Outdoor News
Ozark County hunters have bagged 21 deer so far during the bow deer hunting season, which began Sept. 15, and will run through Nov. 10. The season also reopens on Nov. 22 and runs to Jan. 15.
Hunters in Ozark County have killed 13 does and 7 antlered bucks, along with one button buck.
Statewide, as...
Watson McConnaughy, 8, right, showed his family’s 1-year-old bull Moonshine at the Ozark Empire Fair in Springfield, finishing with the grand champion bull title in the Junior Hereford show (open to those age 21 and younger). He also won the bull calf champion in the open show, which is open to exhibitors of all ages. Watson is shown with, from left, his brother Jett, his dad Travis McConnaughy and the judge of the Hereford exhibits.
Jett and Watson McConnaughy of Gainesville had “a heck of a summer” with their 1-year-old bull Moonshine, says their dad Travis McConnaughy, owner of WMC Cattle Company in Wasola.
Watson, 8, showed Moonshine at the Ozark Empire Fair in Springfield, finishing with the grand champion bull title in...
Bakersfield’s track relay team competed at sectionals last week, and while they didn’t advance to state, the team did achieve a personal record. Shown are Nathan Watlington, Gaige Samuels, Coach Tammy Lamb, Jacob Watlington, Brooks Amburgy, Amani Kowiti and assistant Kurt Watlington.
As of Thursday, Aug. 4, the latest data available, Ozark County was designated as a D2 (severe drought) designation. Updated maps can be found at droughtmonitor.unl.edu.
The University of Missouri Extension office in Gainesville is hosting a free upcoming seminar titled ‘drought and your farm’ from noon to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25. Attendees are required to pre-register before Monday, Aug. 22. When residents call to pre-register details on the seminar's location...
Carol Cooper is pictured here with a monarch that she helped raise from an egg laid on her milkweed plants in her front yard last year. Cooper regularly brings eggs in after they’re laid and provides a controlled environment where the insects have less predator pressure. She releases full grown Monarchs after they hatch.
Gainesville resident Carol Cooper says she’s been checking her blooming milkweed everyday, but the lack of Monarch larva on the plants is making for a disappointing summer.
“No Monarchs. No eggs yet,” she told the Times last week, adding that in past years she’d helped to raise the Monarchs who...
The eagle had what would be the equivalent as a dislocated elbow in a human, Kiger says. The bird was able to be rehabilitated at the zoo, and Kiger released the eagle near the location where it was found.
By Jerry Kiger, MDC
Ozark County conservation agent
On May 24, I received a call about an injured bald eagle here in Ozark County.
I went to the area where the caller told me the eagle was and found it lying on the ground just inside the fence in a cow pasture. As I started getting everything...
Winners in the Pontiac spearfishing tournament held June 18 on Bull Shoals Lake were, from left: first place Regan Blackburn, second place Lola Wade and third place, Scott Gunzenhauser.
Regan Blackburn, an 11-year-old girl from Pontiac, swept the competition in the June 18 annual spearfishing tournament held in Bull Shoals Lake at Pontiac Cove Marina with a whopping 14 pound 15 ounce catfish.
Regan completed her certification to scuba dive last May when she was 10. She is the...
Gainesville resident Mike Ellison killed this 5x6 bull elk Oct. 19 while hunting on public land in Shannon County.
Gainesville resident Mike Ellison made Missouri hunting history last month, earning the title as the only Ozark Countian and one of fewer than 10 Missouri residents to kill an elk in the state within the last century.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity,” Ellison told the Times, talking about the Oct...
MDC is hosting a hunter education skills session at Gainesville High School on Saturday, Oct. 2.
The Missouri Department of Conservation will host a hunter education class at 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, in the Gainesville High School community room (the former library).
To be eligible for the class, students must be at least 11 years old on the date of class. Participants must register online. To...
Editor’s note: W. Kim Sexton is a retired third-generation newspaper editor and publisher who still handles investigations of his choice. This story completes his goal of visiting the site of a Missouri fishing record on the date of its diamond anniversary.
A diamond anniversary sparkled in the...