Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Prospects pretty good for duck season
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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While many Virginia hunters are focused on deer now that the early archery season has started, another opener that looms later this week should hold promise for plenty of the state's estimated 13,000 duck hunters.
The first segment of the state's duck season opens Thursday and runs through Monday.
Prospects for the season are pretty good, reports Gary Costanzo, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist who oversees the state's waterfowl program.
"Duck numbers on the prairie are down, but bird numbers in the East are pretty good," Costanzo said.
In addition to the first season, the upcoming segments are Nov. 15-29 and Dec. 6 through Jan. 24. Youth Waterfowl Hunting Day is Nov. 15.
During the early season the key species are mallards and wood ducks, and there seems to be good numbers of those around.
In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was confident enough about wood duck numbers to allow states to increase the daily bag limit from two birds to three. Virginia officials approved the increase.
"That should make some people happy," Costanzo said.
The overall limit remains five ducks. Of those, up to four may be mallards but only two may be mallard hens. Other species-specific limits include: four scoters, two redheads, one pintail, one mottled duck and one fulvous whistling duck.
Diving duck numbers remain down, which is why the daily scaup limit has been reduced to one until Jan. 1, after which it rises to two. Canvasbacks are completely off limits this year, as are harlequin ducks.
The black duck limit is one, but they are off limits during the first segment.
One thing that could shape an early season hunter's prospects are the water woes affecting the state.
A fun and productive way to hunt during the early season is to float rivers in a canoe and jump shoot wood ducks and mallards.
But while water levels are decent in some streams, others are so low that floating can be difficult. However, with wet weather in the forecast things could slightly improve by Thursday.
One upside of dry years is that ducks can be easier to find because there are fewer ponds and water holes available.
If you plan to hunt ducks you'll need a Virginia hunting license, a federal duck stamp and a Virginia waterfowl stamp.
Registering with the Harvest Information Program (HIP) is also mandatory. HIP helps wildlife officials track hunter participation and success rates. HIP registration is available by phone at (888) 788-9772 and online at vahip.com.
Legal waterfowl shooting hours are 30 minutes prior to sunrise to sunset.
Optimists tourney notes
As the Optimist Club of Cave Spring's first fall fishing tournament loomed and ticket sales remained lackluster, some members had suggestions for club president Carol Landrum.
"Some wanted to cancel it," Landrum said. "But I wasn't going to disappoint the people who had signed up."
Landrum had pushed for the tournament in the hopes of raising money for an Optimist International campaign to help fund childhood cancer research.
The club needed about 250 participants just to break even, and Landrum held out hope they would at least get there.
"We're supposed to be optimists, after all," said Landrum, whose Foxport Marina is the tournament's longtime headquarters.
The final tally ended up at 170. The club won't know the extent of the financial hit until it tallies up all the financials. It's not as easy as simply subtracting prize money from entry fee revenue because the club gets some advertising and sponsorship money.
It could have been worse. Only two smallmouth bass prizes were awarded, saving the club $450. No muskies were registered, saving another $1,950.
The club's offering of a $10,000 bounty for a muskie of at least 25 pounds no doubt attracted a few hopeful participants. A few club members were certainly relieved that no one caught a qualifying fish.
The prize was originally sponsored by a Roanoke business, but the company went belly up just a few weeks before the tournament.
The club scrambled and was able to find several individual members who were willing to put up their own cash.
After Sunday's weigh-in, longtime club member Ike Harris was preparing to call the supporters to tell them they were off the hook.
He declined an observer's suggestion to tease callers that a 26-pound muskie had been registered just before the tournament ended.
"Some of these guys are elderly and I don't want to give anyone a heart attack," he said, smiling.
Landrum said the club would wait until meeting before deciding whether or not to try another fall tournament. The club is planning to host its 41st annual spring tournament at the lake next May.
Record falls at hillclimb
Sunday's Poor Mountain Hillclimb produced a course record, and this one didn't come from the usual suspect -- pro cyclist and annual race dominator Jeremiah Bishop of Harrisonburg.
Flavia Lepene of Blacksburg blistered the course in 48 minutes, 46 seconds, breaking the women's record of 49:10 set in 2003 by Trish Stevenson. Lepene, who won last year in 53:14, was seventh overall.
The fastest man was Robert Marion of Mount Airy, N.C., who got up the mountain in 40:31. Bishop, who set the men's course record of 37:16 last year and had won four of the previous five hillclimbs, didn't race.
The race, the final event in the Virginia Derailer Series of mountain bike races, attracted 47 riders in 19 categories.
