Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9410110072
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Seasons were lengthened and bag limits were increased as bowhunters went afield in record numbers, bearing improved equipment to stalk an ever increasing deer herd.
Then, last season, bow license sales declined by about 3,000, and the kill figure also took a slide, dropping from 17,646 to 15,900. While that wasn't exactly a crash, it was a bit disconcerting because it was the first time in years anyone could remember that a record wasn't set. It occurred during a season when gun hunters did established a record.
So when the bow season opened Saturday, not many people were asking: ``Is the bow season unfair?'' That especially wasn't on the minds of those who found difficulty catching up with a deer.
The ``are-they-getting-too-successful?'' remarks now are most often directed toward muzzleloaders, who saw a 25 percent increase in their ranks last season and a 115 percent increase in their kill.
Where does all this leave bowhunting?
``We may be leveling off a little bit, but I think we are yet to hit the peak in bowhunting that we are going to hit,'' said Bob Duncan, chief of the wildlife division of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
Local bow shops see no dampening of enthusiasm for the 1994 season.
``If you stood around here now, your hair would be standing on edge with the static electricity running through this place,'' said Johnny Grace, owner of Star City Archery in Salem.
Over at Trebark Outfitters-Bryansteens Gun Shop in Roanoke County, Ken Wilkes was reporting brisk business.
``We have been writing licenses all day. The archery shop has been full of people,'' he said on the eve of the season.
A change in the license structure was a factor in the lower participation last year, said Grace. Some archers saw themselves as a loser in a new big-game tag system. They perceived the new license as costing them more money and affording them fewer deer tags.
``There was a ton of people out there who didn't buy them just in protest,'' Grace said. ``To me it was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard. Good Lord, for what you get out of that license, if you had to pay $500 it was a good deal.''
``Bowhunting still is a tremendously popular thing,'' Duncan said.
But without question, it has growing competition, especially from the two-week early muzzleloading season.
``I suspect that at least some of the decline in bowhunting is because people switched to muzzleloading,'' said Duncan. ``They have just so much time to hunt. Instead of being a three season hunter - bow, muzzleloading and gun - they dropped one.''
There were a number of hunters Saturday who were happy that they didn't make the switch. You can count Jackie Stevens of Bedford County among them. Stevens killed a six-point buck in Bedford County. The same county produced a four-pointer for Roger Edwards.
Mark Sayre of Blue Ridge killed a spike buck in Botetourt County.
By noon, Old Mill Grocery in Fincastle had checked five deer; Northside Supply in Bedford County had checked four and Sunset Market near Eagle Rock had checked two.
Bowhunting was back, so it appeared.
by CNB