ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610310009
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
Bowhunting season has been tough, but trophy bucks are beginning to show up at big game checking stations and taxidermist shops, a fact that is pumping hope and enthusiasm into the hearts of tree-stand weary hunters.
It has been a season of too much hot weather, too much wind, too much moon, too much food in the deep woods, and too little rutting activity from testosterone-laden bucks. Hunters have been settling for small bucks and does - and often nothing at all.
It looked like a wasted day for Chris Burton, with darkness rapidly approaching on a recent hunt in Montgomery County. The 18-year old Riner man had been in his tree stand since noon and there had been no activity on the well-worn trails he was watching. Then, suddenly, there stood a doe and a buck. Not just any old buck, but a big one. A wall hanger. A certain trip to a taxidermist shop; maybe a ticket to a big game contest.
``It was right at dark,'' said Burton. But there was enough light for him to see antlers that were thick and tall.
``We'd seen smaller bucks in the area, but didn't know there was a big one in there,'' he said.
The buck was about 75 yards away when Burton spotted it. The animal approached slowly, pausing to browse here and there, to pick up acorns off the forest floor, but showing no interest in the doe. Burton wonder if the buck or darkness would be first to reach him.
The buck moved up the trail, and when it passed under Burton's stand he sent an arrow into it from 15 yards away. Then darkness set in and, for Burton, uncertainty.
``I had to go home and get a light,'' he said. He brought help, too, his cousin Richard Burton.
``It was about 11 o'clock at night when we found him,'' said Burton. ``He was even bigger than I first thought he was, although I knew he was a pretty good buck when I first saw him.''
``It is a super buck,'' is how Dewayne Linkous, a Blacksburg taxidermist described the 12-pointer. ``It is going to place real high in the state, I'd say. The deer was well over 200 pounds. It was huge.''
Andrew Blankenship of Elliston killed a 10-point buck that had a 20-inch outside spread, and Richard Leftwich got a nine-pointer in Franklin County that was just shy of national Pope and Young recognition.
``I rattled him - rattled two of them in, actually,'' Leftwich said.
Rattling is the process of clanging antlers together to imitate the sounds of a buck fight with hopes that real bucks will come to join what they think is a fracas. A 7-pointer came in, but Leftwich let it go because it wasn't the big buck he was shopping for. You may recall from an earlier outdoor column that Leftwich killed an 8-pointer on opening day of the bow season, then stated, ``I am going after a big one now.''
Five minutes after the 7-pointer departed, the big buck approached, displaying evidence of being in full rut, which bodes well for bowhunting the rest of this week, and for the muzzleloading season, which begins Monday.
``Man, muzzleloading is going to be awesome,'' said Leftwich. ``You are going to see some big bucks go down.''
FISHING: Anglers are enjoying good catches of crappie at Smith Mountain Lake and excellent striped bass fishing at Kerr Reservoir.
The Kerr stripers are in the impressive 12- to 14-pound bracket and the hot spot is the upper end of the lake, in the Buoy 16 to 18 region. Most are being hooked on live shad.
Rusty Rutledge, who operates a tackle shop in Clarksville, said striper fishing is better than it has been in a long while. Kerr has been high most of the fall, but has dropped below full pool, which is good for striper fishermen, but bad for largemouth bass fishermen.
Claytor Lake produced a 17-pound striped bass for Terry Jones of Dublin. Claytor is scheduled to be drawn down next week for annual shoreline maintenance work.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB