FINS, FURS, FEATHERS

Coming up:

April 17 Wappapello Bassmasters tournament, Lake Wappapello, Chaonia Landing.

April 18 Velo Girardeau Bicycle Ride, Jim Davis Memorial ride, 28 miles, meet at Kent Library, 2 p.m.

April 24 Annual Missouri Beautification Association Spring Roadside Cleanup, Lake Wappapello.

April 24 Women's Trout Tournament, Montauk State Park, additional information, 548-3301.

April 25 Velo Girardeau Bicycle Ride, Scott County Pancake ride, 40 miles, meet at Scott City High School, 1:30 p.m.

May 2 River Country Outdoors Bass Tournament, Lake of Egypt, Marion, Ill., 7 a.m. start from Egyptian Hills Marina.

May 8 Alexander County Spring Bird Count, Horseshoe Lake Refuge, Olive Branch, Ill.

May 21 Missouri Conservation Commission meeting, West Plains.

May 22-24 Silver Bullet National Drag Boat Races, Lake Wappapello.

July 2-4 Waterfest, Lake Wappapello.

August 28-29 Buck McNeely Outdoorsman Expo & Sporting Clays Tournament, Show Me Center.

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The Buck McNeely Outdoorsman Expo and Sporting Clays Tournament will be held Aug. 28-29 at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

Special events include archery contests, petting zoo, shooting gallery, seminars, and other activities.

The Buck McNeely Sporting Clays Tournament will be held Aug. 29.

Additional details will be announced later.

McNeely produces the TV series, "The Outdoorsman."

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David Wallis and Mark Werner were big winners during the recent farm and home show, held at the Show Me Center.

Wallis, of Jackson, was winner of a Mossberg .12 gauge shotgun, and Werner, of Jackson, was winner of an Eagle Supra ID Fish Finder which was presented by the Bassbusters Club of Southeast Missouri.

Other winners were Randy Werner of Jackson, a Sidewinder graphite fishing rod, and Mark Ruopp of Jackson, a $20 gift certificate at Wal-Mart.

Proceeds from the promotion will be used to send Bassbusters Club members to the Missouri bass fishing tournament in October.

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OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. The Alexander County Spring Bird Count will be held May 8 at the Horseshoe Lake Refuge.

A total of 128 kinds of birds were found in that area during the 1992 count.

More details will be announced later.

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The Velo Girardeau Bicycle Club will conduct its annual Jim Davis Memorial ride Sunday, with a 2 p.m. start from Kent Library.

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WEST PLAINS The May meeting of the Missouri Conservation Commission will be held May 21 at West Plains.

Commissioners are Jay Henges, St. Louis, Chairman; Jerry P. Combs, Kennett, Vice Chairman; Andy Dalton, Springfield, Secret; John Powell, Rolla, Member.

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BLUE SPRINGS Mark McKellar didn't set out to make Missouri birding history, but his sighting of a previously unreported woodpecker at Burr Oak Woods Conservation Nature Center touched off a migration of birdwatchers from all over the region.

McKellar, assistant manager of the Missouri Department of Conservation's nature center at Blue Springs, was leading a guided hike April 1 on the Bethany Falls Trail when he spotted the unprcedented bird a red-naped sapsucker. He didn't know he was the first birdwatcher ever to see one in Missouri, but he was curious to know how common it was, so he called the Kansas City Regional Rare Bird Alert Hot Line and left a message.

Ten minutes later, he got an excited call from hot-line volunteers, who wanted to know whether he had the credentials to back up a first state sighting. After getting word that the sighting was no prank, they spread the news though state and regional birding hot lines. The bird cooperated by staying put.

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JEFFERSON CITY Tables of creel limits will look different, length limits on fish in some lakes and streams will change, and hunters will be able to bag gray partridges in 1994, due to recently approved changes in the Wildlife Code of Missouri.

The Missouri Conservation Commission approved a bevy of changes in hunting, fishing and trapping regulations at its monthly meeting recently. Most of the regulation changes will take effect Jan. 1, 1994.

One of those changes eliminates the "Possession Limit" column found in the listing of creel limits for various fish species. Instead, the Commission adopted a possession limit of twice the daily limit for all fish, except where local regulations specify otherwise. The change also increases the possession limit on green andbullfrogs from eight to 16.

By the same change, the Commission established numerical limits for all non-game fish and set the opening date for the 1994 black bass fishing season in Ozark streams as May 28, the Saturday preceding Memorial Day. It also simplified the limits and seasons chart for non-game fish, frogs, turtles and bait.