They are just as likely to be eating scraps of fast food on a mall parking lot as winter wheat seeds sown for a cover crop in a recently harvested tobacco field. Crows seem to be everywhere in Kentucky, at home in both town and country.

  The species most often seen in our state is the American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos), a 16 -to 21-inch tall, all-black bird with a raucous, annoying call: "Caw, Caw, Caw."

  They rarely travel alone and usually feed on the ground, eating earthworms and grubs in freshly plowed fields as well as insects, seeds and fruit. Crows will also eat garbage, carrion, and chicks they rob from nests. They are best described as omnivorous foragers.

  "Crow populations (in Kentucky) are stable with no indications of declines," said Rocky Pritchert, migratory bird program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

  In the past few decades, crow populations have been on the rise across North America. Their susceptibility to the West Nile virus, however, could cause population declines in some regions of the country.

  In Kentucky, local crow populations usually begin to swell in the fall as migrants arrive and family groups intermingle, forming large communal roosts. Conflicts arise from the noise and mess when these crow roosts are close to cities.

  "We get an influx of birds from up north during the winter months," said Pritchert. "There are some tremendous roosts here."

  Kentucky’s other species of crow is far less visible. The fish crow (Corvus ossifragus) makes its home in far western Kentucky and is associated with sloughs and major rivers. "Kentucky is on the edge of its range," said Pritchert.

  At one time crows were considered pests and there were no closed seasons or bag limits. But as a member of the jay family (Corvidae), crows are covered under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

  "The season can’t be more than 124 days long and must be scheduled outside the primary nesting period (mid-March to the end of May)," said Pritchert.

  Kentucky’s 2010 - 2011 crow hunting season dates are Sept. 1 through Nov. 7 and Jan. 4 through Feb. 28, 2011. There is no daily bag limit. Illinois’ crow season runs from Oct. 28, through Feb. 28, 2011 with no bag limit. Check with your state’s DNR for season dates and bag limits.

  Driving country roads is a good way to find concentrations of crows. Look for flight paths, roosts and feeding areas. It’s usually easy to get permission from landowners to hunt crows.

  Flyways are the routes crows fly between roosts and feeding areas. In the afternoons, crows often congregate in staging areas before flying en masse back to their roost.

  A 12-gauge shotgun, with a modified or improved cylinder choke, is ideal for crow hunting. For shooting over decoys, No. 7 1/2 shot is the preferred shot size. Try shotshells loaded with No. 6 shot for pass shooting.

  Both mouth calls and electronic calls are legal. Listening to audio tapes or watching DVDs is the best way to learn the hunting strategies as well as the array of calls used in crow hunting. Calls such as the fight, rally, distress, danger and look here are important for drawing crows into shooting range.

  Blinds should be natural, well camouflaged and situated where there’s a good field of fire. Hunters must wear camouflaged clothing head to toe, including face masks and gloves, to prevent being spotted by the crow’s sharp eyesight. The ideal setup is to have the sun at the hunter’s back.

  Full-body plastic decoys are the most realistic. A dozen decoys will work fine for most crow hunting situations.

  There are two classic decoy setups for crows. The first is a feeding scenario, where a small group of crow decoys are on the ground with a sentry crow decoy placed on a tree limb above them. The second is a fight setup, with a Great Horned Owl decoy on a pole or fence post with crow decoys surrounding the owl decoy on nearby tree limbs. Crows hate raptors, especially owls, and will harass these birds wherever they find them.

  To hunt crows, residents and non-residents are required to have a valid Kentucky hunting license plus a Kentucky migratory bird permit or a Kentucky waterfowl permit.

  Follow this link for more crow hunting information in the 2010-2011 Kentucky Dove, Wood Duck, Teal, Woodcock, Snipe and Crow Hunting Guide: http://fw.ky.gov/pdf/doveguide1011.pdf . This guide is also available free wherever hunting licenses are sold or you may request one by calling 1-800-858-1549.

   If you didn’t already know it there is a unique fishery in southern Missouri just north of the Arkansas border. The place is Lake Taneycomo near Branson. There are many things that make this lake different from others but I think the main reason that keeps people flocking to its clear water is the fact that you can fish for trout year round.

  Missouri, like most states, have specific seasons for the fishing of trout but not at Lake Taneycomo. Any time of the year rainbow and brown trout can be taken here. The Missouri Department of Conservation stocks rainbow trout regularly throughout the year with brown trout being stocked on an annual basis. The Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery raises browns and rainbows to a size of 10 – 12 inches for stocking in the lake.

  To the first time visitor seeing the narrow confines of the lake and its swift current can be confusing. After all you don’t normally see water in a lake moving by at 10 – 30 mph. Why is there a current? Looking at how the lake is formed may shed some light on the subject.

  The lake starts at the foot of Table Rock Dam, a 250 foot high concrete and earth embankment dam that forms Table Rock Lake, and flows roughly 18 miles where it dumps over the Powersite Dam and begins Bull Shoals Lake. When the electric generators are running at Table Rock Dam the lake turns into a flowing river which makes for some great drift fishing. When the power generators are off the lake becomes a picturesque clear water lake.

  I recently was able to make the 4 1/2 hour trip to Branson to try my luck. It had been a couple of years since I’d been there and the thought of hooking into a trophy size trout had me excited.

  The first day of fishing the water wasn’t running and we were a bit disappointed as it has been our experience that the fishing is better when the water is moving. That’s only because I or any of the fellows I hang with fly-fish. So we decided to make our own current by slowly trolling along with our bait bouncing along the bottom.

  The basic drift rig that we use is to place a couple of split shot about 15” above your hook, The amount of weight depends upon how fast the current is moving as you want your weight bouncing on the bottom with your bait floating up behind it. You can take the time and rig up what is called the "Taneycomo drift rig" if desired. It consists of a snap or 3-way swivel with a 24" leader attached to your hook or lure with a weight on a 12" leader on the bottom. This is a great rig to use but when the current is moving fast and furious and you get snagged, and believe me you will get snagged at some point, it takes a lot of time to retie the whole thing while in a boat as you drift through a honey hole or if you’re the guy running the boat and in charge of keeping you off the bank or away for obstacles. So we refined it to make it faster to get back into the game quickly.

  They did start running water late in the afternoon which improved our catch to snag ratio. But after fishing for 9 hours we called it a day. I was the only one who didn’t keep their four fish limit. We thought it a bit odd that no one hooked into a brownie.

  The next day the fishing improved as they ran water all day long. Of course I only caught one fish that morning, a 1lb 2 oz rainbow. I know it’s not that big especially when you see the pictures hanging at the resort of recent catches of 7 and 8 pounders but it was the biggest trout I had ever caught.

  That day everyone was able to keep their limit but still no browns. Oh well, they have to at least 20" long to keep. Still it would have been great to hook into one.

  Trout can be caught on a lot of different baits and lures at Taneycomo. A lot of folks drift fish Power Bait in various colors. We always seem to do the best with pink, chartreuse, white and orange in different combinations or doubled up on one color. You’ll just have to try different colors and combinations until you find a pattern.

  Another way is to take a nightcrawler, cut it in half, and hook it in the middle letting the ends wiggle and move while drifting along.

  Use a #6 bait-holder hook in either situation. This trip I decided to try a #6 Kahle hook. It worked just as well if not better because the trout didn’t swallow it as often allowing me to release them unharmed. I plan on using it the next time I trout fish too.

  Lures that take fish include jigs in various colors, rooster-tails, spoons, roadrunners and of course all types of flies for the fly-fisherman.

  One more thing to pass along. When you’re drifting along you’ll feel you "rig" bouncing along the bottom and see your rod tip snapping back and forth as it goes through and over the rocky bottom. The key to feeling a strike is when you feel a series of really fast bumps that go kind of "tap,tap,tap" and not the one bump or pull on the rod as your weight bounces along the bottom. When you feel the "tap, tap, tap" in rapid succession, set the hook. It will take awhile to get the feel of it but "when in doubt, set the hook." If you didn’t get the fish just let your bait settle back to the bottom and continue on. Like I said it takes a little bit to get the feel of it but worth the effort once you hook into one of Taneycomo’s scrappy trout.

  Like a said earlier, you can fish for trout year round at Lake Taneycomo with early spring, February and March standing out and September and October in the fall. But don’t overlook the summer months. While the wife and kids are in town shopping or catching the shows you can be on the lake enjoying the coolness the 50 degree water gives off.

  If you want more information about this trout fishery or any of the other great fishing spots in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas visit www.ozarkanglers.com. Also if you’re looking for a great place to stay, contact Lilley’s Landing at www.lilleyslanding.com. Until next time.

   As society becomes more aware of the risks of exposure to blood-borne pathogens, i.e., HIV, hepatitis, West Nile virus, etc., it's apparent we must be cautious with more than just HUMAN blood. Any blood has the capability of carrying blood-borne pathogens (a virus, microorganism, or other substance that causes disease).

  That scampering squirrel and regal 10-point buck may be carrying a pathogen that could land you in the hospital, possibly even the morgue! So...do you give up hunting? Do you resign yourself to watching hunting videos in the safety of your own home? Look, you could still get West Nile from the mosquito that just flew in when you were paying the pizza boy!

  Don't give up the adventures, just take a few more precautions.

  Make sure your hands are relatively clean before you even start dressing your game. Soap and running water is the best way to wash, but if that's not available, use sanitizing wipes. They come individually packaged these days and are small and lightweight enough to carry in your pack or pocket.

  Limit the amount of blood you get on you. Wear gloves. Disposable gloves are inexpensive and can dramatically reduce, even eliminate, contact with blood. You can pickup a disposable pair of field dressing gloves at most sporting good stores for a couple of bucks a pair. Most come with a pair of shoulder length gloves with some rubber bands to keep them secure on your upper arms. The advantages to these are they keep your arms and/or shirt sleeves free of blood while cleaning the chest cavity of large game.

  For small game like squirrels, rabbits, and doves just a regular pair of disposable gloves will do. If you regularly wait and clean your game at home, you might invest in a pair of long latex gloves that you can just wash off with soap when you're done and save them for the next time you bring home the bacon. Buy them in the cleaning section of your local supermarket.

  Obviously, anytime you get done cleaning game, wash your hands and arms thoroughly. Use an antibacterial soap for best results.

  The use of waterless sanitizing hand cleaners has become popular in recent years. They claim to kill up to 99% of germs they come in contact with so they are very effective. But even if you use one, wash you hands thoroughly at the first opportunity. Better to be safe than sorry.

  Next thing to keep in mind is to keep the meat clean. Minimize the meats' contact with the animal's hair and intestinal contents. These also are frequently full of pathogens. Lastly, don't contaminate the meat with other germs. There are hazardous pathogens "laying in weight" for a nice warm piece of meat to invade. After field dressing large game, wipe out the inside with a rag, leaves or grass to remove excess blood.

  Reduce the growth of bacteria by keeping the carcass cool. Thirty five to forty degrees should inhibit the growth of many pathogens. In addition, trim away any blood-shot, bruised or damaged portions of the carcass because bacterial growth will be more rapid there.

  Sanitize your knives, meat coolers, work counters and any other equipment that had contact with the meat or animal parts with a 1 part bleach to 10 parts water solution. Some pathogens can remain dormant on an unsanitized surface for months just waiting for a new host.

  Lastly, cook the meat thoroughly. Cooking to 165 degrees kills most bacteria. This means cooking the meat until it is medium-well to well done.

  Don't miss the adventure, just take care, for the good health of you and your family. Until next time...Maggie.