FINS, FEATHERS, FURS

Terry Holmes of Jackson was a big winner in the Big "O" Bass Masters Tournament, held this fall at Wappapello Lake.

Holmes and his partner, Fred Bauer, outfished 163 other teams to win the tournament.

Holmes added $1,000 to his other prizes because he was using a Yamaha Pro-V 150-horsepower outboard motor in the tournament.

Clayton Greenley and his son, Jeremy Greenley, of Olive Branch, Ill. each bagged 10-point bucks during a special deer hunt at Horseshoe Lake Refuge recently.

The deer was the first for Jeremy, 11. His deer weighed 204 pounds field dressed. Clayton Greenley's deer weighed 194 pounds field dressed.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will start taking reservations for picnic shelters at Wappapello Lake Jan. 18.

There are 10 shelters that may be reserved for family reunions, company picnics or any type of gathering. Eight of the shelters have electricity, and may be reserved for a $25 fee. Two of the shelters are smaller and do not have electricity. Cost of these shelters are $15.

Additional information is available by contacting the lake's management office, (314)-222-8562.

The U.S. Forest Service in Southern Illinois has initiated its Shawnee National Forest permit program giving restricted access to disabled hunters, wildlife watchers, campers, anglers and other forest visitors who have physical disabilities.

The Shawnee Forest is only one three National Forests in the 22-state Eastern Region with the special program.

The permits are available at each of the five Shawnee offices, at Jonesboro, Murphysboro, Elizabethtown, Vienna and Harrisburg.

A self-guided auto tour is open at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge each Sunday through November, from 9 a.m to 4:30 p.m., weather permitting.

The tour route starts at the Mingo Visitor Center, a mile and a half north of Puxico on Highway 51 and ends at the Redmill Drive exit to Highway 51.

The 25-mile tour is mostly gravel and usually takes aboaut two hours to complete. It is well-marked with signs.

Ducks, geese, deer, turkey eagles, and wide variety of other wildlife are all commonly seen along the route. A slide show and exhibits may be seen at the Visitor Center.

Visitors must purchase a $3 vehicle entrance fee permit, or possess an annual pass.

The next meeting of the Missouri Conservation Commission will beheld Dec. 17, at Jefferson City.

Commissioners are Jerry P. Combs of Kennett, chairman; Andy Dalton of Springfield, vice chairman; John Powell of Rolla, secretary; and Anita B. Gorman of Kansas City.

The Commission adopted the name "Frisbee Cutoff Access" for a 92.5-acre site on a cutoff of the St. Francis River in Dunklin County during its recent November meeting.

A recently donated 11-acre tract which protects critical habitat of the Niangua darter in Camden County was added to the Mule Shoe Conservation Area.

New land acquisitions approved this month are four acres in Franklin County purchased for a new fishing access on the Bourbeuse River near Interstate 44; 881 acres in Livingston County purchased as an addition to the Poosey Conservation Area; 28.5-acre donation in Phelps County to form "The Isle Heilbrunn Memorial Addition to Little Prairie Community Lake and 156 acres in Linn County as an addition to the Mussel Fork Conservation Area.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. Two men who claimed they mistook two trumpeter swans for snow geese have paid $3,000 restitution each to the government for shooting the federally protected waterfowl.

The swans, which are larger than snow geese, were shot last December at Fellows Lake.

Federal authorities by law cannot release the hunters' names because the cases were handled under a procedure called pretrial diversion, Chris Whitley, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said last week.

Trumpeter and tundra swans are accidentally shot each year in Missouri. Some hunters, said Whitley, "shoot too quickly and do not identify their targets."