MDC Helps Landowners Manage Deer
Deer Management Assistance Program offers additional permits to qualifying applicants
MDC’s Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) can help landowners manage deer on their properties by allowing them and hunters they designate to buy additional firearms permits to take antlerless deer on the properties above and beyond regular season harvest limits.
“For some landowners, deer cause crop damage and other problems, even with deer removals through regular hunting seasons and damage authorizations,” said MDC Deer Biologist Kevyn Wiskirchen, who coordinates DMAP. “And some landowners need additional tools for achieving their deer management goals for their properties. The program’s main goal is to maintain healthy deer populations while balancing landowner needs.”
Wiskirchen added that any private property of at least 500 acres located outside of municipal boundaries, regardless of the owner’s legal residence, is eligible for the program. For properties inside the boundaries of a city or town, at least 40 acres are required. Individual parcels of land, regardless of ownership, may be combined to satisfy the acreage requirements as long as no parcel of land is more than a half-mile (by air) from the boundary of another parcel being combined to form an enrolled DMAP property.
DMAP also provides landowners with science-based methods and information to address a spectrum of other local deer management goals, including Quality Deer Management objectives.
To learn more about DMAP, including enrollment, visit MDC online at mdc.mo.gov/dmap, or contact your local MDC private land conservationist or conservation agent.
Discover Nature at the Missouri State Fair
MDC invites you to discover nature at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia Aug. 11–21. Visit the Conservation Building to see live fish and other native animals, including snakes, turtles, and amphibians. Learn about and see displays of native plants that help butterflies and other important pollinators. Ask MDC staff conservation-related questions, get educational materials, and have fun.
Join us Aug. 12 for Missouri Department of Conservation Day — a full day of fun and excitement sponsored by MDC! Learn more at mostatefair.com.
New Hunting Booklets Available
Missouri deer, turkey, waterfowl, and dove hunters can get updated information on fall hunting from MDC’s 2022 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet and Migratory Bird and Waterfowl Hunting Digest 2022-2023.
The fall deer and turkey booklet has detailed information on fall deer and turkey hunting seasons, limits, permits, managed hunts, regulations, conservation areas to hunt, post-harvest instructions, chronic wasting disease updates, and more. The booklet is available where permits are sold and online at short.mdc.mo.gov/Zjw.
The migratory bird and waterfowl digest has detailed information on waterfowl hunting along with hunting doves and several other migratory game birds such as rail, snipe, and woodcock. It also has information on needed permits and duck-stamp requirements, hunting seasons and limits, hunting areas, regulations, and more. The digest is available where permits are sold and online at short.mdc.mo.gov/Zjw.
Buy Missouri hunting and fishing permits from numerous vendors around the state, online at mdc.mo.gov/permits, or through MDC’s free mobile app, MO Hunting, available for download through Google Play or the App Store.
Shannon Smith
Schuyler and Scotland Counties
Conservation Agent Corporal
With fall hunting season approaching, shooting ranges may see an uptick in attendance as hunters prepare for their respective opening days. Whether you’re visiting a public or private range, safety is of utmost importance. Always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction and keep the muzzle pointed downrange. Never shoot at anything that is not your intended target. Be certain there is a proper backstop behind your target, such as a dirt berm, pond dam, or ditch. This will ensure the bullets don’t stray or ricochet. Keep in mind: a bullet fired from a 22-caliber rifle can travel over a mile. Larger calibers can travel up to four miles, which is why having a good backstop is imperative.
As summer temperatures give way to crisp fall days and cooler nights, we find ourselves craving the warmth and heartiness that comfort foods bring. This recipe is sure to fit the bill and is an excellent way to use the birds you will harvest this turkey season.
Serves 4
Need 3 to 4 pounds of wild turkey meat on the bone
Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup cream
Biscuit Dough:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup milk
- Coarsely ground pepper
Cover turkey in water, bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, simmer until tender. Remove meat from broth, cool, and cut into 1-inch chunks or shred if preferred. Reserve broth.
Grease a Dutch oven or other casserole dish with a light coating of butter. Add turkey to the dish.
To make the sauce, in a medium saucepan, melt butter, whisk in flour, and stir until well combined. Add 3 cups turkey broth and cream. Whisk, salt to taste, and cook until it is a smooth sauce. It will be thin but will thicken when baked with turkey. Pour sauce over turkey.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
To make biscuit dough, combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl and stir well. Rub 2 tablespoons butter into flour mixture until combined. Add egg and milk; mix well. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls (12 to 16) over entire surface area of turkey/sauce.
Bake for approximately 1 hour or until biscuits are nicely browned. Sauce will appear thin, but will thicken as it cools.
This recipe is from Cooking Wild in Missouri by Bernadette Dryden, available at most MDC nature centers. Order online at mdcnatureshop.com, or call toll-free 877-521-8632.
Swamp Milkweed Flower
Swamp milkweed is a perennial herb with milky sap and smooth, tall, and flexible stems. Its rounded pink flower clusters — known as umbels — are positioned at the top of the plant’s stalks rather than the sides of the stems. In fact, this is what differentiates swamp milkweed from other varieties. The flowers have a delicate fragrance and bloom from June through September. Many insects visit the flowers for nectar.
And More...
This Issue's Staff
Editor - Angie Daly Morfeld
Associate Editor - Larry Archer
Photography Editor - Cliff White
Staff Writer - Kristie Hilgedick
Staff Writer - Joe Jerek
Staff Writer – Dianne Van Dien
Designer - Shawn Carey
Designer - Marci Porter
Photographer - Noppadol Paothong
Photographer - David Stonner
Circulation Manager - Laura Scheuler