FROG SEASON BEGINS THIS WEEK

JEFFERSON CITY -- Longing for the taste of deep-fried frog legs? Or maybe you want to revisit childhood memories as you chase bouncing bullfrogs along the edge of a pond.

Either way, frogging is an activity that can be pursued throughout Missouri starting at sunset June 30. The combined daily limit for green frogs and bull frogs is eight.

The hardest thing about frogging might be deciding what method to use to take your frogs. Agile folks with good hand-eye coordination might try catching the slippery amphibians by hand. At the other end of the spectrum are those who bag frogs from afar with a .22-caliber rifle.

Frogging blurs the line between hunting and fishing, with some methods covered by both licenses. With a hunting license you can use a .22-caliber rim-fire rifle or pistol, a pellet gun, longbow, crossbow or handnet, or you can take frogs by hand. A fishing license allows froggers to use hook and line, longbow, handnet, or gig or take frogs by hand.

Frogging is one of the few hunting or fishing activities that allows the use of lanterns, flashlights and other artificial light sources. Frogs are active at night, and easy to locate if you follow the "jug- o-rum . . . jug-o-rum . . . ." So if the taste of frog legs or the very sport itself becomes an addiction, you can pursue frogs 24 hours a day, non-stop, from sunset June 30 to the close of the season at midnight Oct. 31.

Hunting with a rifle or a pistol may not be quite as sure-fire a way to reach the eight-frog limit as it seems. With a gun, there's no way to reel the frog in once you hit it. Also, extra caution is required, since ricochets can result when a bullet hits rocks or water. Froggers who use .22s should use hollow point bullets, which produce cleaner kills.

Opportunities to subdue frogs abound all over Missouri. All it takes is a hunting or fishing license, a body of water and whatever tackle or gear you've chosen to use.

Good frogging!