Outdoors in the Ozarks | Three Rivers Publishing

I know a tributary to Truman Lake that normally is little more than a creek, but when the area gets enough rain and the lake rises it draws a big bunch of white bass. So I went up there a week … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 5/12/26

Larry Dablemont at a camp in the National Forest hunting turkey.

Wild turkey gobblers

My grandfather got his first breech-loader shotgun in 1911 by guiding turkey hunters in the fall and winter in north Texas County on his father’s land bordering a northern section of the Big Piney … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 5/6/26

The Declining Wild Gobbler

I came across a wild turkey nest with eight eggs in it in late April. I doubted it would have many more because the hen was sitting on the nest incubating them before I came along in mid-morning. … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 5/5/26

Lots of water to fish

Last week, I let the waters I normally fish recede, and fished some farm ponds. And though they were all full, the bass didn’t seem to mind. If you want to catch a good-sized bass from a pond or … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 4/28/26

At my turkey camp in the Ouachita mountains of Arkansas in the mid 1980's.

Hunting wild turkey gobblers

My grandfather got his first breech-loader shotgun in 1911 by guiding turkey hunters in the fall and winter in north Texas County on his father’s land bordering a northern section of the Big Piney … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 4/21/26

The importance of a good knife

I found an old pocket-knife the other day, fairly rusty, and with part of the handle gone. It had three blades, but one was broken. If you soaked it in oil and sanded away the rust and … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 4/14/26

Nothing beats fishing on an Ozark Rivers

There is a different kind of fishing in April and May in the Ozarks, something that goes back a couple hundred years… grabbing suckers. It’s a pretty simple thing. When the suckers are running … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 4/7/26

Old Turkey Hunter

I have an extensive collection of old magazines and I thought some readers might enjoy this ancient story on turkey hunting. It was entitled “The Gentle Art of Turkey Hunting” and appeared … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 3/31/26

Before today's turkey biologists were born, I was wandering through the woods hunting wild turkeys. I shoot dozens a year now with my camera and there are fewer each year!

Wild Turkey Numbers Falling

Dennis Whiteside is a float-fishing guide who travels down a dozen or more streams across the Ozarks of Missouri each year, through all seasons. He also is someone very knowledgeable about wild … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 3/24/26

Bad hunting and fishing trips we'd like to forget

All through the fall hunting season, those of us who love to hunt waterfowl prayed for rain. The one thing you need for great duck hunting is plenty of water, and we just didn't have it. It is … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 3/17/26

The best time for walleye fishing is now

Walleye are a different kind of fish! They may not always be in deep water, but they are almost always close to the bottom. If you are serious about walleye fishing, you have to give it some effort; … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 3/10/26

Walleye time

Walleye are a different kind of fish! They may not always be in deep water, but they are almost always close to the bottom. If you are serious about walleye fishing, you have to give it some … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 3/4/26

Some thoughts about fishing

I’ve got a couple of things to pass along concerning Ozark lakes that are really interesting. One is about crappie fishing in Norfork Lake where biologists just recently finished a lead-net … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 3/3/26

An Owl Before Dawn

There is no more efficient predator than a great horned owl. Silent and deadly, he can eat whatever he wants, up to and including a roosting wild turkey. Their flight is completely silent, and they … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 2/25/26

Firewood in abundance

I went to Bull Shoals Lake last week and you can see the effects of the drought there, as it is lower than I have ever seen it. The Ozarks of both Missouri and Arkansas need inches of … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 2/18/26

Eat More Rabbits

By the time you read this, the snow will likely be gone, and I will have eaten the last fried rabbit of the winter. If you don’t eat a fried rabbit or two each winter, you aren’t living right. … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 2/11/26

Eat more rabbits

By the time you read this, the snow will likely be gone, and I will have eaten the last fried rabbit of the winter. If you don’t eat a fried rabbit or two each winter, you aren’t living right. … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 2/4/26

Donald Cranor and client with a big brown trout

The White and the Browns

Every year at this time I mention the great trout fishing found on the White River… where the brown trout reach gigantic sizes. Brown trout are more active in January and February because it is … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 2/4/26

Visiting the Old Homeplace Covey

Old Luke had found them and there wasn't any doubt about that. He stood there in the woodland cover with his tail high and head forward, his body twisted slightly with one foreleg lifted, … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 1/21/26

In the Middle of the Night

A few years ago the Missouri Department of Conservation paid out one million dollars as a result of a lawsuit brought about because two agents violated the law by entering a barn without permission … more

By Larry Dablemont, Contributing Columnist | 1/14/26