Outdoors digest 3/22/02

Bass fishing league makes stop at Kentucky Lake

As many as 400 anglers from around the region are expected for the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League event Saturday at Kentucky Lake near Gilbertsville, Ky.

The $7 million series will offer awards of up to $5,000 in the boater division and $2,500 in the co-angler division at the tournament weigh-in, which will be at the Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park at 3 p.m.

Saturday's event is the first of five LBL Division events. Lake Barkley State Resort Park will host the series April 13, followed by Moors Marina at Kentucky Lake on June 15; Paris Landing at Kentucky Lake on July 13; and the LBL Super Tournament Sept. 14-15 at Kentucky Dam.

The top 30 LBL division boaters and co-anglers from the series will advance to the regional round Oct. 29 through Nov. 2 at Rogersville, Ala.

To enter a tournament or for more information about the league, visit flwoutdoors.com or call (270) 362-4880.

Carl Noren leaves a conservation legacy

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Carl Noren, who served as director of the Missouri Department of Conservation from 1967-78, died March 2 at Columbia. He was 88.

Noren helped change the MDC from primarily a hunting and fishing agency to include wildlife and plant species protection. In his 39 years, Noren became known for keeping the agency's budget geared toward management programs. In 1969 he asked the Missouri Conservation Commission to reduce his salary to $23,000 to be more in line with other department heads.

Noren's influence in Missouri wildlife management began as a furbearer biologist in 1940. A year earlier, while attending the University of Missouri, he established a tagging and quota system that helped restore Missouri's racoon population.

Wild deer test negative for fatal disease

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Test results from the wild deer harvested in the 2001 firearms season show no sign of Chronic Wasting Disease. CWD has been detected in isolated wild deer populations in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Canada's Saskatchewan province.

Seventy-two wild deer were tested, although sampling will intensify this year, Missouri Department of Conservation officials said. Deer that appear sick or behave unusually should be reported to local conservation agencies, they said.

Deer or elk infected with CWD may spread the disease through contact or by contaminating feed or water sources with saliva, urine or feces. The disease is named for its ability to cause fatal degeneration of the brain.

There is no evidence the disease affects humans.

-- From staff reports