Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 1, 1994 TAG: 9412010068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Another hunter spends a week on a mountain top and hears nothing but shots down in the lowlands.
Still another hunter says the rut was over two weeks ago, while somebody else reports that bucks are doing stupid, rut-like things this week.
Hunting pressure is heavy or light; the kill is high or low; trophy bucks are scarce or plentiful.
It depends on who is doing the talking. So what you have is a typical deer season, said Matt Knox, the deer biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Officials won't know for certain how the season is going until the big-game tags are counted after the first of the year, Knox said.
There do appear to be a few trends:
The early muzzleloading season appeared to attract a record number of participants, and a record kill is likely.
While good numbers of trophy bucks have been killed, there apparently won't be as many Boone & Crocket national record book candidates as last year.
An unusually large number of game checking stations have been requesting additional check cards, which could mean a record kill.
THE BIG COUNT: What do you do when you kill a 20-point buck? Wayne Hughes of Catawba found out the other day on a Roanoke County hunt. You count 10 points on one side, then sit down to collect your nerves before counting the other side.
Hughes' buck, one of the best of the gun season, had a 23-inch spread.
The five-point buck killed in Wythe County by Thomas Gardner of Wytheville may not be contest material, but it looked plenty big to Gardner, who is eight, and to his dad, Ted.
STRIPERS STRIKING: Smith Mountain Lake has the reputation of being Virginia's fall-winter striped bass hot spot, but for the past several weeks Kerr Lake has produced the best striper catches.
``Excellent'' is the word being used to describe the fishing between Buoys 17 and 23 on the upper end of Kerr. Many of the stripers are being caught on live shad or large minnows.
The Kerr level continues to fall as water pours through the dam, and is down about 5 feet.
As for Smith Mountain, the bulk of the striper action continues to be a 15-minute fling on the cutting edge of dawn when anglers can entice big fish with a large, shallow-moving surface plug.
Looking elsewhere, Briery Creek Lake produced a 9-pound largemouth. Crawfish remain the top bait for bass at Philpott Lake, where respectable catches of smallmouths and largemouths are being taken. One Philpott angler caught a limit of crappie in the lower end of the lake. Lake Moomaw produced a 4.7-pound smallmouth, an 8.44-pound largemouth and an 8-pound brown trout.
SINGING THE BLUES: Damon Tatem can count the big bluefish catches along the Outer Banks of North Carolina on one hand.
``I've heard of five big blues, total,'' said the Nags Head tackle shop operator.
The surf is just begining to clear after Tropical Storm Gordon's big blow.
``The water is still too dirty for speckled trout,'' said Tatem, but that could change by the weekend.
On the positive side, the ocean striped bass season opens today in North Carolina and there are 30- to 40-inch fish to be caught in the surf, Tatem said. The limit is one fish over 28 inches per day.
As for the blues, they also were late last year.
BIG CATS: Deer hunters have been observing an unusually large number of bobcats this season - big bobcats.
Steve Dooley spotted one in Montgomery County.
``It was so big I thought it was a mountain lion at first,'' said the Montgomery County resident.
``Then I had to look in my [game law] book to see if it was legal.''
The cat weighed 40 pounds at Custer's Store in Mason's Cove.
``It was with another one,'' said Dooley, adding that the second cat made the one he killed look small.
by CNB