Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 10, 1994 TAG: 9402100059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The deer kill was a record 201,122. That's a modest increase of 676 animals, but still enough make it the sixth record season in a row.
Most of the increase came from private land east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In the west, the kill was down 10 percent, which helps explain why many sportsmen found the hunting tougher there than during previous seasons.
The preliminary bear-kill count is 781, which is down from the 813 reported a couple of weeks ago but still a record. The previous count was inflated when some big-game tags were tallied that shouldn't have been, said Dennis Martin, a state game biologist. The previous record was 657, set in 1991.
The fall-winter turkey kill was a stable 11,194 birds, down 266 from the previous season.
\ TROUT STOCKING: Hatchery trucks bearing a wiggly cargo of trout will start rolling toward cold-water streams and lakes beginning Monday, in preparation for March 19, the opening day of the season.
Some 400 miles of streams and 20 impoundments are scheduled to receive more than one million trout during preseason and in-season releases.
\ PHILPOTT IS HOT: Excellent catches of black bass continue to be reeled in from Philpott Lake, many of them hooked on a three-quarter ounce Hopkins Shorty spoon. Don Hiatt of Mount Airy, N.C., and Jim Ayers of Cana caught a dozen smallmouths and two largemouths weighing up to 4 pounds while jigging a Hopkins.
Minnows have been working well, too. Ray Wilson of Ridgeway caught eight smallmouths on minnows.
Hopkins Shortys and bucktails are producing a few striped bass at Smith Mountain Lake. Most are coming from Hales Ford Bridge down to the S-Curve, said Bob King at the Honey Hole.
Roger Dixon and Grey Mundy traveled to Moomaw Lake and were turned back by 3 inches of ice on the water. So they fished for trout in the Jackson River below the dam. Casting a jig on 4-pound line, Dixon landed a 23-inch brown estimated to weigh more than 5 pounds.
\ BAD ROADS: This winter, with its deep freezes and thaws, has been especially tough on backwoods roads.
So bad that the Jefferson National Forest has closed several, which may remain that way until late March.
If you are planning to travel the roads of the Jefferson, you may want to call ahead for a road status update. The headquarters number is 265-6054.
\ BILLS: The Senate has passed a bill (SB 399), by a vote of 31-5, that would make it illegal to buy or sell bears or bear parts. Under current law, bears and bear parts may be sold only during the open hunting season. By eliminating that selling period, it would be illegal to deal in such sales any time.
A House bill (HB 1282) is designed to help crack down on drunk boat operators. The measure would lower the blood-alcohol level from 0.10 to 0.08 in determining when a boater is DUI.
Another boating bill (HB 1299) would require any boat towing a water skier to carry an observer and for the water skiers to wear life preservers. Under current law, a boat operator can pull skiers without an observer, but when that's the case the skiers must wear life preservers.
There are a couple of bills designed to exempt people from paying a user fee to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for operating on public water. One (HB 1005) exempts local governments from fees for putting on a regatta, race, marine parade, fishing tournament or exhibition. Another (HB 196) would prohibit the board from charging a fee in order to put on a regatta, which includes sailboat races.
\ DEER SEMINAR: The NRA is expecting a hefty turnout when its 100-city Great American Hunters Tour stops off at the Roanoke Civic Center on Friday. Tickets will be available at the door beginning at 5 p.m., with the program starting at 6:30 p.m. Tickets will sell for $15; NRA members get a $5 discount.
by CNB