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Hunters say Coyotes tough on the deer herd


Courtesy Dr. Ken Neill


Big black drum like this one caught by J.T. Hale needed to boost saltwater tournament entries

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Wednesday, May 15, 2013


Is Virginia's deer herd in decline? Yes said half the hunters who participated in a recent Virginia Deer Hunters Association membership survey. Only three percent said the herd is increasing while 47 percent said it has remained about the same in recent years.

When asked how the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries should manage the herd, 12 percent said efforts should be made to increase it; 53 percent said it should be held at current levels and five percent recommended decreasing the herd.

Coyote predation was cited as the No. 1 reason for the decline in deer numbers. Loss of habitat ranked second.

Fifty-nine percent of the survey participants said they saw a coyote while deer hunting this past season; 15 percent reported killing a coyote.

"Our association has been completing surveys and asking our members tough questions for more than 20 years," said Denny Quaiff, executive director of the association, which was formed in 1985. One tough question that wasn't included in the 2013 survey was the Sunday hunting issue, a subject that has sharply divided members in past surveys.

Seventy-seven percent of the participants said they practiced quality deer management; meaning they passed up small bucks in order to give them a chance to mature and grow larger antlers. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all, 60 percent of the participants said they favored an antler-point restriction that would require at least one buck in the bag limit to have a minimum of four points on one side before it is a legal target. Forty percent said no to that.

Fifty-five percent said that would support a regulation that required a deer hunter to kill a doe before a second buck could be taken.

Members were opposed to hunting over bait (57 percent), but 64 percent said they were involved in planting food plots and 60 percent favored year-round supplementary feeding. Twenty-two percent opposed year-round feeding and 18 percent said it didn't matter. Feeding currently is prohibited Sept. 1 though the first Saturday in January.

Just over half the participants said doe days should remain as they are while 12 percent said they should be increased and 35 percent decreased.

Saltwater citations down significantly

Citations in the 2013 Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament are off nearly 45 percent. The current count is just over 800, significantly lower than this time last year when more than 1,430 trophy catches had been registered in the state-sponsored tournament.

Most of the decline is the result of poor striped bass fishing in January and February, a time when anglers normally can expect to encounter big numbers of big fish. This winter, many of the stripers stayed offshore in water closed to recreational fishing.

The 2013 striper citation count is 173 citations. The same time period last year it was 729. Also down significantly are blueline tilefish and bluefin tuna citations. It is going to take outstanding fishing for the 2013 tournament count to match last year's total of 6,017.

Anglers this year have enjoyed some excellent tautog fishing, mostly around wrecks off Virginia Beach.

One of the most recent entries in the contest is an 8-pound, 4-ounce flounder landed in Green Channel at Wachapreague by Charles Crouse of York, Pa. The fish placed first in two flounder contests in Wachapreague. Thus far, flounder fishing has been on the slow side, often the result of cold and windy conditions.

The next major targets for citation seekers will be red and black drum, which slowly are pushing into spring haunts along the Eastern Shore barrier islands and the lower Chesapeake Bay. These hefty fish should offer peak action later this month.

The demand for sea clams for black drum bait is expected to be so high that one tackle shop, Chris' Bait and Tackle in Capeville, is telling customers to reserve bait ahead of time, especially around the May 17-19 Lower Chesapeake Bay Black Drum Classic.

Outdoor briefs

  • Ten service members from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Camp Lejeune will be honored May 16-18 during a Freedom Alliance-sponsored outdoor event at Smith Mountain Lake. The retreat will include fishing, archery and shooting designed for relaxation and outdoor therapy. This is the third year the "Salute to Our Heroes" has been scheduled at the lake. www.FreedomAlliance.org.
  • The 2013 Student Angler Federation Virginia High School Fishing State Championship is set for May 19 on Smith Mountain Lake with headquarters at Gills Creek Marina. The state championship is a two-person team event for students in grades 9 through 12. Check www.HighSchoolFishing.org for more details.
  • John Crews of Salem finished 22nd in the Bassmaster Elite Alabama River Charge in Montgomery, Ala. He landed a limit of five bass during his three days of fishing, but failed to make the final-day cut. He won $10,000. The first-place $102,000 prize went to Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla.
  • Reed Exhibitions no longer will be managing the National Shooting Sports Foundation SHOT Show. After three decades, the foundation and Reed have parted ways over Reed's ban of AR-type guns at a companion show in Harrisburg, Pa. earlier this year. So many sponsors pulled out of that show that it was canceled. The sports foundation said Reed had done a good job managing the Shot Show, but its efforts to block certain firearms went against the mission of the shooting sports industry.
  • Marc Puckett, quail biologist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, told Quail Forever that he doesn't believe the past winter was severe enough to impact quail numbers and "unless we see something unexpected in early spring, I think the winter moisture is actually setting us up for a good breeding season."
  • John Roberts, who offers trout fishing as an amenity of his A B&B at Llewellyn Lodge in Lexington www.vatrout.com, has an interesting tale about a client who recently landed a 19-inch rainbow. "He lands the fish and notices a long, skinny tail sticking out of its mouth. He gives it a tug and out comes a field mouse." Roberts said he would expect that of a bass or muskie, but a trout? It makes the "Mouse Rat" fly sold by Orvis look more attractive.
  • When a friend told John Wright of Amherst that she had spotted a turkey hen with a dozen chicks, he thought that was awful early. "Global warming?" he wondered.
  • My one-time Catawba neighbor, Leonard Adkins, is known as the habitual hiker, having hiked the entire Appalachian Trial five times. He also could be known as the habitual guidebook author. Atkins is out with title No. 16, "Hiking and Traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway." It covers every trial on the parkway. Atkins, who now lives in Richmond, will be signing his new book June 2, 2-4 p.m. at Valley View Mall Barnes and Noble in Roanoke and June 7, 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Christiansburg Barnes and Noble.

Events, seasons, dates

  • Triangle Archers 3D tournament, Sunday, on club range between Christiansburg and Blacksburg, $12, $25 per family, cub and pee wee $6, information from Jim Overfelt, 540-552-8023.
  • Triangle Archers 3D tournament, June 23, on club range between Christiansburg and Blacksburg, $12, $25 per family, cub and pee wee $6, information from Jim Overfelt, 540-552-8023.
  • Triangle Archers 3D tournament, August 18, on club range between Christiansburg and Blacksburg, $12, $25 per family, cub and pee wee $6, information from Jim Overfelt, 540-552-8023.
  • Hunters for the Hungry banquet, Sept. 14, Moose Lodge on Virginia 311 in Roanoke County, tickets $25 for a single; $40 for a couple, tickets and information from Ralph and Lois Graybill, 540-427-5125, and John and Wanda Reed, 540-427-4788.
  • Triangle Archers 3D tournament, Sept. 22, on club range between Christiansburg and Blacksburg, $12, $25 per family, cub and pee wee $6, information from Jim Overfelt, 540-552-8023.

Have an event? Contact xtrails@earthlink.net

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