ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 30, 1996 TAG: 9605300052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
In most instances, waving your hand or cap may be the proper - even friendly - thing to do. But during spring turkey season, it can get you shot.
It happens this way: You are in the deep hardwoods calling a tom when another hunter moves in on you. You are in full camouflage sitting against a tree. How do you let him know you are nearby?
Waving is the common thing to do, but that got two hunters shot during the recent gobbler season.
``In these cases, when the shooters saw the movement of the victims, they though it was a turkey,'' said Lt.T.C. Bradbery of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. ``We teach people to call out, not wave.''
In turkey hunting, it is best to be heard rather than seen, but some hunters are reluctant to call or whistle out of fear it will spook the turkey they are working.
That's not likely to happen, said Bradbery, who heads the department's hunter education program. The tom already will have been spooked by the intruder.
``It is extremely difficult to stalk a turkey,'' Bradbery said.
The waving accidents are just a symptom of a bigger problem, he said.
``The problem still reflects back to the fact that the hunter should be sure of his target,'' Bradbery said.
Wave or not, a hunter never should pull the trigger until there is absolutely no question he is aiming at a legal target, a turkey with a visible beard.
Six of the seven accidents reported to the game department during spring gobbler season occurred when the victim was mistaken for game. In the seventh case, the victim happened to be in the line of fire beyond the shooter.
On the positive side, there was a 42 percent decline in spring accidents, and there were no fatalities. Two hunters were killed during the 1995 season.
Bradbery hopes the safety message is beginning to bear fruit. Some 20,000 students annually have been completing the department's hunter education course, where they receive the don't-wave instruction.
They also are told to wear blaze orange when moving through the woods and to sit against a tree that is as broad as their shoulders when calling. They are taught a blaze orange vest or a strip of blaze orange should encircle the tree above their calling site.
The motionless orange won't spook a gobbler, Bradbery said.
``The woods are full of colors and sounds,'' he said.
Movement is what can spook a tom. As it turns out, movement also can bring a load of shot your way.
A HOT ROD: When graphite fishing rods first came out, there were frequent warnings they would draw lightning. Most of that was forgotten as graphite became a common rod material.
But some fishermen at Douthat State Park Lake got a recent reminder. During a storm, one fisherman's graphite rod was struck by lightning after he leaned it against his camper.
``It looked like a ball of hair,'' is the way Roger Hodges described the damaged rod. ``I had heard they [graphite rods] were a lightning rod. I believe it now.''
WORTH CELEBRATING: Members of the Roanoke Valley Power Squadron are going to eat some chicken cordon bleu and London broil and do some celebrating Saturday. It is the 25th anniversary of their organization.
When the group was organized, some of the brass on the coast were a bit skeptical about chartering a squadron in the Roanoke area, ``away out in the boondocks, some 250 miles from the Chesapeake Bay,'' said John Harris, the charter commander.
But Smith Mountain Lake was new and hundreds of inlanders were being attracted to boating, many with no more preparation than, ``How do you get this thing started.''
The squadron has been a positive force in boating safety in the region, and so has the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Roanoke Flotilla 81 of the auxiliary, along with flotillas from Lynchburg and Altavista, will have their new search and rescue detachment on Smith Mountain Lake commissioned this weekend.
Boating is safer because of these organizations.
FISHING: Michael Brandbury caught and released a 400-pound blue marlin during a tuna fishing trip out of Oregon Inlet, N.C.
The youth fishing contest at Smith Mountain Lake State Park is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 22. Participants, ages 6 to 14, should register by calling 297-6066. State park officials previously had posted the wrong date.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 linesby CNB