Tag: Missouri

Missouri deer hunter charged after shooting cougar from tree stand

Mountain lions are protected in Missouri and the animal was walking away from the elevated stand when it was shot.

A Missouri deer hunter who shot and killed a mountain lion as it passed beneath his tree stand last month has been charged with a misdemeanor.

According to KY3 News, Joseph Licklider of Desloge, Mo., informed the Iron County Sheriff’s Department on Nov. 16 that he had shot the mountain lion, or cougar, while in the tree stand with his partner.

Missouri does not have an established cougar population, but a handful of sightings are reported each year. The protected animals can only be killed in self-defense or to protect pets or livestock.

The cougar that Licklider killed was wearing research tags from the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission, and walking away from the elevated stand when it was shot.

The charge for illegally killing protected wildlife was leveled after an investigation determined that Licklider’s action was unjustified. He’s scheduled to appear in court in February 2025.

Where the New Orleans Saints were scouting 2025 draft prospects this week

Where were the New Orleans Saints scouting 2025 draft prospects this week? Their scouts were spotted at a couple of high-profile matchups:

Where were the New Orleans Saints scouting during this week’s college football games? Their scouting department is spread out nationwide catching  games and filling out reports on 2025 NFL draft prospects, but we only know where they are when it’s reported. This week’s news had them at several high-profile matchups.

Per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Eli Hoff, the Saints were one of six teams scouting Mizzou’s game with Auburn. It’s at least the second time this season they were watching Missouri live, and the school’s best prospect is wide receiver Luther Burden III, a likely top-10 pick in the 2025 draft class. The 5-foot-11, 208-pound wideout totaled 6 receptions for 49 yards against Auburn and is up to 168 catches, 2,034 yards, and 19 touchdowns in his career. He’s also gained 209 rushing yards and scored four times on just 30 carries as a runner.

But that’s not all. The Saints joined half the league in scouting all of the early-round prospects competing in Texas-Georgia on Saturday night, a game the Bulldogs won handily. Quarterbacks Carson Beck and Quinn Ewers have both also earned top-10 buzz, but they took a step back against the future NFL players on each other’s defenses. Beck was intercepted three times and Ewers was briefly benched in favor of Arch Manning after throwing an interception and taking several sacks.

This may not be the year to look for a quarterback early on. The Saints need help at multiple positions, and it could be worth taking the best player available if they hold onto their position with a top-10 pick. We’re waiting for the rest of Week 7’s games to resolve, but Sunday morning’s Jacksonville Jaguars win put the Saints at No. 6 overall.

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Photos of three top 10 SEC football upsets in Week 6

PHOTOS: Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Arkansas pull off top 10 upsets in Week 6

Week 6 of the college football season concluded on Saturday. Week 6 featured three top 10 upsets in the Southeastern Conference.

The SEC slate kicked off with No. 21 Texas A&M (5-1, 3-0 SEC) and No. 9 Missouri (4-1, 1-1 SEC) on Saturday. The Aggies were victorious, 41-10, at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.

Saturday’s second top 10 upset took place at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt (3-2,1-1 SEC) defeated No. 1 Alabama (4-1, 1-1 SEC), 40-35.

Week 6 in the SEC concluded with Arkansas (4-2, 2-1 SEC) defeating No. 4 Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC), 19-14, at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

READ: Updated 2024 SEC football power rankings after Week 6

Below are photos of the three top 10 upsets in the SEC during Week 6.

Saints among 10 teams with scouts at Texas A&M vs. Missouri

The New Orleans Saints were among 10 teams with scouts at Texas A&M’s game with Missouri on Saturday. Who could they have been scouting?

There’s always a strong contingent of NFL scouts at Kyle Field, but the New Orleans Saints were in that number for Saturday’s matchup between Texas A&M and Missouri, per Joey Van Zummeren at Missouri Tigers on SI. Which 2025 draft prospects could the Saints have their eye on?

Defensive end/outside linebacker Nic Scourton is the top prospect for the Aggies, and he has the size the Saints covet at a listed 6-foot-4 and 285 pounds. Before transferring from Purdue he led the Big 10 in sacks (10) in 2023, and he’s seen as a sure thing for the first round. His teammates along the defensive interior, Shemar Stewart and Shemar Turner, are also likely to be picked early next year, and quarterback Conner Weigman is high on some draft boards, too.

But the best prospect in the game was wide receiver Luther Burden. A potential first overall pick in his own right, Burden broke out with 85 receptions for 1,212 yards and scored 9 touchdowns last year, and he’s since picked up where he left off with four scores in as many games. Right tackle  Armand Membou has an NFL future, too, and his matchup with Scourton could do a lot to impact his draft stock.

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Jaida Thomas scores 40th career goal for Lady Vols

Tennessee soccer defeats Missouri and Jaida Thomas scores 40th career goal.

Tennessee (7-1-3, 2-0-2) defeated Missouri (3-7-2, 1-3-1), 1-0, on Friday at Regal Soccer Stadium.

Jaida Thomas made her first start of the season for the Lady Vols and scored the contest’s only goal in the 21st minute. The redshirt senior forward has scored 40 goals since arriving at Tennessee in 2019.

Thomas is second all time in Tennessee program history for career goals behind Kylee Rossi (43).

She also recorded her 12th career game-winning goal. Thomas is fourth all time in Tennessee program history for career game-winning goals.

Tennessee will next play on Oct. 10 at Arkansas. Kickoff between the Lady Vols and Razorbacks is slated for 7:30 p.m. EDT.

Jaida Thomas. Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire

Notre Dame men’s golf wins Canadian Collegiate Invitational

Congrats, Irish!

The Notre Dame men’s golf team had to make up 11 shots on the last day of the Canadian Collegiate Invitational to win it. With skill and a bit of luck (no pun intended), the Irish were able to make the shots necessary to do just that. They shot 17-under-par over the three rounds for a final score of 847, five shots better than Missouri and Michigan.

The Irish, who were tied with the Wolverines in second to start the final round, shot 6-under during the final round at Oviinbyrd Golf Club in MacTier, Ontario, benefiting from the Tigers shooting a 10-over. The Irish tied with fifth-place Michigan State for the best score of the round.

All four Irish golfers included in the scoring shot under par in the last round. [autotag]Nate Stevens[/autotag] and [autotag]Rocco Salvitti[/autotag] shot 2-under, and [autotag]Jacob Modleski[/autotag] and [autotag]Mike Qiu[/autotag] were 1-under. Stevens had the best overall score for the Irish, tying for eighth with a 6-under 210.

The Irish’s next tournament will be the Windon Memorial Classic, hosted by Northwestern on Sept. 29 and 30.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Top-rated 2025 Indiana recruit hypes official visit to Notre Dame

Will he pick the Irish?

Jalen Haralson is the top-rated 2025 recruit in the state of Indiana according to both 247Sports and On3. He played two years at Fishers before transferring to the prestigious La Lumiere. And he’s considering Notre Dame for his collegiate choice.

Haralson will make his official visit to Notre Dame on Saturday, the same day as the football team’s home opener against Northern Illinois. It will come exactly one weekend after he visited Indiana. Official visits to Michigan State, Missouri, Purdue and Kansas will follow.

Interestingly, all of Haralson’s official visits will come during home football games. It’s hard to tell how much, if at all, the football atmosphere will play a factor in his final decision.

In any case, Haralson is looking forward to visiting South Bend, and he indicated as much on social media:

There obviously is a long way to go before we know if Haralson picks the Irish. Until then, all we can is pray that he does.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Rookie DE Trajan Jeffcoat carted off during second Saints training practice

New Orleans Saints rookie defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat was carted off with an injury during Thursday’s training camp practice:

The New Orleans Saints have been dealing with injuries throughout the offseason, as has every team, and this issue was exacerbated Wednesday with a hamstring injury to second-year running back Kendre Miller. This continued into Thursday as rookie defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat was carted off the practice field with an elbow injury. He played college football at Arkansas and Missouri.

This is a tough break for Jeffcoat and the Saints, as there was a reasonable chance that he could have made the roster. The severity of the injury will determine the next course of action, but between the time he spent on the ground receiving assistance and needing a trainer’s cart to help him off the field, it sounds like a little more than a minor injury.

Jeffcoat was one of eight East-West Shrine Bowl players in this rookie class to be added by the Saints, along with:

  • WR Bub Means
  • DT Khristian Boyd
  • OL Josiah Ezirim
  • OL Kyle Hergel
  • TE Dallin Holker
  • RB Jacob Kibodi
  • P Matthew Hayball

Hopefully the injury to Jeffcoat is one that allows him to recover and return later this preseason, but we’ll keep an eye out for an update on his condition.

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Oklahoma picked to finish eighth in 2024 preseason SEC media poll

Oklahoma picked 8th in preseason media poll.

You’d have to go back quite a while before a preseason conference poll didn’t have Oklahoma as one of the top three teams in that conference. However, in 2024, with the Sooners joining the SEC, Brent Venables’ squad is doing just that as they stare down a predicted eighth-place finish by the SEC media on Friday afternoon.

After a fun week of media days that saw the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns acclimate themselves to their new conference, SEC media members voted on preseason accolades, the media poll, and the preseason champion.

Oklahoma’s eighth-place finish isn’t farfetched in a conference where the caliber of teams has risen dramatically. The Sooners will have to earn their respect.

Here’s how the rest of the SEC shakes out in front of the boys in Crimson and Cream.

Once again, the Georgia Bulldogs are the preseason favorite to win the conference. Oddly, the Texas Longhorns aren’t being treated in a similar fashion to the Oklahoma Sooners despite OU’s win over the Longhorns just last year. Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, Missouri and Tennessee also slot in front of them.

Here’s the kicker for the Sooners: They are scheduled to play every team picked ahead of them, with the exception of Georgia.

If the Sooners feel disrespected, and it’s hard to imagine they don’t, they have an entire season to prove the voters wrong. They can make liars out of everyone who voted against them.

Oklahoma will head into the season with plenty of questions, which is a central reason many are doubting the Sooners’ chance of pushing for a top-three or four finish in the conference.

Questions about [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag]’s readiness, Oklahoma’s revamped offensive line, and how Oklahoma’s defense will respond to another year in Brent Venables system. Each of these questions casts doubt on the new SEC members as they try to garner the respect of their new peers.

One thing is for certain, the Oklahoma Sooners shouldn’t lack motivation at any point this year.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Bryant on X @thatmanbryant.

The best public-access and private golf courses in Missouri, ranked

Our hundreds of raters weigh in on the best public-access and private courses in Missouri.

Looking to play the best golf courses in Missouri? Welcome to our annual Golfweek’s Best ranking of public-access and private courses.

Following are the rankings for both types of courses, as judged by our nationwide network of raters. The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce all our Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

The courses on the first list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time – no membership required.

KEY: (m) modern, built in 1960 or after; (c) classic, built before 1960. For courses with a number preceding the (m) or (c), that is where the course ranks on Golfweek’s Best lists for top 200 modern and classic courses in the U.S.

* indicates new or returning to the rankings

Best public-access courses in Missouri

Payne's Valley - Payne's Valley Cup
Payne’s Valley at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri (Courtesy of Big Cedar Lodge)

1. Big Cedar Lodge (Ozarks National)
Hollister (T167m)

2. Big Cedar Lodge (Buffalo Ridge)
Hollister (m)

3. Big Cedar Lodge (Payne’s Valley)
Hollister (m)

4. Branson Hills
Branson (m)
Book your tee time at Branson Hills today

5. Old Kinderhook
Camdenton (m)
Book your tee time at Old Kinderhook today

6. Swope Memorial
Kansas City (c)

7. Ledgestone
Branson (m)

8. Stone Canyon
Blue Springs (m)

9. Missouri Bluffs
St. Charles (m)

10. Rivercut
Springfield (m)

Best private courses in Missouri

St. LOUIS, MO - MAY 15: A view of hole eight at Bellerive Country Club, home of the 2018 PGA Championship on May 15, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Gary Kellner/PGA of America via Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
Bellerive Country Club in Missouri (Gary Kellner/PGA of America via Getty Images)

1. St. Louis CC
St. Louis (53c)

2. Bellerive
Creve Coeur (T107m)

3. Old Warson
Ladue (c)

4. Dalhousie
Cape Girardeau (m)

5. Norwood Hills (West)
St. Louis (c)