Thursday, October 30, 2008
About those mistreated hounds
Bill Cochran
Recent field reports
At the public hearing in Richmond on hound hunting last week, representatives of PETA and the Humane Society of the United States charged that hunters often abuse their dogs.
Ashby Nuckols, of PETA, described the hounds of hunters as being “pitiful, skeletal dogs desperately scouring for a scrap of food by the roadside -- abandoned by the people they depend on.”
The Humane Society of the United States showed banner-size pictures of hounds they said had been abused by hunters. A similar picture of a hound was displayed in a full-page advertisement purchased by the society in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
“Is this the face of a time-honored tradition?” asked the society.
During the hearing, Ann Church, director of the society’s eastern mountain region, charged that at the end of the season hunters abandon dogs that are old, slowing down or injured. She and an assistant displayed pictures of emaciated hounds.
“They are thin because they are starving,” she said.
One hunter looked at the pictures and said that the person who owned those hounds should be put in jail.
Another said hunting dogs are thin, just like human athletes are thin.
Before the animal-rights representatives appeared, one hunter told about a friend who had just been offered $4,500 for one of his hounds. He turned it down, asking whether anyone would abuse an animal of that value.
BILL
BLUEFISH 3 OUNCES SHY OF 20 POUNDS
What does a charter boat captain do on his day off? Capt. Skip Feller, who runs the Rudee Angler out of Virginia Beach, decided on a day of fishing aboard a 31-foot boat -- small to him -- with Dr. Julie Ball. Ball was celebrating her birthday, and was also joined by her mom and dad from Florida.
Skip Feller and Julie Ball with trophy bluefish.
It was a windy day, but the anglers were having success fishing around wrecks and catching sea bass that weighed just under 5.
“After awhile, I noticed marks above the wreck that looked like bluefish,” said Ball. “A few minutes later, Skip pulled up a crushed sea bass head.”
Big blues!
Ball changed to Braid Slammer jigs, but before Feller could land a sea bass he’d hooked, a giant bluefish gobbled it up, hook and all. Just as Ball gasped at the size of Feller’s fish, a jumbo blue hit her jig.
Back at the dock, Feller’s blue weighed 19 pounds, 15 ounces, making it the largest bluefish of the year in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament.
Ball’s blue was a tad smaller, but still a citation, and a very special one since it was her career 150th in the Virginia tournament.
BILL
FOREST SERVICE TALKS TIMBER MANAGEMENT
Many hunters would like to see the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests do more timber management to benefit the habitat of species of special value to them, including grouse, woodcock, deer and turkey. They believe too much attention goes toward providing additional wilderness and roadless areas.
The forest service has scheduled a number of public workshops to help determine the future management goals on the George Washington. Here’s the schedule:
ROAD AND TRAIL ACCESS: Oct. 30, 7-9 p.m., Rockbridge High School, Lexington, hunter access vs. roadless areas will be a major topic.
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT: Nov. 13, 6:30-9 p.m., Augusta County Government Center, Verona and Dec. 3, 6:30-9 p.m., Rockbridge High School, Lexington, habitat improvement, timber harvest, prescribed burning will be discussed.
BILL
STRIPED BASS CHAMPIONSHIP OFFERS $10,000
Some $10,000 in prizes are up for grabs in the 11th annual Mercury Striped Bass World Championship, which begins a two-month tour Nov. 1 on the Chesapeake Bay with headquarters at Virginia Beach. Sponsors include Cabela’s and Lynnhaven Marine. The registration fee is a modest $5. There are categories for fly anglers, women, military anglers, youth anglers and surf/pier anglers.
The biggest fish of the tournament is worth $2,500. That honor last year went to Aaron Hofmeister of Reistertown, Md., who entered a 56-pound, 7-ounce catch.
Anglers can find additional tournament information along with weekly tournament standings on www.StripedBassWorldChampionship.com. Updates go online each Tuesday of the tournament.
The tournament includes several companion events:
>The Mercury Thanksgiving Special Weekend Nov 28-30 offers an additional $2,300 in prizes. There is no fee if you are registered with the championship.
>Rock Around the Clock 24 Hour Sea Gull Pier Rockfish Tournament Nov. 29, for anglers using the Sea Gull Fishing Pier on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The fee is $5 for adults, but no charge fir anglers registered in the championship.
>The 12 annual Kiptopeake Rockfish Riot Nov. 28-30 is a companion tournament designed to benefit the Northampton County Toy Closet. The entry fee is $150 per boat. Information from rockfishriot.com.
BILL
OUTDOOR BRIEFS
>>Hunting and fishing license sales are up, and that is good news for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, considering the high price of gasoline and the uncertainty of the economy. Fees from boating, however, are down, but there are signs of recovery, said Ray Davis, DGIF financial manager.
>>Hunters for the Hungry enjoyed success with two major fund-raisers, reaping approximately $27,000 from a late-September banquet in Salem and approximately $26,000 from an early October golf tournament. The money is especially important during the current economic downturn when there is heavy demand for food sources to feed the needy.
>>Two Virginians -- Jeff Freeman of Max Meadows and Edward Fore of Concord -- will be among 55 of the world’s best amateur bass anglers competing Nov. 5-7 in the 2008 BASS Federation Nation Championship on Milford Lake in Kansas. Top prize is $55,000, but the real competition will be for six berths in the 2008 Bassmaster Classic.
>>The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is looking at six sites for possible relocating of its Richmond headquarters. The current three-building complex on West Broad Street is costing the agency $1 million annually in upkeep to deal with leaks, mold, flooding and other problems, according to DGIF spokesperson Julia Dixon. The facility also lacks hearing room and parking space, as evident last week during a public hearing on hound hunting.
>>Kim Bain is the first woman to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic in its 39-year history. The Alabama angler earned the opportunity by winning Angler of the Year on the Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Tour. It was her first year of competing on the women’s tour. Barbara Gaskins of Suffolk won the co-angler division of the tour. She is a 53-year-old tall crane operator who placed second in the division last year.
>>David Fritts of Lexington, N.C. took the $125,000 top prize in the FLW Series BP Eastern Division final on Clarks Hill Lake with a four-day catch that weighed 59 pounds.
>>The National Shooting Sports Foundation mailed information this week that said Virginia outdoor sportsmen spend $1.3-billion per year and support 24,000 jobs, and that this boost to the economy would be endangered if Sen. Obama is elected president.
BILL
SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT
A bluefish 3-ounces shy of 20 pounds is the new leader in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament. Here are the standings.
BLACK DRUM: 87 pounds, 3 ounces, Paul Elliott, Surry, Latimer Shoals (C-2 Buoy).
BLUEFISH: 19 pounds, 15 ounces, Skip Feller, Virginia Beach, Triangle Wrecks.
BLUEFIN TILEFISH: 19 pounds, 9 ounces, Sidney Long, Jr., Branchville, Norfolk Canyon.
COBIA: 94 pounds, 6 ounces, Wesley Smith, Virginia Beach, Bluefish Rock.
CROAKER: 4 pounds, 14 ounces, B.W. Wild, Virginia Beach, Lynnhaven Inlet. DOLPHIN: 66 pounds, Todd Conner, Midlothian, Norfolk Canyon.
FLOUNDER: 13 pounds, 9 ounces, Christopher Mounie, Suffolk, Third Island of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
GRAY TRIGERFISH: 5 pounds, 8 ounces, Nick Wright, Virginia Beach, inshore waters of Virginia Beach.
GRAY TROUT: 9 pounds, 8 ounces, Joseph Hudgins, Jr., Chesapeake, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (4th island).
KING MACKEREL, 62 pounds, 3 ounces, James McDonald, Virginia Beach, Sandbridge Pier.
KINGFISH: 2 pounds, 3 ounces, Bill Pope, Norfolk, Sandbridge Surf.
POMPANO: 2 pounds, 8 ounces, Ron Pennington, Annandale, Kiptopeak Pier.
SEA BASS: 7 pounds, 8 ounces, Reggie Myrick, Portsmouth, wreck off Virginia Beach.
SHEEPSHEAD: 14 pounds, 5 ounces, Kay Alley, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. .
SPADEFISH: 14 pounds, 1 ounce, Josh Durvin, Dunnsville, The Cell.
SPANISH MACKEREL: 6 pounds, Alfred Simpson, Virginia Beach, Sandbridge Pier.
SPECKLED TROUT: 9 pounds, 15 ounces, David Hester, Chesapeake, Elizabeth River.
SPOT: 1 pound, 8 ounces, Michael Whittaker, Chesapeake, 664 Bridge-Tunnel.
STRIPED BASS: 73 pounds, state record, Frederick Barnes, Chesapeake, off Virginia Beach.
SWORDFISH: 190 pounds, Aaron Peckham, Virginia Beach, Norfolk Canyon.
TAUTOG: 20 pounds, 6 ounces, Michael Shreve, Glen Burnie, Md., Monroe Wreck.
TUNA, BLUEFIN: 226 pounds, Kim Schwallenberg, Edgewater, Md., off Wachapreague.
TUNA: 305 pounds, Rick Wyatt, Norfolk, Norfolk Canyon.
YAHOO: 69 pounds, Brian Davis, Virginia Beach, Norfolk Canyon.
MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS
George Washington National Forest public workshop on road and trail access, Oct. 30, 7-9 p.m., Rockbridge High School, Lexington.
Early muzzleloading season Nov. 1-14.
Quail hunting season, Nov. 1-Feb. 28.
George Washington National Forest workshop on vegetation management, Nov. 13, 6:30-9 p.m., Augusta County Government Center, Verona.
General firearm’s deer season opens Nov. 15.
George Washington National Forest workshop on vegetation management, Dec. 3, 6:30-9 p.m., Rockbridge High School, Lexington, wildlife habitat improvement, timber harvest, prescribed fire will be discussed.
Virginia Outdoor Sportsmen’s Classic, Roanoke Civic Center, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2009,vaoutdoorsportsmensclassic.com.
Youth spring turkey hunting day, April 4, 2009.
2009 spring gobbler season, April 11-May 16.
Got an event? Let us know: xtrails@earthlink.net.
