Thursday, November 10, 2005
Bill Cochran's Mailbag: Phone system replaces check-in stations
Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.
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BILL: The phone-in check system for reporting a deer kill is a great thing, but there is a problem with fall turkeys. I remember when it seemed that every country store was a check station, but now stations seem few and far between.
For instance, on the first day of fall turkey season, my hunting partner killed a bird not far from Boones Mill in Franklin County. It turned out that there no longer is a check station in Boones Mill, and we were told we would have to drive to the other side of Rocky Mount to find one.
As it was late in the evening by that time, and we both live in Roanoke County, he dropped me off at home and went looking for a check station in the Roanoke Valley. I assume he found one.
It would be very helpful to have a list of area check stations -- especially those that are open after dark. Do you know if the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has such a list and whether it is available on line?
If they have one that is not readily accessible, you could provide a valuable serviced by posting it on your site and perhaps suggesting that it run in the paper.
BOB: There is a county-by-county list of big game checking stations on the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries website: www.dgif.virginia.gov. Here is the address for going directly to it: http://www.dgif.state.va.us/hunting/checkstations/index.asp?fips=023
All big game other than fall turkeys and bears can be checked by phone, so the number of traditional check stations is likely to decline in the future. That could pose a problem for fall turkey hunters and bear hunters.
The list offered by DGIF does not contain hours the station will be open. One problem often voiced to me is that the station, normally a country store or hunting and fishing tackle shop, is closed when the hunter reaches it after a successful late-day hunt.
BILL: So if you legally kill a deer in West Virginia, you can not bring the whole carcass back home to Virginia to butcher (<a href="see last week’s Cochran column).
So tag the West Virginia Deer, drive into Virginia, throw the West Virginia tag out the window, tear the notch out of the Virginia license, check it in, go home and butcher the deer. The deer won’t tell on your.
I can see this (new hunting regulation) hurting the Hunters for the Hungry program in border counties in Virginia because West Virginia legally checked in deer are donated to Hunters for the Hungry stations in Virginia.
JEFF: No question that the new regulation can be incontinent, but it is designed to abate the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease, which could devastate the deer herd. If CWD becomes a problem in Virginia, then Hunters for the Hungry really will be in a bind.
BILL: Hey I got a question that I need answered if that’s okay with you. I live in Southern Ohio and was wondering if it’s better right now to try and catch catfish or try and catch bass? Is bass fishing hard right now? Its about 60-65 degrees around here right now?
JOSH: Go after bass or catfish? That’s like asking whether to order steak or lobster. Both are good. I don’t have first-had information on fishing in Ohio, but I do know that catfish in Virginia are turned on right now. Capt Chris Harris, of Got the Blues Guide Service (804-314-9629) on the tidal James River, reports blue cat catches from 30 to more than 70 pounds. One angler, Luke Thomas, took cats that weighed 31, 38, 43, 54 and 55 pounds during a single outing. So my vote would be to go after blue catfish.
BILL: I am looking for a site that posts good reports for the New River fishing in Virginia. I enjoy the posting when I see it in your column. Some guys go weekly. I would like some info before I go. Do you have any suggestions?
CRAIG: I am not aware of an online New River fishing report for the Virginia section of the stream. Maybe a reader can tell me if there is one and I will pass on the information. If you are willing to pay for a report, Jack Randolph mails subscribers a weekly one that covers the entire state, including a brief report on the New River. Randolph’s address is 304 Nottingham Drive, Colonial Heights, VA 23834. The report is $50 per year. Another option would be to make an arrangement with a tackle shop in the area and call it.
