FINS, FEATHERS, FUR

The Velo Girardeau Bicycle Club will hold its annual picnic Saturday at Cherokee Park, starting about 5 p.m.

The club will conduct a "century ride" Sunday, starting at 7 a.m. from Kent Library on Southeast Missouri State University campus.

National Hunting and Fishing Day programs are on schedule at a number of sites Saturday, including Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Carterville, Ill.

"The Missouri Department of Conservation office at North County Park will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.," said Steve Wilson, of the regional office. "Exhibits from several area conservation groups will be on display"

Bootheel Retriever Club members will present demonstrations with their dogs at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and a local black powder group will set up an outside shelter and display.

The Carterville activities will be held at John A. Logan Community College and will include a gun show, duck calling contest, black powder & muzzle-loading displays and a silent auction.

Other big events are scheduled in the St. Louis area. Family Fishing Fairs are scheduled at Forest Park, Fairgrounds Park and Carondelet Park, from 7 a.m. until noon, first-time anglers will be able to borrow fishing rods and reels and get instruction on how to catch fish. Youngsters will receive information packets, and all will get to rub elbows with celebrity anglers.

Saturday is also Hunting & Fishing Day in Missouri.

Gov. Mel Carnahan has proclaimed Sept. 25 as a day to recognize the state's sportsmen for their contribution to conservation.

According to a recent study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Missouri sportsmen contributed $778 million to the state's economy in 1991, supporting more than 19,400 jobs.

In 1992, Missouri's 549,670 hunters raised a total of $12.9 million to fund wildlife conservation programs by the Missouri Department of Conservation. this money came form the purchase of hunting licenses, tags, permits and stamps. This also entitled the state to receive an additional $3.4 million federal funds for wildlife restoration and $958,000 for hunter education.

Also in 1992, the state's anglers raised a total of $6 million through the purchase of license, to fund fish conservation programs. The state also received $4.8 million in federal funds for fish programs

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation, will conduct a hunter education class Oct. 8-9 at the Wappapello Lake maintenance building, located one-half mile south of the Wappapello Lake Dam.

The course will be from 6 to 10 p.m. Oct. 8, and from 8 a.m. to p.m. Oct. 9. Participants must attend both days to complete the course.

The course will include gun safety, information about firearms and ammunition, responsibilities of the outdoorsman, outdoors ethics, and the role of the hunter and hunting in wildlife management and conservation.

Participants are urged to pre-register, by calling (314)-222-8562. The course will be limited to 50 people.

All hunters born on or after Jan. 1, 1967 are required to complete a hunter safety course before they can purchase a hunting license.

JEFFERSON CITY You can pick the daisies, but please don't tear them out by the roots. Doing so could earn you a fine or a jail sentence in Missouri, where a new law makes it illegal to dig or remove plants growing alongside Missouri roadways.

The bill, signed into law this summer, is intended to prevent the digging of pale purple coneflower roots and other plants with commercial value on public rights of way. Under the law, removing roots from public land for commercial gain is a class-A misdemeanor, carrying up to a $1,000 fine and one year in jail. Each plant dug is a separate offense.

A lesser target of the bill is the digging of wild plants for personal use, such as landscaping. The law makes this a class-B misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine and six months in jail.

But what about stopping along a country road to pick a bouquet of wildflowers?

"That's usually the first question I get about this law," said Tim Smith, a botanist with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) who had a hand in drafting the bill. Smith would prefer people enjoy the beauty of wildflowers in their natural setting, but it still is legal to remove above-ground plant parts on highway rights of way. This includes flowers, seeds, fruits, nuts, berries and edible greens.

Canada Goose hunting dates in Illinois' South Zone, which includes the Southern Illinois Quota Zone Alexander, Jackson, Union and Williamson counties and the Rend Lake Quota zone Jefferson and Franklin counties will be Nov. 27-Jan. 16, or until quotas have been reached in the two areas.

The quota for Canada Geese statewide is 61,300, while the quota for the Southern Illinois zone is 30,600. The rend Rend Lake zone quota is 9,200.

These quota totals are down from last year's figures, when the statewide total was 79,000. The Southern and Rend Lake zone totals last were 39,500 and 11,850 respectively.

Shooting hours in the two quota zones are a half-hour before sunrise to 3 p.m. This is an increase for the Southern Zone, which had sunrise to 3 p.m. shooting hours last year.