ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
If you are accustomed to bread and beans - and maybe not much of that - then chowing down on a chunk of meat can be a special treat.
The 1996-97 Hunters for the Hungry program provided more than a half-million servings of meat through food banks, churches and rescue missions, according to David Horne, program director.
Deer hunters donated a record 127,500 pounds of venison to the program. That was nearly 24,000 pounds more than the previous season, Horne said. But it's just the beginning he hopes.
``It is possible to receive 200,000 pounds or more of venison annually if financial support can be found to cover the processing costs,'' he said.
This means that bucks of the green, folding kind are just as important to the program as the ones bearing antlers.
DEER DOWN: No word yet from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries on how many deer were killed during the 1996-97 season, but don't be surprised if the count is down, especially in the eastern section of the state.
West Virginia already has determined its kill was off 11 percent. Even so, the tally of 183,359 deer was the third largest ever for the Mountain State.
One thing that doesn't get recorded by state officials is unusual trophies. Fitting that category is a nine-point buck killed early January in Bedford County by 17-year-old Jason Warf. The big buck was in full velvet, a condition normally expected in late summer.
``The velvet was tight on the rack,'' said Jason's dad, Burley Warf.
Tim Wayne McKinney of Buchanan finished the Virginia season with a six-point buck, 210-pound bear and a turkey, a feat that hunters often call a ``grand slam.'' It wasn't just one of those young-of-the-year turkeys, either. McKinney bagged a 20-pound gobbler that had a 10-inch beard.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY: The Virginia Bass Federation is endorsing a bill that would require the operator of a motor boat with 9.9-horsepower or more to be over 14 years of age or to be under the supervision of an adult. Other bills would require operators of personal-water craft to complete mandatory training. The House has directed a study on the merits of mandatory training for all boaters.
Another bill would mandate that three of the 11 Department of Game Inland Fisheries board members be ``non-consumptive,'' which apparently means they neither hunt nor fish. That's a strange request for an agency funded by hunters and fishermen.
Also under the ``strange'' category is a bill calling for a special $3 license for bear hunters. Such hunters no longer would be required to purchase a big-game license.
MOVING TO TENNESSEE?: Birmingham, Ala., and Sevier County, Tenn., emerged this week as the finalists in B.A.S.S. Inc.'s site search for its new headquarters, which will include a museum, aquarium, outdoors-related shopping village and entertainment park.
TROUT STOCKING: In our key to the state's trout stocking schedule, printed on the Monday Outdoor Page, we were a tad generous with the Category A stocking plan.
These streams are scheduled for one stocking in the January-February period, not a stocking both months. So if your favorite Category A steam is stocked in January, don't expect the favor to be returned in February.
Here's how the Category A key should have read: ``Stocked once in each of the following periods: Oct.; Nov.-Dec.; Jan.-Feb; March (twice); April (twice); May (twice).
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB