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

DATE: FRIDAY, July 14, 1995                   TAG: 9507140111
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

WHOLE STATE TO GET A SHOT AT GEESE

State game officials set the dove season to open Labor Day weekend and extended the resident Canada goose season into the western end of Virginia during a hearing Thursday.

The dove hunting season, little changed from last year, will be split into three segments: Sept.2-30; Oct.2-31 and Dec.23-Jan.2.

``Doves are in good shape nationwide,'' said Bob Duncan, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' game division chief.

The hunting hours will be noon until sunset during the first segment of the season, then all day after that. The bag limit is 12 daily.

This will be the third year of the experimental resident Canada goose season and the first time it will be open statewide.

The hunting dates will be Sept.5-15, and the bag limit will be a hefty five per day. Last year, when hunting was permitted in 46 counties in the Tidewater, Piedmont and Northern Virginia areas, sportsmen reported killing 3,464 geese.

Game officials would like to see that number climb. The home-grown birds are seeing 10 to 15 percent annual gains in their population and are causing problems in many sections of the state, officials said. Last year, damages by geese to golf courses, ponds and other facilities totaled $183,000.

The objective is to control the growth and to provide recreation while doing it, Duncan said. The hunting dates were set early to protect migratory geese, which generally don't arrive in Virginia until Sept.20, officials said.

A split woodcock season was established for Oct.30-Nov.25; Dec.20-Jan.6, but hunters shouldn't expect many targets.

``What we have been seeing is a 2 percent annual decline in this species,'' Duncan said.

Studies show the population drop is the result of lost habitat, not hunting pressure, he said.

The woodcock bag limit will be three daily.

A rail season was set for Sept.11-Oct.14 and Oct.21-Nov.25. Snipe hunting dates will be Oct.11-14 and Oct.21-Jan.31.

In another development, Gov.George Allen appointed two new members to the 11-person game board. Catherine Tucker of Richmond was named to replace Napoleon Peoples as the Third District representative. Kermit Reel of Charlottesville replaced J.Hudson Reese Sr. in the Fifth District.