In Brief

Go Native!

Buy native tree and shrub seedlings from MDC’s George O. White State Nursery

Need trees and shrubs for your landscape? Go native with tree and shrub seedlings from MDC’s George O. White State Nursery. Native trees and shrubs can help improve wildlife habitat and soil and water conservation while also improving the appearance and value of private property.

The state nursery offers a variety of low-cost native tree and shrub seedlings for sale for reforestation, windbreaks, erosion control, wildlife food and cover, and other purposes. The nursery provides mainly 1-year-old, bare-root seedlings with sizes varying by species. Seedling varieties include pine, bald cypress, cottonwood, black walnut, hickory, oak, pecan, persimmon, river birch, maple, willow, sycamore, blackberry, buttonbush, hazelnut, redbud, ninebark, elderberry, sumac, wild plum, witch-hazel, and others. MDC recommends ordering early for the best selection.

Seedlings are available in bundles of 10 or increments of 25 per species. Prices range from 34 cents to $1 per seedling. Sales tax will be added to orders unless tax exempt. There is a shipping fee and a $9 handling charge for each order. Orders will be shipped or can be picked up at the nursery, located near Licking, from February through May.

Orders can be placed through April 15, 2024. Place orders online at short.mdc.mo.gov/ZNZ.

MDC’s 2023–2024 Seedling Order Form was in the September issue of the Missouri Conservationist. You can also get it at MDC regional offices and nature centers, or by contacting the State Forest Nursery at 573-674-3229 or StateForestNursery@mdc.mo.gov.

Changes for the Upcoming Deer Season

Regulation changes for the upcoming 2023–2024 deer hunting season include a new firearms early antlerless portion, a new firearms CWD portion, changes to firearms antlerless permit numbers, and the addition of 14 new counties to the CWD Management Zone.

MDC will offer a new firearms early antlerless portion Oct. 6–8 in the 100 counties open for the firearms late antlerless portion Dec. 2–10. Reynolds County will now be open during the antlerless portions.

MDC will offer a CWD portion of firearms deer season Nov. 22–26 in CWD Management Zone counties during the 2023–2024 deer season. Hunters will be able to use any unfilled firearms deer hunting permits during the CWD portion and must abide by the statewide limit of one antlered deer during the firearms deer season, all portions combined. Hunters must also abide by county-specific firearms antlerless permit numbers.

MDC has also increased the number of firearms antlerless permits hunters can fill in most counties, including allowing hunters to fill a firearms antlerless permit in Butler, Carter, Scott, and Wayne counties. Hunters in Bollinger County will be able to fill two firearms antlerless permits beginning this year. Qualifying landowners in Reynolds County may now receive two Resident Landowner Firearms Antlerless Deer Hunting Permits. MDC has also increased the number of firearms antlerless permits from two to four in 85 counties.

MDC has included 14 new counties as part of the CWD Management Zone this year: Bollinger, Caldwell, Carroll, Clay, Clinton, Dallas, Grundy, Jasper, Livingston, Madison, Montgomery, Pemiscot, Ray, and Schuyler. As with all counties in the CWD Management Zone, grain, salt products, minerals, and other consumable products used to attract deer are prohibited year-round. Hunters must also follow carcass transportation regulations. The antler-point restriction has also been removed from Caldwell, Carroll, Clinton, Grundy, Livingston, Montgomery, Ray, and Schuyler counties. Hunters who harvest deer in select CWD Management Zone counties during Nov. 11–12 must take the deer (or its head) on the day of harvest to a mandatory CWD sampling station.

Get more information on regulation changes and other details for deer hunting from our 2023 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, available where permits are sold and online at short.mdc.mo.gov/ZvC.