“Frog days” of summer begin at sunset June 30

Put down the blackberry bucket and pick up a frog gig.

Courtesy MDC

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missourians can celebrate summer with a favorite outdoor pastime, as frogging season begins at sunset June 30.

Frogging can be practiced with either a fishing permit or a hunting permit. The Wildlife Code of Missouri allows those with a fishing permit to take frogs by hand net, gig, trotline, throw line, limb line, bank line, jug line, snagging, snaring, grabbing or pole and line.

With a hunting permit, you can harvest frogs using a .22-caliber firearm, pellet gun, atlatl, by hand or hand net and with a longbow or crossbow. The use of an artificial light is permitted when frogging. Children under the age of 16 and adults over the age of 65 are not required to have a permit.

Missouri has two species – bullfrog and green frog – that are legal game. Bullfrogs are larger and therefore more sought-after, but the legs of both species are delicious. The taste and texture of frog meat is similar to fresh-water fish.

The daily limit is eight frogs of both species combined. If you catch eight frogs before midnight, you can start frogging again at 12:01 a.m. and catch another day’s limit. However, it is not legal to possess more than one day’s limit while on the water, so you must put your first limit in a cooler before starting on the second day’s limit. The possession limit allows you to store no more than 16 frogs at a time.

Once a frog is speared, it must be harvested. The Wildlife Code of Missouri prohibits release of a speared frog as “wanton waste” because the animal is not likely to recover. However, a frog is not fatally injured by methods such as grabbing or pole and line and thus may be released.

Frogging season ends Oct. 31, so grab a gig and head to the pond or simply grab a frog and head to the fryer before the frog days of summer are over.

Be bear aware in the Missouri outdoors

Campers and landowners should prepare for black-bear encounters

Written by Rebecca Maples, MDC

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – He’s a heavyweight from northern Arkansas. He’s dark and mysterious. He’ll eat just about anything, and he’s being seen more and more around the Show-Me State.

Courtesy MDC

His name is Ursus americanus, but you probably know him better as the black bear. One of the state’s largest wild mammals, black bears have been seen in more than half of Missouri’s counties, though most are south of the Missouri River. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), black-bear sightings and numbers are growing in Missouri.

Black bears are native to Missouri, but the species was nearly eliminated from the state by 1940 due to unregulated hunting and habitat changes. Recent data indicate that a few of Missouri’s native bears might have survived. However, the growth of Missouri’s bear population in recent years probably is largely a result of a successful black-bear restoration effort by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in the 1960s.

According to MDC Resource Scientist Jeff Beringer, black bears are a significant part of the native ecosystem and are an indicator of the state’s wilderness habitat quality.

A fed bear is a dead bear

A growing bear population calls for caution from campers and landowners, who are most likely to encounter bears. Black bears generally are dangerous only when they lose their natural fear of people. This usually results from access to human food. A bear that associates people with food is at risk for aggressive behavior, which could result in euthanasia.

“The most important thing is that landowners and campers don’t give bears access to food or garbage,” Beringer said. “If you never let a bear get started, you won’t have a problem with them.”

Campers can avoid problems with bears by keeping a clean camp, avoiding food scents, and never feeding or approaching bears. If you encounter a bear while camping, you should try to scare the bear away by banging pots and pans or making other noise and waving your arms. If you see a bear while hiking or fishing, you should back away slowly, speaking in a normal voice and making no sudden movements. Although bear attacks are extremely rare, if you find yourself in this situation you should fight back with any available weapons – sticks, stones, knives or even fists – striking the bear especially around the face.

Black Bear Study in Missouri (Phase 1)

“Bears are generally afraid of people. If you do have an encounter with a bear, you want to make it a negative experience for that animal,” Beringer recommended.

Black bear research

In fall 2010, MDC began a cooperative study with the University of Missouri and the University of Mississippi to learn more about black bears in the state and how to manage them. The project involves trapping and radio-collaring bears and gathering hair samples for DNA testing. Information gathered in this will allow researchers to determine individual animals’ size and growth rates, population size, sex ratio, genetic diversity, habitat preferences, daily and seasonal movement patterns, denning dates, reproduction and survival rates. Trapping and radio-collaring will continue through this fall.

Beringer said citizens can play an important role in the ongoing bear research project by immediately reporting all bear sightings. Such reports enable researchers to focus their efforts on areas of known bear activity.

If you see a black bear, report it by visiting www.MissouriConservation.org and searching “Report a Bear Sighting.”

MDC confirms mountain lion report in Macon County

Image via Wikipedia

Photos of tracks convince the Mountain Lion Response Team.

ATLANTA, Mo .– The Missouri Department of Conservation has confirmed the presence of a mountain lion in northern Macon County, based on photos of tracks taken by a landowner.

Rex Martensen, a member of the Conservation Department’s Mountain Lion Response Team (MLRT), said the landowner found large, cat-like tracks in a muddy creek bed while hunting mushrooms. He was near the town of Economy, northeast of Long Branch Lake, on April 20. The man took photos of the tracks and sent them to Private Land Conservationist Ted Seiler.

Rain washed away the tracks before a member of the MLRT could visit the site. However, Martensen said the tracks in the photo closely match the characteristics of mountain lion tracks. He said the MLRT needed no further evidence to confirm the presence of a mountain lion.

Martensen said one thing that stood out in the photos was the lack of claw marks.

“Even if a dog has well-worn toenails, as deep as these tracks went into the mud, you would have seen those pretty clear.”

Martensen said the Conservation Department is not trying to find the mountain lion that left the tracks. However, he said the MLRT wants to know when and where mountain lions appear in Missouri and is particularly interested in reports that involve photos, tracks, hair or other physical evidence.

Evidence from other confirmed mountain lion sightings in the past 20 years suggests that the big cats are coming to Missouri from other states where mountain lion populations have been growing. Martensen said mountain lions might show up in Missouri with increasing frequency as populations in northwest Nebraska and other western states continue to grow and expand.

Many unanswered questions remain about mountain lions in Missouri.  In an attempt to answer these questions, the Conservation Department established the MLRT to review citizen reports thoroughly.

“We don’t know what mountain lions do or where they go when they get here,” said Martensen, “so pieces of the puzzle like this report are interesting and very helpful to us.”

For more information about mountain lions in Missouri, visit www.mdc.mo.gov/node/3505.

Send mountain lion reports, including photos or video, to mountain.lion@mdc.mo.gov. You also can call Jeff Beringer, 573-882-9909, ext. 3211;  Rex Martensen, 573-522-4115, ext. 3147; or Shawn Gruber, 573-522-4115, ext. 3262.
-Jim Low-