BY LARRY DABLEMONT | January 7, 2026

Right now in the Ozarks, there are eagles everywhere, and each spring more and more of them nest here. If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you know where eagles nest, and it is very easy to see them. I found a new eagles nest this week, and counted about a dozen different birds, about half of them immature.

Last year we floated a river in early January and found five eagles feeding on the carcass of one deer on a gravel bar. As years go by, they become more and more docile, and now you can easily get within a few yards of eagles along the river in winter, so if there is anyone who wants to photo one, it becomes rather easily.

One fall in Canada, we were feeding smaller yellow perch to an eagle out in the middle of nowhere, and would get to within 15 or 20 feet of her almost every day we went out. She had two eaglets, both a little bigger than her in that stage of their development, and they were tagging around, waiting for her to give them their share. 

I heard more sounds from those three eagles than I have never heard from any. The young ones sat in a tree one evening just before dark and whistled almost exactly like quail regrouping before dark after being scattered. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. If I hadn’t seen it and heard it, I would have bet all I had heard was the sound from bobwhite quail.

I do not worry about the eagle population. They are becoming very numerous, and in ten years there will be even more of them. In time biologists are going to be wondering if some numbers in some areas shouldn’t be controlled. They’ll start becoming a problem for newborn sheep and newborn cattle.

Another treasure I obtained recently is a little wooden shelf, which obviously was made by a true craftsman. A lady brought it to a book signing and I traded her one of my books for it. I didn’t know who made it. On the back it says, “Early American Craftsmanship by that Crafty Early American, J. F. Keefe”. 

Jim Keefe was one of my heroes when I went to University of Missouri. He was the editor of the Missouri Conservationist, an old-time country outdoorsman who loved to hunt with muzzle-loaders. Keefe, with a limited budget, put out a great little black and white magazine that talked and taught real conservation, a far cry from the million-dollar piece of propaganda the MDC puts out today.

Mr. Keefe published a couple of my first magazine articles, and I would go to the brand-new offices in Jefferson City to talk to him as often as possible, about writing, about hunting, and about conservation. 

I won’t be somewhere on New Years Eve blowing a horn and drinking that stuff that comes from France, acting like I can’t wait to see a New Year come. I hate losing the old one. Every time the calendar gets a new number, there are fewer days to enjoy the woods and the waters and fewer opportunities to learn more about the perfection of God’s creation. 

But I might take a little walk out in the woods behind my house on the last night of 2025 and see if I can hear a coyote or a great horned owl. I’ll be asleep at midnight and greet the New Year the next morning with hopes of finding some good duck-hunting soon.

I won’t wish you a prosperous new year; I wish you peace and contentment and good health. Those things can indeed be found without the wealth men are intent on today. It is part of the little treasures God grants to those who are happy with what they are, and the blessings they are given.

I came across a valuable piece of history this past week when I bought a little book entitled, “Hillbilly Humor” by Jim Owens, the man who got float-fishing started on the White River and became famous because of it. I was pleasantly surprised to find it autographed by Jim Owens. Again, it might be worth more than I sell any of my own books for. To me it is a treasure.

Remember that on Saturday, Dec. 20, I will be giving away a book entitled, “Dogs, Ducks and Hayrack Bucks” to kids at my Big Piney nature center a mile south of Houston, Mo., on Highway 63.  The address is 1640 S. Hwy 63.  We’ll have a big sale that day with lots of outdoor gear and art for sale.  For more information call my office, 417 777 5227.