The reasons to visit the St. Louis area are too many to count.
Cardinals games, concerts at The Fox, dinners on The Hill and walks through the St. Louis Zoo are a few of my favorites, along with trips to August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area.
Busch is home to the Missouri Department of Conservation regional office. The visitor center has a lot of interesting and educational displays for adults and children and there are classrooms available for use. You can purchase licenses and permits in the visitor center, along with books, videos and other outdoor-related goods. The 1,300 gallon fish tank holds some local favorites, like crappie and catfish. But it's what's found outdoors that makes Busch truly special.
A lot of classes and instructional workshops take place at Busch. Just in the next few weeks, these workshops are being held: Intro to Duck Calling, Discover Nature Fishing Wingshooting Warm Up, and Introduction to Bow Fishing.
Conservation Areas are perfect places to learn how to do outdoor activities, because you can come back and participate on your own.
At 6,987 acres, Busch is enormous. It's also very diverse and inviting, as the property caters to many different sports and pasttimes. Wildlife viewing trails weave through out the property, making Busch a great place for taking a leisurely stroll with binoculars and a camera. With multiple habitat types, including hardwoods, marsh and prairie, birding is popular on the property. So is bicycling, dog training, outdoor photography, hunting and fishing.
Busch is a superb place to fish for anglers of all skill levels, but it is a special place for beginning or novice anglers. There are plenty of fishing opportunities from the shore and community fishing piers, but you can also rent boats. In fact, private boats are not allowed, so rental boats are the only option. Only oars and electric motors are allowed, so there is no disturbance of the peace from loud outboard motors.
There are 28 fishable lakes and ponds on the property. Some are better than others, and some have certain species, like muskie, striped bass, catfish and trout stocked in them. Crappie, bass and bluegill are the main attractions, and are found in good numbers and size. When fishing at Busch, you can come away with a mess of fish for the freezer and a whopper for the wall.
Special events take place on the property through out the year, and Kids Fishing Days are some of the best. These events are designed to help families and youths learn about fish and fishing. All the equipment is provided along with proper instruction. Check the website or call the office to find out when the next ones are.
The property is open to hunting, but a lot of restrictions apply. Hunting for deer, turkey and waterfowl is all through special managed hunts. Rabbits can be hunted Jan. 1-Feb. 15, but with shotgun only, meaning no .22 rifles. You can hunt doves, but you need valid area daily hunting tag.
Busch is also home to a world-class shooting facility for firearms and archery. The firearms range is closed for renovations, but the archery range has been updated to an incredible status with a static range with 20 targets, including 14 targets arranged from 10-40 yards in 5-yard increments. It has an elevated platform to shoot from.
There are two walk-through field archery ranges. One is a mile-long loop and the other is a half-mile, out-and-back trail. Both have 14 target stations. Target distances vary from 10-60 yards.
August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area is a great place to experience nature in the St. Louis area. You can hunt, fish, hike, bird-watch and so much more. Add a little outdoor adventure to your next trip to the city. For more information, visit http://mdc.mo.gov/regions/st-louis/august-busch-memorial-conservation-area.
See you down the trail ...
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Brandon Butler, the executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri, is an outdoors columnist for the News Tribune. Contact him at [email protected].