Virginia gets more elk

1. 41-vehicle wreck ties up traffic Sunday on I-81 in Rockbridge County

2. Virginia Tech football roster has holes on picture day

3. Arrest made in case of missing Nelson County teen

4. Medicare penalties hit hospitals in Roanoke, New River Valleys

5. McFarling: 2 little numbers are a big hurdle for Virginia Tech football

6. Microfestivus beer event gets downtown Roanoke hopping

7. WOYM: Fewer stinkbugs? You may have wasps to thank

8. DAN CASEY: Copter cost still stirring up dust

9. Virginia attorney general's office grows under Ken Cuccinelli

10. Roanoke farmers markets making local foods more accessible

Bill Cochran

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Ten elk have been transported to Buchanan County from nearby Kentucky, where they have been placed in acclimation corrals to help them become familiar with their new setting. They are scheduled for release in several weeks on reclaimed mine land in the War Fork area.

The two pregnant cows and eight yearling bulls are scheduled to join 24 other elk in the county from stockings and reproduction last year, according to Allen Boynton, terrestrial wildlife biologist manager for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

"These elk were trapped last January and held for disease testing in quarantine in Kentucky," said Boynton. "Disease testing results indicate that these animals pose little risk to Virginia wildlife or domestic livestock."

The calving season is underway, but it will be late July or early August before an accurate count can be made of the newborns, Boynton said.

Virginia has been in line for Kentucky elk behind Missouri, which explains the modest stockings this year and last. That is expected to change next year when Virginia hopes to receive a final stocking of 50 or more elk. Plans call for building a herd of 400 animals by 2020. Kentucky's herd has passed the 10,000 mark.

Good turkey hunting all around

Just as hunters in Virginia were crowing about a record spring gobbler season, word comes that West Virginia also enjoyed a spectacular year. The Mountain State reported a kill of 10,974. That's only about half of what Virginia reported and isn't a record, but it was a 32-percent jump over the previous season, and 13-percent above the five-year average.

As we reported on this space last week, Virginia's kill of 19,247 was 26-percent above the previous year and nearly 1,000 birds above the record set in 2002. It was 24-percent better than the 10-year average.

Biologists in Virginia and West Virginia say the good season reflects a robust turkey population, especially a good hatch in 2011, which produced many of the two-year old toms in the kill. The good hatch is credited to the absence of harsh weather during the spring nesting season and decent mast crops which have kept turkeys in good shape.

"We are hopeful that this spring will continue to provide moderate-to-average rainfall and we will have above-average reproduction, rebuilding the turkey population to levels we experienced a decade ago," said Curtis Taylor, chief of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Section.

Spring weather in 2013 often has been cold and wet, factors that can result in mortality of polts.

Both states reported that sportsmen enjoyed favorable hunting weather, especially during the first week of the season when the highest kills occurred. In Virginia, 31 percent of the kill was tallied during the first Saturday and first full week of the season.

The area of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge Mountains saw a 31-percent jump in its kill while eastern counties clocked a 23-percent increase. Virtually all the turkeys killed-92 percent-came from private land as opposed to the national forest.

The top five counties in Virginia were Bedford, 631; Halifax, 516; Pittsylvania, 510; Franklin, 425 and Southampton, 411. In West Virginia, top counties were Preston, 403; Mason, 360; Harrison, 355; Kanawha, 327; Ritchie, 325.

Back Bay on the rebound

It was a long drive from the Roanoke Valley, but I traveled several times to Back Bay in the late 70s and early 80s to enjoy the superb largemouth bass fishing. I even wrote about it for Outdoor Life Magazine. In 1980, the Bay, a brackish piece of water within earshot of the breakers of the Atlantic Ocean, produced an amazing 240 citation bass-fish 8 pounds our more.

Then all kinds of bad environmental things happened and the once great fishing was history. The Bay has languished as a fishing wasteland for years, but recently it has been making a comeback. Helping that along, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has been stocking fingerling bass in the 25,000-acre estuary, something pretty much unheard in the rounds of fishery management.

A three-year cycle of stockings began last season. Recently the Bay received this year's allotment of 125,000 fingerlings. The stocked fish have been enjoying good growth, officials say.

Outdoor briefs

Concerned about a significant increase in the take of black drum by both sport and commercial fishermen, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has approved new size limits as part of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan. Regulations remain the same for this year, but beginning next year the minimum size limit will be 12 inches and the year after that, 14 inches. None of this will impact recreational fishermen in Virginia, who already fish under a 16-inch minimum size limit and a one-per-day possession limit.

Virginia's deer hunting tradition was founded on a productive deer herd in the George Washington and Jefferson national forests, but that habitat has aged and deer aren't as numerous. Both deer and hunters have shifted to private land. "If we want to save public-land hunting, we are going to have to cut some trees" is the message in the June/July issue of Outdoor Life. The special report is an excellent read on what is happening to hunting on our national forests.

A lawsuit that would have outlawed traditional ammunition containing lead has been dismissed by the U.S. District Count for the District of Columbia. The suit was brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and six other groups. Traditional ammunition represents 95 percent of the U.S. Market and is used by hunters, target shooters and law enforcement with more than 10-billion rounds sold annually.

Events, seasons, dates

Spring squirrel hunting season, June 1-15

Smith River Trout Unlimited Chapter meeting, Rania's Restaurant, Martinsville, June 6, 6:30 p.m., program by Mark Taylor of The Roanoke Times on his fishing trip to Alaska.

Free fishing days in Virginia, June 7-9, fish without a license in all water except stocked trout streams and lakes.

Virginia Bear Hunters Association fourth annual auction, June 15, Craig County Fairgrounds, New Castle, $5 adults, kids 15 and under free when accompanied by an adult, to benefit the association's scholarship program and kid's fishing carnival. Gates open 9 a.m., auction 10 a.m., new and used items, antiques, live music, concession, prizes, raffles, cake walk. Contact Richard Sprinkle, bearsinva@gmail.com

National Bobwhite Technical Committee, June 22-26, Hotel Roanoke.

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.

Smith Mountain Striper Club tournament, July 20, Captain Quarters, www.smithmountianstriperclub.com/tournament-info.html

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.

Friends of NRA Banquet, Aug. 24, Salem Civic Center, doors open 5:30 p.m., 25 firearms up for grabs, tickets $45 for a single, $80 for a couple, $35 for youth, information and ticket available from Mike Kessler, 540-529-7304, and Al Milton, 540-797-7777.

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.

Smith Mountain Striper Club tournament, Sept. 14 Captains Quarters, www.smithmountianstriperclub.com/tournament-info.html

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.