ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 2, 1996 TAG: 9612030017
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
2 - Deer me! When will it end?
If you didn't kill a deer during the early bowhunting season or the two-week muzzleloading season or the two-week modern gun season west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, here's your chance. The bow season reopens today and runs through Jan.4. Never mind that bowhunting is tough enough in the early season. Never mind that black-powder and modern firearms have been booming in the deer woods for a month. Never mind that many of the deer out there less than a month ago are now burgers, chops and steaks. Bowhunting is back for the sportsman seeking a real challenge.
If you like a bit more firepower, the late muzzleloading season reopens Dec. 16, and offers either-sex hunting west of the Blue Ridge its final week, Dec. 30-Jan.4.
If you are looking for a late-season, primitive-weapons hunt where the deer haven't been chased since early October, try Smith Mountain Lake State Park. The park has scheduled a Dec.30-Jan.4 hunt for muzzleloaders and bowhunters, with the idea of trimming the expanding herd. The application deadline has been extended until Saturday. Call the park for details, 297-6066.
4 - Avoid the climb at ski resorts
Weekend lift tickets will be smashing the $40 barrier at several ski resorts in the region this season. So here's a real bargain: $41 for a Dec. 14 trip to Snowshoe, including bus transportation from Roanoke, lift tickets, even coffee, juice and doughnuts. That's the kind of offer you get from trips sponsored by the Roanoke Ski Club. You can learn more about them at the club's meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Holiday Inn Tanglewood.
Last season, 425 participants took advantage of the trips, which ranged from Snowshoe and Canaan Valley in West Virginia to Taos, N.M., and Big Sky, Mont., said Jim Beamer, club president. In most instances, you can go cheaper with the club than on your own, thanks to resort discounts. But there's another advantage to membership, something called fellowship. Club members enjoy a special bond that keeps them together, not just in the ski season but during off-season outings.
7 - Big birds; big beauty
If Moomaw Lake isn't Virginia's most scenic impoundment, it ranks close to that honor. Held captive on the Jackson River by Gathright Dam, its 2,530 acres finger into scenic sections of remote Bath County. Along with the beauty comes excellent bird-watching, especially for a variety of waterfowl. If you look closely, you may spot a bald or golden eagle.
It is a favorite winter birding spot for members of the Roanoke Valley Bird Club. The club has scheduled a trip to Moomaw on Saturday. Members will gather at 7 a.m. at the Daleville Western Sizzlin' parking lot for car pooling. The club's field trip coordinator is Tad Finnell, 473-1217. Take your binoculars, bird book and plenty of warm clothes.
8 - Archers aim at Christmas joy
Members of Sherwood Archers and fellow bowhunters will come out of the deer woods long enough to take shots in the club's annual Toys for Tots competition. The event, which begins 1 p.m. Sunday at the club's facilities near Hanging Rock, is open to any archer who brings a new, unwrapped toy as an entry fee. The toys will be donated to needy youngsters. This is the club's last official event of the year, before the beginning of indoor league shoots in January. Information on the Toys for Tots shoot is available from Jimmy Brugh, 245-2490.
21 - Counting birds at Christmas
If you are a birder, you had better get that Christmas shopping done before the last minute. The final days before Christmas are being dedicated to the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. This will be the 97th count, and birders from the Roanoke Valley will join thousands from Hawaii to Labrador, Alaska to Venezuela, for the count. It makes for the biggest birding event of the year.
The Roanoke Christmas Bird Count is Dec.21; the Fincastle Count, Dec.22; and the Peaks of Otter Count, Dec.24. The contact for the Roanoke Count is Mike Donahue, 427-0853. Barry Kinzie is the contact for the Fincastle and Peaks of Otter counts, 992-2743.
This is a combination social and sporting event, as participants fan across the landscape registering their sightings of birds. There's a serious side, too. The counts provide scientifically useful information on the early-winter distribution patterns and availability of various species.
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