmas, limits of big crappie were caught, but when the rain started and didn't let up, that ended the good fishing.

Looking back, 2015 was a good year overall. The game and fish in the freezer will help successful hunters and anglers survive the winter and remind them how good the year was.

The year had it's down side too. The most notable was the loss of several outdoor friends, but life goes on, and now looking forward to 2016 to be even better.

Now that winter is officially here, it doesn't mean that hunting and fishing is over for awhile. Anglers , like the fish they are after, change their habits in winter.

Cold water causes fish to see their metabolism slow down, which causes them to feed less often and attract bait fish or lures less aggressively.

That doesn't mean they still can't be caught, it just means you have to switch to techniques that match their behavior. Fishing never stops in Missouri ---- that includes January and February.

There is still plenty of hunting available including ducks in the south zone, quail and pheasant season runs through Jan. 15 while rabbit and squirrel season ends Feb. 15.

The past year produced mixed reviews for the outdoor minded people, but overall it was a good year.

Missouri deer hunters had another big season. The Missouri Conservation Commission approved changes to the 2016-17 deer season regulations which included shortening November and antlerless portions.

The youth weekend late-hunt will be expanded. Changes also include allowing crossbows during archery season and reducing the antlered deer limit.

The waterfowl season saw many happy hunters as big flights of ducks moved into the state. Predictions of a near record number of migrating ducks passing through the state proved true.

Many fishing records were set during the year including a 100 pound flathead catfish caught on a trotline in the Missouri River, a 140 pound paddlefish snagged from Table Rock, a blue catfish weighing 130 pounds from the Missouri River, plus the smallest of record fish caught last year ---- a gizzard shad that weighed one pound 14 ounces.

The quail season was down from what hunters thought would be better. The season turned out to be like the previous season, which was fair at the best.

These are but a few of the highs and lows of 2015. Hunters, anglers, boaters, campers and other outdoor active people will remember the past year for other things, both good and bad, as they get ready for new adventures in 2016.