Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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Bill Cochran's Outdoors

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• Drum fishing on Virginia’s Coast comes in two colors
• Elk advocate finally gets his day
• Turkeys are plentiful, so why are hunting regulations so tight fisted?
• Anglers say closure of the point of Cape Hatteras is for the birds
• Column archive

Bill's Mailbag

• Putting down a bear cub brings complaint
• Recommendations for Virginia’s Wild Turkey Management Plan
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Bill's Field Reports

• A. Willis Robertson great name for new DGIF headquarters
• Big striper smashes Optimist tournament record
• Field reports archive

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Dove hunting regulations where set by game officials this week amid reports that the population of this popular migratory game bird looks promising.

“We have a pretty good crop of immature doves coming along,” said Bob Ellis, assistant chief of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries wildlife division.

Officials set a three-way season that contained no surprises. The dates are Sept. 1-29; Oct. 6-27 and Dec. 25-Jan. 12. Hunting is from noon until sunset in the first segment and from one-half before sunrise until sunset the rest of the season. The daily limit is 12.

Last year, Virginia’s 20,400 dove hunters killed 304,200 birds, according to DGIF figures.

A split woodcock season was set for Oct. 27-Nov. 10 and Dec. 22-Jan. 5. The bag limit is three. Woodcock numbers have been declining on the average of 2-percent per year since 1968. The decline in the East was a hefty 11 percent from 2006 to 2007. Loss of habitat, not hunting pressure, is behind the steady decline wildlife officials say.

A Sept. 10-Nov. 17 rail season was set, with a bag limit of 15 clapper/king rails and 25 sora/Virginia rails.

Snipe regulations include an Oct 4-8 and Oct. 22-Jan. 31 season and an eight-per day bag limit.

LIBERAL REGULATIONS FOR GEESE

Federal wildlife officials have established more liberal resident geese hunting regulations, and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is taking advantage of them.

New this year is a regulation that allows an extra one-half hour of hunting on the tag end of the day as long as there is no other waterfowl season open at the time.

DGIF officials this week set a Sept. 1-15 early goose season with the hunting beginning one-half hour before sunrise and ending one-half hour after sunset, which is 30 minutes later than in the past. The second portion of the season, Sept. 17-25, has a one-half hour before sunrise beginning and a traditional sunset ending.

Electronic calls will be legal this season, and next season most likely hunters will be able to use a shotgun that is unplugged, meaning you can stuff more shells into it. All this is an effort to shoot more geese which have become a nuisance in some areas.

While wildlife officials adjusted the shooting hours they stuck with the conservative bag limit of recent years. That will remain five in September, but it could have been as much as 15 under federal guidelines.

“This has been supported by hunters who think it is difficult to take care of 15 birds in the field,” said Bob Ellis, assistant chief of the DGIF Wildlife Division. .

The limit appears to be keeping the resident goose population in check. It is estimated to be 157,560 this year. It reached a high of 264,867 in 1998.

Fall and winter goose regulations are scheduled to be set later this year.

The September teal season was set for Sept. 17-26 with a four daily limit.

VIRGINIA SHOW A MUST SEE

When it comes to outdoor shows, one of the giants, a must-see if you are a deer hunter, is the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show. For the past 24 years, the event has been sponsored by the Virginia Deer Hunters Association.

This year’s edition is set for Aug. 10-12 at the ShowPlace, 3000 Mechanicsville Turnpike in Richmond. Tickets are $9 or $15 for the weekend. Kids 15 and under get in free with a paying adult. Information is available on sportsmanshow.com.

The show’s attractions include:

>High-profile deer hunters Stan Potts and Greg Miller, who will present seminars each day.

>Nearly 300 booths full of new hunting equipment.

>Deer head collections, including the National Rifle Association trophy display and the No. 1 and No. 2 world record muzzleloading non-typical whitetails. The No. 1 head is a Virginia kill that scored 259 7/8 Boone and Crockett.

>The Virginia Deer Classic which solicits hunters to enter trophy deer they killed in Virginia last season.

>The Virginia State Open Turkey Calling Championship where $5,000 in prizes and cash are offered.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

>The governor has named a new member to the board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and reappointed two others. New is Mary Louisa Pollard, who lives in Lancaster County where she is president of the Northern Neck Land Conservancy. She replaces C. Marshall Davison of Hague, whose term expired. Reappointed were John Montgomery, Jr. of Henrico County, an attorney at Montgomery & Simpson LLP, and Ward Burton of Halifax County, a NASCAR driver who heads Ward Burton Enterprises.

>In the summer of 1987, Orvis Co. of Manchester, Vt., moved its distribution center to the Roanoke Valley, looking for a place where there was a strong and talented employee base. The company plans to celebrate its 20 years in Roanoke with a private reception at the center on July 26. In attendance will be CEO Perk Perkins.

>The 45-pound, 8-ounce muskie caught from the New River by Shannon Hill of Christiansburg has been certified as a state record by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

>The Potomac Riverkeepers are expected to release a report Monday that will name key polluters of the river and provide recommendations as to what is necessary to clean up the famous stream.

>Tim Tucker, who frequently wrote articles for Bassmaster Magazine and Bass Times, was killed earlier this week in a vehicle accident on Interstate 75 near his Gainesville, Fla., home. He was the author of several books on bass.

>Two Virginia teams placed high in the National Championship for Youth Skeet and Sporting Clays. Virginia finished fifth among 13 states. The Old Forge 4-H Team was second and the Old Dominion 4-H Shur Shots was third in the Junior Varsity Division.

>The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is backing off from its controversial proposal that would have classified black powder, small arms ammunition and primers as explosives, thus treating them the same as the most volatile high explosives.

>A North Carolina Wildlife Area now carries the name of R. Wayne Bailey, a pioneer in the restoration of the wild turkey. Bailey began his distinguished career as a biologist with West Virginia then moved to North Carolina. He pioneered live trapping of turkeys a practice that tuned declining populations around in both states and elsewhere. Bailey died recently in his home in Virginia.

>Master Officer Charlie Mullins has been named Game Warden of the Year for 2007. He will be the last so named, since the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has dropped the name “Warden” replacing it with “Conservation Police Officer.”

>FLW Outdoors has announced its 2008 Wal-Mart FLW tour schedule and there will be no stops in Virginia. The nearest tournament will be at Lake Norman, outside of Charlotte, N.C. It will be April 24-27. Jay Yelas recently earned the 2007 FLW Tour Angler of the Year honors.

>No official word yet, but chat lines report that Susan Smith landed a potential state record king mackerel. It weighed 63 pounds and was taken aboard the Little Suzy whose captain was David Smith.

>Outdoor Channel's "Step Outside" has kicked off its fourth season with 13 new episodes tracking the adventures of newcomers to hunting, shooting, fishing and archery. The show airs on Tuesdays at 2:30 p.m., Thursdays at 6 a.m., Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 3 a.m. (all times EST).

VIRGINIA SALTWATER TOURNAMENT

There are lots of changes in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament, with first-time entries in the king mackerel and wahoo categories and new entries in the croaker, dolphin, and tuna categories.. Here are the standings:

BLACK DRUM: 95 pounds caught by James Tran of Virginia Beach in Lynnhaven Bay.

BLUEFISH: 16 pounds, Peter Carey of Fredericksburg in the lower-eastern Chesapeake Bay.

BLUELINE TILEFISH: 20 pound, 7 ounce, Robert Holtz, Virginia Beach, ocean off Virginia Beach.

COBIA: 93 pounds, 8 ounces, Kara Maples, Hampton, lower-western Chesapeake Bay.

CROAKER: 3 pounds, 9 ounces, Wesley Porter, Suffolk, lower James River.

DOLPHIN: 35 pounds, 4 ounces, Janice Smith, Windsor, Pa., off Virginia Beach.

FLOUNDER: 11 pounds, 13 ounces, Barbara Sabol, Petersburg, upper eastern Chesapeake Bay.

GRAY TRIGGERFISH: 4 pounds, 10 ounces, Geoffrey Filer, Chesapeake, ocean off Virginia Beach.

KING MACKEREL: 40 pounds, 8 ounces, Christopher Henry, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

KINGFISH: 1 pound, 11 ounces, Jimmy Nicastro, Chesapeake, off Virginia Beach.

POMPANO: 1 pound, 15 ounces, Sammy Hatley, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

SEA BASS: 7 pounds, 7 ounces, David Howard, Leesburg, ocean off Virginia Beach.

SHEEPSHEAD: 12 pounds, 8 ounces, Alan Bunnell, Virginia Beach, lower-eastern Chesapeake Bay.

SPADEFISH: 14 pounds, Mark Ottarson, North, lower-western Chesapeake Bay.

SPECKLED TROUT: 12 pounds, 10 ounces, Michael Tomesch, Chesapeake, Elizabeth River.

SPOT: 1 pound, 4 ounce, Edward Farrah, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

STRIPED BASS: 62 pounds, 1 ounce, Wayne Rickman, Mechanicsville, off Virginia Beach.

TAUTOG: 22 pounds, 2 ounce, Lester Johnson, Newport News, off Virginia Beach.

BLUEFIN TUNA: 573 pound state record, Bo Haycox, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

TUNA: 241 pounds, Eric Kuester, Ashland, off Virginia Beach.

WAHOO: 64 pounds, Larry Davenport, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

Roanoke Valley Chapter National Wild Turkey Federation banquet, Aug. 3, 6 p.m., St. Elias Maronite Center, $50 singles, $70 couples, tickets from Robert Woods, 276-647-3409.

Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show, Aug. 10-12, ShowPlace, Richmond, sponsored by the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, sportsmanshow.com.

17th annual Antique and Classic Boat Weekend, Smith Mountain Lake, Aug. 10-12, Mariners Landing, information from woodenboats.net.

New River Valley Chapter National Wild Turkey Federation Banquet, Aug. 18, 5:30 p.m., Custom Catering, Blacksburg, $50 single, $70 couple, tickets from Chris Kaknis, 540-239-7573.

The Western Regional Championship of the Virginia Big Game Show, Sept. 8-9, Rockingham County Fairgrounds near Harrisonburg, information from vpsa.org.

Hunters for the Hungry banquet, Sept. 8, Dave Sarmadi Mitsubishi dealership, Salem, inquire about tickets at Hunt4hungry@cs.com.

The Eastern Region and State Championship of the Virginia Big Game Show, Sept. 22 & 23, Southampton County Fairgrounds in Franklin, information from from vpsa.org.

David H. Horne Memorial Hunters for the Hungry Annual Golf Tournament, Oct. 3, 1:30 p.m., London Downs Golf Course, Forest, captain’s choice, $280 per foursome, includes greens fee, cart, awards, hole prizes, door prizes, beverages, catered dinner. Proceeds benefit Hunters for the Hungry.

DGIF meetings

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, Aug. 21, 9 a.m. at agency’s headquarters, 4000 W. Broad St.

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, Oct. 16, 9 a.m. at agency’s headquarters, 4000 W. Broad St.

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