Thursday, April 10, 2008
Gobble season not likely to set record
Bill Cochran
Recent field reports
Forget the tea leaves. When Gary Norman, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries turkey biologist, makes predictions concerning the spring gobbler season, it is turkey feathers he consults.
Norman’s prediction is for a good, but not great, season when the hunting starts April 12.
“Hunters can expect hunting conditions similar to last year, but short of record setting seasons,” he said.
Last year’s reported kill was 14,090. That was nearly 10 percent below the 10-year average and an 18 percent decline from the 2006 season.
Norman said he wasn’t expecting much change this year because the turkey population has stabilized in recent years due to below-average recruitment. Just how successfully turkeys are replenishing their kind is determined by examining feathers contributed by fall turkey hunters. The feathers provide sex and age information. The higher number of juveniles per hen, the better the reproduction.
The ratio over the past 25 years has been 3.2, but that has fallen. The current 10-year average is 2.2. In 2005 the figure was 1.9 juveniles per adult female. That dropped to l.8 in 2006. The past year it was 1.7.
Turkeys from the 2006 production year will be an important component of this year’s season.
“Given that the 2006 season was marked with below-average production, the likelihood of an increase in this year’s total harvest is low,” said Norman.
This season’s success also will rely on 3-year-old birds and jakes, and, as can be seen, the feather data reveals that production for these year classes was low.
On a positive note, Norman rates Virginia’s turkey population as good and hunters can expect a decent season. That prediction was underscored by Saturday’s youth hunting day, when hunters checked 81 gobblers by phone. The phone count last year was 52; however, the weather was cold, even snowy, that day.
BILL
LIONS ARE REAL; LOCATIONS AREN’T
No one would rather receive a picture of a mountain lion in Virginia more than John Lutz, who operates the Eastern Puma Research Network.
But the picture that came to him via e-mail the other day only made him mad. It showed a huge mountain lion reported to have been hit by a car in the High Knob area near Wise. According to the story, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries officers were attacked by the cat when they were dispatched to put it down.
This is the second mountain lion picture in recent weeks circulated on the Internet and credited to a Virginia location.
Lutz said it was the work of “idiots, hackers, hoaxers or whatever you with to call them.”
It is not that Lutz doesn’t believe mountain lions are roaming Virginia. He just doesn’t believe what he has been seeing on the Internet.
The Wise cat in reality was killed on an Interstate east of Yuma, Ariz., in October 1999, he said. The previous picture, said to have been taken in Giles County, was traced to Wyoming.
Think of it, people. If a mountain lion were hit by a car in Virginia and if it attacked wildlife officials attempting to put it down, don’t you believe this would national news that would flood our newspapers and TVs?
By the way, if you get a real picture of a big cat in Virginia, e-mail it to Lutz. Just don’t send him any more Internet fakes.
BILL
OUTDOOR BRIEFS
>>Four additional deer testing positive for Chronic Wasting Disease have been detected by West Virginia officials this spring. They were collected by sharp shooters in Hampshire County where most of the other diseased deer have been found. Although this is just over the Virginia line, no CWD deer have been detected in Virginia.
>>The old standby of drifting squid-and-minnow combinations is paying off in flounder catches in the Chesapeake Bay from Cape Charles to Lynnhaven Inlet. The best success is along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel., according to Dr. Julie Ball. Some anglers have reported limit catches, with a few citations-size fish mixed in, she said.
>>An economic storm has hit boating, with consumer confidence down and fuel prices up. One of boating’s biggest players, Brunswick Corp., is closing seven factories and dismissing 1,300 workers, according to a press release.
>>Paul Elias, who has been around bass tournament fishing for ages, set a record Sunday when he weighed a four-day total of 132 pounds, 8 ounces to win the Bassmaster Elite Series at Falcon Lake, Texas. That was the heaviest four-day total in BASS history and it won $100,000 for the Laurel, Miss. Anglers
>>Capt Ferrell McLain, who operates a charter boat for striped bass anglers in the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean, says he has frozen his rates at the 2007 level and plans to keep them there as long as possible. Fuel costs have been a growing expense for charters. “The price of diesel fuel for the boat has almost doubled in the last two years,” he said.
BILL
SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT
The first report of the 2008 Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament has been dispatched by Lewis Gillingham, tournament director. Here is the new season’s leader board, which includes a state record striped bass:
BLUEFISH: 19 pounds, 4 ounces, Richard Brown, Richmond, off Virginia Beach.
BLUEFIN TILEFISH: 18 pounds, 3 ounces, Stanley Gold, Chesapeake, off Virginia Beach.
SEA BASS: 7 pounds, 8 ounces, Reggie Myrick, Portsmouth, off Virginia Beach.
SPECKLED TROUT: 9 pounds, 15 ounces, David Hester, Chesapeake, Elizabeth River.
STRIPED BASS: 73 pounds, state record, Frederick Barnes, Chesapeake, off Virginia Beach.
TAUTOG” 17 pounds, 3 ounces, Edward Pickett, Portsmouth, off Virginia Beach.
MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS
Spring gobbler season, April 12-May 17.
Chester Ducks Unlimited Banquet, Kings Korner Restaurant, Chester, April 12, tickets $55/$80, information from Kenny Bowman.
Virginia Mountains Chapter Ruffed Grouse Society banquet, Roanoke Plaza Hotel (formerly Wyndham), April 12, 6 p.m., tickets and membership $55, spouse $30, information/tickets from Brandon Harper.
Virginia Fly Fishing Festival, April 19 and 20, South River in Waynesboro, vaflyfishingfestival.org.
The Optimist Club of Cave Spring 40th annual Smith Mountain Lake Fishing Tournament, May 2-4, $40 for tickets, $15,000 in prizes offered, includes fourth annual Bill Cochran Youth Tournament, Saturday, May 3, kids when 12 and under fish free with paying adult, tickets available at businesses around the lake or in nearby towns, money benefits the club’s youth programs, information from Ike Harris, 540-989-8488.
Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, 7 p.m. May 2, Moneta Community Center, annual lake report by Dan Wilson, biologist of Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
Seventh Annual David H. Horne Memorial Hunters for the Hungry Golf Tournament, May 7, Birkdale Golf Course, Richmond, contact Braxton Bell, 804-739-3010.
Third annual Oregon Inlet (N.C.) Tuna Roundup, May 29-31, sponsored by Pirate’s Cove, $88,000 payout. Information from pcbgt.com.
Twenty-fifth annual Bluefish Derby, June 13 & 14, Reedville, information from Jett’s Hardware, 804-453-5325.
Eastern Regional Big Game Championship, Sept. 13 and 14, Southampton County Fairgrounds, Franklin, sponsored by the Virginia Peninsula Sportsmen’s Association, more information from Kenneth Pickin, P.O. Box 1860, Williamsburg, Va. 23187-1860; 757-229-0490. This is the contest for deer, bear and turkey killed east of the Blue Ridge. Additional information from vpsa.org.
Third annual WSLS 10 Hunters for the Hungry banquet, 6 p.m. Sept. 27, Dave Sarmadi Mitsubishi, Salem, tickets $20 singles; $35 couples, kids 12 and under free, to benefit the organization’s feed-the-needy program, tickets from Jeff Fletcher, 540-985-6523 or Fred and Phyllis Wells, 540-992-3874 or may be purchased at Dave Sarmadi Mitsubishi, additional information from hunt4hungry@cs.com.
Western Regional and State Big Game Championship, for deer, bear and turkey killed west of the Blue Ridge or advanced from the Eastern Championship, Sept. 27 & 28, Rockingham County Fairgrounds, Harrisonburg, more information from Jon Ritenour, 2041 Spaders Church Rd., Harrisonburg, VA 22801, 540-434-8028. Additional information from vpsa.org.
Roanoke Valley Friends of NRA banquet, Oct. 18.
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