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
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• Recommendations for Virginia’s Wild Turkey Management Plan
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• A. Willis Robertson great name for new DGIF headquarters
• Big striper smashes Optimist tournament record
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• Trout stocking schedule

Virginia’s spring gobbler kill was 14,355, a scant 17 birds more than last year. While that’s hardly a noticeable increase, it was good news for Gary Norman, Virginia’s award-winning turkey biologist. Norman wanted anything but another decrease. Last year the kill dropped 20 percent.

Norman already is looking to next year. There was both good nesting success and a fall acorn crop in 2004, and that should mean a larger number of 2-year-old gobblers next spring. Virginia’s turkey population has suffered through poor reproduction in 2001, 2002 and 2003. This is believed to have had a negative impacted on the kills the past two years.

While it is way too early to predict what kind of nesting success has been enjoyed this year, weather conditions generally have been favorable, Norman said. Two back-to-back good production years would be exciting news and could send the kill soaring from its current static level.

This year’s kill East of the Blue Ridge Mountains was down one percent from the previous season while it was up 2 percent in the west.

About 32 percent of the kill was checked by the new telephone “Got Game” system. The phone registration was used to a greater extent by deer hunters who called in 44 percent of the deer kill. Wildlife officials have puzzled over the difference and think it may have to do with the fact that many deer are killed late in the day and are checked by phone because game stations have closed.

Here are the top-10 counties: Franklin, 557; Pittsylvania, 473; Bedford, 427; Scott, 368; Patrick, 345; Grayson, 321; Southampton, 306; Giles, 275; Wythe, 273; Botetourt, 260.

APOLOGY IS ACCEPTED

James Hazel, board member of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries from Oakton, apologized last week for remarks he made at the May 24 meeting of the board.

When the department’s executive director, Bill Woodfin, resigned at that meeting under the threat of being fired, Hazel looked out on those who had called for agency reform and said, “To use an old hunting phrase, you’ve got trophies on your wall now. I hope that’s enough.”

I reported that the remark “topped the list of the 10 most stupid things said during the DGIF caper.”

“I am sorry for those remarks,” Hazel said during a board meeting last week.

I told Hazel that I admired him for the courage it took to apologize.

SEASONS SET FOR DOVES

Dove hunters in Virginia will be under a three-way split season with a 12 daily bag limit, which is about what was offered last year.

The season dates are Sept. 3-24; Oct. 8-Nov. 5 and Dec. 27-Jan. 14. The season will open Saturday of the Labor Day weekend. It will follow the trend of last year by going later into January to offer dove hunters some action past the deer season. That proved to be popular last season, said Bob Duncan, chief of the wildlife division of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Hunting will begin at noon the first segment of the season, then begin one-half hour before sunrise the second two segments.

STRIPER CLUB SAYS “NO” TO REDUCED STOCKINGS

Members of the Smith Mountain Striper Club say they are not ready to cut back on the lake’s annual stocking rate or to do away with the 20-inch minimum size limit. In a survey that attracted the comments of 67 members, 82 percent of the participants said they opposed lowering the stocking rate. Seventy percent said they were against removing the 20-inch length limit.

Dan Wilson, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist in charge of the striper fishery, said the time has come for a new and bold approach to the lake’s striper management in order to protect the its bigger stripers while reducing the number of smaller fish. (See my March 24 column)

One of Wilson’s suggestions is to replace the minimum-size limit with a slot limit during the cold-weather months when stripers can be released with good survival. No fish between 26 and 37 inches could be kept from Oct. 1 through May 31. Two fish on either side of the slot could be kept. This would protect the lake’s larger stripers, yet allow for a trophy to be taken.

During June 1 to Sept. 30, fish of any size could be kept and the limit would be increased from two to four. Since survival is slim during warm months, the idea is to keep the fish you catch and stop fishing at four. This would help remove some of the smaller fish and make room for bigger ones, Wilson said.

The October through May slot limit was favored by 48 percent of the club members who participated in the survey. Opposition weighed in at 46 percent, with six percent having no opinion or needing more information.

The limit of four per day of any size striper during the warm-weather months was favored by 43 percent of the participants and rejected by 55 percent. Two percent had no opinion.

GOOD NEWS FOR WOODCOCK HUNTERS

Following a string of years when the woodcock population fell on the average of 2 percent per year, recruitment was up last year.

“Last year was a banner year,” said Bob Talbert. “We did well up to Christmas.”

Unfortunately for Talbert, many of the birds arrived during the period when the season was closed.

Under a federal framework, Virginia only can have a 30-day season. The challenge is to adjust those limited days to take advantage of the migration peaks which differ across the state. Federal officials do not permit zoning.

“If we could zone the state, we could do a better job,” said Bob Duncan, chief of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries wildlife division.

This fall’s season will be split: Nov. 12-26 and Dec. 17-31. The November 12 opening is a bit later than during recent seasons. The delay is an effort to favor hunters in the Piedmont section of the state. It could work as a disadvantage for hunters in the west, Duncan said. The early dates are set to appease hunters in the west; the late dates are designed favor hunters on the Eastern Shore.

The bag limit is 3 daily.

DGIF FISHING FOR NEW DIRECTOR

The search for a new director of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is under way. The job opening has been announced and the search, which will begin in earnest in July. It will be “wide and deep,” said John Montgomery, chairman of the committee assigned the task of finding a new director. Montgomery is a DGIF board member from Sandston.

Bill Woodfin, director of the agency for the past 10 years, resigned under pressure in late May. Col. Gerald Massengill was appointed interim director and has been receiving high praise for getting a wounded agency back on its feet. Massengill is the retired head of the State Police.

The DGIF abandoned the idea of outsourcing the search effort, a tactic discussed at the first meeting of its search committee. Instead the agency will carry out the task on its own, using its staff, constitute groups, other natural resource agencies and its website. Aiding in the effort will be Carol Rauschberg, of the Department of Human Resource Management.

Montgomery said the new director should be a person with a vision for fish and wildlife management and for the agency; should have executive leadership experience and should be compatible when working with the staff and board.

Massengill said he is willing to stay on as interim director as long as required, but added that he is anxious to get back to retirement.

CAP THE CATCH OF MENHADEN

The Coastal Conservation Association is urging its members and others to contact Nancy Wallace, Atlantic Menhaden Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, to express support for Addendum II to the Atlantic Menhaden Fishery Management Plan. This would put a cap on how many menhaden commercial fishermen can take. Wallace can be reached at comments@asmfc.org. Information on menhaden can be found on www.menhadenmatter.org.

A public meeting on the issue is set for 6 p.m. July 12 at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point.

Menhaden are an important food source for sport fish, including striped bass, and they act as a filter for the Chesapeake Bay. They also are widely sought by commercial fishermen.

RAIL HUNTING NOT PROMISING

Storms on the Eastern Shore of Virginia likely have lowered the population of clapper, king and sora rails, officials of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries report. “This will not particularly be a banner rail season,” said Bob Duncan, chief of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries wildlife division.

A September 12 to Nov. 19 season has been set. The bag limit is 15 clapper/king rails and 25 sora/Virginia rails. The season was set to embrace high tides, which provide the best conditions for rail hunting.

An Oct. 5-10; Oct 24-Jan. 31 snipe season was set. The bag limit is 8.

GOOSE SEASON DOES IT JOB

High concentrations of resident Canada geese remain a nuisance in some areas of the state, but the early September season, started in 1993, has been doing what it is designed to do and that is to lower goose numbers.

The 2005 estimate of the resident population is 131,089 geese. That is down from the peak of 264,867 estimated in 1998. The population has been declining about 10 percent annually since then.

The season has been very effective,” said Bob Duncan, chief of the wildlife division of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

The September season is designed to take advantage of homegrown birds, then be over before the migratory geese arrive from the north. The hunting dates are Sept. 1-24. The bag limit is five daily. Federal officials provide the option of increasing the limit to eight, but Duncan said hunters appear to be happy with the limit of five and it is reducing the population.

A September teal season has been set for east of Interstate 95 Sept. 15-24. The limit of blue-winged and green-winged teal is four daily. The early dates allow hunters to take advantage of teal, which tend to move through Virginia before the regular duck season opens. Virginia has held a special early teal season the past six years.

UPPER JAMES RAMP TO BE DEDICATED

I always called the boat ramp Jones Park, but more recently it has been known as Narrow Passage and now Horseshoe Bend. No matter the name, for years it has been a favorite access of mine for the upper James River in Botetourt County. Other anglers and paddlers will say the same. From Jones Park to the next take out at Springwood is a superb day of float fishing. If you want to tackle a bit more of the river, you can continue to Buchanan.

I remember one outing with my son when we caught and released more than 100 smallmouth bass before we were out of sight of the ramp. The fishing no longer is that spectacular, but this stretch of the river reminds an excellent place to float and fish.

For a time, as I recall, the access was owned by Owens-Illinois. Then Westvaco purchased it, leaving it open to the public. When Westvaco sold hundreds of acres of its timberland in Botetourt and Rockbridge County, the river access plot became the property of Rose Land Co. in Mississippi.

The story gets a bit muddy here. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries began negotiating for the ramp and when things went sour the new owner posted the property.

That’s when a group of sportsmen in Botetourt County went to work as a liaison between the land company and the state. Most were members of the Botetourt Longbeards, a chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. The fact that the DGIF efforts to obtain the river property crashed about the same time that ranking members of the agency were criticized for taking a trip to Africa did not sit well with the Botetourt sportsmen.

A few days ago a deal was struck by DGIF and the ramp was returned to public ownership.

“It took some bad letters and bad editorials, but the job is done,” said Leon Turner, one of the ramp advocates and former board chairman of DGIF. “We are just happy to get the ramp.”

So is DGIF, it appears. The agency has set a re-opening dedication 11 a.m. July 7 at the ramp. Scheduled to be on hand are W. Tayloe Murphy, Jr., Secretary of Natural Resources, Sherry Crumley, Chairman of the DGIF Board, and Col. Gerald Massengill, DGIF Interim Director.

You can look for some of the Longbeards in the background.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

>The board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has adopted a $46.1 million operating budget for the coming fiscal year. It is 3 percent higher than the current budget.

>Don’t try to outrun the law, especially officers of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. The commission is updating its fleet of Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River patrol boats, replacing them with high-speed, twin-outboard rigs that generate 500 horsepower and can reach speeds of 55 mph. They are being purchased with more than $3 million in grants from the federal Office of Homeland Security and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

>A new $50 bounty on Coyotes in Pulaski County has stimulated newspaper accounts all the way to Washington, D.C. Under state law, counties have the option of setting a bounty on coyotes as an effort to help control them. Many game officials see coyote bounties as a futile effort at controlling these resourceful animals.

>The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board has authorized its director and staff to pursue the purchase of three tracts of land: 3,800 acres in Chesapeake city; 344.9 acres in Louisa County and 600 acres in Wise County. In some instances, grant money will be used in the purchase.

SALTWATER TOURNAMENT

The Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament has attracted its first king mackerel and tuna citations of the season and there are new leaders in the black drum and cobia categories. Here are the standings:

BLACK DRUM: 93 pounds, 9 ounces, Willie McWhite, Jr., Richmond, lower-eastern Chesapeake Bay.

COBIA: 82 pounds, 6 ounces, Fern Kuhn, Parkersburg, W. Va., lower-eastern Chesapeake Bay.

CROAKER: 4-pounds, 8 ounces, Elliott Souldourian, Virginia Beach, lower-western Chesapeake Bay.

DOLPHIN: 31 pounds, Jeremy Creason, Buena Vista, off Virginia Beach.

FLOUNDER: 12 pounds, 3 ounces, James Alexander, Virginia Beach, lower-western Chesapeake Bay.

GRAY TROUT: 12 pounds, 14 ounces, William Flipin, Hayes, upper eastern Chesapeake Bay.

KING MACKEREL, 35 pounds, Robert Pillote, Jr., Bethesda, Md., off Eastern Shore.

KINGFISH: 1 pound, 12 ounces, Damon Moore, Sterling, off Virginia Beach.

SEA BASS: 6 pounds, 14 ounces, Chad Stoker, Chesapeake, caught off Virginia Beach.

SHEEPSHEAD: 14 pounds, 2 ounces, Bryan Noel, Virginia Beach, lower-eastern Chesapeake Bay.

SPADEFISH: 12 pounds, 5 ounces, Todd Hawk, Maidens, lower-western Chesapeake Bay.

SPECKLED TROUT: 11 pounds, 3 ounces, Brain Pomije, Chesapeake, Elizabeth River.

SPOT: 1 pound, 4 ounces, Robert Richardson, Richmond, Elizabeth River.

STRIPED BASS: 63 pounds, 8 ounces, state record, Paul Leckner, Greenbackville, Bradford Bay.

TAUTOG: 18 pounds, 4 ounces, Larry Larue, Virginia Beach, ocean off Virginia Beach.

TUNA: 80 pounds, Jesse Thompkins, Suffolk, off Virginia Beach.

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

Kanawha Valley Chapter Ruffed Grouse Society Fun Shoot, July 23, White Oak Mountain Sporting Clays, Beckley, W. Va. $90 per shooter, information from Larry Rodgers, 304-206-3303.

Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show/Virginia Deer Classic, Aug. 12-14, Showplace, Mechanicsville, contact Denny Quaiff, 804-743-1290

Western Division of Virginia Big Game Contest, Sept. 10 and 11, Rockingham County Fairgrounds near Harrisonburg, see vpsa.org for details.

Urban archery season, Sept. 17-30 and Jan. 9-25.

Eastern Division and state finals of Virginia Big Game Contest, Sept. 24 and 25, Southampton County Fairgrounds, Franklin, see vpsa.org for details.

Bowhunting season, Oct. 1-Nov. 18 and Dec. 5-Jan. 7.

Fall turkey hunting season, Oct. 31-Nov. 12; Nov. 24 and Dec. 12-Jan. 7.

Muzzleloading season east of Blue Ridge Mountains, Nov. 5-18.

Muzzleloading season west of Blue Ridge Mountains, Nov. 12-18

Deer hunting season west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Nov. 19-Dec. 3

Deer hunting season east of Blue Ridge Mountains, Nov. 19-Jan. 7

Late muzzleloading season, Dec. 17-Jan. 7.

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