Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 4, 1993 TAG: 9311040014
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Some checking stations in the western part of the state have been reporting only one turkey for every five-to-seven deer registered since Monday's opening of the turkey and muzzle-loading deer seasons.
State wildlife biologists had predicted that turkeys would be tough to find. Their numbers are down, and the flocks that are out there are scattered, due to an abundant food supply. They can feed quickly, without leaving many signs for hunters or scents for dogs.
Add to that, opening day offered extremely poor hunting conditions, with high winds - even blizzards - in some areas.
You have to also wonder how much of an impact the muzzle-loading season is making on the turkey kill. For the first time, both the turkey season and the muzzle-loading deer season opened the same day. Some hunters who normally would have marched off into the woods bearing a turkey gun opted for a muzzle-loader.
Many hunters welcomed the choice, but Bob Bailey, an avid turkey hunter from Troutville, saw the black-powder hunters as intruders.
"I'm a very disappointed Botetourt turkey hunter," he said. "The season is repulsive. Any real turkey hunter does not want the company of deer hunters in the woods."
Black-powder hunters have been catching up with decent numbers of bucks, but few have been the kind to send anyone trotting to a taxidermist shop.
"They have been getting some seven- and eight-pointers, but the racks are small," said Robert Karnes, who operates a check station at Northside Supply in Bedford County.
One of the best bucks of the muzzle-loading season was a nine-pointer taken by Lawrence Journell of Fincastle. Eight-pointers have been killed by Denny Long, Kevin Minix, David Simmons, Chris Anderson, J.B. Hurd, Woody Darr, John Harris and Jerry Helms.
Andy Roberts of Roanoke killed a six-pointer with his bow last week, and a spike with his black-powder gun this week. Neither gave him the thrill of watching his 14-year-old daughter, Caroline, kill a four-pointer with a .54 caliber Hawkins.
\ HAPPY ARCHERS: John Absher of Christiansburg had watched two deer pass by his tree stand in Montgomery County during a bowhunt. Both stayed in the brush out of arrow's harm. When he spotted a 200-pound bear, Absher feared the same thing might happen. But even after the bear appeared to spot him, it kept on coming. Absher took it with a 20-yard shot.
Erik Mitchell, 11, of Christiansburg, killed a four-point buck during a bowhunt near Blacksburg. Mitchell had shot a deer during an earlier outing, but someone apparently took it before he could claim it.
\ MORE RAIN NEEDED: Recent rains have helped the flow of streams, but many remain too low for trout stocking.
"We need several days of steady rain to bring the water up," said George Duckwall, fish cultural supervisor for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "Things have been terrible."
Some hatcheries - Paint Bank an example - have had better stocking conditions than others. The Montebello hatchery, which serves the Shenandoah Valley and Eastern Piedmont, hasn't been able to do any stocking because of extreme low-water conditions. Even some impoundments in the area are too low to receive fish. Sugar Hollow Reservoir, near Charlottesville, is down 34 feet.
If you want to know what has been stocked, hatcheries will give you that information each Friday. The phone numbers: Coursey Springs, 703-925-2343; Marion, 703-783-4860; Montebello, 703-377-2418; Paint Bank, 703-897-5401; Wytheville, 703-637-3212.
For other fishing information, call InfoLine, Roanoke, 981-0100; New River, 382-0200, then 3016.
by CNB