I took a recent trip to Jefferson City to interview the new director of the Department of Conservation and it turned out to be the disappointment I expected. I was trying to get him to come to some venue in the Ozarks to meet with hunters, fishermen and outdoorsmen. It would be an event where he could answer written questions they would submit. It would give him the opportunity to debate me over topics like CWD and its danger to hunters, and the wild turkey decline. You can bet he would be informed about some questionable tactics of conservation agents, many accused of breaking the law and violating the MDC’s own set of rules for personnel.
He gave a good answer, “We’ll think about it.” He won’t of course. He’d have to answer questions they never will answer, like, “Why does the MDC pay tens of thousands of dollars to state newspapers, television and radio stations to keep any criticism of what they do out of the public eye?” No one knows they do that, and the director and his staff want to keep it that way.
I asked him about the drastic decline in wild turkey and their decision to do nothing about it. He still clings to the ridiculous assertion that it is all due to habitat change, which is baloney, and I told him that. In the Ozarks where thousands of acres of timbered habitat have not changed for thirty years, wild turkey have declined as much as 75 percent. He also declined to come and spend a day with me where I could show him the results of way too much hunting pressure and too many hunters who have learned easy ways to kill gobblers. The director could learn so much from meeting with landowners and hunters and spending a day in the woods with me, and he could learn a lot from a meeting this fall with the Missourians who put out the millions of dollars to make the MDC rich enough to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time.
As long as they control the media with money, real truths will never be known. Like why the MDC is giving 18 million dollars to a private firm to rebuild the Schell Osage waterfowl marsh when that company had no other bids to compete with. The MDC owns millions of dollars worth of equipment to do such a job, and much of it will set idle for months at a time. Investigations need to be made and answers need to be asked, but they cannot be because the MDC owns the media, large and small. Think about this… When have you seen a television or newspaper report on something the MDC did not approve of?
I asked the director too, why the Conservation Department, with almost 200 million a year for a budget, (amongst the top three state conservation agencies in the nation) will not help landowners along the major Ozark rivers use federal monies to keep cattle out of the rivers. The MDC could do this without losing a penny, but they will not. Our rivers continue to silt-in and carry loads of mud and manure and coliform bacteria because of it.
I was pleased to meet and interview the Chief of Enforcement for the MDC, Randy Doman, who worked for many years as a conservation agent in the field. I liked him enough to invite him to come to the Ozarks and spend a day with me looking at some problems he needs to see. I think he will do it. I will devote a complete future column to my interview with him, which left me with some hope for a way for innocent folks victimized by agents to get help. If you feel you are one of those people, call me at 417-777-5227 and I will relay your experience to him.
Talk with me in person on Saturday October 26 at my new Big Piney Nature Center a mile south of Houston Mo. when I am hosting an Arkansas artist, Duane Hada, who paints river scenes and fish and wildlife like no artist I have ever known. Join us and you may win one of his paintings.
Get more information at my website, larrydablemontoutdoors, or by emailing me at lightninridge47@gmail.com
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