FINS, FUR AND FEATHERS

The Missouri duck season at Wappapello Lake will continue to Dec. 8.

"Our area is in the middle zone for waterfowl hunting," said Michael McClendon. "The season opened Nov. 9. Shooting hours are from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.

Canada goose season at Wappapello Lake starts Dec. 2 and runs to Jan. 20.

Additional information concerning waterfowl hunting at Wappapello is available from McClendon, (314)-222-8562.

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Conservation agent Steven C. Moore has received a "Regional Outstanding Agent" award from the Missouri Department of Conservation's Protection Division.

Moore lives in Perryville. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri and joined the conservation department in 1983 after working as conservation agent for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for four years.

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KANSAS CITY Commerce Bank of Kansas City has honored the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).

The bank presented its "Commerce Commitment Award" to the MDC at the American Royal Parade Breakfast recently.

Each year, a special task force selects an organization whose activities have made special contributions to Kansas City. The 1991 award went to MDC for its Peregrine Falcon Project. MDC Director Jerry Presley accepted the award from Commerce Bank President Nathan Kemper.

The purpose of the Peregrine Falcon Project is to restore a self-sustaining population of the endangered bird of prey to Missouri. In the first year of the project, MDC released 11 young peregrine falcons from "hack" boxes atop the Commerce Bank Building. Other sponsors of the program included Kansas City Power and Light Co. and Historic Suites of America.

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JEFFERSON CITY Herschel P. "Woody" Bledsoe, whose career with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) spanned 42 years, died of cancer Nov. 11 at Memorial Community Hospital in Jefferson City. He was 67.

Bledsoe was a native of Maysville and a graduate of Camdenton High School. At the time of his retirement in 1984, he was a radio and television specialist and one of the most widely known persons on the MDC staff.

Over the course of 30 years, he hosted the popular "Outdoor Missouri" television show, and the radio show "Woody and the Ozark Smoke Eaters." He received the I.T. Bode Award from the Mid-Missouri Conservation Society in 1978 and the Conservation Communicator of the Year Award from the Conservation Federation of Missouri in 1980. In 1990, he became the first MDC staffer ever to receive the agency's prestigious Master Conservationist Award.

He captivated audiences as "Woody the Singing Forester," mixing music with down-home talk about the destructiveness of deliberate burning of forest land and the importance of positive conservation practices.

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JEFFERSON CITY "The stakes are going up in the battle against wildlife violators," says Dave Beffa, coordinator of Operation Game Thief (OGT).

OGT is a cooperative effort of the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Conservation Federation of Missouri. Under the program, people who report violations of the Missouri Wildlife Code receive cash rewards if their tips lead to arrests. Rewards recently went up.

Beffa says the OGT board of directors recently voted to increase minimum rewards for reporting minor violations from $100 to $150.

The board increased minimum rewards for reporting major violations from $200 to $300. "That's pretty good pocket change for keeping your eyes and ears open," says Beffa. He says the increase was made in response to a recent survey of conservation agents. That survey indicated a need for higher rewards.