THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409180168
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON
LENGTH: Long : 126 lines
The vagaries of the weather probably will determine whether Virginia hunters will establish yet another record deer kill this fall and winter, says Larry Hart, assistant director of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
``We certainly have the deer,'' Hart said. ``But the weather plays a very important role, especially on weekends and on opening day, when there are so many hunters out in the field.''
The statewide archery season on whitetails opens Oct. 1, when gun hunting will become legal in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and the eastern section of Suffolk, popularly known as the Dismal Swamp.
The general statewide gun season, the one that attracts an estimated 300,000 hunters, will not open until the traditional third Monday in November, this year Nov. 21.
Virginia hunters bagged a record 201,122 deer during the 1993-94 season, topping the 200,000 figure for only the second time. A year earlier, they killed 200,446.
Hart said biologists expected the kill to be ``just about the same'' this season, since hunting regulations are practically identical. ``But, like I said, the weather can change things.''
Only three times in the past 50 years has the kill failed to go up.
``We don't try to manage the deer herd to produce records, though,'' Hart said. ``We try to manage it to produce a total population that can be successfully supported by the habitat. So we're not disappointed if we don't set a record every year.''
Hart estimated the state's whitetail population at ``just about'' a million.
The kill in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Suffolk, where the season runs through Nov. 30, should be about what it was a year ago, Hart said. Suffolk hunters bagged 1,850 deer in 1993, with 1,065 killed in Chesapeake and 849 in Virginia Beach. All three were records.
Hunters will be allowed to kill three deer, including two bucks, on their regular big-game license. They may bag another on a $12.50 archery license, another on a $12.50 muzzleloader license and an unlimited number by buying $12.50 bonus licenses. One of these bonus licenses is required for each additional deer killed, and the hunter must be on private land.
LICENSE SUPPORT: North Carolina's largest group of recreational fishermen has given its backing to a specific plan to license the state's saltwater anglers.
The group has endorsed a novel proposal by State Sen. Marc Masnight, D-Dare, that would create a trust fund from license sales. The interest would be used exclusively on fishery management.
The group, the Atlantic Coast Conservation Association of North Carolina, a 3,000-member organization with chapters throughout the state, tentatively has backed the idea of the license for five years. But this is the first time it has come out in favor of a specific proposal.
Chapter president Robert ``Bo'' Nowell called Basnight's plan ``an excellent idea'' and said Basnight ``clearly sees the need for a license and has stepped forward. I believe he will help us get the license passed.''
North Carolina is one of the few East Coast states that does not require a license to fish in salt water. However, both resident and non-resident fishermen have been discussing the idea for almost a decade. Their greatest concern has been that not all income from the license would be used to benefit recreational fishermen.
There have been no official estimates on how much such a license would generate. Virginia receives about $2 million a year from its saltwater license, which went into effect almost two years ago.
Under Basnight's plan, license money would go into a special trust fund, with the plan's administrators allowed to spend only the interest and only on projects to aid rod-and-reel fishing.
``This will provide a perpetual source of revenue that will help our grandchildren enjoy saltwater fishing,'' said Dick Brame, the chapter's executive director.
OUT FRONT, TWICE: Denny Dobbins of Chesapeake has put another notch in his fishing rod handle in his effort to become the second angler to win both top honors in the annual Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament.
The state-sponsored contest makes special awards to the anglers with citation catches for the greatest number of species and with releases in the most categories. Dobbins now has earned citations in eight categories, with six releases. Both figures are tops for 1994.
His closest competitors are Jim Wright and defending champion Craig Paige, both of Virginia Beach and both with six awards. Wright has five releases, putting him one behind in that category.
C.L. Marshall of Pocomoke, Md., leads in the non-resident angler-of-the year chase with citation catches for five species.
Bill Hall of Bloxom on the Eastern Shore has been the only double winner in the program's four years. He was both angler-of-the-year and release-angler-of-the-year in 1992.
NOT SO DUCKY: On the surface, it looks good. The fall and winter flight of ducks down the nation's flyways is so much better than it was a year ago that some hunting restrictions have been softened.
Virginia and North Carolina hunters, for example, have been granted a 10-day increase to a 40-day season this year and will, for the first time since 1986, be allowed to kill one canvasback a day.
The surface also shows that the fall/winter flight is expected to total about 71 million birds, a tremendous increase over the estimated 59 million a year ago, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Under the surface, however, the picture is different. Between 1970 and 1979, the flight averaged 91 million, government figures show.
Delta Waterfowl, a conservation organization headquartered in Illinois, has issued a plea for hunters to continue the ``drakes-only'' approach to duck hunting.
Hunters have contributed to this year's increase, said D.W. LeBond, the organization president, by ``passing up shots at hens, an approach I hope they'll continue.''
SHORT CASTS: Bob Crutsinger of Virginia Beach has earned a citation award from the North Carolina Salt Water Fishing Tournament by releasing a sailfish. He was off Oregon Inlet on the boat Hasty Exit. . . . Gary Seay of Machipongo was a double second-place winner on the recent statewide trophy-deer contest. He had the No. 2 deer in the nine- to 11-point category, scoring 188 8/16 points, and the No. 2 entry in the 13-points-and-up category for black-powder hunters, scoring 145 3/16. Both deer were killed on the Eastern Shore. . . . North Carolina hunters bagged a record 2,515 turkeys during the 1994 spring season, up from the old mark of 2,073 the previous year. Caswell was the top turkey county, recording 345 kills. . . . Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach will be closed to the general public Oct. 1-8 for a controlled hunt designed to reduce the number of whitetail deer and feral hogs. ... Seasonal waterfowl hunting passes are available for floating-blind sites on the Princess Anne Waterfowl Management Area and False Cape State Park in Virginia Beach. Passes may be obtained by sending your name, Social Security number, telephone number (including area code) and 1994-95 hunting license number to: Game Department, P.O. Box 11104, Richmond, Va. 23230-1104. by CNB