Regional Roundup

“It’s Bluebird Time!”
   If you are interested in connecting with wildlife in your own backyard, now is the time to put up bluebird boxes. Bluebirds can really use your help for housing. They do not build their own nests but rely on old woodpecker holes or rotting tree trunks and other natural openings for their homes.
   Bluebirds live in open country, and are a beautiful songbird. As cavity nesters they have become less common due to a lack of suitable nest sites. Many nest sites have been lost through changing land-use practices, as well as to urban and suburban sprawl. But the introductions of house sparrows and starlings from Europe in 1851 and 1890 have been the primary reasons for the bluebirds' decline, as these non-native species took over native bluebird nesting cavities.
   A manmade house is a welcome sight to bluebirds, but they are picky about how their house is designed or located. They can be mounted on poles, fence posts or trees. Posts are best for providing protection from predators. Also, building nesting boxes is a great project for children, families or groups interested in connecting with wildlife, like our garden clubs around the Mid South.
   A bluebird box should have an opening that is the prescribed one-and-one-half inches in diameter. This precludes starlings from being able to enter. However, house sparrows still may be able to enter the boxes. If this occurs, the house sparrow nests should be removed immediately.
   Boxes should be erected on a free-standing pole three to five feet above the ground - facing south or west, if possible, away from our prevailing west winds - and facing a few feet near a nearby tree or fence where young birds can safely land on their initial flights from the box. To reduce predation and competition from other species, no perch should be placed on the box as bluebirds do not need one. Boxes placed in pairs, about 20 feet apart, may help reduce competition from swallows.
   A good bluebird box should have a floor size of 5” x 5”, the box height should be between 8” to12”, the entrance hole should be about 6” to 10” above the floor. Remember where to put the hole. That is important. Be sure it is made of durable wood like cedar and cut ventilation holes in the top and drainage holes in the bottom.
   Bluebirds nest in primarily suburban or rural areas, so we are quite well suited for them in most of the MSHFN circulation area. During breeding, they hunt insects by scanning the ground from a perch, spotting an insect, then swooping down to the ground to it. Bluebirds start looking for nests in the south now. Scattered young trees or shrubs are also important along with sparse or low vegetation since it enables the bluebird to see and capture insects. Cut meadows, cut lawns and grazed field are their kitchens. And we have plenty of ideal habitats in the Mid South just waiting on a good realtor.
John Gallaspy
Editor

ARKANSAS

To assist waterfowl hunters with the latest information, the AGFC provides links to sources on waterfowl location and abundance in Arkansas and other states. The links are available at www.agfc.com/hunting/Pages/HuntingWaterfowlReport. This waterfowl report provides capsule information from agency staff in all corners of Arkansas and is updated each Wednesday throughout waterfowl season. To receive the report each week on your computer, send an e-mail to arkansasoutdoors@agfc.com and type "Waterfowl Report" in the subject line.
Information on river levels can be found at: www.srh.noaa.gov/lmrfc/ or water.usgs.gov/realtime.html.

KENTUCKY

The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission at its quarterly meeting Dec. 2 proposed issuing 900 quota hunt elk permits for the 2012-2013 elk seasons an increase of 100. Commission members also voted to modify some deer, small game and furbearer regulations. They proposed removing the one deer per daylimit on WMAs in Zone 1 counties during open, quota gun or mobility-impaired hunts. Hunters will also be allowed unlimited harvest of antlerless deer also in WMAs in Zone 1 provided they purchase the proper permits.
Many Kentuckians probably don’t much care for the recent cold, wintry weather. Days of leaden skies, light rain or sleet and temperatures that don’t crack 45 degrees make most people stay inside and sulk. For a reservoir smallmouth bass angler, however, days like these bring a smile and a rush of excitement. ? Now is one of the best times of the year to catch a trophy smallmouth bass from our mountainous lakes such as Dale Hollow, Lake Cumberland and Laurel River Lake.

MISSISSIPPI

MISSOURI

Hunters checked 14,439 deer during Missouri’s antlerless deer season Nov. 23 through Dec. 4. This year’s antlerless harvest is 789 fewer than last year. Top harvest counties for the 12-day antlerless season were Benton with 394 deer checked, Pike with 390 and Macon with 378.So far this year, firearms deer hunters have killed 221,490 deer. That is up 4,209 from the same time last year.
Besides increasing hunting opportunities, the antlerless season gives landowners a way of regulating local deer numbers by allowing hunters to remove female deer from the population.
Missouri’s estimated population of 1.4 million whitetails enables hunters to shoot more than 250,000 deer each year. That yields approximately 10 million pounds of venison. Hunters consume most of this meat. However, hunters donate more than 250,000 pounds of venison annually to local food banks and other charities through the Share the Harvest program.

TENNESSEE

What does that mean for dreary duck hunters? Right now ducks have a million places to go for feed and resting areas and normal flight patterns have changed somewhat. The backwaters are attractive to ducks but they can be in one place today and gone tomorrow as ample opportunity awaits them in the form of flooded timber, soybean, rice and corn fields.
Some of the more popular hunt clubs and wildlife management areas across west Tennessee saw their productivity decline this, a scenario that’s common when flooding occurs over a vast area. There’s really no need for ducks to flock to a specific spot right now as they can find everything they need most anywhere.