Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Forestry officials size up mast crop
Mark Taylor is outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times.
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The Virginia Department of Forestry has completed its annual survey of the state's mast crop.
As usual, the strength of the crops varies significantly by type and region, something hunters who have been chasing deer with their bows, bears with hounds during the training season or even squirrels have no doubt noticed during their days afield this season.
Acorns are a hugely important mast source, one that has an impact not only on the hunting season at hand, but also on future seasons.
In the short term, mast crops can affect game distribution.
In the long term, they can affect population levels because heavy mast crops translate to healthier, hardier animals, which tend to be more successful when it comes to reproduction.
The outlook is mixed.
A statewide index shows that red oak acorn crops are slightly better than average. This year's index is 1.86, while the long-term average is 1.81.
The results were quite different for white oak and chestnut oak, however.
The white oak index was just 1.34, well below the long-term average of 1.81.
Gary Norman, a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist who closely monitors mast production, said white oak numbers were "among the lowest estimates of the survey history."
The chestnut index of 1.46 was also well below average.
Again, the numbers vary by region.
In the South Piedmont, acorn mast indices are about average.
In the South Mountain region, white oak and red oak production are a bottom-of-the-scale 1.0, but red oak production was actually slightly above average.
A poor mast year actually can be good news for some hunters.
Even in years of widespread oak mast failures, some trees will produce mast. Hunters who can find pockets of productive trees will usually find game.
Deer and turkeys also tend to feed more in open fields, where hunters have an easier time spotting them, when there is little to eat in the woods.
On the other hand, when mast is plentiful game tends to be scattered.
Results of other mast crops were fair.
The statewide index for beech mast, a favored food of turkeys, was 2.25, well above the long-term average of 1.71.
On the soft mast front, grapes were slightly below average, with an index of 1.64, while dogwood mast was a better-than-average 2.37.
While the survey results can provide some general insight, the best way for hunters to get a feel for their areas is to get out there and look.
Hatchery renovation shapes trout plan
Like last year, this year's statewide trout stocking plan has been adjusted to account for the temporary closure of the state hatchery at Coursey Springs.
The closure has reduced the state's trout production by about 30 percent.
To compensate, the DGIF had the choice of cutting back on the number of fish stocked per visit, or the number of stockings.
They chose the latter and will stick with that plan this year.
Category A waters will get fish six time from now through May. That's down from a normal of eight stockings. Stocking visits on Category B waters have been cut from five to four per season, with Category C, Delayed Harvest and Urban waters, all going from three to two stockings.
Trout license sales fell about 10 percent from fiscal year 2008 to fiscal year 2009, from about 63,000 to 57,000. But it's hard to blame the drop on the temporary changes to stocking. That's because the decline in sales had actually been significantly larger the two previous years.
This should be the final season for the stocking reductions.
Duckwall said the Coursey Springs renovation is progressing well.
"We hope to have fish back in there by February," he said.
The out-of-date hatchery was not producing anywhere near its potential, in part because of huge losses to predation.
Because fish tanks will be covered in the new facility, bird predation should be greatly reduced if not totally eliminated.
With the new facility on line the state's trout hatchery system will see its production capacity substantially increase.
Then the DGIF will face another decision: Should they produce more trout or bigger trout?
State fisheries officials are well aware that angler surveys consistently show that, given the choice, anglers prefer quality to quantity. It would be surprising if the DGIF didn't shape its trout program to satisfy those desires.
So, while trout anglers are having to be patient through a couple of lean seasons, a trout boom is on the not-to-distant horizon.
