FINS, FEATHERS, FUR

ORAN -- The Oran Jaycees, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation, will conduct a hunter education class Oct. 4-5-7 from 6:00 to 9:30 each evening at the Oran Jaycee Hall.

The course will include gun safety, information about firearms and ammunition, responsibilities of the outdoorsman, outdoors ethics, and the role of the hunter and hunting in wildlife management and conservation.

Registration details are available by calling (314)-262-2215..

All hunters born on or after Jan. 1, 1967 are required to complete a hunter safety course before they can purchase a hunting license.

Ron Wienke of Lincoln, Neb. emerged the champion in the Winchester World Open Goose Calling Championships, held last weekend at Logan Community College near Carterville, Ill.

Wienke defeated two strong Southern Illinois callers Tim Grounds of Johnston City and Alan McCree of Carterville to claim the title. The three were among the five finalists from a field of 32 callers.

Grounds had beaten Wienke in the championship round of a world championship calling contest in Maryland last year. Grounds finished third in the Carterville event. McCree was second. Rounding out the top five were David Schulte of Ramsey, Minn., and Gary Klein of Hopkinsville, Ky.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation, will conduct a hunter education class Oct. 8-9 at the Wappapello Lake maintenance building, located one-half mile south of the Wappapello Lake Dam.

The course will be from 6 to 10 p.m. Oct. 8, and from 8 a.m. to p.m. Oct. 9. Participants must attend both days to complete the course.

Participants are urged to pre-register, by calling (314)-222-8562. The course will be limited to 50 people.

JEFFERSON CITY Thousands of Missourians have waxed their bowstrings, sharpened their shooting skills and scouted hunting areas in preparation for the opening of archery deer and turkey season today.

If this year's season goes anything like last year's, about 15,000 of them will put venison on the table say Department of Conservation officials.

This year's archery season runs from today through Nov. 12 and from Nov. 22 through Dec. 31. A resident archery deer and turkey hunting permit costs $12. Last year, 94,835 hunters bought archery permits and harvested 15,131 deer. Their success rate was about 15 percent, but that doesn't reflect the millions of hours of outdoor recreation these hunters enjoyed.

Archers are allowed to take up to two deer and two turkeys of either sex using longbows or compound bows. Crossbows are not allowed.

Full details of archery deer and turkey hunting seasons, limits and other regulations are contained in the 1993 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Information guide, available where deer and turkey hunting permits are sold.