OUTDOOR CORNER: A NOVEMBER SMORGASBORD AVAILABLE FOR HUNTERS

If you hunt in Missouri you could have a problem. However, it's a problem that hunters from other states just might wish that they had. The problem is trying to decide just what game animals you want to hunt during the month of November. If you're a firearms deer hunter, you don't have a problem at least until that season closes on Tuesday, the 21st. If you don't hunt deer, you have lots of options to choose from. You can hunt quail, rabbits, squirrels, crows and woodcock, just to name a few.

Right now, duck hunting would make an excellent choice for a hunter in southeast Missouri. The state is divided into three waterfowl zones, each with different season dates. The middle zone, which opened on Nov. 4, is bounded by a line running west from the Illinois border on Missouri Highway 31 to Interstate 55 at Cape Girardeau, south on I-55 to U.S. Highway 62, then west on U.S. 62. Those areas south and east of that line fall into the south zone which doesn't open for waterfowl hunting until Nov. 22.

Recent waterfowl counts on local areas revealed the following: Mingo National Wildlife Refuge and Duck Creek Conservation Area, both near Puxico, had 63,000 and 25,000 ducks respectively. Ten Mile Pond Conservation Area, near East Prairie, reported more than 26,000 ducks. Mallards comprised the major percentage by species ranging from 63 to 75 percent of the total.

Opening weekend at Duck Creek resulted in 860 ducks being taken by 287 hunters. That's an average of three birds per hunter. Opening day hunter success was the best on record with an average of 3.5 birds per hunter. Hunters in the middle zone have until Dec. 23 to bag their ducks while south zone hunters, who must wait for the Nov. 22 season opener, have until Jan. 10 to hunt.

Regardless of the zone being hunted, the daily bag limit is five ducks. It may include no more than four mallards (no more than one which may be female), two wood ducks, one black duck, one redhead, one hooded merganser, one pintail and one canvasback. The possession limit is 10, including no more than eight mallards (no more than two of which may be female), four wood ducks, two black ducks, two redheads, two hooded mergansers, two pintails and two canvasbacks.

Shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. Hunters 16 years of age, or older, must have a valid small game hunting permit, Missouri waterfowl hunting stamp and Federal duck stamp. In addition, all waterfowl hunters, regardless of age, must possess a Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program Card.

Shells possessed and used while hunting waterfowl must be loaded with material approved as nontoxic by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The only shot currently approved as nontoxic by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is steel shot, bismuth shot, copper, zinc, or nickel-plated steel shot for which the plating represents less than one percent of the shot's weight. Lead shot plated with copper, nickel, or other material does not qualify.

~Gene Myers is a Missouri Conservation Agent in Cape Girardeau County.