ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 2, 1996 TAG: 9612030001
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
MOST EXCITING PHONE CALL: When 19-year-old Bryce Clingenpeel found some huge buck scrapes and horning in Botetourt County, he told his dad he was going out the next day to kill the buck of a lifetime. His dad warned him not to become overly optimistic. Big deer don't come easily. But Bryce was so confident he carried a cellular phone with him into his tree stand with the idea of calling his dad at work when he killed the buck. His dad got the call after a 12-point buck that is a candidate for the Pope and Young national record book came off a ridge and under Bryce's stand, giving him a killing shot with his bow. Bryce said his dad was there almost before he'd had time to climb out of the tree.
WORST FRIENDS: Dennis Morgan of Hardy was elated when he killed an eight-point, 160-pound buck near Eagle Rock. Then reality hit. Where are all of your buddies when you get a deer down? And how would a guy who is handicapped with a bad back load a buck that size into his Suburban all alone? It took Morgan two hours to get the buck down a hillside to his vehicle. Then he hooked a cable to the deer and used his vehicle to drag it across a field and onto a bank. He backed the Suburban against the bank, using it as a loading ramp to roll the deer onto the tailgate. Total time: 31/2 hours.
BEST FRIEND: When Charles Dailey of Roanoke killed an eight-point, 175-pound buck last week well off the nearest road, the landowner who let him hunt provided a bulldozer to haul it out.
``That's what you call a good friend,'' said Dailey.
WORST SOUND IS NO SOUND: Here's this 20-point buck standing broadside to Tim Martin, 30 yards away. Easy! No sweat. Just pull the trigger. But when Martin does, his .270 Remington semi-automatic doesn't make a sound. Not even a click. There's an empty case jammed in the chamber. It is there because Martin just shot at the buck 100 yards or more away and missed. Instead of leaving the area, the buck came within 30 yards of Martin's tree stand, then walked off while Martin was trying to figure out why his gun wouldn't work. Martin spent four days lamenting his lousy luck. But he was back in the same Floyd County tree stand Nov.25 and - you guessed it - the same buck walked up within 50 yards. This time the gun fired and Martin was on target.
SLAP ON THE WRIST AWARD: Jerry Jenkins, a hunter education instructor in Craig County, wonders why so many judges deal so lightly with game-law violators. Game-law violators are stealing not only from law-abiding sportsmen but also from the future of hunting, he said.
``Why does our justice system draw a line between game-law violators and other crimes of theft?" he asked. ``Why is there a difference between stealing a deer and stealing a car?''
BEST SMELL IS NO SMELL: Hunters are well aware human body odors will spook deer. And if you try to deal with them by using strong-smelling deodorants, shampoos and laundry detergents, then the deodorants, shampoos and detergents will spook the deer. What's a hunter to do, besides staying down wind?
One company, DeWitt U.S.A., says it has an FDA-approved body odor cure called ``Ghost Scent.'' Two tablets morning and night for about four days will render you undetectable to even the most discriminating nose. Backpacker Magazine suggests it wouldn't be a bad idea to use it when you have a big job interview.
BEST WORST SHOT: Julian Tinsley of Roanoke knew he'd gotten off a bad shot with his bow when a spike buck approached his stand.
But when the deer took off running from a field into the woods, Tinsley heard a loud ``pop.'' When he investigated, he found a dead buck. The buck had broken its neck in its haste to escape.
MOST UNUSUAL REQUEST: On opening day of the deer season a stranger knocked on the door at Eunice Hale's house in Roanoke County with a strange request: ``There are three deer in your yard. Can I shoot one?''
BEST ANSWER: ``No, you can't shoot one.''
BEST DEFINITION: When a Roanoker couldn't get his friend to go hunting with him because he didn't really want to kill anything, the Roanoker said, ``Think of it as armed hiking.''
REALLY BIG DEER: While local hunters were bragging about the size of the bucks they were killing - say, 175 pounds - a group of Roanoke Valley hunters was returning from Saskatchewan with some really big deer. Charles Lucas got a 10-pointer that weighed 375 pounds; Quigg Lawrance an 18-pointer that weighed 305 pounds; and Nick Beasley a 12-pointer that weighed 300 pounds.
Saskatchewan is the Canadian province that recently produced a world-record whitetail.
BEST COMEBACK: Bruce Lemmert, of Lovettsville, the 1996 Game Warden of the Year, is skilled in words as well as wildlife enforcement. When he apprehended an unlicensed hunter who had killed a deer out of season, the man said, ``Look, you ain't going to stop me from hunting those deer that God put here on the earth.''
``Let me tell you something,'' said Lemmert. ``God didn't put the deer here. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries put them here.''
When Lemmert ran into the man later, the hunter had changed his ways. He pulled a hunting license from his pocket.
BEST QUOTE: ``I hunt not to kill, but rather to have not played golf,'' Orlando deGaskett, in a book titled ``The Best of Hook & Bullet.''
MOST COOPERATIVE BUCK: A fall from a tree stand paralyzed Barry Arrington of Bedford County from the neck down several seasons back, but he continues to enjoy hunting - and with success. Arrington and a friend were setting up a ground stand during the firearms season when a 10-point buck ran into the field Arrington planned to watch. The buck spooked when it saw the hunters and ducked into the woods. An hour later, when Arrington had gotten set up, the buck returned, giving him a killing shot.
``I've never seen a buck do that before,'' Arrington said of the largest buck he'd ever killed.
BEST NAME OF A HUNTING CAMP: The ``Liars Club,'' located along West Virginia 92 north of White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
GOVERNOR'S BEST RECIPE: Want to try Gov. George Allen's favorite venison recipe? Here's what you need: bacon cut into 1-inch pieces, venison, rice, one onion chopped, Longhorn cheese shredded. Cut venison into bite-size chunks. Cook bacon and onion in frying pan for approximately four minutes. Add venison and cook until tender. Meanwhile, boil rice. Dump cooked rice into frying pan and mix with venison, onions and bacon. Sprinkle cheese on top. Leave in frying pan and keep on low heat, scooping out as needed.
This recipe and 87 others are included in a new ``Hunters for the Hungry Venison Cookbook,'' available for $7.50, plus $1.50 for shipping (discount for larger orders). Call 800-352-4868, or send a check to Hunters for the Hungry, P.O. Box 304, Big Island 24526.
LENGTH: Long : 114 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Stinson. color.by CNB