Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 14, 1993 TAG: 9310140046
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I was down at the bottom of my tree and he was tearing through the woods like a bulldozer," Perdue said.
The "he" Perdue heard was a bear, which he stopped with an arrow at 18 to 20 yards.
Other bowhunters haven't found game to be in that big of a hurry. In fact, many report that deer haven't been doing much moving at all.
The archery season came in a week early this fall, and some bowhunters were happy about that, until they noticed that a full moon preceded the deer season by two days.
Deer tend to move more at night, rather than daylight hours, when the woods and fields are bathed by moonlight. Also, there is more mast this season than last, which means deer don't have to travel as far for food. So archers are spending more time looking at autumn's beauty they they are dragging game from the woods.
Even so, some big game stations have been doing a brisk business. Northside Supply in Bedford County has checked 20 deer, but nothing really of trophy size, said Robert Karnes.
"We've had some seven-to eight-pointers, but the racks haven't been heavy," he said.
\ COMPLETE ANGLER: David Brown, a retired football coach who lives in Dublin, doesn't like the idea of spending $10 for a surface plug when he goes fishing in Florida. So he makes his own 3-ounce lures.
He was trying one out on the New River recently when a 25-pound, 48-inch muskie gobbled it up.
"I also have the hobby of taxidermy," said Brown, who took his catch home and mounted it for his wall.
\ STRIPER JACKPOT: When state fish officials recently drained their rearing ponds at the Brookneal hatchery they had hoped to find 20,000 "Phase II" striped bass for stocking in Smith Mountain Lake. What they got were 32,582.
The Phase II fish represent an experimental stocking of larger fingerlings, which officials hope will ensure better survival. The fish averaged 4 1/2 inches in length, twice the size of the stripers normally stocked. Earlier in the summer, about 250,000 regular fingerlings were stocked.
The first release of Phase II fish occurred last year, when 13,000 were stocked.
\ LOST RECORD: Dick Gunter of Lynchburg landed a smallmouth bass from the James River that weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces. That's 5 ounces better than the New River catch that has stood as the state record for nearly seven years.
But you won't find Gunter's fish in the record book. He failed to have its weighing witnessed by a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries official, something required before any fish becomes a record.
\ FISHING FOR VOTES: Mary Sue Terry will be appealing for the votes of outdoorsmen during a meeting organized by Conservationists for Terry, 2 p.m. today at Roanoke's Smith Park.
As the meeting was being organized, the National Rifle Association was mailing "George Allen Governor" bumper stickers to sportsmen across the state. Allen has been courting sportsmen for several weeks under an organization called Commonwealth Sportsmen's Alliance.
In her remarks today, Terry is expected to endorse efforts to have the two percent boat titling tax go to the state's boating program rather than the general fund. The people who buy hunting and fishing license subsidize the state's boating program to the tune of $2-million annually, because the titling tax doesn't end up where it should.
\ TROUT ON HOLD: The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries plans a fall release of trout, but it wants to see more water in streams before the hatchery trucks begin to roll.
Recent rains have helped, but many streams remain low after a dry summer. Officials say they will stock as late as January if they must.
Meanwhile, Shawn Magee landed a 4 3/4-pound brown trout while casting Berkley Power Bait to the Smith River in Henry County.
For a report on other catches, call InfoLine, 981-0100 (382-0200 in New River Valley) and punch in 3016.
by CNB