Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 13, 1994                   TAG: 9410130041
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PLENTY OF TROPHY-SIZE BUCKS ROAMING AT THE ARSENAL

Maybe not Boone and Crockett quality, but trophies, nonetheless. The kind that would send most any hunter proudly trotting to the taxidermist.

Just where is this herd of wall hangers?

The Radford Army Ammunition Plant, where else?

The nearly 3,000-acre plant property holds more bragging-size bucks per acre than any hunted spot in Virginia.

Biologists of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries inventoried the annual crop a few days ago and made a count of 328 deer. About 100 were bucks. Fifteen had racks that were outside their ears, which means they were 16 inches or better.

``So there are 15 super-nice bucks'' said Betsy Stinson, a state biologist. ``There were about 40 bucks or so that were just borderline on that.''

The first of six, one-day public hunts begins Oct. 22. As you might expect, all the hunting spots have been claimed. In fact, there were more than 1,400 applicants for 135 slots, Stinson said.

Four of the hunts will be for antlerless deer only. After all, the reason there are so many big bucks is the fact that the herd has been controlled through the killing of does.

During two buck hunts, one for archers the other for shotgun shooters, biologists will insist that hunters take aim only at trophy bucks.

FALL TROUT: The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has trout it wants to stock this month, and there are plenty of fishermen anxious to see that happen. The drawback is dry weather.

Many streams are running so low that they are unsuitable for stocking, said Gary Martel, chief of the department's fish division. Significant rainfall is necessary before hatchery trucks start rumbling toward streams.

BOW SEASON: You can get a pretty good idea of how the bowhunting season is going by peeking into the apple cooler on the Arrington orchard near the Peaks of Otter in Bedford County.

``There are about as many as there ever has been,'' Harry Arrington said about the deer that bowhunters had brought to his place for cold storage.

And don't overlook the bear hanging in the cooler, Arrington said. It was killed by his son, Andy.

Hunters are reporting that a heavy mast crop has the deer scattered and difficult to pattern, but there is no scarcity of bucks and does.

One of the better bucks killed recently was a nine-pointer with a 201/8-inch spread taken in Bedford County by Donald Markham of Bedford. Mike Mayhew of Bedford killed a 10-pointer in Bedford County. It was checked at Northside Supply, where 20 deer kills have been recorded.

While the heavy mast crop might hamper hunters by making it more difficult to get within bow range of a deer, it also has potential for starting the rut earlier.

FISHING: Fishermen are dealing with clear, often low-water conditions which have hampered their success. Some of the best success has occurred when anglers have cast topwater and shallow-running lures into schools of shad in order to entice nearby bass and stripers.

One Kerr Lake largemouth fisherman reported catching 10 bass while tossing a spinnerbait into shad schools and letting the lure flutter to fish waiting below.

Lake Gaston bass are being found along the edges of hydrilla growing close to deep water. A favorite lure of Gaston fishermen is a 10-inch plastic worm in electric blue or blue flash and red shad.

Fishermen at Smith Mountain are catching black bass as they attack shad on the surface, but stripers are harder to entice.

Stripers and small bass are feeding on the surface at Claytor Lake, where 12-year-old John Harris of Radford landed fish that weighed eight and 10 pounds.

Wayne Gentry came across a mayfly hatch on the New River the other day, tied a white popping bug onto his flyrod outfit and hooked several bass up to two pounds.

Some nice-size crappie are being taken at Philpott Lake, and anglers can expect trophy smallmouths as the water cools. There was a 4-pound, 1-ounce smallmouth weighed at Rakes Sports Center.