blake
Life Member
NEWS:
Missouri Squirrel & Black Bass Season Opens
JEFFERSON CITY – Memorial Day is an even bigger deal for hunters and anglers than for most Missourians. That is the weekend when squirrel season opens and anglers can keep legal-sized black bass in southern Missouri streams.
Missouri’s squirrel and black bass seasons always open on the same day, the fourth Saturday in May. To take full advantage of these seasons, it helps to be familiar with the regulations for each.
SQUIRRELS
Squirrel hunting regulations remain unchanged from last year. However, some hunters might be confused by an action taken by the Missouri Conservation Commission at its March meeting. The Commission voted to increase the bag limit for squirrels effective on March 1, 2010. This year’s bag limits remain the same as last year – six gray or fox squirrels in the aggregate per day and 12 in possession.
“In the aggregate” means you can bag any combination of fox and gray squirrels, so long as you do not exceed six squirrels in one day in total. If you bag a daily limit two days in a row, you have a possession limit of 12 squirrels. After that, you must eat or give away some squirrels before going hunting again in order to stay within the possession limit.
Hunters can pursue squirrels from May 23 through Feb. 15, 2010, with rifles, shotguns or archery equipment. Summer foliage makes rifle shots more difficult than in late fall and winter, when leaves no longer obscure a shooter’s view. As a result, shotguns are the preferred method for most hunters during the early part of the season.
Hunters also can take squirrels with cage-type traps, as long as they label traps with their full name and address. Squirrel traps also must have openings measuring 144 square inches or less, for instance, 12 inches by 12 inches. Hunters must attend their traps daily. The same regulations apply to rabbits and groundhogs during their respective seasons.
Lonnie Hansen, the Missouri Department of Conservation’s resource scientist in charge of squirrel management, said 2008 was a down year for squirrel numbers in the Ozarks. That was because a late freeze reduced acorn production the previous year. White oak trees in the Ozarks produced a good crop of acorns last year, so squirrel numbers should rebound in that part of the state for 2009, making for better hunting.
Squirrels have a more diverse and dependable food base in northern Missouri, thanks to corn and other agricultural crops. As a result, squirrel populations are more stable there, and hunting is uniformly good from year to year.
BLACK BASS
The bass catch-and-keep season in southern Missouri streams applies to largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass. Anglers may catch these species legally all year, anywhere in the state. They may keep legal-sized bass caught from impoundments all year long, statewide. However, from March 1 through the Friday before the fourth Saturday in May, you may only keep black bass caught in streams if you are:
• on the Mississippi River,
• north of the south bank of the Missouri River,
• in that portion of southeast Missouri south and east of Cape Girardeau following Highways 74 and 25, U.S. Highways 60, 67 and 160 and the west bank of the Little Black River to the Arkansas state line, or
• on the St. Francis River downstream from Wappapello Dam.
In the rest of the state—essentially the Ozarks—black-bass fishing is strictly catch-and-release from March 1 until the fourth Saturday in May.
In most of the state’s waters, the daily limit on black bass is six, with a possession limit of 12. Black bass taken from streams must be at least 12 inches long in most areas. There is no statewide length limit on bass taken from impoundments. However, special length and daily limits apply on many lakes and streams. To ensure that you keep only legal bass, you must check for special regulations on the waters you intend to fish. You can find these posted at areas with special regulations and in the 2009 Summary of Missouri Fishing Regulations, which is available from fishing permit vendors.
An abundance of stream accesses maintained by the Missouri Department of Conservation statewide makes it easy to combine float-fishing and squirrel hunting. It is important to remember, however, that a hunting permit does not give you the right to trespass on private property bordering streams. The best places for this dual sport are where streams run through conservation areas or national forest land.
To find such places, use mdc.mo.gov/atlas/, the searchable Conservation Atlas database.
Missouri Squirrel & Black Bass Season Opens
JEFFERSON CITY – Memorial Day is an even bigger deal for hunters and anglers than for most Missourians. That is the weekend when squirrel season opens and anglers can keep legal-sized black bass in southern Missouri streams.
Missouri’s squirrel and black bass seasons always open on the same day, the fourth Saturday in May. To take full advantage of these seasons, it helps to be familiar with the regulations for each.
SQUIRRELS
Squirrel hunting regulations remain unchanged from last year. However, some hunters might be confused by an action taken by the Missouri Conservation Commission at its March meeting. The Commission voted to increase the bag limit for squirrels effective on March 1, 2010. This year’s bag limits remain the same as last year – six gray or fox squirrels in the aggregate per day and 12 in possession.
“In the aggregate” means you can bag any combination of fox and gray squirrels, so long as you do not exceed six squirrels in one day in total. If you bag a daily limit two days in a row, you have a possession limit of 12 squirrels. After that, you must eat or give away some squirrels before going hunting again in order to stay within the possession limit.
Hunters can pursue squirrels from May 23 through Feb. 15, 2010, with rifles, shotguns or archery equipment. Summer foliage makes rifle shots more difficult than in late fall and winter, when leaves no longer obscure a shooter’s view. As a result, shotguns are the preferred method for most hunters during the early part of the season.
Hunters also can take squirrels with cage-type traps, as long as they label traps with their full name and address. Squirrel traps also must have openings measuring 144 square inches or less, for instance, 12 inches by 12 inches. Hunters must attend their traps daily. The same regulations apply to rabbits and groundhogs during their respective seasons.
Lonnie Hansen, the Missouri Department of Conservation’s resource scientist in charge of squirrel management, said 2008 was a down year for squirrel numbers in the Ozarks. That was because a late freeze reduced acorn production the previous year. White oak trees in the Ozarks produced a good crop of acorns last year, so squirrel numbers should rebound in that part of the state for 2009, making for better hunting.
Squirrels have a more diverse and dependable food base in northern Missouri, thanks to corn and other agricultural crops. As a result, squirrel populations are more stable there, and hunting is uniformly good from year to year.
BLACK BASS
The bass catch-and-keep season in southern Missouri streams applies to largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass. Anglers may catch these species legally all year, anywhere in the state. They may keep legal-sized bass caught from impoundments all year long, statewide. However, from March 1 through the Friday before the fourth Saturday in May, you may only keep black bass caught in streams if you are:
• on the Mississippi River,
• north of the south bank of the Missouri River,
• in that portion of southeast Missouri south and east of Cape Girardeau following Highways 74 and 25, U.S. Highways 60, 67 and 160 and the west bank of the Little Black River to the Arkansas state line, or
• on the St. Francis River downstream from Wappapello Dam.
In the rest of the state—essentially the Ozarks—black-bass fishing is strictly catch-and-release from March 1 until the fourth Saturday in May.
In most of the state’s waters, the daily limit on black bass is six, with a possession limit of 12. Black bass taken from streams must be at least 12 inches long in most areas. There is no statewide length limit on bass taken from impoundments. However, special length and daily limits apply on many lakes and streams. To ensure that you keep only legal bass, you must check for special regulations on the waters you intend to fish. You can find these posted at areas with special regulations and in the 2009 Summary of Missouri Fishing Regulations, which is available from fishing permit vendors.
An abundance of stream accesses maintained by the Missouri Department of Conservation statewide makes it easy to combine float-fishing and squirrel hunting. It is important to remember, however, that a hunting permit does not give you the right to trespass on private property bordering streams. The best places for this dual sport are where streams run through conservation areas or national forest land.
To find such places, use mdc.mo.gov/atlas/, the searchable Conservation Atlas database.
