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TOBER  2012  contents 


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NUCS:  A  New  Game  in  Town 

by  Clarke  C.  Jones 

Two  new  events  in  the  dog  trials  circuit  are 
designed  for  you  to  hone  skills  while  having  fun. 

Reaching  Out  to  American  Heroes 

by  Ben  Swenson 

Hampton  Roads  kayak  fishermen  make  a  splash  with 
far-reaching  ripples  through  this  tournament. 

Saltwater  Fly  Fishing  Beckons 

by  Beth  Hester 

Looking  for  a  way  to  expand  your  fishing  range  and 
repertoire? Try  this! 

Virginia's  Watery  Wonderlands 

by  Clenda  C.  Booth 

Why  should  we  care  about  protecting  wetlands? 
They  are  biological  supermarkets. 


O  O  A  Quest  For  Snakeheads 

by  King  Montgomery 


25 


28 


31 


The  waters  of  the  Potomac  watershed  are  teeming 
with  these  toothy  invaders.  Catch  one  for  dinner. 

Habitat,  Where  the  Fish  Are  At! 

by  John  Copeland 

Fisheries  biologists  work  statewide  to  improve  lake 
habitat  for  fish. . .  and,  of  course,  you. 

Virginia's  Own:  Jim  Clay 

by  Bruce  Ingram 

A  seasoned  turkey  hunter  and  box  call  maker  shares 
a  bit  of  home-grown  advice. 

2012-2013  Hunt  Guide 

Field  biologists  share  their  insights  about  the 
coming  hunting  seasons. 


43  AFIELD  AND  AFLOAT 

45  Off  the  Leash  •  46  Photo  Tips  •  47  Dining  In 

About  the  cover:  Gobbler  hunting.  Story  on  page  28.  ©Tommy  Kirkiand 


BOB  DUNCAN 
Executive  Director 


Recently  I  was  saddened  to  learn  of  the  passing  of  longtime  out- 
doors columnist  Bill  Anderson  from  Birchleaf,  Virginia.  Bill's 
column  was  one  of  the  longest-running  outdoors  columns  in  the  state, 
and  he  will  be  sorely  missed  by  sportsmen  and  women  in  his  beloved 
Southwest.  I  enjoyed  Bill's  writings  and  the  occasional  telephone  chat 
with  him.  One  of  the  last  conversations  we  had  concerned  our  Depart- 
ment's intent  to  re-introduce  elk  to  Virginia.  Bill  was  pro  elk  and  he 
fully  supported  the  plan  to  restore  them.  In  recalling  his  work,  I  am 
made  mindful  of  the  fraternity  of  outdoor  writers  that  I  have  been 
privileged  to  know  and  in  no  small  way  benefit  from.  Growing  up  in 
the  New  River  Valley,  I  was  a  faithfiil  reader  of  Bill  Cochran's  column; 
I  still  enjoy  teasing  Bill  about  the  fact  I  grew  up  reading  his  work!  In  my 
home  town  of  Radford,  the  first  outdoor  writer  I  read  was  a  contribu- 
tor to  the  newspaper  for  which  I  was  a  carrier,  or  paperboy — as  I  think 
we  were  referred  to  back  then.  Jim  Rutherford  was  his  name,  and  I  re- 
call he  wrote  a  lot  about  boating  and  Claytor  Lake. 

Later  in  my  career,  I  was  introduced  to  other  Virginia  outdoor 
writers,  including  the  late  Bob  Gooch,  the  late  Max  Ailor,  the  late  Gar- 
vey  Winegar,  and  Bob  Hutchinson  and  Wallace  Coffey.  All  of  these  in- 
dividuals, whom  I  consider  "old  school,"  were  revered  by  their  readers. 
They  were  great  storytellers  and  educators.  They  entertained  with 
their  individual  styles  and  yet  they  informed  folks  about  issues  and  im- 
pacts. They  supported  our  Department  every  chance  they  could,  but 
they  also  took  us  to  task  when  we  fell  short,  and  rightfijUy  so.  We  are  a 
better  wildlife  agency  because  of  it. 

I  think  it  is  fair  to  say  that  the  newspaper  business  has  changed 
dramatically,  and  along  with  it,  the  outdoor  writing  game  has  changed 
to  include  many  more  activities:  "extreme  this"  and  "extreme  that," 
along  with  mountain  biking,  cross-country  skiing,  hiking,  kayaking, 
and  more.  A  fresh  generation  of  writers  plies  their  craft  in  the  new 
world  of  social  media  and  in  ways  never  before  imagined.  I  am  told  it  is 
progress,  but  I  must  confess  I  miss  the  larger-than-life  writers  (in  some 
cases,  characters)  who  had  the  look  and  feel  for  figures  like  Robert 
Ruark  and  Ernest  Hemingway  and  Jack  O'Connor  and  Fred  Bear. 
Here's  thanking  those  gifted  writers  for  all  they  have  meant  to  Vir- 
ginia's wildlife! 

Perhaps  I  am  old  school,  too,  because  I  still  believe  in  the  power  of 
print.  Sally  Mills  and  staff  have  done  it  again  with  a  great  line-up  of  ar- 
ticles in  this  September-October  issue.  My  spirits  soar  when  the  fall 
comes,  and  reading  about  field  trials  and  the  hunting  guide  in  this 
issue  will  whet  your  appetite  for  going  afield.  Jim  Clay  is  one  of  the 
most  gifted  educators  and  turkey  hunters  I  know.  Heed  his  advice  on 
the  "how-to"  for  turkeys.  Snakehead  fish  fascinate  me;  the  article  on 
where  and  how  to  locate  them  is  a  must  for  snakehead  anglers.  Im- 
proving lake  habitat,  a  fishing  tournament  for  wounded  warriors,  and 
a  review  of  saltwater  fly-fishing  tackle  and  methods  help  round  out  this 
hefty  issue. 

Arrival  of  the  fall  season  also  serves  as  a  fresh  reminder  of  the  hon- 
orable mission  undertaken  by  Hunters  for  the  Hungry.  Please  note  the 
artwork  featured  on  page  31,  which  benefits  that  fine  organization 
(more  information  available  on  page  44). 

We  look  forward  to  seeing  you  out  there  somewhere! 


MISSION  STATEMENT 

To  manage  Virginia's  wiidlift-  and  inland  Hsh  to  maintain  optimum  populations  of  all  species  to  serve  the  needs  of  the  Commonwealth:  To 
provide  opportunity  for  all  to  enjoy  wildlife,  inland  fish,  boating  and  related  outdoor  recreation  and  to  work  diligently  to  safeguard  the  rights 
of  the  people  to  hunt,  fish  and  harvest  game  as  provided  for  in  the  Constitution  of  Virginia;  To  promote  safety  for  persons  and  property  in 
connection  with  boating,  hunting  and  fishing;  To  provide  educational  outreach  programs  and  materials  that  foster  an  awareness  of  and  appre- 
ciation for  Virginia's  fish  and  wildlife  resources,  their  habitats,  and  hunting,  fishing,  and  boating  opportunities. 

Dedicated  to  the  Conservation  of  Virginia's  Wildlife  and  Natural  Resources 


www.wsfr75.com 


VOniMh  73 


NIIMBHR  9/10 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  VIRGINIA 

Bob  McDonnell,  Governor 

HUNTING  &  FISHING 
LICENSE  FEES 

Subsidized  tiii.s  publication 

SECRETARY  OF  NATURAL  RE.SOURCES 
Douglas  W.  Domenech 

DEPARTMENT  OF  GAME  AND 

INIAND  FISHERIES 

Bob  Duncan 

Executive  Director 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  BOARD 

Lisa  Caruso,  Church  Road 
J.  Brent  Clarke,  IIL  Great  Falls 
Curtis  D.  Colgate,  Virginia  Beach 
Ben  Davenport,  Chatham 
Garry  L.  Gray,  Bowling  Green 
James  W.  Hazel,  Oakton 
Randy  J.  Kozuch,  Alexandria 
Hugh  Palmer,  Highland  Springs 
F.  Scott  Reed,  Jr.,  Manakin-Sabot 
Leon  O.  Turner,  Fincastle 
Charles  S.  Yates,  Cleveland 

MAGAZINE  STAFF 

Sally  Mills,  Editor 

Lee  Walker,  Ron  Messina,  Contributing  Editors 

Emily  Pels,  Art  Director 

Carol  Kushlak,  Production  Manager 

John  Copeland,  Mike  Fies,  Matt  Knox,  Ben  Lewis, 

Gary  Norman,  Marc  Puckett,  Jaime  Sajecki, 

Staff  Contributors 

Printing  by  Progress  Printing  Plus,  Lynchburg,  VA. 

Virginia  Wildlife  (ISSN  0042  6792)  is  published  monthly 
by  the  Virginia  Department  of  Game  and  Inland  Fisheries. 
Send  all  subscription  orders  and  address  changes  to  Virginia 
Wildlife,  P.  O.  Box  830,  Boone,  Iowa  50036.  Address  all 
other  communications  concerning  this  publication  to  Vir- 
ginia Wildlife,  P.  O.  Box  11 104,  4010  West  Broad  Street, 
Richmond,  Virginia  23230-1 104.  Subscription  rates  are 
$12.95  for  one  year,  $23.95  for  two  years;  $4.00  per  each 
back  issue,  subject  to  availabiliry.  Out-of-country  rate  is 
$24.95  for  one  year  and  must  be  paid  in  U.S.  funds.  No  re- 
funds for  amounts  less  than  $5.00.  To  subscribe,  call  toll- 
free  (800)  710-9.369.  POSTMASTER:  Please  send  all 
address  changes  to  Virginia  Wildlife,  PC).  Box  830,  Boone, 
Iowa  50036.  Postage  for  periodicals  paid  at  Richmond,  VIr 
ginia  and  additional  entry  offices. 

Copyright  2012  by  the  Virginia  Department  of  Game  and 
Inland  Fisheries.  All  rights  reserved. 

The  Department  of  Game  and  Inland  Fisheries  shall  afford 
to  all  persons  an  equal  access  to  Department  programs  and 
facilities  without  regard  to  race,  color,  religion,  national  ori- 
gin, disability,  sex,  or  age.  If  you  believe  that  you  have  been 
discriminated  against  in  any  program,  activity  or  facility, 
please  write  to:  Virginia  Department  of  Game  and  Inland 
Fisheries,  ATTN:  Compliance  Officer,  (4010  West  Broad 
Street.)  P  O.  Box  1 1 104,  Richmond,  Virginia  23230-1 104. 

This  publication  is  intended  for  general  informational  pur 
poses  only  and  every  effort  has  been  made  to  ensure  its  ac- 
curacy. The  information  contained  herein  does  not  serve  as 
a  legal  representation  offish  and  wildlife  laws  or  reflations. 
The  Virginia  Department  of  Game  and  Inland  Fisheries  does 
not  assume  responsibility  for  any  change  in  dates,  regula- 
tions, or  information  that  may  occur  after  publication. 


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Working  as  a  team,  Marlene  Sipes  directs  one  of  her  Labs  to  another  part  of  the  field 


by  Clarke  C.Jones 


I. 


uke  and  I  are  sitting  obediently 
behind  one  of  those  large,  round 
hay  bales  as  the  bird  boy  puts 
out  three  pheasants.  I  am  not  allowed  to  see 
where  the  birds  are  being  placed  in  this  10- 
acre  field,  but  I'm  hoping  Luke  will  take  a 
peek  and  give  me  a  heads  up.  Unfortunately 
(for  me),  a  couple  of  cute  little  female  Nova 
Scotia  duck  tolling  retrievers  saunter  by  and 
he  is  thoroughly  distracted.  The  scorekeeper 
motions  us  forward,  hands  me  six  12-gauge 
shells,  and  asks,  "Are  you  ready?"  I  glance  at 
Luke — who  is  always  ready — and  then  nod 
in  the  affirmative. 

Luke  is  at  heel  when  we  arrive  at  the 
gatepost,  which  is  our  starting  point.  I  com- 


mand him  to  "Hunt  'em  up!"  and  the  score- 
keeper  starts  his  stopwatch.  Luke  takes  off  like 
a  shot.  My  job  is  to  keep  up  with  him  as  he 
sniffs  the  air  and  ground  to  track  down  the 
first  of  the  three  pheasants  hiding  somewhere 
in  the  grasses. 

Hunting  with  your  dog  is  fiin  but  himt- 
ing  with  a  group  of  about  1 00  people  watch- 
ing you  is  a  little  uncomfortable.  Luke  could 
care  less.  He  is  in  his  element  and  doing  what 
he  loves  to  do.  I  am  not  worried  about  how  he 
will  perform  in  this  new  type  of  field  trial  (at 
least,  new  to  me),  but  I  do  know  that  if  I  shoot 
at  a  pheasant  and  don't  kill  it  cleanly,  it  may 
sail  for  quite  a  distance.  Luke,  accustomed  to 
my  spotty  shooting,  is  used  to  chasing  pheas- 
ants a  couple  of  hundred  yards  and  then 
tracking  them  down  to  retrieve  to  me.  In  fact, 
he  can  get  darn  smug  about  it  when  he  brings 


them  back  and  often  rolls  his  eyes  as  if  to  say, 
"Boy — ^what  would  you  do  without  me!" 

Chasing  and  retrieving  a  pheasant  into 
the  next  county  might  be  impressive  on  a 
hunt,  but  there  is  a  stopwatch  clicking  off 
time  and  a  bird  that  a  dog  has  to  find.  If  we 
take  too  long,  we  lose.  Suddenly,  Luke  is  get- 
ting birdy!  My  hands  are  getting  sweaty.  His 
tail  is  rotating  faster  than  a  swizzle  stick  at  a 
bar  on  Saturday  night.  He  punches  his  way 
through  the  tall  grass.  I  rush  in,  trying  to  stay 
close.  Luke  dives  into  a  thick  bunch  of  cover 
and  up  roars  a  cock  pheasant,  cackling  his  dis- 
pleasure. I  bring  the  gun  up  and  fire. 

♦    ♦    ♦ 

Dogs  participating  in  one  form  of  competi- 
tion or  another  most  assuredly  began  before 
the  inception  of  the  National  Field  Trial 


VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFlshVA.com 


Scorekeeper  Bill  Crowley  prepares  to  add  points  for  the  shot  by  Richard  Sipes  and  retrieve 
byhisLab,  Uno. 


Association  Championships  in  1896,  by 
those  who  loved  bird  hunting  dogs  and  feh  it 
necessary  to  try  to  formalize  a  way  to  measure 
a  national  champion  bird  dog.  Setting  a  na- 
tional standard  for  excellence  would,  it  was 
thought,  improve  the  breeding  of  bird  dogs. 
And  while  it  may  have  proven  to  some  which 
was  the  best  pointer  or  setter  for  a  particular 
year,  it  was  open  only  to  pointers  and  setters 
and  to  those  few  gentlemen  who  had  the 
means  to  either  train  bird  dogs  or  hire  some- 
one who  could.  Field  trials  for  retrievers  came 
along  much  later — in  1 936 — per  the  Ameri- 
can Kennel  Club.  According  to  the  American 
Kennel  Club's  website,  the  first  National  Am- 
ateur Championship  Stake  for  retrievers  was 
held  in  1957. 

As  in  many  sports,  the  growth  of  a  com- 
petition fuels  the  intensity  of  winning  and  the 


value  of  possessing  a  champion  canine  in- 
creases. More  effort  is  required  to  meet  the 
growing  competition,  and  that  usually  re- 
quires more  resources  of  both  time  and 
money.  It  became  increasingly  difficult  for  a 
non-professional  to  compete  in  retriever  field 
trials,  and  the  tests  for  a  retriever  to  become 
the  National  Field  Trial  Champion  seemed 
less  and  less  like  normal  hunting  situations. 
Retriever  owners  seeking  to  test  their  dogs  in 
ways  they  felt  were  more  realistic  hunting  sit- 
uations started  new  clubs  and  organizations 
such  as  NAHRA,  which  held  its  first  trial  just 
outside  of  Richmond  nearly  30  years  ago.  ^ 
Out  of  these  organizations,  tests  for  retrievers  ^, 
developed  into  hunt  tests  because  they  simu-  ± 
late  what  a  dog  may  be  required  to  do  in  an 
actual  hunting  situation.  In  a  similar  way, 
bird  dog  owners  have  formed  various  tests  for 


i5. 


Ladies  like  Donna  Gartner  from  Statesville,  NC, 
with  English  setter  Jody  participate  frequently 
in  NUCS  trials. 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦ 


A  scorekeeper  records  the  shot  by  Marlene  Sipes  along  with  her  dog's  retrieve. 


their  dogs,  which  attempt  to  measure  both  the 
pointing  and  flushing  breeds'  excellence  in  the 
field. 

Hunt  tests  and  field  trials  are  a  means  to 
keep  your  hunting  dog  sharp  and  ready  for  the 
next  season,  afi:er  the  current  hunting  season 
closes.  In  areas  of  the  country  where  both 
habitat  and  quail  are  still  available,  that  may 
hold  true.  However,  the  combination  of  limit- 
ed wild  quail,  somewhat  difficult  access  to  wa- 
terfowl, and  the  continual  decline  of  the  birds' 
natural  habitats  means  hunting  dogs  may  be 
doing  more  trialing  and  less  hunting  all  year 
'round.  Running  your  dog  in  hunt  tests  or 
field  trials  is  certainly  a  worthwhile  and 
healthy  activity,  but  it  is  the  dog's  skill  and  in- 
telligence that  is  measured.  The  disadvantage 
is  that  human  participation  can  be  relegated  to 
more  of  a  trainer/handler  position  and  less  of  a 


bonded  hunting  partner  with  one's  dog.  As  a 
result,  other  forms  of  hunt  tests  or  field  trials 
have  evolved,  which  attempt  to  re-establish 
the  human  and  dog  hunting  partnership  that 
began  eons  ago,  developing  into  trials  for 
non-hunting  dogs  as  well. 

In  the  late  1 970s  an  organization  called 
the  National  Shoot  to  Retrieve  Association 
was  formed  to  allow  pointer  and  setter  own- 
ers to  compete  against  each  other  in  a  simu- 
lated hunting  situation,  where  a  dog  and  his 
owner/handler  would  hunt  placed  birds  in  a 
prescribed  area.  The  hunter/dog  teams  that 
are  the  most  productive  within  a  set  time 
frame  win  the  competition.  These  events 
have  become  more  and  more  popular  over 
the  years  and  the  competitions  are  set  up  all 
across  the  United  States,  culminating  in  a  na- 
tional championship. 


Two  events,  the  National  Upland  Classic 
Series  (NUCS)  and  the  National  Bird  Dog 
Circuit — open  to  both  pointing  dogs  and 
flushing  dogs,  have  emerged  as  the  latest  hunt- 
ing trials  where  you  and  your  dog  can  partici- 
pate as  a  team.  There  are  individual  fields  or 
trial  areas  set  up  of  anywhere  from  7  to  1 2 
acres.  Flushing  dogs  work  in  one  field  and 
pointing  dogs  work  in  a  different  field.  In  each 
field  has  been  placed  three  pheasants  or  other 
game  birds.  The  hunter  is  given  six  shells. 
When  the  hunter  and  his  dog  enter  the  field, 
they  are  followed  by  a  scorekeeper  who  starts  a 
stopwatch.  The  hunter/dog  team  has  a  speci- 
fied time  limit  in  the  field.  The  hunter  who 
shoots  the  birds  and  then  has  his  or  her  dog  re- 
trieve the  birds  in  the  shortest  amount  of  time, 
with  the  least  amount  of  shots  fired,  wins  the 
trial.  There  is  no  judging  of  performance  of 


8 


VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


1 


the  Open  Class  is  for  dogs  over  3  years.  There 
is  also  a  doubles  teams  category,  where  father/ 
son,  husband/wife,  or  you  and  a  friend  who 
may  not  have  a  dog  but  loves  to  hunt  can  par- 
ticipate. 

Richard  and  Marlene  Sipes  recently 
hosted  the  NUCS  and  Circuit  events  at  Lib- 
erty Corners  Farm  in  Esmont.  Dog  owners 
lacking  a  place  to  hunt  their  dogs  are  drawn  to 
these  events,  and  because  these  trials  are  open 
to  any  hunting  breed,  you  will  see  a  larger  va- 
riety of  hunting  dogs  than  at  other  trials.  Ed 
Callendar,  from  Woodbridge,  brought  his 
two  good-looking  Nova  Scotia  duck  tolling 
retrievers  (first  noticed  by  Luke)  to  participate 
n  their  first  trial,  and  Jason  Pittman  from 


girlfriends  are  coming  to  the  tournaments  to 
participate  or  watch — the  ladies  are  enjoying 
the  camaraderie  and  support  enthusiastically 
the  women  competing  in  the  sport." 

Both  the  National  Upland  Classic  and 
the  National  Bird  Dog  Circuit  offer  a  fiin,  rel- 
atively inexpensive  way  to  hunt  with  your  dog. 
For  the  bird  hunter,  these  trials  offer  a  brief 
tune-up  for  their  hunting  companion.  For 
those  who  have  always  wanted  to  give  bird 
hunting  a  tiy  or  just  see  what  their  hunting 
dog  might  do  if  given  the  chance  to  hunt  real 
game,  it  offers  that  opportunity. 

Bob  Jones  from  Goochland  County  has 
owned  bird  dogs  since  1 962  and  entered  the 
trial  at  Liberty  Corners  for  the  first  time  with 


hunter  and  dog;  only  a  score  and  timekeeper 
who  counts  the  number  of  shots  and  number 
of  retrieves. 

While  there  are  a  few  differences  be- 
tween these  two  trials  in  scoring  methods  and 
the  class  you  and  your  dog  may  participate  in, 
the  emphasis  is  to  hunt  and  shoot  with  your 
dog — and  to  have  fun  doing  it.  They  are  de- 
signed to  simulate  hunting  conditions  and 
have  been  formatted  to  encourage  a  greater 
number  of  participants.  For  instance,  in  a 
NUCS,  if  you  have  never  participated  before 
you  can  be  placed  in  the  Novice  Class.  This 
gives  every  new  participant  a  chance  at  win- 
ning. But  once  your  dog  has  placed  1st,  2nd, 
or  3rd  in  the  Novice  Class  event,  you  should 
move  up  to  the  Amateur  or  Open  Class,  de- 
pending upon  the  age  of  your  dog.  The  Ama- 
teur Class  is  for  dogs  less  than  3  years  old  and 


Contestants  travel  from  all  over  to  participate 
as  does  Gary  Shellman  from  Maryland,  sfiown 
fiere. 


Radiant  entered  his  one-year-old  standard 
poodle.  Walker. 

"We  had  a  blast  and  will  definitely  be 
participating  in  future  events,"  declared 
Jason.  "I  think  we  did  okay  for  our  first  com- 
petition. Walker  found  and  flushed  his  first 
bird  in  five  minutes,  and  1  knocked  the  roos- 
ter down  with  one  shot!" 

Marlene  Sipes  is  also  an  active  partici- 
pant in  these  trials  and  has  traveled  aroimd 
the  country  with  her  husband  competing 
with  their  Labrador  retrievers.  "I  went  to  a 
few  tournaments  with  Richard  last  spring.  I 
quickly  realized  how  much  fun  it  is  to  watch 
the  dogs  work  the  field.  The  tournament 
hunting  is  exciting  and  a  great  fit  for  me.  Now 
my  husband  and  I  are  working  and  traveling 
together  with  the  dogs,"  said  Marlene. 

As  she  pointed  out,  "More  wives  and 


Scorekeeper  Steve  Haynes  registers  Irving  Morel 
and  his  German  shorthaired  pointer,  Luney,  and 
Wes  Stigall  witfi  Engiisfi  pointer  Molly. 


his  seven-year-old  English  setter,  Jasper.  "I 
think  this  is  a  nice  event,"  Bob  remarked.  "It 
gives  me  a  chance  to  walk  around.  If  you  are 
82  years  old,  just  getting  out  is  a  great  thing — 
and  to  do  it  with  your  dog  is  even  better." 

As  Bob  pointed  out,  the  race  is  not  always 
won  by  the  swift.  If  you  view  your  prize  as  just 
spending  one  more  day,  no  matter  how  brief 
in  the  field  with  your  dog — you  win!  ?f 

Clarke  C.  Jones  spends  his  spare  time  with  his  black 
Labrador  retriever,  Luke,  hunting  up  good  stories. 
You  can  visit  Clarke  and  Luke  on  their  website  at 
www.  clarkecjones.  com. 


FOR  MORE  INFORMATION 

National  Bird  Dog  Circuit 
Richard  Sipes 
(434)  962-4049 
Richardlcf  (5)  Hughes.net 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦ 


Reaching  Out  to  t\\^ 


The  Tidewater  Kayak 

Anglers' Association 

has  found  a  novel  way 

to  support  the 

areas  veterans. 


.^Ljft^. 


i  >    •^  ••  v 


by  Ben  Swenson 

T 

■      ames   Mac   McGee  knew  hed  be 
I      hurting.  The  Iraq  War  veteran 
I      knew  that  sitting  in  a  kayak  all  day 
I      long  would  be  painful.  After  all, 
I      he'd  been  through  years  of  surger- 
W      ies  and  rehabilitation  to  repair  the 
^         pelvis  he'd  broken  in  three  places 
during  his  wartime  service.  Despite  the  cer- 
tainty that  pain  would  come,  he  says,  "I 
wouldn't  have  missed  it  for  the  world." 

McGee  was  one  of  about  twenty 
wounded  warriors  out  for  a  day  of  fishing  last 
September  at  an  event  in  eastern  Virginia 
growing  in  popularity  every  year:  the  Kayak 
Fish  for  Charity  Tournament,  put  on  by  the 
Tidewater  Kayak  Anglers'  Association 
(TKAA,  www.tkaa.org). 

Kayak  fishermen  like  McGee  have 
found  themselves  in  good  company  in  recent 
years,  their  craft  buoyed  by  resources  devoted 


If"  lilW  ■ 


Rr'«L-.r...                ■  .F  ;•>■•'■ 

\  H. 

to  making  this  pastime  more  accessible.  Tes- 
tament to  the  sport's  reputation  is  the  grow- 
ing esteem  TKAA's  tournament  is  garnering 
among  anglers.  When  the  tournament  began 
in  2005,  a  couple  of  dozen  folks  showed  up. 
Seven  years  later,  the  number  of  entrants  has 
swelled  dramatically:  In  20 11 ,  there  were  240 
anglers.  The  8th  annual  tournament  will  take 
place  in  September  2012  and  organizers  are 
expecting  at  least  that  many  attendees. 

Entrants  in  TKAA's  one-day  tourna- 
ment start  fishing  at  sunrise  and  may  put  in 
their  kayaks  at  any  public  landing  in  the 
greater  Hampton  Roads  area.  The  tourna- 
ment is  catch-and-release;  anglers  must  pho- 
tograph each  fish  on  a  TKAA-supplled  ruler 
they've  acquired  the  night  before.  Tourna- 
ment judges  verify  winning  fish  by  looking 
over  an  angler's  digital  photo  card.  The  day's 
timing  is  key,  and  competitors  must  take  care 
to  be  in  the  check-in  line  by  4:00  P.M.  A  prize- 
winning  fish  didn't  make  the  cut  several  years 
ago  because  the  person  who  landed  it  made 


tm.- 


".seM^^i-^,  •&; 


•r-  ,■  -5Lf 


% 


If 

r  ■ 


I 


r 


f  }\ 


) 


an  ill-fated  decision  to  pick  up  a  Slurpee  after  a 
hard  day  fishing.  He  was  a  few  minutes  late 
and  didn't  make  the  cut. 

There  are  divisions  and  prizes  for  the 
largest  of  targeted  species:  striped  bass,  floun- 
der, red  drum,  speckled  trout,  and  a  so-called 
"slam,"  or  combination  of  the  latter  three. 
There's  a  freshwater  division,  one  for  females, 
and  another  for  youth.  The  first,  second,  and 
third-place  prizes  awarded  in  each  of  these  cat- 
egories come  from  the  largesse  of  dozens  of 
businesses  and  individuals.  First-place  winners 
in  each  division  often  take  home  a  new  kayak! 
Between  the  prizes  awarded  for  catching  re- 
markable fish  and  the  raffle  for  the  hundreds 
of  other  donated  kayak  fishing  accessories, 
most  anglers  leave  the  tournament  wdth  some- 
thing to  show  for  their  efforts.  Of  course,  that's 
not  why  most  folks  attend. 

"We're  here  for  the  prizes.  We're  here  for 
the  fishing.  We're  here  for  the  camaraderie. 
But  most  of  all,  we're  here  for  the  heroes,"  says 
Tom  VanderHeiden,  addressing  the  mixed 
crowd  of  weary  and  windblown  anglers,  gath- 
ered in  a  hotel  ballroom  at  the  end  of  a  long 
day.  VanderHeiden  is  coordinator  of  the  Tide- 
water chapter  of  Heroes  on  the  Water,  or 
HOW,  one  of  the  beneficiaries  of  the  tourna- 
ment's proceeds.  HOW  uses  kayak  fishing  to 


Tournament  participant  Marcos  Rivera  familiarizes  himself  with  kayaking  before  dropping  a  line. 
Below,  kayaks  outfitted  by  Heroes  on  the  Water  and  Project  Healing  Waters  sit  ready  to  make  a 
day  of  fishing  possible  for  wounded  warriors. 


©Susan  &  Bobby  Boiling  Photography 


»w 


m 


^   f^^^ 


-■  i 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      11 


! 


help  members  of  the  military  who've  been  in- 
jured during  the  course  of  their  service.  The 
act  of  kayak  fishing  speeds  along  their  reha- 
bilitation and  reintegration  back  into  society. 

While  most  tournament  entrants  were 
far  adrift,  wetting  lines  in  the  hopes  of  land- 
ing a  lunker,  VanderHeiden  and  a  handful  of 
volunteers  escorted  a  group  of  wounded  war- 
riors out  for  a  day  of  pleasure  fishing  in  Vir- 
ginia Beach's  Rudee  Inlet.  It  was  an  eclectic 
gathering  of  veterans;  most  still  active  in  their 
service,  others  long  since  retired.  All  seemed 
eager  to  take  to  the  water. 

Israel  Ramirez,  a  22-year-old  lance  cor- 
poral in  the  Marines,  had  never  been  fishing 
before,  much  less  from  a  kayak,  but  he'd  never 
been  one  to  shy  away  from  a  challenge,  so 
when  how's  liaison  at  Portsmouth  Naval 
Hospital  asked  him  if  he'd  like  to  go  out, 
Ramirez  jumped  at  the  opportunity. 
Ramirez  thought  it  would  be  a  nice  diversion 
from  the  days  he  was  spending  recuperating 
from  an  injury  he  sustained  while  serving 
aboard  the  USS  Bataan. 

"I  wasn't  nervous,  but  I  knew  it  would  be 
a  little  difficult  with  my  hand  being  broken," 
says  Ramirez,  a  sofi:-spoken,  courteous  Cali- 
fornia native.  Once  on  the  water,  however, 
Ramirez  overcame  any  physical  limitation 
quickly.  Call  it  what  you  will — persistence, 
beginner's  luck — but  Ramirez  (who'd  never 
been  fishing,  mind  you)  landed  four  nice  fish: 
three  spot  and  a  pinfish. 

It  wasn't  a  bad  haul  for  Ramirez  and  fel- 
low service  members,  but  hooking  up  was 
really  just  the  icing  on  the  cake  for  otherwise 
active  men  and  women  who  happen  to  be 
sidelined  by  injury.  "Fishing  is  something 
that  isn't  too  stressful,  doesn't  require  too 
much  of  people,"  says  Ramirez.  "I  think  most 
important  is  that  it  gets  people  out  of  their 
beds  or  hospital  rooms  or  wherever  they  hap- 
pen to  be  stuck." 

It's  a  sentiment  that  McGee,  who  served 
with  the  Marines  and  then  the  Army  during 
his  military  career,  knows  well,  and  a  reason 
he  was  so  eager  to  join  other  service  members 


Tournament  volunteer  and  blogger  Rob  Choi 
helps  ready  a  lure.  Right,  volunteer  Dave 
Bolster  (L)  looks  over  a  fish  reeled  in  by 
participant  James  "Mac"  McGee. 


i 


on  the  water.  "When  I  was  on  active  duty,  and 
operating  a  crane,  I  could  see  progress.  I'd 
look  at  a  wall  at  the  end  of  the  day  and  think  'I 
did  that,  I  accomplished  something,'"  he  says. 

But  the  weeks  of  protracted,  painstaking 
recuperation  and  therapy  don't  offer  the  same 
sense  of  usefulness  and  gratification,  McGee 
explains.  "You  feel  trapped  in  your  own  body. 
It  becomes  a  daily  grind:  the  doctor,  the  bed, 
the  pain.  And  when  the  fishing  comes  along, 
it's  a  way  to  take  your  mind  off  it,  even  if  it's 
only  for  the  day." 

McGee  was  sponsored  that  day  by  an- 
other charity.  Project  Healing  Waters  Fly 
Fishing,  which,  like  HOW,  coordinates  fish- 
ing trips  for  wounded  veterans,  but  uses 
strictly  fly  fishing  as  a  method  of  tackle.  These 
charities  rely  on  donations,  like  those  provid- 
ed by  TBCAA's  annual  tournament,  and  vol- 
unteers, who  see  to  the  myriad  tasks  necessary 
to  get  veterans  on  the  water:  gathering  rods 
and  reels,  transporting  kayaks,  and  cutting 
bait,  for  instance. 

One  such  unassuming  volunteer  who 
worked  methodically  on  the  blustery  morn- 
ing of  the  tournament  was  33-year-old  Rob 
Choi,  an  illustrator  from  Richmond.  Choi  is 
passionate  about  fishing;  he's  the  author  of 
the  blog  Angling-Addict  (www.angling- 
addict.com).  Last  year  was  his  first  time  as  a 
volunteer  with  HOW,  although  he'd  fished  in 


the  tournament  before  that.  He  says  that  a 
number  of  things  compelled  him  to  turn 
from  tournament  prize-seeker  to  tournament 
volunteer. 

"It  was  the  perfect  opportunity  for  me  to 
really  help  someone  by  sharing  the  passion  I 
have  for  this  sport,"  wrote  Choi  in  a  blog  post 
a  couple  of  days  after  the  tournament.  "And 
not  just  anyone,  but  someone  who  has  put 
his  coimtry  before  himself.,  someone  who 
did  what  our  country  as  a  whole  needed  him 
to  do  and  now  he's  stuck  in  a  hospital.  I  know 
if  I  was  in  his  shoes,  I'd  love  it  if  someone  took 
me  fishing." 

Choi  was  paired  with  Lance  Corporal 
Ramirez  on  the  water  the  day  of  the  tourna- 
ment, each  in  his  own  kayak.  Choi  provided 
knowledge  from  his  wealth  of  fishing  experi- 
ence when  Ramirez  needed  a  little  guidance, 
and  let  the  Marine  float  and  fish  on  his  own 
when  he  seemed  to  have  the  hang  of  it.  "We 
worked  some  on  casting  and  some  other 
techniques,"  says  Choi,  "but  really  I  was  just 
more  of  a  chaperone."  Throughout  the  day, 
Choi  occasionally  paddled  up  to  Ramirez  to 
offer  a  tip  or  two,  then  let  the  current  take 
him  away,  leaving  Ramirez  to  fish  on  his  own. 

That  type  of  experience  is  the  essence  of 
both  Heroes  on  the  Water  and  Project  Heal- 
ing Waters.  These  charities  encourage  the 
wounded  warriors  to  do  as  they  wish  on  the 


water.  If  the  veterans  choose  to  fish  hard  for 
six  hours,  great.  If  on  the  other  hand,  they 
drift  along  all  day,  enjoying  the  freedom  and 
the  novelty  of  the  water,  and  barely  drop  a 
line — ^well  that's  perfectly  fine  too.  "We  give 
basic  safety  and  fishing  instructions  and  that's 
more  or  less  it,"  says  HOW's  VanderHeiden. 
"We  don't  have  an  agenda.  The  whole  pur- 
pose is  for  the  veterans  to  get  out  of  it  what 
they  want  to  get  out  of  it. " 

The  veterans  who  arrived  at  an  early-for- 
a-Saturday  7  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
tournament  weren't  quite  sure  what  to  make 
of  their  impending  fishing  experience.  A 
handful  raised  their  hands  when  VanderHei- 
den asked  who'd  never  been  in  a  kayak  before. 
But  after  some  basic  instructions,  the  veterans 
and  their  volunteers  managed  to  fan  out  into 
all  the  coves  and  creeks  of  Rudee  Inlet. 

Initial  wariness  faded  quickly,  and  soon 
the  veterans  seemed  more  confident  and 
comfortable  on  the  water.  The  hours  passed 
quickly,  and  everyone  met  back  on  shore  for 
lunch.  As  they  dined  on  donated  pizza,  there 
were  already  more  than  a  few  stories  to  tell, 
more  than  a  litde  bragging  about  fish  they'd 
caught  and,  importantly,  more  than  enough 
laughter  to  fill  the  air  over  Rudee  Inlet.    ?f 

Ben  Swenson  is  a  freelance  writer  and  columnist. 
He  lives  in  Williamsburg  with  his  wife  and  two  sons. 


13 

liiiiii&diiHl 


Saltwater  Fly  I| 

New  environs,  new  skills,  new  adventures. 


by  Beth  Hester 

I  roll-cast  a  small,  sparsely  dressed  Clouser 
Minnow  across  die  brackish  waters  of  the 
canal  and  begin  a  slow,  steady  strip,  paus- 
ing here  and  there  so  the  fly  can  descend  inter- 
mittently toward  the  sandy  bottom.  As  my  fly 
edges  close  to  the  piling  at  the  far  end  of  the 
dock,  I  feel  a  sharp  take,  followed  by  the  telltale 
circular  wrangling  that  tells  me  I  have  a  floun- 
der on  the  line.  I  net  the  keeper  flounder,  dis- 
patch it  quickly,  dredge  the  fillets  lightly  in 
seasoned  cornmeal,  and  let  the  peanut  oil  sizzle. 
I  bask  in  an  uncharacteristically  smuggish  glow. 

Admittedly,  the  fly  on  which  the  fish  was 
taken  was  not  particularly  complex,  but  the 
white  and  tan  combo  with  wisps  of  copper 
flash  was  my  own  creation.  New  to  fly  fishing,  I 
reeled  in  dinner — fi-esh  fi-om  local  waters.  The 
time  from  net  to  skillet:  less  than  20  minutes. 
There's  still  so  much  to  learn,  but  that's  part  of 
the  adventure,  and  fly  fishing  in  salt  continues 
to  present  me  with  new  and  increasingly  satis- 
fying fishing  oppormnities  and  challenges. 

But  then  rare  is  the  angler  who  wouldn't 
jump  at  the  oppormnity  to  expand  his  or  her 
fishing  range  and  repertoire,  and  the  experience 
of  fly  fishing  Virginia's  coastal  waters  can  be  j  ust 
the  ticket.  There  is  the  anticipation  of  exploring 
new  environs  and  the  gratification  of  mastering 
new  fly  patterns  and  utilizing  new  fly-tying  ma- 
terials. For  anglers  accustomed  to  the  intimacy 
of  small  streams  and  bijou  trout,  the  exhilara- 
tion of  plying  Virginia's  vast,  briny  waters  can 
exponentially  increase  fishing  enjoyment. 

Our  commonwealth  has  thousands  of 
miles  of  tantalizing  shoreline:  tidal  bays,  ocean, 
inland  bays,  and  lagoons.  The  shoreline  of  the 
tidal  portions  of  Chesapeake  Bay  and  its  tribu- 
taries alone  stretches  7,213  miles.  Accordingly, 
we'd  be  remiss  not  to  encourage  anglers  to  reach  ^ 
beyond  inland  waters  from  time  to  time,  and 
it's  helpfiil  for  the  beginning  coastal  fly  angler 
to  seek  direction  from  local  subject-matter 


experts.  There  are  several,  well-established 
saltwater  angling  organizations  in  Virginia, 
and  many  of  their  members  fly  fish,  but  the 
Virginia  Coastal  Fly  Anglers  (VCFA)  saltwa- 
ter fly  fishing  organization  established  in  1997 
has  a  single-minded  vision:  "To  encourage  the 
development  of  saltwater  fly  fishing  in  the  lower 
Chesapeake  Bay  and  adjacent  waters. " 

The  VCFA  fosters  a  collective  learning 
environment.  They  have  established  a  news- 
letter, speaker's  programs,  skill  development 
"schools"  (knot  tying,  rigging,  info  on  places 
to  fish,  fly  tying,  casting,  etc.),  mentoring  pro- 
grams, and  monthly  fly-tying  instruaion.  Its 
members  are  actively  involved  in  local  river 
and  Chesapeake  Bay-wide  stewardship  initia- 
tives and  also  serve  the  community  by  devel- 
oping youth-targeted  programs.  So  with 
helpfiil  observations  fi^om  longtime  members 
Ron  Russell,  Kevin  DuBois,  Mike  Buss,  and 
Kendall  Osborne,  we're  encouraging  readers 
to  cast  outside  their  comfort  zones  and  experi- 
ence fly  fishing  along  Virginia's  coasdine. 

TheTackle 

There  are  rods  and  reels  specifically  designed 
to  withstand  the  rigors  of  angling  in  salt,  and 
line  and  leader  configurations  intended  to 


Lett,  "fish  blrrig "  Here,  an  8-weight  comboiSe 
great  all-around  choice  for  a  variety  of  saltwater 
fish  species. 


14 


VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


shindBeekons 


help  anglers  cast  larger  flies  with  power  and  ac- 
curacy in  conditions  where  winds  and  waves  can 
pose  a  challenge.  In  general,  weight-forward, 
floating  lines  are  appropriate  for  wade  fishing 
and  many  inshore  situations,  but  here  are  some 
general  guidelines. 

Kevin  DuBois  has  a  few  suggestions:  "In- 
shore, rods  from  6  to  9  weights  will  do  the  trick. 
For  larger  striped  bass,  big  red,  and  black  drum, 
and  the  occasional  crevalle  jack  or  false  albacore, 
1 0  to  11  -weight  rods  are  best.  Just  about  any  reel 
is  sufficient  for  inshore  action.  But  big  fish  will 
test  tackle  so  bring  top-notch  gear  when  chasing 
larger  fish  or  heading  offshore.  Because  of  the 
variety  of  depths  providing  fishing  opportunity, 
it's  best  to  have  both  a  fast  sinking  and  an  inter- 
mediate sinking  line  handy  (on  interchangeable 
spools).  Floating  lines  can  be  used,  but  an  inter- 
mediate line  will  cover  the  same  fishing  situa- 
tions effectively  and  provide  greater  versatility." 

Wade-fishing  advocate  Mike  Buss  suggests 
a  floating  or  intermediate  weight-forward  line, 
or  for  versatility,  any  one  of  the  multi-tip  lines 
that  connect  with  a  series  of  loops.  In  addition, 
when  wade  fishing  or  casting  from  the  surf,  an 
ergonomically  correct  stripping  basket  can  help 
control  line  and  avoid  snarls. 

Offshore  rods  are  more  often  in  the  1 0-  to 
12-weight  range,  with  sturdy  fighting  butts,  and 
the  reels  need  to  be  beefier,  with  drags  designed 
to  handle  robust,  hard-fighting  fish,  and  arbors 
large  enough  to  hold  at  least  200  yards  of  back- 
ing and  the  line.  Mid-  and  larger  arbor  reels  can 
help  optimize  line  retrieval. 

Leaders  don't  have  to  be  complicated  af- 
fairs. Many  saltwater  species  aren't  particularly 
spooked  by  leaders.  Kevin  explains:  "Most  of  the 
time  I  have  a  12"  butt  section  of  20lb  test  con- 
nected to  a  5-  to  6-foot  section  of  8lb  test — not  a 
whole  lot  of  tapering  with  a  multitude  of  differ- 
ent tests  and  diameters.    There  are  only  a  few 


Tricia  Neill  with  black  drum  caught  around 
Chesapeak  Bay  Bridge-Tunnel. 


special  circumstances  when  you  need  to  devi- 
ate from  a  simple  leader  formula." 

Bottom  line:  Your  gear  selections  needn't 
break  the  bank,  and  your  lines  and  leaders 
need  not  be  painfully  intricate.  However,  all 
components — reel,  reel  seats,  and  guides — 
should  be  corrosion-resistant.  Some  specialty 
fly  lines  are  designed  to  cast  consistently  well 
in  the  hot,  semi-tropical  heat  of  the  summer 
coast,  other  models  are  designed  for  colder  wa- 
ters or  for  specific  quarry  such  as  striper.  The 
most  trusted  and  well-known  purveyors  of  fly- 
fishing equipment  have  quality  equipment  at 
various  price  points.  Purchasing  your  gear 
from  local  shops  means  on-the-spot  expert  ad- 
vice and  the  ability  to  cast  before  you  buy. 

The  Flies 

You  need  only  a  handfiil  of  saltwater  flies  to 
get  started,  and  if  you  begin  by  learning  to  tie 
only  one  fly,  the  Clouser  Minnow  in  a  few  dif- 
ferent sizes  and  color  variations,  you'll  have 
yourself  a  fly  that  will  cover  a  host  of  applica- 
tions. Tying  materials  for  salty  flies  are  fiin  and 
easy  to  handle,  with  color  combinations  rang- 
ing from  the  understated  to  the  unbelievably 
gaudy.  Once  a  few  basic  patterns  are  mastered, 
it's  enjoyable  to  create  Velcro  dot  crabs.  De- 
ceivers, squid,  shrimp,  and  various  baitfish  im- 
itations. The  only  limit  is  your  imagination 
and  the  requirements  of  your  targeted  quarry. 
In  the  two-volume  set.  Flies  of  the  Chesa- 
peake, VCFA  past-president  Larry  Clemmons 
and  member  JefFDuBinok  collected  and  com- 
piled step-by-step,  fly-tying  instructions  for 
classic,  inshore,  and  specialty  flies  for  use  on 
the  lower  Chesapeake  Bay,  its  tributaries,  and 


surrounding  Atlantic  coast.  These  flies  are  de- 
signed to  target  the  most  commonly  encoun- 
tered species.  This  set  is  a  labor  of  love,  and 
details  may  be  accessed  on  their  website,  at 
www.vcfa.org. 

Knots:  Keeping  It  Simple 

Mike  Buss  on  knots:  "Try  to  keep  things  sim- 
ple as  far  as  knots  go.  I  do  a  lot  of  fishing  at 
night  and  want  to  keep  my  knots  so  simple 
that  I  can  tie  them  with  my  eyes  closed  since  I 
will  be  fishing  with  limited  visibility.  I  use  a 
double  surgeon's  knot  to  make  my  loops  and  a 
non-slip  loop  knot  to  tie  my  fly  to  my  leader.  I 
have  a  loop  in  the  end  of  my  fly  line  and  I  con- 
nect my  leader  to  my  fly  line  with  a  loop-to- 
loop  connection.  As  a  result,  I  only  need  two 
knots  for  my  connections. 

TheWod^fishing 
Experience 

"I  love  to  fish  because  of  the  tranquility  I  expe- 
rience," says  Mike  Buss.  "When  I  am  wade- 
fishing,  I  become  a  part  of  nature,  blending  in 
and  becoming  a  part  of  the  fish's  environ- 
ment." Favorite  wading  locations  as  cited  by 
VCFA  members  include: 

♦  The  Lynnhaven  River  on  the  Pleasure 
House  Road  property  and  the  slough  be- 
tween that  property  and  the  marsh  is- 
land to  the  sea; 

♦  The  Lynnhaven  Inlet  by  the  Lessner 
Bridge; 

♦  In  Norfolk,  also  in  the  autumn,  good 
fishing  with  easy  access  around  the 
breakwaters  of  East  Ocean  View  (24th- 
28th  streets); 


A  coastal  angler's  arsenal. 


An  ergonomically  correct  stripping  basket 
controls  line,  nninimizing  snarls. 


♦  Kiptopeke  State  Park  on  the  Eastern 
Shore,  an  excellent  place  to  fish  from 
shore  early  in  the  morning  and  at  dusk; 
and 

♦  The  shore  in  front  of  the  Cape  Henry 
lighthouse. 

Saltv\/ater  Quarry  Through 
The  Seasons 

Although  anglers  can  fish  coastal  Virginia 
throughout  the  year,  some  months  are  better 
than  others  due  in  part  to  water  temperatures 
and  migration  patterns.  Here,  Ron  Russell 
passes  on  information  about  the  quarry  that 
can  be  found  during  prime  fishing  months. 


♦  MAY  gets  serious  with  flounder,  croaker, 
and  school-sized  stripers  showing  up 
around  structure  and  inlets.  Good  fishing 
this  time  of  year  is  inside  Lynnhaven 
Inlet,  Rudee  Inlet,  Hampton  Roads 
Bridge  Tunnel,  seaside  of  the  Eastern 
Shore,  and  mouths  of  any  river  coming 
into  the  bay.  Late  May  sees  an  influx  of 
red  drum,  black  drum,  and  good-sized 
striped  bass  about  the  time  that  the  blue 
crabs  are  in  their  first  shedding  (first  full 
moon  of  the  month). 

♦  JUNE  is  the  time  for  most  all  species 
(stripers,  bluefish,  drum,  speckled  trout, 
flounder,  croaker,  and  cobia)  to  be  in  the 
lower  reaches  of  the  bay.  The  Chesapeake 
Bay  Bridge-Tunnel  (CBBT)  is  a  fish  mag- 
net most  of  the  warm  months,  with  the 
inlets  seeing  smaller  fish  of  all  species. 
Offshore  species  can  begin  to  show  with 
tuna,  cobia,  and  bluefish. 

♦  JULY  and  AUGUST  are  stable  mondis 
for  what  arrived  in  June,  except  for  a  rare 
opportunity  to  catch  a  tarpon  on  the  sea- 
side of  the  Eastern  Shore.  There  is  a 
chance  you  may  find  Spanish  mackerel  in 
the  current  rips  of  the  CBBT  and  around 

>,     the  Cape  Henry  point. 

I  ♦  SEPTEMBER  finds  species  congregating 
in  the  lower  bay  migrating  south  or  east. 
The  beginning  of  migration  means  heav- 
ier concentrations  of  fish  in  all  areas. 
Speckled  trout  can  be  found  in  the  inlets 
and  shorelines  that  have  marshy  waters  of 

I  4  to  8  feet  in  depth.  Small  bluefish  are 
abundant,  small-class  striped  bass  are 
massing  up  around  the  CBBT,  cobia  are 
on  the  run  south,  stopping  at  channel 
markers  to  eat,  big  drum  are  moving  out 
of  the  bay,  and  flounder  are  headed  east. 


16        VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.conn 


X*  ■ 


T 


Kevin  Dubois  with  fly-caught  striper  off  Virginia  Beach. 


♦  OCTOBER  finds  the  migration  in  Rill 
swing,  and  the  lower  bay  is  alive  with  ac- 
tivity of  speckled  trout.  Bluefish,  school 
stripers,  speckled  trout,  flounder,  spot, 
croaker,  and  smaller  drum  are  getting 
ready  for  the  journey  south. 

♦  NOVEMBER  and  DECEMBER  are 
striped  bass  months,  with  fish  feeding 
on  schools  of  bait  scattered  in  the  lower 
bay  and  around  the  CBBT. 

Experience  the  Excitement 

So  whether  you're  surf  casting  along  the 
beach,  fishing  the  lower  bay  and  its  tributaries 
in  kayaks  or  other  small  craft,  wade-fishing. 


or  scheduling  a  once-in-a-lifetime  offshore 
charter  for  bigger  game  fish,  all  saltwater  fly 
fishing  in  Virginia  has  its  charms. 

Kendall  Osborne  explains  why  he  rel- 
ishes the  excitement  of  saltwater  fly  fishing: 
"I  grew  up  catching  bass  and  bluegills  and 
have  caught  freshwater  trout  on  fly,  but  salt- 
water fish  have  power  and  mass  that  cannot 
be  appreciated  until  experienced.  I  love  to 
freshwater  fish,  but  the  reality  is  the  saltwater 
fish  are  more  powerftil  by  far — even  a  one- 
pound  croaker  blasts  a  one-pound  large- 
mouth." 

It's  easy  for  Virginia  anglers  to  experi- 
ence this  power  and  excitement  for  them- 


selves; all  it  takes  is  a  saltwater  fishing  li- 
cense, moderately-priced  tackle,  a  handful 
of  flies,  the  curiosity  to  scope  out  new  terri- 
tory, and  an  openness  to  learning  new  skills. 
Take  good  care  of  your  equipment,  and 
only  keep  legal-sized  fish.  Why  not  join  a 
saltwater  fly-fishing  club,  attend  a  casting 
clinic,  or  seek  out  a  mentor?  You  might 
make  a  few  new  angling  friends  in  the 
process.    ?f 


Beth  Hester  is  a  writer  and  freelance  photographer 
from  Portsmouth.  Her  passions  include  reading, 
shooting,  kayaking,  fishing,  tyingsaltwater flies, 
and  tending  her  herb  garden. 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      17 


©Bill  Lea 


Virginia's 


by  GlendaC.  Booth 

^k     ^f     #        hen  Colonel  William 
^k#m^  Byrd  II  surveyed  east- 

▼      W  em  Virginia  in  1728, 

he  named  the  then  one-million-acre  wedand 
near  today's  Suffolk  the  Dismal  Swamp, 
which  signified  an  alliance  with  Satan.  He 
wrote,  "The  foul  damps  ascent  without  ceas- 
ing, corrupt  the  air,  and  render  it  unfit  for  res- 
piration." In  the  1 800s,  the  freshwater  tidal 
wetland  just  south  of  Alexandria,  today's 
Dyke  Marsh,  was  called  Hell  Hole. 

For  many  years,  wedands  were  the  un- 
wanted stepchild  of  nature,  seen  as  murky,  in- 
hospitable, mosquito-ridden  wastelands, 
stagnant  holes  of  muck  permeated  by  dense, 
dank  air.  Viewed  as  "useless"  to  humans,  they 
often  became  dumps,  sewage  lagoons,  or 
places  to  fill,  drain,  or  "reclaim." 


A  wetland  can  be  called  a  marsh, 
swamp,  bog,  fen,  pocosin,  vernal  pool,  or 
mudflat,  among  other  terms.  Wedands  are  a 
transition  zone  between  water  and  land  and 
are  often,  but  not  always,  wet.  "In  some  cases, 
it  will  not  be  immediately  obvious  that  a  wet- 
land exists,"  states  the  Virginia  Department 
of  Environmental  Quality  (DEQ)  website. 
Here  is  DEQ's  definition: 

'Wedand'  means  those  areas  that  are  in- 
undated or  saturated  by  surface  or  ground 
water  at  a  frequency  and  duration  sufficient 
to  support,  and  that  under  normal  circum- 
stances do  support,  a  prevalence  of  vegetation 
typically  adapted  for  life  in  saturated  soil  con- 
ditions. An  area  is  considered  a  wedand  in 
Virginia  if  it  exhibits  wetland  hydrology,  hy- 
dric  soils,  and  a  prevalence  of  wedand  vegeta- 
tion. 

Each  wetland  type  is  a  combination  of 
soil,  hydrology,  vegetation,  and  other  charac- 


teristics. These  "biological  supermarkets"  are 
among  the  most  productive  habitats  on 
Earth.  "In  an  area  roughly  the  size  of  an  aver- 
age desk  top,  there  can  be  as  many  as  8,300 
animals,"  says  Kirk  Havens,  who  directs  the 
Coastal  Watersheds  Program  at  the  Virginia 
Insdtute  of  Marine  Science  (VIMS). 

And  from  the  Virginia  Marine  Re- 
sources Commission  (VMRC):  "Marine  re- 
sources are  finite,  provide  many  valuable 
services  and  products,  and  are  delicately  bal- 
anced in  an  intricate  web  of  biological  and 
physical  interactions.  Permanent  loss  of  these 
resources  and  unnecessary  alterations  jeop- 
ardize this  delicate  ecological  balance." 

Wetlands  cover  around  five  percent  of 
the  country's  land  surface  but  are  home  to  31 
percent  of  plant  species  and  more  than  one- 
third  of  threatened  and  endangered  species. 
Of  Virginia's  wedands,  about  75  percent  are 
nontidal,  found  primarily  in  bottomlands 


18 


VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


•nderla!^<^ 


; 


"Wetlands  are  at  a  tipping  point,"  U.S. 
Interior  Department  Secretary  Ken  Salazar 
has  said.  "While  we  have  made  great  strides  in 
conserving  and  restoring  wetlands  since  the 
1950s,  when  we  were  losing  an  area  equal  to 
half  the  size  of  Rhode  Island  each  year,  we  re- 
main on  a  downward  trend  that  is  alarming." 

A  2009  U.S.  Fish  &  Wildlife  Service  re- 
port reveals  an  annual  loss  of  59,000  acres  of 
wedands  in  the  coastal  watersheds  of  the  At- 
lantic, Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  Great  Lakes  from 
1998  to  2004.  An  estimated  18  percent  of 
these  losses  occurred  in  tidal  salt  marshes,  and 
the  remaining  82  percent  occurred  in  upland 
marshes  and  forested  wedands  of  the  water- 
sheds. These  numbers  "...  underscore  the  im- 
portance of  moving  quickly  to  protect, 
conserve,  and  restore  these  vital  coastal  areas 
before  they  are  lost  forever,"  stresses  Salazar. 

Wedand  loss  is  concentrated  in  coastal 
watersheds  due  to  the  large  ntmiber  of  people 
living  in  and  moving  to  coastal  areas.  More 
than  half  of  the  American  population  now 
lives  in  coastal  counties  at  densities  approxi- 
mately five  times  greater  than  inland  counties, 
according  to  the  Fish  &  Wildlife  Service. 

Threats  to  Wetlands 

Land-use  practices,  chiefly  development  of 
many  kinds,  represent  a  major  threat  to  wet- 
lands. "Himian  activities  cause  wetland  degra- 
dation and  loss  by  changing  water  quality, 
quantity,  and  flow  rates,  increasing  pollutant 


and  the  floodplains  along  stream  channels. 
By  contrast,  tidal  wetlands  are  distributed 
along  the  state's  5,000  miles  of  shoreline, 
lined  with  marshes,  beaches,  and  mudflats. 
Around  75  percent  of  all  wetlands  in  the  state 
are  privately  owned. 

Free  Ecological  Services 

Wedands  provide  many  ecological  services — 
for  free.  Called  "nature's  kidneys,"  they  en- 
hance water  quality  by  filtering  out 
pollutants.  They  also  help  stabilize  shorelines, 
attenuate  ddal  energy,  stem  erosion,  and  con- 
trol flooding  by  trapping  and  slowly  releasing 
water  like  a  sponge.  And,  well  known  by  out- 
doorsmen,  wedands  ofi^er  aesthetic  and  recre- 
ational opportunities — from  waterfowl 
hunting  to  frog  watching. 

"Wedands  are  critical  waterfowl  habi- 
tat," notes  the  website  of  Ducks  Unlimited. 
"Every  species  of  duck,  goose,  and  swan  in 


North  America  depends  on  wetland  habitat 
throughout  their  life  cycle." 

Many  fish  raise  their  young  here.  "Wet- 
lands provide  an  essential  link  in  the  life  cycle 
of  75  percent  of  the  fish  and  shellfish  com- 
mercially harvested  in  the  U.S.,  and  up  to  90 
percent  of  the  recreational  fish  catch,"  reports 
the  U.S.  Environmental  Protection  Agency 
(EPA).  Because  of  these  myriad  natural  serv- 
ices, wetlands  have  tremendous  economic 
value,  with  one  estimate  by  the  EPA  at  $  1 4.9 
trillion  worldwide. 

Wetlands  Lost 

Since  colonial  times,  the  contiguous  United 
States  has  lost  around  53  percent  of  its  wet- 
lands, having  dropped  from  221  million 
acres  in  the  early  1600s  to  just  over  110  mil- 
lion in  2009,  the  most  recent  data  available. 
Around  40  to  45  percent  of  Virginia's  wet- 
lands have  vanished  during  that  period. 


Yellow  perch  are  among  the  many  fish  that 
thrive  when  wetlands,  and  water  quality,  are 
protected. 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      19 


inputs;  and  changing  species  composition  as  a 
result  of  disturbance  and  the  introduction  of 
nonnative  species,"  states  EPA's  website.  Com- 
mon activities  that  can  harm  wetlands  include 
depositing  fill,  draining  for  development  or 
farming,  channelizing  streams,  diking, 
damming,  and  expanding  impervious  sur- 
faces, which  increase  pollution. 

Another  threat,  nonnative  plants  like  pur- 
ple loosestrife  (Lythrum  salicaria)  and  phrag- 
mites  (Phragmites  australis)  introduced  to  these 
ecosystems  oft:en  out-compete  and  destroy  na- 
tive wetland  plants  and  thereby  lower  biodiver- 
sity. 

Carl  Hershner,  director  of  the  Center  for 
Coastal  Resources  Management  at  VIMS,  pre- 
dicts that  sea  level  rise  will  be  between  one  and 
two  feet  over  the  next  50  years  along  Virginias 
coast.  That  matches  a  similar  estimate  by  the 
2009  Virginia  Commission  on  Climate 
Change  of  a  2.3  to  5.2  feet  rise  per  century.  At 
that  rate,  the  state  could  lose  between  50  and 
80  percent  of  its  tidal  wetlands,  cautions  Skip 
Stiles  of  Wetlands  Watch,  a  commissioner. 
The  commissions  predicted  rate  of  rise  "is  a 
death  sentence  to  the  low-lying  shorelines, 
dunes,  and  wetlands  found  within  a  few  feet  of 
sea  level,"  says  Stiles. 

"A  healthy  tidal  wetland  accumulates 
enough  plant  material  and  sediment  to  move 
vertically,  but  our  wetlands  are  under  stress, 
limiting  their  elevation.  With  a  two-foot-plus 
rise,  wetlands  that  can't  keep  up  must  retreat 
into  upland  areas.  And  when  those  upland 
areas  are  built  out,  bulkheaded,  or  hardened, 
that  retreat  is  blocked  and  the  wetlands  will 
drown  in  place,"  he  maintains. 

The  commission  urged  that  the  state  de- 
velop a  Sea  Level  Rise  Adaptation  Strategy  and 
recommended  that  local  governments  in 
coastal  areas  include  climate  change  impacts — 


RESOURCES 

Wetlands  Functions  and  Values: 

www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/pdf/fun_val.pdfand 

http://water.usgs.gov/nwsum/WSP2425/functions.html 
Wetlands  and  Stream  Protection: 

www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/WetlandsStreams.aspx 
Conserving  Habitat  for  Waterfowl: 

www.ducks.org/conservation/how-we-conserve/conservation-priority-areas 
Living  Shorelines:  / 

http://ccrm.vims.e(5}u/livingshorelines/index.htmlor 

www.cbforg/Document.Doc?id=60 
'Wetlands  Regulation  and  Advocacy:  www.wetlandswatch.org 


especially  sea  level  rise  and  storm  surge — in 
land-use  plans,  ordinances,  and  shoreline 
management  plans. 

Wetlands  Permits 

Virginia  issues  permits  for  certain  activities  in 
wetlands  through  two  programs:  the  Virginia 
Water  Protection  Program,  administered  by 
DEQ,  and  the  Tidal  Wetlands  Program, 
managed  by  VMRC  and  local  wetlands 
boards.  Generally,  in  Virginia,  a  permit  is  re- 
quired for  wedand-dismrbing  activities  like 
dredging,  filling,  or  altering. 

To  stabilize  ddal  shorelines,  Virginia's 
policies  are  increasingly  discouraging  the  use 
of  hard  structures  like  riprap  revetments  (of 
rock),  bulkheads,  and  sea  walls  in  wedands 
and  instead  encouraging  what  are  called  "liv- 
ing shorelines"  where  they  can  be  effective. 
Living  shorelines  are  non-structural  ap- 
proaches that  include  plants,  stone,  sand  fill, 
and  bioengineered  materials.  Such  methods 
seek  to  support  natural  processes  and  not 
sever  the  connections  between  uplands  and 
aquatic  areas.  Living  shorelines  aim  to  main- 
tain the  benefits  to  wildlife  and  water  quality 
that  a  natural  shoreline  provides. 


20 


VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


wi  )ve  indicate  a  healthy  freshwater  wetland. 


restoring  6,000  new  acres  of  wetlands  within 
the  Chesapeake  Bay  watershed  by  June  2010, 
as  part  of  the  2000  Chesapeake  Bay  Agree- 
ment. While  not  quite  there,  the  good  news  is 
that  DEQ  has  tracked  a  net  gain  of  7, 1 9 1 
acres  of  nontidal  wetlands  and  a  net  gain  of 
1 ,473  new  acres  of  tidal  and  nontidal  wet- 
lands between  200 1  and  20 11 ,  according  to 
Dave  Davis,  director  of  DEQ's  Office  of 
Wetlands  and  Stream  Protection.  In  the 
Chesapeake  Bay  watershed,  Virginia  has  re- 
stored 1,564  acres  since  1998,  reports  the 
Chesapeake  Bay  Program.  This  is  important 
because  about  half  of  the  state  is  drained  by 
Chesapeake  Bay  rivers.  The  DEQ  numbers 
do  not  reflect  all  wetlands  created  or  restored 
in  Virginia,  Davis  cautions. 

Significant  wetland  areas  have  been  im- 
proved through  funds  provided  by  Duck 
Stamp  sales;  others  have  been  protected  by 
this  Department  through  the  acquisition  of 
wildlife  management  areas  (WMAs).  Recent 
examples  include  the  2,500-acre  Mattaponi 
WMA  in  Caroline  County  and  the  300-acre 
Merrimac  Farm  WMA  in  Prince  William 
County.  And  through  a  generous  grant  from 
the  National  Coastal  Wetlands  Conservation 


Grant  Program  and  partnership  with  the  City 
of  Virginia  Beach,  DGIF  holds  a  conserva- 
tion easement  at  Pleasure  House  Point  over- 
looking Lynnhaven  Bay.  More  than  80  acres 
of  tidal  wedands  and  maritime  forest  impor- 
tant to  the  ecological  productivity  of  the 
Lynnhaven  River  system  are  now  protected 
from  future  development. 

Think  Positively 

In  The  Hound  of  the  Baskervilles,  Sir  Arthur 
Conan  Doyle  called  the  wetland  where  the 
villain  met  his  fate  a  "dark,  quivering  mire"  of 
"miasmatic  vapor"  and  "slimy  water  plants." 
Today,  thankfully,  wetlands  have  a  new 
image. 

If  you  think  wetlands,  think  Monet's 
water  lilies,  delicately  swirling  dragonflies, 
shimmering  minnows,  or  newborn  wood 
ducks  catapulting  into  a  wetland  for  the  first 
time.  Indeed,  wetlands  are  rich  biological  lab- 
oratories of  life.    ?f 


Glenda  C  Booth,  a  freelance  writer,  grew  up  in 
Southwest  Virginia  and  has  lived  in  Northern 
Virginia  over  30 years,  where  she  is  active  in 
conservation  efforts. 


In  a  progressive  move  in  201 1,  Virginia 
declared  as  policy  that  the  state  prefers  living 
shorelines  to  stabilize  shoreline  erosion  in 
tidal  wetlands.  VMRC  is  implemendng  this 
law  and  local  governments  are  required  to  in- 
clude coastal  resources  management  in  their 
comprehensive  plans.  VIMS  is  currently 
preparing  guidance  for  Tidewater  localities 
that  will  offer  an  ecosystem-based  approach 
to  managing  coastal  resources. 

Wetlands  Compensation 
and  Mitigation 

The  commonwealth  has  committed  to  "no 
net  loss"  of  wetlands.  DEQ's  website  states 
that " . .  .wetlands  that  are  lost  or  destroyed  by 
development  activities,  such  as  building, 
must  be  replaced  so  that  the  overall  amount 
of  wetland  acreage  does  not  decline."  The  per- 
son causing  the  impact  may  be  required  to 
create,  restore,  or  enhance  wetlands  through 
what  is  called  compensatory  mitigation.  This 
generally  can  be  accomplished  through 
restoration,  creation,  purchase  of  mitigation 
bank  credits,  or  contribution  of  an  in-lieu  fee. 
Virginia  committed  to  a  net  gain  of 
10,000  acres  of  wetlands  by  2010  and  to 


This  grassy  marsh  along  the  lower  James  River  attracts  a  host  of  ducks  and  small  mammals,  and  is 
an  important  nursery  area  for  fish  and  birds. 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      21 


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by  King  Montgomery 

The  May  8,  2012  Washington  Post 
headline  with  accompanying  pho- 
tograph caught  my  eye  as  I  took 
another  sip  of  early  morning  coffee:  "N.  Va. 
Angler  snags  a  snakefish — and  maybe  a 
record,"  by  J.  Freedom  du  Lac. 

A  sport  fisherman  named  Juan  Duran 
caught  an  1 8-pound,  almost  4-ounce  North- 
ern snakehead  (NSH)  while  bass  fishing  in 
the  Occoquan  River,  a  Virginia  tributary  of 


the  tidal  Potomac  River.  The  current  world 
record  is  a  17-pound,  4-ounce  NSH  caught 
in  Japan.  Duran  hooked  his  fish  on  a  Kinky 
Beaver  lure,  a  4.2-inch  soft  plastic  flipping 
bait.  The  fish  probably  won't  qualify  for  an 
International  Game  Fish  Association  (IGFA) 
record  because  measuring  and  witnessing 
protocols  were  not  followed. 

Duran,  naturally,  was  thrilled  with  his 
unexpected  catch.  While  bass  fishing  he'd 
landed  five  other  smaller  snakeheads  that 
ended  up  on  dinner  plates.  The  writer  quoted 
Duran  on  his  impression  of  snakeheads: 


"...they  look  really  cool.  They're  like  rat- 
tlesnakes with  fins." 

About  five  weeks  after  Duran's  enviable 
catch,  the  Post's  Daryl  Fears  followed  up  with 
"Setting  out  after  snakeheads,"  an  article 
about  a  two-day  NSH  tournament  staged 
from  Maryland's  Smallwood  State  Park  on 
Mattawoman  Creek,  another  tributary  of  the 
Potomac  just  across  the  river  from  Virginia's 
Leesylvania  State  Park. 

The  event  drew  1 1 0  participants  and 
netted  just  over  1 ,400  pounds  of  snakeheads. 
What  made  the  event  unique:  The  fish  were 


22        VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


AM 


taken  using  bows  and  crossbows,  mostly  at 
night  with  lights  from  the  boat  to  spot  the 
fish  in  the  shallows.  The  winning  team 
nabbed  25  fish  for  230  pounds,  earning  the 
five  men  a  $  1 ,500  first-place  prize.  A  team  of 
youngsters,  none  over  1 6  years,  captured  sec- 
ond place  for  $585,  reported  Fears. 

In  Virginia  waters,  "Bow  and  arrow  may 
be  used  to  take  common  carp,  northern 
snakehead,  and  gar  (fishing  license  required) 
during  day  and  night  hours  (24  hrs.),  except 
from  waters  stocked  with  trout.  Spearguns 
and  poisoned  arrows  are  prohibited.  Snake- 
heads  must  be  immediately  killed  and  report- 
ed to  VDGIF."  (From  the  Department's 
freshwater  fishing  regulations.) 

Taking  Snakeheads 

It  seems  fishing  for  Northern  snakeheads 
with  bass  fishing  tackle  and  bows  or  cross- 
bows is  getting  more  popular.  Their  numbers 
continue  to  rise  from  that  initial  encounter 
with  the  exotic  species  in  2004  when  a  bass 
fisherman  hooked  one  in  the  back  of  Vir- 
ginia's Little  Fiunting  Creek.  The  fact  that 
snakeheads  taste  darn  good  might  help  with 
removing  at  least  some  of  the  population. 

"Get  that  dang  trash  fish  off  my  lure,"  I 
joked  with  Captain  Mike  Starrett,  a  long- 
time Potomac  River  fishing  guide  and  friend. 
We  were  on  Mattawomen  Creek  late  in  the 
day  and  the  nearly  4-pound  largemouth  bass 
had  exploded  on  my  black  surface  frog  pat- 
tern. This  evening  I  wanted  to  catch  some 
NSH,  but  the  bass  kept  getting  in  the  way. 

Suddenly  the  light  dimmed  and  clouds 
moved  in  as  darkness  approached.  It  would 
have  been  a  great  time  for  NSH  (and  bass) 
fishing  since  both  species  seem  to  get  active  at 
night.  But  off  in  the  distance  over  the  main 
stem  of  the  Potomac  in  Virginia,  lightning 
began  streaking  the  skies  and  it  was  time  to 
get  off  the  water.  (Even  if  lightning  is  a  long 
way  off,  if  you  are  in  a  boat  it's  time  to  leave, 
particularly  when  you're  waving  a  graphite 
rod  around.  It  is  an  efficient  lightning  rod  and 
seriously  could  light  up  your  life  and  end  it  if 
the  supercharged  electricity  hits  it.) 


Capt.  Steve  Chaconas  (L)  and  DGIF  fisheries  biologist  John  Odenkirk  (also  shown  on  pg.  22)  cast  the 
shoreline  of  Little  Hunting  Creek  for  snakeheads. 


NSH  are  found  in  the  same  habitat  as 
largemouth  bass.  From  spring  through  fall 
many  fish  are  in  the  backs  of  tributary  rivers 
and  creeks,  and  in  shallow  bays  out  of  the 
main  current  as  the  tide  ebbs  and  flows  four 
times  a  day.  And  both  species  are  active  at 
night  and  during  other  periods  of  limited  vis- 
ibility. 

Both  species  spawn  in  the  spring  de- 
pending on  water  temperatures,  and  the 
NSH  is  known  to  reproduce  more  than  once 
a  year  if  conditions  are  good.  I  don't  like  to 


fish  bass  on  the  spawning  redds,  but  snakes  are 
another  matter.  NSH  are  good  parents  and 
protect  their  spawn  from  predators  for  several 
weeks  after  the  baby  snakeheads  hatch.  This  is 
a  good  time  to  catch  NSH  because  they  are  ag- 
gressive toward  intruders  that  mess  with  their 
young,  and  will  hit  lures  or  flies  more  easily. 
Still,  they  are  not  an  easy  fish  to  catch. 

NSH  and  bass  are  active  predators  that 
eat  much  the  same  things:  smaller  fishes,  am- 
phibians and  reptiles,  crustaceans,  insects, 
and,  yes,  each  other.  And  NSH  and  bass  will 


If  you  land  a  snakehead,  use  a  Boga-Grip  or  look-alike  to  firmly  hold  the  fish's  lower  jaw  and  keep 
your  hand  away  from  the  teeth. 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      23 


Top,  banded  killifish  are  the  meal 
of  choice  for  most  snakeheads 
that  underwent  stomach  content 
analysis.  Middle,  report  tagged 
NSH  to  the  phone  nunlber  on  the 
dorsal  tag.  Bottom,  a  young  NSH 
shocked  up  in  2011.  The  fish  are 
prolific  breeders,   ' 


feed  on  the  young  of  their  own  species.  Bass 
tournament  anglers  catch  their  share  of 
snakeheads  and,  interestingly,  report  that 
largemouth  bass  sometimes  regurgitate  baby 
NSH  when  brought  into  the  boat.  As  of  now, 
stomach  content  analysis  of  NSH  shows  less 
than  one  percent  of  their  diet  is  largemouth 
bass,  but  more  conclusive  data  are  needed. 

Since  fish  seem  to  be  the  main  ingredi- 
ent on  the  snakehead  s  menu,  it  stands  to  rea- 
son that  a  good  lure  or  fly  that  mimics  those 
fishes  are  a  good  bet  for  enticing  the  fish  to 
bite.  Here,  I'm  talking  about  Rapalas  and 
other  shallow  jerkbaits  and  shallow  diving 
crankbaits.  Spinnerbaits  and  plastic  worms 
and  grubs  work,  too. 

Standard  river  largemouth  bass  tackle  in 
spinning,  casting,  and  fly  is  just  fine  for 
NSH.  Don't  go  too  light  because  snakeheads 
hang  out  around  submersed  and  emergent 
aquatic  vegetation  as  well  as  man-made 
structure  such  as  boat  docks  and  bridge  pil- 
ings. Fly  fishers  need  a  sturdy  8-  or  even  a  9- 
weight  rod  with  a  weight  forward  floating 
line.  Use  a  7-  to  9-foot-long  leader  and  either 
add  a  20-  or  30-pound  test  bite  tippet,  or  tie 
on  a  6-inch  piece  of  wire  that  easily  can  be 
tied  to  the  leader.  I  use  TyGer  Wire  and  high- 
ly recommend  it  for  these  toothsome  critters. 

Where  to  Fish 

NSH  are  in  the  main  stem  of  the  Potomac 
River,  particularly  in  the  shallower  areas 
where  hydrilla  and/or  milfoil  abound.  But 
that's  a  lot  of  water  to  cover,  and  anglers  are 
better  offfishing  the  creeks  where  it's  easier  to 
concentrate  effort;  you  can  also  get  by  with  a 
smaller  boat  such  as  a  canoe  or  kayak  with  or 
without  an  electric  trolling  motor. 

Some  of  the  creeks  and  rivers  that  hold 
NSH  in  large  numbers  are  Little  Hunting 
Creek,  Dogue  Creek,  Pohick  Bay,  and  the 
Occoquan  and  Aquia  rivers.  There  are  vari- 
ous county,  state,  and  federal  boat  launch 
ramps  in  this  stretch  of  the  Potomac. 

You  will  need  a  boat  because  land  access 
to  the  river  and  tributaries  is  very  difficult. 
Those  who  opt  for  canoes  and  kayaks  should 
stay  in  the  creeks  and  not  venture  out  onto 
the  main  river.  There  are  times  when  the  tides 
pull  harder  than  you  can  row  or  paddle. 

Cast  a  lure  or  fly — and  I'm  sure  legal  live 
or  cut  bait  would  work  as  well — along  the 
clusters  of  spatterdock  that  line  most  of  the 
creeks.  At  higher  tides,  the  fish  are  back  in  the 
pads,  and  they  move  out  with  a  dropping 


tide.  Frog  lures  that  ride  with  two  hooks  fac- 
ing up  along  a  plastic  body  are  great  for  this 
fish. 

Respected  bass  fishing  guide  Captain 
Steve  Chaconas  of  Capital  Bass  Guide  Service 
takes  a  number  of  clients  out  for  snakeheads 
and  the  floating  frog  lures  seem  to  work  best, 
particularly  since  they  can  skim  along  the  top 
of  grassbeds  that  grow  near  the  surface  as 
summer  progresses.  Many  of  his  clients  get 
into  snakeheads  and  virtually  all  catch  large- 
mouth bass,  and  that's  a  pretty  good  deal. 

Once  you  land  a  snakehead,  kill  it  for 
dinner.  Call  the  Snakehead  Hotline  at  (804) 
367-2925  to  report  the  catch  and  your  pos- 
session of  it.  If  the  fish  has  a  tag  sticking  out  of 
its  back  near  the  dorsal  fin,  report  the  number 
and  location  information  as  well. 

In  Maryland  waters,  you  must  kill  the 
fish  and  either  dispose  of  the  carcass  or  fillet  it 
on  the  boat  or  take  the  fish  home.  Remember, 
it  is  against  federal  and  state  laws  to  transport 
live  snakeheads  anywhere.    ?f 


Outdoors/travel  writer  &  photographer  King 
Montgomery  is  a  former  captain  who  guided  light 
tackle  and  fly  anglers  on  the  tidal  Potomac  River. 
Contact  him  at  Kinganglerl  @aol.  com. 


RESOURCES 

Before  you  fish,  check  out: 

•  DepartmentofGameand  Inland  Fisheries 
Fishing  Regulations 
www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing 

•  Maryland  Department  of  Natural 
Resources  Regulations 
www.dnrstate.md.us/fisheries/ 
regulations/regindex.asp 

•  Ifyoufishin  Washington,  DC  waters 
(roughly  from  Woodrow  Wilson  Bridge  to 
Little  Falls),  see  http://ddoe.dc.gov/ 
service/regulated-fishing-activities 

•  Ken  Penrod's  Potomac  River  Bible, 
Volume  II,  (301)  937-0010, 
www.penrodsguides.com 

These  guides  target  snakeheads: 

•  Capt.  Steve  Chaconas,  (703)  380-7119, 
www.nationalbass.com 

•  Capt.  Dave  Kerrigan,  (301)  252-5322, 
dkerrigan@bilmin.com 

•  Capt.  Mike  Starrett,  (301)203-0961, 
www.indianheadcharters.com 

•  Rob  Snowhite,  (703)  401-6429, 
www.robsnowhite.com 


24 


I® 


^Stffif'J/^MfdMAfiV. 


enhance  lakes 
across  Virginia 
for  angling  success. 


byJohnCopeland 

^F^^^r  ave  you  ever  fished  a  Virginia 
^^/f^  l^c  ^nd  wondered,  "Where  are 
W  w  the  fish?"  Depanment  fisheries 
biologists  in  all  corners  of  the  common- 
wealth work  to  develop  habitat  that  provides 
fish  with  cover  and  concentrates  them  for  an- 
glers. Many  Virginia  lakes  were  cleared  dur- 
ing construction  and  never  had  good  habitat, 
so  adding  it  brings  good  results.  Other  lakes 
are  old,  and  old  habitat  needs  refreshing. 
While  fish  populations  are  controlled  by  big- 
ger factors  than  just  habitat — like  available 
nutrients,  protective  regulations,  consistent 
spawning,  proper  predator  and  prey  bal- 
ance— adding  habitat  may  help  anglers  catch 
fish  consistently. 


Governing  Fish  Habitat  Worl^ 

Navigable  waterways  are  governed  by  the  U.S. 
Army  Corps  of  Engineers  (Corps).  Other  wa- 
Smith  Mountain  Lake,  Lake  Anna, 


ters 


^ 


South  Holston  Lake,  and  Claytor  Lake,  to 
name  a  few — are  controlled  by  private  compa- 
nies or  government  agencies  that  produce  elec- 
tricity. Permits  are  required  to  perform  fish 
habitat  projects  in  order  to  prevent  navigation- 
al hazards,  and  the  Corps  issues  such  permits 
for  the  work  coordinated  by  Department 
(DGIF)  biologists. 

Eastern  Virginia 

Eastern  Virginia  is  dotted  with  small  lakes. 
DGIF  fisheries  biologist  Chad  Boyce  worked 
with  Girl  Scouts  at  Oak  Grove  Lake  in  Chesa- 
peake to  install  60  "spider  blocks"  at  four  fish 
reef  sites.  The  spider  blocks  resemble  small,  im- 
derwater  bushes  and  offer  hiding  places  for 
bass,  crappie,  and  sunfish.  They  are  easily  made 
from  individual  concrete  blocks,  with  3-  to  5- 
foot  sections  of  1  -  to  2-inch-diameter  polyeth- 
ylene pipe  cemented  into  the  open  areas  of  the 
blocks.  Boyce  also  completed  a  similar  project 
with  the  Suffolk  Parks  and  Recreation  Depart- 
ment and  local  Boy  Scouts  at  the  Lone  Star 
Lakes  in  Suffolk. 

Northern  Virginia 

Fredericksburg  biologists  John 
Odenkirk  and  Steve  Owens 
oversee  one  of  the  longest- 
running  fish  habitat  proj- 
ects in  the  commonwealth 
at  Lake  Anna,  building 
upon  work  by  colleague  Ed 
Steinkoenig  in  the  late  1990s. 


/< 


y\l\\ere  the  Fis 


The  multiple,  deepwater  sites  developed  at 
Lake  Anna  were  largely  due  to  the  efforts  of 
Chris  McCotter  (McCotter's  Guide  Service), 
who  organized  donations  to  purchase  Berkley 
"Fish-Habs®"  and  volunteers  to  assemble 
them.  The  4'  x  4'  Fish-Habs®  cubes  are  assem- 
bled on  land  (avoiding  extreme  air  tempera- 
tures), then  sunk  into  areas  with  little  fish 
cover  at  12-  to  26-foot  depths.  Sites  are 
marked  with  buoys  and  their  GPS  locations 
are  available  on  the  Department's  Lake  Anna 
web  page. 

One  unique  aspect  of  this  project  is  the 
use  of  SCUBA  to  evaluate  fish.  The  top  species 
using  Fish-Habs®  were  largemouth  bass,  black 
crappie,  and  bluegill.  Odenkirk  and  Owens 
found  that  bass,  crappie,  redear  sunfish,  white 
catfish,  and  channel  catfish  preferred  horizon- 
tal slat  alignments,  while  bluegill  used  either 
horizontal  or  vertical  ones.  Slats  were  therefore 
aligned  either  horizontally  or  vertically.  One 
lesson  learned  by  Odenkirk  is  that  the  more 
complex  sites  covering  the  largest  area  hold  the 
most  fish.  Odenkirk  confirmed  what  many 
anglers  know  intuitively:  jumbled  messes  that 
mimic  natural  habitat  are  better  for  fish. 

Western  Virginia 

At  Smith  Mountain  Lake,  Lynchburg  biolo- 
gist Dan  Wilson  told  me  a  new  habitat  project 
has  been  developed  through  the  federal 


relicensing  process  for  the  lake's  hydropower 
dam.  Appalachian  Power  Company  is  creat- 
ing a  streamlined  permit  process  to  allow 
conservation  groups  and  landowners  to  per- 
form fish  habitat  work  that  had  not  been  pre- 
viously allowed.  Until  recently,  in  fact,  one 
county  at  Smith  Mountain  Lake  required 
landowners  to  remove  shoreline  and  in-water 
trees  during  dock  construction  and  shoreline 
stabilization.  Appalachian  Power  Company 
and  DGIF  worked  with  the  county  to  change 
this  practice  by  highlighting  the  importance 
of  natural  shorelines  and  the  contributions  of 
trees  and  habitat  to  the  lake.  Now,  new  shore- 
line development  and  stabilization  projects 
oft:en  bundle  the  trees  and  woody  materials 
removed  from  the  shoreline  and  sink  them  in 
these  construction  areas. 

A  similar  project  at  Lake  Moomaw  was 
reported  by  Verona  biologist  Paul  Bugas.  In 
2007,  working  with  the  U.S.  Forest  Service 
and  the  Highlands  Bass  Club,  tree  stumps 
were  stockpiled  and  then  used  to  create 
shoreline  habitat  for  largemouth  and  small- 
mouth  bass.  The  stumps  were  secured  using 
steel  cable  and  duckbill  anchors  to  hold  them 
in  place.  Bugas  also  mentioned  a  project  back 
in  the  early  1 990s,  creating  log  cribs  as  over- 
head cover.  These  cribs  were  later  "brushed 
up"  with  hardwood  brush  cuttings  to  make 
them  more  attractive  for  bass  and  other  fish. 


DGIF  fisheries  technician  Cliff  Kirk  cables  a 
hinge  tree  to  its  stump,  keeping  it  close  to  the 
shoreline. 


A  Claytor  Lake  State  Park  volunteer  cements  pieces  of  polyethylene  pipe  into  concrete  blocks  to 
construct  spider  block  fish  habitat. 


Southwest  Virginia 

At  South  Holston  Lake  and  Flannagan  Reser- 
voir, biologist  Tom  Hampton's  efforts  result- 
ed in  multiple,  long-lasting  fish  habitats. 
Hampton  pointed  out  that  successes  at  these 
lakes  resulted  from  work  by  fisheries  techni- 
cian Cliff  Kirk  and  fisheries  biologist  George 
Palmer,  noting  that  fish  habitat  work  is  all 
about  what  "we"  accomplished. 

One  example  is  the  partnership  Hamp- 
ton created  with  the  Tennessee  Wildlife  Re- 
sources Agency,  the  Washington  Bass  Club, 
and  local  Boy  Scouts  and  Girl  Scouts.  For 
more  than  ten  years,  this  team  installed  at 
least  500  recycled  Christmas  trees  in  the  bar- 
ren drawdown  areas  of  South  Holston  Lake, 
culminating  in  the  installation  of  1,500  trees 
by  Venture  Crew  71  of  Abingdon  in  January, 
201 1 .  Hampton  also  coordinated  fish  habitat 
site  development  at  Flannagan  Reservoir  in 
cooperation  with  the  Dickenson  County 
Bass  Clubs  and  the  Corps  using  a  combina- 
tion of  hinge  trees — where  shoreline  trees  are 
felled,  then  cabled  back  to  the  snimp — and 
hardwood  brush  piles.  Hampton  and  his 
crew  thought  like  beavers  and  worked  just  as 
hard,  creating  habitat  that  will  benefit  many 
people. 

Claytor  Lake,  where  1  work,  has  seen  a 
number  of  fish  habitat  improvements.  In 
:§  200 1 ,  in  cooperation  with  Claytor  Lake  State 
Park  and  local  angler  Jim  Fields,  we  created 
three  deepwater  fish  reef  sites  in  10  to  14  feet 


26        VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HunfFishVA.conn 


DGIF  fisheries  biologist  Scott  Herrmann  and  a  volunteer  deploy  a  double-stack  Berkely  Fish-Hab'* 
at  a  reef  site  at  Lake  Anna  with  guidance  from  fisheries  biologist  Steve  Owens. 


of  water.  Since  that  time,  some  200  spider 
blocks  and  many  Christmas  trees  have  been 
added  to  these  sites,  resulting  in  places  where 
anglers  can  fill  dieir  live-wells  widi  the  bass, 
bluegill,  and  crappie  drawn  there. 

Past  Claytor  Lake  work  involved  a  part- 
nership with  the  Virginia  Bass  Federation 
Nation,  Claytor  Lake  State  Park,  and  a  group 


of  young  women  participating  in  the  Vir- 
ginia State  Parks  Youth  Conservation  Corps. 
In  recent  years,  collaboration  between  Ap- 
palachian Power  Company,  Friends  of  Clay- 
tor Lake,  Claytor  Lake  State  Park,  and  our 
Department  has  produced  fish  habitat  at 
multiple  sites  using  shoreline  tree  felling  and 
cabling 


More  Bites  per  Cast! 

Department  biologists  create  fish  habitat  in 
lakes  all  over  the  commonwealth  to  produce 
'more  bites  per  cast' — a  phrase  coined  by  for- 
mer DGIF  Fisheries  Chief  Jack  Hoffman. 
The  habitat  work  is  made  possible  by  Federal 
Aid  in  Sport  Fish  Restoration  Act  funding. 
Mentioned  in  recent  issues  of  Virginia 
Wildlife,  the  Act  funnels  excise  tax  dollars  on 
the  sale  of  fishing  tackle  and  equipment  and 
motorboat  fuels  to  our  Department  for  these 
conservation  initiatives.  Fish  habitat  initia- 
tives give  us  the  opporttmity  to  work  with 
multiple  partners  on  projects  that  benefit 
you. 

So  the  next  time  you  launch  at  a  public 
fishing  lake,  look  for  clues  like  buoys  and 
signs  indicating  such  work  has  been  complet- 
ed. When  you  find  the  habitat,  the  fish  will  be 
there.  The  rest  is  up  to  you!    ?f 

John  Copeland  is  a  Department  fisheries  biobgist 
doingfisheries  management  projects  on  Claytor 
Lake,  the  New  River,  and  other  waters  in  the 
New  River  Valley. 


FOR  MORE  INFORMATION 

Department  of  Game  and  Inland  Fisheries: 

www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/water 

bodies/?type=l 


1 


Cliff  Kirk  works  with  DCR  Youth  Conservation  Corps  members  installing  spider  block  fish  habitats  in  Claytor  Lake. 

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      27 


mas 


The  legendary  turkey  hunter  and  call  maker  shares  a  hit  of  turkey  wisdom. 


-^  m 


.>— j*-6L>'-^ 


by  Bruce  Ingram 


,  n  1986  when  I  was  an  up-and- 
^  /  coming  outdoor  writer  and  a 
>^  rookie  turkey  hunter,  friends 
suggested  that  I  call  Winchesters  Jim  Clay 
to  ask  if  he  would  take  me  on  my  maiden 
turkey  hunt.  Clay,  along  with  his  business 
partner  at  the  time,  Tom  Duvall,  had  estab- 
lished one  of  the  first  companies  devoted 
specifically  to  the  sport— Perfection 
Turkey  Calls— and  had  become  nationally 
known  for  his  calling  and  hunting  skills. 

In  true  rookie  form,  the  fall  outing 
consisted  of  such  low  points  as  my  sho\ving 
up  without  camouflaged  gloves  or  face- 
mask,  whispering  to  Jim  that  the  sounds  of 
a  distant  dog  barking  were  those  of  a 
turkey,  and  the  ultimate  humiliation:  my 
shooting  at  and  missing  (!)  three  jakes. 
Clay  bore  all  of  my  snafus  with  a  dose  of  pa- 
ternal patience,  and  ever  since,  Jim  has 
been  one  of  my  turkey  hunting  mentors. 

It's  easy  to  understand  why  the  now- 
65-year-old  sportsman  has  attained  such 
high  stature  in  the  turkey  hunting  realm, 
for  besides  his  hunting  and  calling  prowess, 


]      he  was  one  of  the  first  Virginians  to  pursue 
turkeys  in  the  spring. 

"When  spring  gobbler  hunting  began  in 
Virginia  and  West  Virginia  in  the  early  to 
mid-1960s,  it  was  very  controversial,"  recalls 
the  Winchester  sportsman.  "Many  old 
timers  who  thought  the  fall  season  was  the 
only  respectable  time  to  hunt  turkeys 
claimed  that  we  would  wipe  out  the  states 
flock  b}'  going  after  them  in  the  spring,  that 
the  gobblers  would  be  too  easy  to  Icill. 

"Others  claimed  that  all  the  hunters  in 
the  woods  would  totally  disrupt  the  turkeys' 
%   reproduction  and  few  of  the  hens  would  be 
'£  bred.  But  one  of  the  biggest  challenges  we 
3    faced  was  there  simply  wasn't  much  infor- 
0)   mation  about  how  to  hunt  birds  in  the 
spring.  And  the  guys  who  did  know  some- 
thing about  spring  gobblers  refused  to  share 
their  information." 

Building  His 
Knowledge  Base     4 

Thus,  Clay  sought  out  books  by 
southern  sage  Archibald  Rutledge, 
who  had  penned  a  number  of  tomes 
about  hunting  spring  gobblers  in  the 
Deep  South — where  seasons  had  been  es- 
tablished earlier — as  well  as  articles  by  Dave 
Harbour  who  was  popularizing  the  pastime 
in  national  outdoor  magazines. 

Along  with  a  lack  of  information  was  a 
lack  of  turkeys.  The  Department  was  in  the 
beginning  stages  of  its  trap  and  transfer  pro- 
gram (led  by  biologist  Kit  Shaflfer)  with  what 
is  today  the  Gathright  Wildlife  Management 
Area  in  Bath  County  being  the  focal  point  of 
much  of  its  efforts.  Given  the  mountainous 
domain's  reputation  as  a  turkey  sanctuary, 
Jim  would  drive  hours  to  reach  Gathright 
and  then  spend  the  night  in  his  car  in  order 
to  hunt  early  the  next  morning. 

Yet  another  challenge  \vas  finding  came 
and  calls,  especially  quality  diaphragms. 

"There  was  no  camouflage  except  the 
kind  manufactured  for  the  military,"  contin- 


ues Clay  "I  had  been  hunting  turkeys  in  the 
fall  since  I  was  a  kid,  so  I  showed  up  for  my 
first  spring  hunt  wearing  what  I  usually 
wore:  a  brown  bird  hunter's  coat  and  a  pair 
of  gray  work  pants. 

"I  could  only  find  a  few  tspes  of  mouth 
calls  at  the  local  sporting  goods  store,  and  I 
would  take  them  out  of  their  boxes,  pop 
them  in  my  mouth,  and  try  them  out  right 
there  in  the  store.  One  diaphragm  had  a 
lead  frame  and  even  then  I  was  afraid  to  put 
something  like  that  in  my  mouth.  Another 
had  an  aluminum  frame  with  what  looked 
like  part  of  a  balloon  stretched  across  it. 
Every  time  I  used  that  call,  it  tore  up  the  top 
of  my  mouth." 

Sensing  a  void  in  the  call  industry,  Clay 
and  Duvall  would  use  their  spare  time  dur- 
ing lunch  at  Winchester's  James  Wood  High 


/ 


ih  ■' 


4L  h 


Jim  Clay  is  one  of  the  nation's  best  known  makers  of  box  calls.  He  works  from  his  home  in  Winchester. 


'wmh'^. 


Ui'~ 


Clay  estimates  he  has  stretched  some  8  million 
diaphragms. 


School  to  stretch  reeds  for  their  calls,  later 
selling  them  to  local  hunters  and  stores.  Word 
spread  and  Dave  Harbour  wrote  a  few  maga- 
zine articles  about  their  diaphragms.  In  1978, 
the  duo  decided  to  relinquish  their  teaching 
positions  and  work  full-time  at  their  compa- 
ny. Perfection  Turkey  Calls. 

"I  remember  the  superintendent  telling 
Tommy  and  me  we  were  making  a  huge  mis- 
take," laughs  Jim.  "But  the  first  day  after  we 
quit,  we  received  an  order  for  twelve  thousand 
dollars,  which  was  about  what  we  were  mak- 
ing a  year  as  teachers." 

Perfection  is  credited  with  creating  the 
first  multiple  reed  diaphragms,  and  even 
today  mouth  calls  remain  a  staple  of  the  com- 
pany's business,  even  though  high-quality 
box,  slate,  glass,  and  other  calls  became  part  of 
the  company's  lineup.  Diaphragms  such  as 
the  Raspy  D,  Super  Double  D,  and  the  3-D- 
Omega  (hands-down  the  best  diaphragm  I 
have  ever  used)  are  well  known  in  the  turkey 
hunting  community. 

Indeed,  Clay  estimates  that  he  has 
"stretched"  some  eight  million  diaphragms 
and  to  this  day  will  not  share  precisely  how  he 
does  so,  stating  that  he  has  seen  only  one 
other  person  create  mouth  calls  exactly  as  he 
does. 

Turkey  Hunting 
Wisdom 

Given  Jim  Clay's  vast  amount  of  experience  in 
the  autumn  and  spring  woods,  I  asked  him  to 
share  with  me  his  best  turkey  hunting  wis- 
dom. 

"If  someone  could  figure  out  how  to 
manufacture  patience  and  give  turkey 
hunters  a  dose  of  it,  most  people  would  be- 
come better  turkey  hunters,"  he  maintains. 


30     VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


"So  much  of  both  spring  and  fall  hunting  is 
sitting,  watching,  and  listening  for  long  peri- 
ods of  time.  Hunters  often  worry  that  the  rea- 
son a  turkey  isn't  coming  in  to  their  position 
is  because  they  are  making  some  sort  of  mis- 
take either  with  their  calling  or  setting  up." 

Chances  are,  though,  that  the  reason 
folks  aren't  witnessing  birds  venture  toward 
their  positions  is  because  the  creatures  are  on 
"turkey  time."  That  is,  the  birds  are  feeding, 
watching  for  danger,  and  "just  being  turkeys." 
A  second  skill  involves  being  in  tune  with  the 
outdoor  world. 

"In  the  woods,  almost  every  sound 
means  something,"  Jim  explains.  "For  exam- 
ple, if  a  squirrel  suddenly  starts  barking,  it 
could  mean  that  a  turkey  has  just  shown  up.  If 
a  bunch  of  crows  start  cawing,  it  could  mean 
that  they  are  harassing  a  gobbler.  Learn  what 
the  various  animals'  normal  and  alarm 
sounds  are,  and  you  are  well  on  your  way  to 
becoming  a  better  turkey  hunter." 

Woodsmanship  is  another  skill  that 
hunters  should  master.  Clay  points  out  that 
many  of  Virginia's  old  timey  fall  turkey 
hunters  were  consummate  woodsmen, 
knowing  how  to  age  turkey  droppings  and 
scratchings,  able  to  identify  all  the  foods  that 
turkeys  consumed,  and  adept  at  venturing 
deep  into  the  state's  forests  and  returning 
without  aid  of  a  compass  or 
GPS  unit.  Possessing  such 
skills  will  make  people  bet 
ter  spring  hunters  as  well. 


Finally,  Clay  emphasizes  that  calling 
skills  are  a  major  component  of  success. 

"Some  spring  and  fall  days,  you  don't 
have  to  be  a  great  caller  to  kill  a  bird,"  Jim  ex- 
plains. "But  the  individual  who  knows  how 
to  make  extremely  realistic  sounds  when  the 
birds  are  balky  is  the  person  who  will  loll 
turkeys  that  other  people  can't." 

Over  a  quarter-century  has  passed  since 
Jim  Clay  took  me  hunting  on  my  first  outing. 
Today,  I  give  seminars  on  how  to  turkey  hunt 
and  write  numerous  turkey  hunting  stories 
every  year  And  I  owe  much  of  my  good  for- 
tune to  him  and  to  other  folks  who  have 
mentored  me  through  the  years.    ^ 

Bruce  Ingram  has  authored  many  guide  books. 
For  more  information  on  Bruce  Ingram 's  river 
fishing  hooks:  www.  bruceingramoutdoors.  com. 


FOR  MORE  INFORMATION 

Perfection  Turkey  Calls: 
www.perfectionturkeycalls.com 

Ingram  book  information  and 
weekly  outdoors  blog: 
www.bruceingramoutdoors.com 


2012-2013 


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Introduction 


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It  has  been  several  years 
since  the  Department  has 
published  a  comprehen- 
sive report,  or  forecast,  in  antici- 
pation of  the  approaching 
hunting  seasons.  This  year,  we 
asked  several  of  our  field  biolo- 
gists who  oversee  a  targeted 
wildlife  program  to  report  in  and 
tell  us,  in  their  words,  what  they 
are  seeing  in  their  travels  across 
the  state. 

In  each  case,  they  have  pro- 
vided historical  context  for  their 
findings  and,  when  comfortable 
doing  so,  offered  up  a  general 
forecast  for  the  coming  season 
based  upon  their  observations 
and  recent  harvest  trends. 


ji*»^^ 


;, »    .■<..j*u-\- 


'  \. 


The  artwork  here,  "David's  Buck,"  was 
painted  in  memory  of  the  founder  of 
Hunters  for  the  Hungry,  David  Home, 
and  created  to  honor  his  legacy  of 
helping  others.  The  print  is  a  limited 
edition  of  just  750.  Each  one  is  signed 
and  numbered  by  the  artist.  Randy 
Battaglia.  All  proceeds  go  to  feed  the 
hungry  in  Virginia.  For  ordering 
information  and  a  view  of  the  full 
image,  visit  www.h4hungry.org. 
Learn  more  about  Hunters  for  the 
Hungry  on  page  44. 


White-Tailed  Deer 


A  Look  Back  at 
Deer  Activity 

During  the  past  deer  season 
233,104  deer  were  report- 
ed harvested  by  hunters  in  Vir- 
ginia. This  total  included  98,874 
antlered  bucks,  21,008  button 
bucks,  and  113,106  does  (or, 
48.5%)  and  116  unknown  deer 
The  2011  deer  kill  total  was  higher 
(up  5%)  than  the  222,074  deer  re- 
ported taken  in  2010.  It  is  in  line 
with  the  last  10-year  average  of 
230,850. 

Deer  kill  levels  were  down 
slightly  in  Tidewater  (down  2%) 


but  were  up  in  all  other  regions, 
including  the  Southern  Piedmont 
(up  7%),  Northern  Piedmont  (up 
8%),  Southern  Mountains  (up 
13%),  and  Northern  Mountains 
(up  3%). 

Archers,  not  including  cross- 
bow hunters,  took  17,338  deer 
The  bow  kill  comprised  7  percent 
of  the  total,  while  crossbows  re- 
sulted in  a  kill  of  11,001  deer,  or  5 
percent  of  the  total  kill.  Muzzle- 
loader  hunters  harvested  55,420 
deer,  or  24  percent  of  the  total  kill. 
Over  167,500  deer  (72%)  were 
checked  using  the  Department's 
telephone  and  internet  checking 
systems.  The  youth  deer  hunting 
day  on  the  last  Saturday  in  Sep- 
tember resulted  in  a  reported 
deer  kill  of  1,864  animals. 

Because  the  Department 
changes  deer  regulations  every 
other  year  and  just  did  so  during 
the  fall  of  2011,  there  are  no 
major  changes  for  the  fall  2012 
season  other  than  the  fact  that 
several  new  areas  have  been 
added  to  the  special  urban 
archery  season(s).  See  the  hunt- 
ing digest  for  details. 

Tidewater 

The  Tidewater  deer  kill  was  down 
just  slightly  (2%)  from  2010.  This  is 
good  news  for  a  region  where  the 
Department  has  been  trying  to 
stabilize  or  reduce  deer  herds  for 
the  past  decade.  Over  that  10- 


year  period,  deer  herds  over 
much  of  the  region  have  exhibit- 
ed significant  population  increas- 
es. To  address  these  increasing 
populations,  the  Department  has 
now  put  into  effect  full  season  ei- 
ther-sex  deer  seasons  in  all  but 
three  Tidewater  counties. 

Piedmont 

The  Piedmont  represents  a  very 
mixed  bag  of  deer  management 
issues  and  results.  After  a  decade 
of  effort,  deer  herds  in  a  couple  of 
far  northern  Piedmont  counties 
are  finally  showing  signs  of  reduc- 
tion (e.g.,  Fauquier  and  Loudoun). 


Fairfax  County  deer  kill  data 
Is  not  comparable  to  other 
areas/counties 


2011  Private  Land  Relative  Deer  Population  Abundance  by  Management  Unit 

Index  is  based  on  a  3-year  average  of  antlered  bucks  killed  per  square  mile  of  estimated  deer  habitat. 


Counties  in  the  Southern  Pied- 
mont have  recovered  from  a  de- 
cline from  about  10  years  ago. 
Deer  populations  in  most  coun- 
ties throughout  the  Piedmont 
have  remained  fairly  stable  over 
that  time. 

Mountain 

The  biggest  challenge  in  deer 
management  in  Virginia  over  the 
past  decade  has  been  the  decline 
in  deer  hunting  and  resulting 
deer  kill  on  public  lands  in  the 
mountains.  Since  the  mid-1990s, 
the  deer  harvest  on  public  lands 
west  of  the  Blue  Ridge  has  de- 
clined by  approximately  60  per- 
cent. 

Our  staff  believe  there  are  a 
number  of  factors  involved  in  this 
decline,  including  but  not  limited 
to:  deteriorating  habitat  quality 
for  deer  on  national  forest  lands, 
significantly  declining  hunter 
numbers  and  pressure  on  public 
lands,  predators,  and  liberal  ei- 
ther-sex  deer  hunting  day  regula- 
tions that  have  been  enacted  on 
adjacent  private  lands  over  the 
past  decade.  An  additional  issue 
identified  by  concerned  public 
land  deer  hunters  is  a  potential 
over-harvest  of  antlerless  deer  on 
these  public  properties. 

The  potential  over-harvest 
of  antlerless  deer  on  public  lands 
is  an  issue  that  has  already  been 


32        VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


f 


Waterfowl 


addressed  by  significant  reduc- 
tions in  the  number  of  public  land 
either-sex  deer  hunting  days.  The 
objective  of  these  reductions  was 
to  cut  the  female  deer  kill  level  on 
such  lands  by  50  percent  or  more, 
and  these  changes  have  been  suc- 
cessful. It  remains  to  be  seen, 
however,  if  these  changes  will 
also  be  successful  in  bringing  back 
the  public  land  deer  herd(s). 

Summary 

The  best  way  to  compare  deer 
populations  and  hunting  poten- 
tial among  different  areas  is 
through  the  deer  kill  per  square 
mile  of  habitat.  The  map  on  page 
32  shows  the  relative  differences 
among  counties  in  the  kill  per 
square  mile  of  deer  (antlered 
bucks)  on  private  land  based  on 
an  average  of  the  past  three  hunt- 
ing seasons.  Kill  per  square  mile  of 
habitat  is  a  good  index  of  the  rela- 
tive densities  of  deer  on  private 
lands  among  counties  in  Virginia. 

The  Department's  deer 
management  efforts  over  the 
past  several  years  to  increase  the 
female  deer  kill  over  much  of  the 
state,  especially  on  private  lands, 
has  been  very  successful.  Female 
deer  harvest  numbers  have 
reached  record  levels  for  the  past 
six  consecutive  deer  seasons. 
These  high  and  sustained  female 
deer  kill  levels  were  intended  to 
eventually  lead  to  a  decrease  in 
the  statewide  deer  herd  and  a  de- 
cline in  total  deer  kill  numbers. 

It  should  be  noted,  however, 
that  the  Department  is  currently 
actively  managing  to  increase 
deer  populations  in  the  Cumber- 
land Plateau  counties  of 
Buchanan,  Dickenson,  and  Wise, 
in  the  Allegheny  Highland  coun- 
ties of  Alleghany,  Bath,  and  High- 
land, and  on  national  forest  lands 
west  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Moun- 
tains, where  hunting  pressure  has 
resulted  in  population  declines 
overthe  past  ten  years. 


This  deer  report  was  contributed  by 
Deer  Project  Leader  Matt  Knox, 
wtio  worl<s  outofttie  Forest  office.       S 
You  may  reach  Matt  at  = 

Matt.Knox@dgif.virginia.gov.  @ 


Mild  weather  during  the 
2011-2012  season  left 
many  waterfowl  hunters  frustrat- 
ed and  disappointed.  While  we 
cannot  predict  the  weather  for 
the  upcoming  season,  reports 
from  the  breeding  grounds  pro- 
vide an  indication  of  waterfowl 
populations  this  coming  yean  The 
forecasts  below  are  based  upon 
preliminary  reports  of  surveys 
conducted  throughout  the  pri- 
mary breeding  areas  of  waterfowl 
that  winter  in  the  mid-Atlantic. 


Duck  Production 
Forecast 

Early  habitat  conditions  in  the 
prairie  pothole  region  this  year 
were  reported  as  being  poor  to 
fair  Snow  and  rainfall  amounts 
were  down  throughout  the  re- 
gion and  many  grassland  nesting 
areas  were  lost  to  cropland  con- 
version. Luckily,  much  of  the  re- 
gion benefitted  from  spring 
rainfalls,  which  created  tempo- 
rary wetlands  important  for  wa- 
terfowl broods.  In  the  heart  of 
the  prairie,  that  rain  improved 
conditions  to  good  overall.  In  the 
Northeast,  conditions  appear  to 
be  good  to  occasionally  excellent 
throughout  Atlantic  Canada,  On- 
tario, and  Quebec,  despite  de- 
layed spring  thaws.  The  majority 
of  waterfowl  wintering  in  Vir- 
ginia, especially  black  ducks  and 
mallards,  breed  in  this  eastern  re- 
gion. In  both  regions,  breeding 
waterfowl  numbers  appear  to  be 
higher,  likely  benefitting  from 
above  average  2011  production 
and  a  mild  winter  last  year,  which 
allowed  birds  to  return  to  their 
breeding  grounds  in  favorable 
physical  condition. 


Local  Breeding 
Waterfowl 

Although  Virginia  may  be  more 
notable  as  an  important  winter- 
ing area,  waterfowl  (primarily 
wood  ducks,  mallards,  black 
ducks,  and  Canada  geese)  also 
utilize  the  state  as  a  breeding 
zone.  Each  year  a  survey  is  con- 
ducted to  provide  breeding  pair 
and  population  estimates  of 
breeding  waterfowl.  These  esti- 
mates are  used  to  monitor  trends 
in  local  populations  and  to  set  wa- 
terfowl hunting  regulations  both 
in  Virginia  and  throughout  the  At- 
lantic Fly  way.  The  survey  consists 
of  aerial  or  ground  monitoring  of 
165  individual  one-square-kilo- 
meter plots,  which  were  random- 
ly selected  in  the  different 
physiographic  zones  of  the  state. 
The  plots  are  surveyed  by  Depart- 
ment staff  and  other  cooperators 
during  the  months  of  April  and 
May.  All  waterfowl  on  these  plots 
are  identified  and  counted,  and 
their  breeding  status  (paired,  sin- 
gle, flocked)  is  recorded.  The  data 
are  combined  with  data  from 
other  Atlantic  coast  states  to  esti- 
mate breeding  waterfowl  popula- 
tions in  the  Atlantic  Flyway. 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      33 


The  21  ^Century 
"Bird  Hunter" 


Habitat  conditions  in  Virginia 
during  the  spring  of  2012  were 
fair  to  good.  Dry  wetland  condi- 
tions during  the  early  season 
were  alleviated  by  significant  pre- 
cipitation during  the  middle  and 
latter  portions  of  the  nesting  peri- 
od. Duck  and  goose  nest  initiation 
was  one  to  two  weeks  earlier  than 
average,  which  increased  oppor- 
tunities for  re-nesting  attempts  if 
the  first  attempt  was  unsuccess- 
ful. Preliminary  breeding  pair  esti- 
mates for  black  ducks  and  Canada 
geese  are  slightly  below  average, 
while  pair  estimates  for  mallards 
are  significantly  higher  than  aver- 
age. 

Over  the  past  four  years  the 
breeding  wood  duck  population 
in  Virginia  has  become  a  manage- 
ment concern  for  DGIF  staff.  Pairs 
of  breeding  wood  duck  dropped 
from  an  estimated  20,000  in  2007 
to  15,000  in  2008.  In  2009  esti- 
mates again  declined,  to  10,000 
breeding  pairs.  The  population  re- 
mained around  10,000  in  2010 
and  2011.  Preliminary  estimates 
for  this  breeding  season  will  likely 
number  around  13,000  pairs,  an 
increase  from  years  past  but  still 
well  below  the  long-term  average 
of  23,000  breeding  pairs.  DGIF  bi- 
ologists are  increasing  monitoring 
efforts  to  better  understand  the 
factors  that  may  be  contributing 
to  this  decline. 


Due  to  above  average  pro- 
duction in  2011  and  last  year's  mild 
winter,  waterfowl  production  in 
the  breeding  areas  should  be  aver- 
age to  above  average.  Local  water- 
fowl production  is  also  expected  to 
be  average  or  above  average.  All  fi- 
nalized numbers,  from  both  local 
and  primary  production  area  sur- 
veys, can  be  found  in  the  "Status  of 
Waterfowl  Fact  Sheet"  updated 
annually  on  the  DGIF  website  at 
www.huntfishva.com. 

Whether  hunting  conditions 
improve  over  the  2011-2012  sea- 
son is  something  that  only  time 
will  tell.  One  thing  Virginia  water- 
fowlers  can  count  on  is  an  opportu- 
nity for  a  quality  hunt  by  applying 
for  any  of  the  seven  DGIF  water- 
fowl hunts  offered  through  the  Vir- 
ginia Quota  Hunts  Program.  These 
managed  hunts  provide  unique 
opportunities  to  pursue  waterfowl 
and  other  species  on  public  lands 
that  may  otherwise  be  closed  to 
hunting.  In  addition  to  the  quota 
hunts  lottery,  wildlife  manage- 
ment areas  such  as  the  Chicka- 
hominy.  Game  Farm  Marsh, 
Mattaponi,  Mockhorn  Island,  and 
Saxis  all  offer  quality  waterfowl 
hunting  experiences. 

This  waterfowl  report  was  con- 
tributed by  Waterfowl  Biologist  Ben 
Lewis,  who  is  stationed  in  the  east- 
ern regional  office.  You  may  reach 
Ben  at  Ben.Lewis@dgif.virginia.go\i. 


6  6  r^  ird  hunter?"  you  say, 
13  "What  the  heck  does 
that  mean?"  It  means  an  upland 
game  bird  hunter  of  quail,  grouse, 
pheasant,  and  woodcock,  primari- 
ly. They  have  become  so  rare  that 
very  few  know  what  is  meant  by 
the  term  "bird  hunter"  anymore. 
But  there  was  a  time  when  most 
folks  would  have  understood  this 
moniker. 

Only  40  short  years  ago 
hunters  were  more  numerous 
both  in  Virginia  and  nationally.  In 
1973,  there  were  143,000  quail 
hunters  in  the  state;  today,  they 
number  barely  8,000. 

Why  the  dramatic  drop? 
Much  of  it  can  be  attributed  to  de- 
clines in  the  populations  of  fa- 
vored game  birds.  Bobwhite  quail 
have  declined  markedly  across 
most  of  the  commonwealth,  in 
places  by  more  than  80  percent. 


Notes  on  the  Quail  Recovery 
Initiative  Underway 

♦  Six  quail  focus  areas  have  been  identified  (incorporating  15 
counties)  across  the  state. 

♦  Five  private  lands  wildlife  biologists  were  hired  2.5  years  ago. 

♦  Biologists  have  made  over  1,150  site  visits  to  892  different 
landowners,  and  in  so  doing,  written  650  habitat  management 
plans. 

♦  Biologists  have  participated  in,  planned,  or  hosted  82  public 
events. 

♦  10,457  acres  of  habitat  have  been  created  or  maintained.  These 
acres  include:  547  acres  of  field  borders,  448  acres  of  idle  crop 
lands,  201  acres  of  idle  tobacco  lands,  425  acres  of  conservation 
cover,  442  acres  of  tree  and  shrub  establishment,  43  acres  of 
brush  management,  and  3,099  acres  of  prescribed  burning. 

♦  Habitat  demonstration  areas  are  being  developed  on  Amelia 
and  Powhatan  Wildlife  Management  Areas  and  at  the  New  Kent 
Forestry  Center. 

♦  Habitat  management  DVDs  have  been  widely  distributed. 

♦  New  monitoring  programs  have  been  established  in  the  target- 
ed counties. 

♦  A  new  promotional  DVD  was  developed,  "Answering  the  Call: 
Virginia's  Quail  Recovery  Initiative,  which  is  available  upon  re- 
quest by  sending  an  email  to  Marc  Puckett  (email  address,  pg. 
35)  with  your  name  and  address. 

♦  The  Virginia  Quail  Council,  developed  to  facilitate  partnerships, 
currently  includes  22  participating  conservation  organizations. 


34 


VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


But  the  number  of  quail  hunters 
has  declined  even  more  than  the 
species  itself— which  means 
there  are  fewer  bird  hunters  left 
to  pass  the  tradition  on  to 
younger  hunters.  Perhaps  more 
than  any  other  form  of  hunting, 
newcomers  to  upland  bird  hunt- 
ing need  a  mentor,  an  "old  hand," 
to  guide  them  through  associated 
challenges  like  bird  dog  training, 
or  being  able  to  see  and  under- 
stand "birdy"  cover,  or  finding 
places  to  hunt. 

In  addition  to  falling  popula- 
tions of  game  birds,  land-use  pat- 
terns have  changed:  posted  land 
is  more  common,  and  competi- 
tion among  hunters  for  the  re- 
maining lands  has  intensified. 
Unlike  other  forms  of  hunting, 
upland  bird  hunting  requires  larg- 
er acreages  to  allow  fast-hunting 
pointing  dogs  enough  room  to 
run  and  to  provide  enough  cover 
for  the  birds.  While  only  a  few 
acres  are  adequate  for  deer  or 
squirrel  hunting,  several  hundred 
acres  is  often  considered  a  mini- 
mum for  upland  bird  hunting. 

So,  is  upland  bird  hunting 
dead?  I  would  argue  that  with  a 
change  in  mindset  and  tactics,  it  is 


still  possible  to  enjoy  upland  bird 
hunting  in  Zl^'-century  Virginia. 

One  of  the  first  things  a  new- 
comer to  bird  hunting  must  real- 
ize is  having  a  heavy  game  bag  is 
not  the  primary  indicator  of  suc- 
cess. The  "good  old  days"  of  find- 
ing 12  coveys  of  quail  in  a  day  may 
be  over  in  most  of  our  state,  but 
there  are  still  places  where  4  to  6 
coveys  can  be  found  in  a  day  (and 
we  hope  to  increase  those  num- 
bers through  our  Quail  Recovery 
Initiative).  The  key  to  finding 
hunting  coverts  is  to  learn  to  iden- 
tify quail  cover,  to  regularly  scout, 
to  lookfor  larger  tracts  of  cut-over 
lands— mainly  in  "pine  country" 
and  as  close  to  farm  lands  as  pos- 
sible, to  get  to  know  the  landown- 
ers and  offer  suggestions  (and 
on-the-ground  help)  for  manag- 
ing those  cut-overs,  and  to  con- 
sider joining  hunt  clubs  to  gain 
access.  Yes,  it  takes  work,  but 
those  willing  to  do  this  can  put  to- 
gether a  fine  "portfolio"  of  hunt- 
ing coverts. 

The  second  recommenda- 
tion is  to  think  outside  the  prover- 
bial "box."  It  will  be  hard  to  make 
it  as  a  bird  hunter,  pursuing  only  a 
single  favorite  species  or  even 


two.  The  woodcock  season  length 
was  recently  increased  in  Virginia 
from  30  to  45  days.  That's  two  ad- 
ditional weeks  of  opportunity. 
Quite  often,  woodcock  and  quail 
can  be  found  in  close  proximity. 
They  both  favor  some  form  of 
early-successional  cover,  with 
woodcock  preferring  wetter 
areas.  I  recall  with  great  clarity 
several  quail  hunts  where  1  or  2 
coveys  of  quail  were  supplement- 
ed by  8  to  10  woodcock  finds- 
turning  an  otherwise  slow  day 
into  one  filled  with  action. 

Beyond  that  proverbial  box, 
maybe  thinking  outside  the  octa- 
gon is  required.  Don't  exclude 
mourning  dove  as  a  quarry  wor- 
thy of  upland  style  hunting.  While 
the  traditional  method  of  dove 
hunting  is  actually  called  a 
"shoot"  and  centers  around 
doves  flying  into  planted  fields, 
they  can  also  be  hunted  with 
dogs.  I  spent  much  time  in  my  im- 
patient youth  "walking  up"  doves 
when  the  fly-in  shooting  was 
slow.  Upon  numerous  occasions 
when  the  seasons  overlapped,  I 
took  dove  while  hunting  other 
upland  game  birds. 

Further,  many  variations 


exist  today  on  releasing  pen- 
raised  quail.  While  studies  have 
shown  releasing  pen-raised  quail 
will  not  restore  wild  quail  popula- 
tions, newer  pre-season  release 
methods  using  high-quality  pen- 
raised  quail  can  provide  fun  hunt- 
ing throughout  the  season.  Typical 
methods  include  first  creating  ex- 
cellent quail  cover,  then  employ- 
ing pre-season  release  systems  in 
late-September  through  October 
to  establish  "coveys"  for  the  hunt- 
ing season.  This  may  not  be  for 
everyone,  but  information  on  how 
to  do  it  is  available  on  request. 

And  let's  not  forget  our 
shooting  preserves.  Many  offer 
excellent  packages  for  a  variety  of 
upland  game  birds.  By  combining 
the  above  strategies,  with  some 
shooting  preserve  hunts  and  the 
occasional  trip  "out  west"  to  hunt 
the  best  remaining  expanses  of 
America's  wild  bird  cover,  one  can 
become  a  satisfied  21"-century 
bird  hunter. 

This  upland  bird  report  was  con- 
tributed by  Small  Game  Project 
Leader  Marc  Puckett,  who  works 
out  of  the  Farmville  office.  You  may 
reach  Marc  at  Marc.  Puckett@ 
dgif.virginia.gov. 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      35 


Furbearers 


Historical  Harvest 

The  hunting  and  trapping  of 
furbearing  aninnals  played 
an  innportant  role  in  the  explo- 
ration and  settlement  of  colonial 
Virginia.  As  early  as  1546,  a 
French  sailing  ship  traded  with 
Native  Americans  in  the  Chesa- 
peake Bay  region  for  fur  pelts. 
The  wilderness  of  Virginia  was 
rich  in  wildlife  resources  and  fur 
was  one  the  most  valuable  com- 
modities available  for  export. 
Great  demand  for  beaver  pelts 
and  other  furs  by  Europeans  fu- 
eled a  burgeoning  industry  with 
a  seemingly  endless  supply  of 
animals  to  trap.  Between  1699 
and  1715,  almost  a  quarter-mil- 
lion pelts  from  13  species  were 
exported  from  Virginia  to  Eng- 
land. 

Eventually,  however,  in- 
tense commercial  demand  cou- 
pled with  unregulated  and 
unsustainable  harvest,  gradually 
reduced  the  population  of  some 
furbearer  species  to  the  brink  of 
extinction.  Protection,  enhance- 
ment, and  reestablishment  of 
Virginia's  furbearer  populations 
did  not  occur  until  almost  200 
years  later  when  this  Depart- 
ment was  formed  and  modern 
wildlife  management  practices 
were  instituted.  Today,  popula- 


tions of  most  furbearer  species 
are  flourishing  and  trapping  re- 
mains a  viable  and  enjoyable  out- 
door pursuit. 

Current  Pelt  Harvest 

The  number  of  pelts  purchased 
or  brokered  by  permitted  fur 
dealers  serves  as  a  useful  index  of 
furbearer  harvest  effort.  In  Vir- 
ginia, the  number  of  pelts  pur- 
chased or  brokered  by  34  fur 
dealers  increased  from  16,369  in 
2009-2010  to  32,834  in 
2010-2011  (-H  100.6%).  Fur  deal- 
er pelt  transactions  increased  for 
all  furbearers  (Table,  pg.  37),  par- 
ticularly the  terrestrial  species 
(bobcat,  coyote,  opossum,  rac- 
coon, and  skunk)  that  had  trap- 
ping success  negatively  impacted 
the  previous  season  by  heavy 
snows  and  cold  temperatures.  In- 
creases in  harvest  for  aquatic 
furbearer  species  were  signifi- 
cant, but  not  as  large  as  those  for 
terrestrial  species.  Demand  for 
otter  pelts  increased  during 
2010-2011  and  pelt  sales  in- 


creased 129.7  percent  com- 
pared to  the  previous  season. 
Bobcat  pelt  transactions  more 
than  doubled  in  2010-2011 
(+109.6%)  and  exceeded  the  46- 
year  average  reported  by  fur 
dealers  from  1964-2010  by 
137.3  percent. 

Fur  pelts  purchased  or  bro- 
kered by  Virginia  fur  dealers 
were  valued  at  approximately 
$324,843  during  the  2010-2011 
fur  harvest  season.  The  total 
value  of  fur  purchased  during 
2010-2011  was  95.2  percent 
greater  (2010  dollar  equivalent) 
than  the  previous  reporting  year 
($166,424),  but  represents  only 
2.6  percent  of  the  record  value 
($12,564,118)  of  fur  pelts  report- 
ed purchased  during  the 
1980-1981  fur  harvest  season 
(2010  dollar  equivalent).  Al- 
though the  total  value  of  the  fur 
harvest  nearly  doubled  last  sea- 
son, the  overall  average  pelt 
price  was  very  similar  to  the  pre- 
vious year.  The  average  price 
paid  per  fur  pelt  was  $9.89  dur- 
ing the  2010-2011  season,  a  de- 


crease of  2.8  percent  compared 
to  the  average  price  paid 
($10.17)  during  the  2009-2010 
season  (Table  1).  Average  pelt 
prices  increased  for  bobcat 
(+23.4%),  gray  fox  (+22.1%),  red 
fox  (+12.0%),  mink  (+21.4%), 
opossum  (  +  11.5%),  otter 
(+30.5%),  and  skunk  (+21.9%). 
Average  pelt  prices  decreased  for 
beaver  (-29.3%),  coyote  (-16.6%), 
and  muskrat  (-5.1%).  The  average 
pelt  price  paid  for  raccoon  was 
unchanged  (0.7%). 

Trapping  license  sales  are 
usually  correlated  with  fur  pelt 
prices.  Total  statewide  trapping 
license  sales  increased  14.3  per- 
cent from  1,227  during  the 
2009-2010  trapping  season  to 
1,403  during  the  2010-2011  sea- 
son. Total  trapping  license  sales 
for  the  2010-2011  season  were 
73  percent  less  than  the  record 
high  of  5,293  trapping  licenses 
sold  during  the  1979-1980  trap- 
ping season  and  98  percent 
greater  than  the  record  low  of 
709  licenses  sold  during  the 
1993-1994  trapping  season. 


36        VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    wAww.HuntFishVA.com 


201 0-201 1  Virginia  Fur  Dealer 

Transactions  and  Average 

Pelt  Value 

Spedes 

#  Pelts  Sold 

Average 

or  Brokered 

Pelt  Price 

Beaver 

3,523 

$  11.29 

Bobcat 

631 

42.48 

Coyote 

913 

9.52 

Fox,  Gray 

2,274 

16.92 

Fox,  Red 

2,839 

12.49 

Mink 

473 

11.55 

Muskrat 

8,078 

5.97 

Opossum 

1,284 

1.27 

Otter 

978 

44.93 

Raccoon 

11,698 

6.49 

Skunk 

137 

3.26 

Bobcat  Harvest 

A  total  of  1,669  bobcats  were  har- 
vested during  the  2010-2011  sea- 
son, representing  an  increase  of 
31.4  percent  from  the  previous 
year  Of  this  total,  658  bobcats 
(39.4%)  were  trapped  and  1,011 
(60.6%)  were  killed  by  hunters. 
The  overall  increase  in  bobcat 
harvest  was  most  affected  by  the 
number  of  bobcats  trapped  (up 
103.1  percent  from  the  previous 
season).  Heavy  snows  and  cold 
temperatures  hampered  trapping 
success  in  2009-2010.  Trapping 
conditions  were  much  improved 
in  2010-2011  and  trappers 
caught  more  than  twice  as  many 
bobcats  as  they  did  the  season 
prion 

Hunter  harvest  of  bobcats 
was  up  slightly  from  the  previous 
season  (  +  6.9%).  Since  most 
hunter-killed  bobcats  were  har- 
vested opportunistically  while 
hunting  other  animals,  a  variety 
of  different  weapons  were  used. 
Most  hunter-killed  bobcats  were 
harvested  using  a  rifle  (49.9%), 


followed  by  a  muzzleloader 
(20.4%),  or  shotgun  (18.8%). 
Other  weapons  included  a  bow 
(7.5%),  crossbow  (2.8%),  or  pistol 
(0.6%).  The  overall  sex  ratio  for 
harvested  bobcats  was  1.25  fe- 
males per  male  and  appeared  to 
differ  by  harvest  method.  Hunters 
seemed  to  harvest  a  higher  pro- 
portion of  female  bobcats  than 
did  trappers.  Most  likely,  many 
hunters  misidentified  the  sex  of 
young  male  bobcats  that  lacked 
obvious  male  genitalia  and  re- 
ported them  as  females. 

Regionally,  more  bobcats 
were  taken  from  the  South 
Mountain  (595)  and  South  Pied- 
mont (539)  counties  than  from 
other  portions  of  the  state.  Fewer 
bobcats  were  taken  from  the 
North  Mountain  (211),  North 
Piedmont  (145),  and  Tidewater 
(179)  areas.  Bobcat  harvest  in- 
creased in  all  regions  of  the  state, 
except  for  the  North  Piedmont 
where  harvest  was  stable 
(+1.4%).  Harvest  density  (per  100 
square  miles  of  forested  habitat) 
was  highest  in  the  South  Moun- 


tain, South  Piedmont,  and  North 
Mountain  regions.  It  was  lowest 
in  the  Tidewater  and  North  Pied- 
mont areas. 

River  Otter  Harvest 

Trappers  harvested  826  river  ot- 
ters during  the  2010-2011  trap- 
ping season.  This  total  was  37.9 
percent  higher  than  the  2009- 
2010  harvest  of  599  otters  but 
17.6  percent  lower  than  the  pre- 
vious 10-year  average  harvest  of 
1,003  river  otter  pelts.  Prior  to  the 
2010-2011  season,  otter  harvest 
declined  each  of  the  previous 
four  years,  following  plummeting 
prices  of  $112  in  2004-2005  to 
$36  in  2005-2006.  Average  pelt 
prices  for  otter  increased  in 
2010-2011  and  late  fur  auction 
prices  approached  those  realized 
in  2006.  Higher  pelt  prices  result- 
ed in  renewed  interest  among 
trappers  who  were  not  targeting 
otters  when  fur  prices  were 
down.  Harvest  in  the  Tidewater 
region  increased  by  21.5  percent 
and  accounted  for  395  (47.8%)  of 
the  total  river  otters  trapped.  Har- 


vest increased  in  all  other  regions 
except  the  North  Mountain  coun- 
ties, where  it  remained  stable  (0% 
change).  Otter  harvest  density 
(number  tagged  per  100  miles  of 
river  habitat)  was  highest  in  the 
Tidewater  region  and  lowest  in  the 
North  Mountain  area. 

Coyote  Study 
Underway 

Beginning  in  2011,  a  three-year  re- 
search project  was  initiated  to  ob- 
tain information  on  the  ecology  of 
the  Eastern  coyote  in  Virginia. 
Study  areas  are  focused  on  public 
lands  (national  forest)  in  the  west- 
ern mountains  where  deer  popula- 
tions have  reportedly  declined. 
Specifically,  the  objectives  of  the 
study  are  to: 

♦  Estimate  population  demo- 
graphic parameters  such  as 
abundance,  density,  recruit- 
ment, and  mortality  rates; 

♦  Assess  coyote  diet  over  sea- 
sons and  compare  diets  of  coy- 
ote and  black  bears,  especially 
with  respect  to  prevalence  of 
white-tailed  deer;  and 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      37 


Black  Bear 


♦  Determine  home  range  sizes, 
assess  iiabitat  selection,  and 
examine  movement  behav- 
ior in  relation  to  landscape 
features  and  season. 
This  project  is  being  contract- 
ed with  Virginia  Tech;  two  gradu- 
ate students  are  conducting  the 
field  research.  Cooperators  in- 
clude the  US  Forest  Service,  USDA 
Wildlife  Services,  and  The  Nature 
Conservancy. 

As  of  mid-May  2012,  twelve 
coyotes  (6  males,  6  females)  were 
captured  and  fitted  with  satellite 
radio  collars.  Of  the  6  coyotes  cap- 
tured during  2011,  3  were  shot 
and  2  were  killed  by  trappers 
(caught  in  snares).  Since  the 
spring  of  2011,  hundreds  of  coy- 
ote and  bear  scat  samples  have 
been  collected,  including  collec- 
tions during  the  peak  fawning 
season  in  May  and  June.  Scat  sam- 
ples are  being  collected  monthly 
throughout  the  entire  year 

Preliminary  DNA  results  sug- 
gest that  field  identification  of 


scats  is  problematic  and  misidenti- 
fication  is  common.  Only  scat  con- 
firmed by  DNA  analyses  to  be 
coyote  and  bear  will  be  used  in  the 
study  (possibly  bobcat,  also).  Deer 
density  in  both  study  areas  is  being 
estimated  seasonally  by  conduct- 
ing road  surveys  with  infrared  de- 
tectors and  spotlights.  Trail 
cameras  are  being  used  to  deter- 
mine the  presence  of  mid-sized 
coyote  prey  species  on  the  study 
areas.  Small  mammal  trapping  grid 
locations  have  been  identified  for 
determining  abundance  and  den- 
sity of  small  mammal  prey  species. 
Habitat  measurements  also  will  be 
collected  at  camera  locations  and 
trap  grid  sites.  Field  work  for  the 
study  is  scheduled  for  completion 
in  2013,  with  final  results  available 
in  2014. 

Thisfurbearer  report  was  con- 
tributed by  Furbearer  Project  Leader 
Mike  Fies,  who  is  stationed  in  the 
Verona  regional  office.  You  may 
reach  Mike  at  Mike.Fies@dgif. 
Virginia. gov. 


Black  bears  capture  human 
admiration  and  interest 
like  few  other  wildlife  species.  As 
a  reflection  of  strength,  images  of 
bears  are  often  used  as  icons  for 
countries  and  athletic  teams.  Be- 
cause of  their  intelligence  and  in- 
genuity, bears  are  perceived  to 
have  human-like  emotional  quali- 
ties. Black  bears  are  recognized  as 
indicators  of  ecological  health 
and  symbols  of  the  American 
wilderness.  Many  citizens  simply 
value  bears  because  they  exist  in 
their  native  ecosystem  and  they 
take  pleasure  in  watching,  hunt- 
ing, or  photographing  this  fasci- 
nating mammal. 

The  Hunting 
Tradition 

As  early  as  1910,  regulated  hunt- 
ing and  trapping  have  been  used 
to  manage  wildlife  populations 
and  foster  the  wise  use  of  wildlife 
resources  for  food,  fur,  and  other 
utilitarian  purposes.  Specific  pop- 
S   ulation  levels  can  be  achieved  by 
=   adjusting  the  length  and  timing  of 
©  the  hunting  season,  as  well  as  the 


legal  methods  of  take  to  manipu- 
late the  number  of  animals  and 
sex  and  age  composition  of  the 
harvest.  Specifically,  wildlife  man- 
agers collect  information  from 
hunting  harvest  (hunting  effort, 
success  rates,  age/sex  structure, 
for  example)  to  determine  if  they 
are  meeting  black  bear  popula- 
tion objectives  (such  as  stabilizing 
growth)  and  in  turn  modify  hunt- 
ing regulations  to  meet  manage- 
ment goals. 

Hunting  is  the  major  factor 
controlling  most  bear  popula- 
tions. Depending  on  harvest  lev- 
els, black  bear  populations  can 
increase,  decrease,  or  remain  the 
same  in  the  presence  of  hunting. 
A  recent  survey  of  23  states  with 
black  bear  hunting  indicated  that 
57  percent  were  experiencing  in- 
creasing populations  and  the  re- 
maining states  had  stable 
populations. 

Black  bear  populations  may 
decrease  with  heavy  hunting 
pressure.  Because  female  bears 
produce  only  a  few  cubs  every 
other  year,  depleted  populations 
are  slow  to  recover  Thus,  black 
bear  hunting  seasons  should  be 
conservative  unless  population 
reduction  is  the  objective.  Bear 
populations  will  grow  when  the 
number  of  juvenile  bears  that 
reach  adulthood  (called  recruit- 
ment) exceeds  the  number  of 
bears  that  die  (hunting  and  non- 
hunting  mortality)  that  year  Pop- 
ulations  are  stabilized  when 
annual  deaths  equal  annual  re- 
cruitment. 

Black  bear  populations  can 
withstand  regulated  hunting  on 
an  annual  basis,  and  historically, 
managed  hunting  has  been  an  ef- 
fective system  for  protecting  bear 
numbers  because  it  has  enlisted 
those  interested  in  the  continued 
abundance  of  the  resource. 

Adjusting  the  hunting  sea- 
son structure  to  coincide  with 
bear  damage  periods  or  to  en- 
hance hunter  effort  may  provide 
greater  opportunities  to  remove 
animals  involved  in  human-bear 


38 


VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


conflict  from  the  population.  The 
establishnnent  of  a  September 
black  bear  hunting  season  in  Wis- 
consin, for  example,  increased 
the  harvest  of  black  bears  that 
were  causing  damage  and  de- 
creased the  average  number  of 
nuisance  black  bears  destroyed 
per  year  using  kill  permits  from 
110  to  19.  Similarly,  a  season  ex- 
tension in  Pennsylvania  to  allow 
concurrent  bear  and  deer  hunting 
seasons  resulted  in  increased  har- 
vest rates  of  bears  involved  in 
human-bear  conflicts. 

The  regulated  harvest  of 
black  bear  populations  is  occa- 
sionally a  controversial  social 
issue.  Perhaps  the  most  con- 
tentious issues  involve  fair  chase 
and  the  ethics  of  certain  methods 
of  harvest,  especially  trapping  of 
bears,  hunting  bears  over  bait, 
hunting  with  dogs,  or  hunting  in 
the  spring.  The  potential  physical 
effects  on  black  bears  from  hunt- 
ing and  the  expense  of  regulating 
various  hunting  methods  also 
have  been  questioned  by  critics. 
Of  additional  concern,  regulated 
hunting  by  certain  methods  may 
not  be  socially  acceptable  or  fea- 
sible near  urban  areas. 

Regulated  hunting  provides 
economic  benefits  in  the  form  of 
hunting-related  expenditures 
(food,  lodging,  equipment,  and 
transportation)  and  may  have  a 
significant  economic  impact  upon 
rural  communities.  However,  the 
economic  benefits  of  regulated 
black  bear  hunting  are  not  limited 
to  hunting  expenditures.  A  com- 
plete economic  evaluation  of 
bear  hunting  should  also  include 
added  damage  costs  (agricultural 
losses  and  more  vehicle  colli- 
sions) that  would  be  incurred 
with  a  growing  bear  population  in 
the  absence  of  hunting.  Addition- 
ally, by  purchasing  licenses  to 
hunt  bears,  hunters  pay  to  pro- 
vide a  public  service  (population 
control)  and  generate  revenue 
that  supports  wildlife  conserva- 
tion and  management. 


Black  Bear 
Management  in 
Virginia 

Bears  were  plentiful  and  wide- 
spread when  Jamestown  was  set- 
tled in  1607.  By  1900,  habitat 
changes  and  the  over-harvest  of 
bears  for  food  and  hides  had  near- 
ly extirpated  the  species  but  for 
small,  isolated  populations  in  re- 
mote areas.  Bear  populations  have 
risen  in  Virginia  and  throughout 
the  eastern  United  States  during 
the  past  century.  Harvest  manage- 
ment, reforestation,  public  land 
purchases,  oak  forest  maturation, 
bear  restoration  efforts,  and  natu- 
ral range  expansions  have  all  con- 
tributed to  this  trend.  Although  a 
growing  population  has  been  wel- 
comed by  many  people,  the  abun- 
dance of  bears  can  also  create 
concerns  for  others.  With  the  re- 
sulting increase  in  populations, 
bear  management  objectives  have 
shifted  from  restoring  to  stabilizing 
populations  over  much  of  the 
commonwealth.  Active  manage- 
ment is  necessary  to  maintain  bear 
populations  at  optimum  levels. 


Since  2001,  Virginia's  Black 
Bear  Management  Plan  (BBMP) 
has  provided  the  blueprint  for 
black  bear  management  to 
meet  the  Department's  mission 
of  managing  "wildlife.. .to  main- 
tain optimum  populations. ..to 
serve  the  needs  of  the  Com- 
monwealth." The  BBMP  reflects 
the  values  of  a  diverse  public 
about  what  should  be  accom- 
plished with  bear  management 
here.  The  goals  of  the  BBMP 
were  drafted  by  Virginia  citizens 
to  meet  their  needs  and  repre- 
sent the  interests  of  diverse 
groups,  including  landowners, 
homeowners,  hunters  (bear  and 
non-bear),  wildlife  watchers, 
farmers,  environmental  organi- 
zations, resource  management 
agencies,  and  animal  welfare  in- 
terests. 

Especially  for  population, 
recreation,  and  human-bear 
conflict  management,  Virginia's 
bear  hunting  seasons  specifical- 
ly address  the  public  values  re- 
flected by  the  BBMP  goal 
directions.  A  key  population  di- 
rection is  to  meet  the  cultural 


carrying  capacity  (CCC)  for 
bears— which  translates  to  the 
maximum  number  of  bears  in  an 
area  that  is  acceptable  to  the 
human  population.  The  CCC  is  a 
function  of  the  human  tolerance 
to  bears  and  the  benefits  that 
people  derive  from  bears.  Ulti- 
mately, CCC  involves  a  combina- 
tion of  social,  economic,  political, 
and  biological  perspectives.  Bear 
hunting  seasons  are  designed  to 
meet  specific  population  objec- 
tives to  achieve  CCC  and  balance 
the  positive  demands  of  recre- 
ation with  the  negative  concerns 
over  bear  damage. 

Due  to  its  efficacy,  cost-ef- 
fectiveness, tradition,  and  recre- 
ational value,  regulated  hunting 
has  been  and  will  be  the  pre- 
ferred bear  population  manage- 
ment option.  Regulated  hunting 
is  highly  effective  for  controlling 
and  managing  bear  populations 
(stabilizing  or  decreasing).  While 
providing  recreational  and  nui- 
sance management  benefits, 
conservative  hunting  seasons  are 
also  compatible  with  objectives 
to  increase  bear  populations. 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      39 


Ruffed  Grouse 


Bear  Hunting 
Trends  and  Hunter 
Satisfaction 

Mirroring  the  downward  trend  of 
all  hunting  participation  in  Vir- 
ginia, the  number  of  bear  hunters 
and  hunting  effort  have  declined 
since  the  1970s,  although  both 
the  number  of  bear  hunters  and 
bear  hunter  effort  have  remained 
relatively  stable  since  the  1990s. 
The  dynamics  affecting  hunter 
participation  are  the  result  of  a 
complex  array  of  factors  involving 
changes  in  social  values,  demo- 
graphics, economics,  leisure  time, 
and  other  recreational  opportuni- 
ties. The  effect  that  recreational 
hunting  and  bear  management 
programs  can  have  on  hunter  par- 
ticipation is  unknown  (for  exam- 
ple, sociological  conditions  may 
have  the  greatest  influence  on 
hunting  trends). 

Black  bears  in  Virginia  have 
expanded  their  range  well  be- 


yond the  areas  that  have  been 
traditionally  hunted.  This  growing 
bear  population  provides  new  op- 
portunities for  hunting  recreation 
that  are  consistent  with  all  popu- 
lation objectives,  and  bear  popu- 
lations may  continue  to  increase 
as  recreational  hunting  is  careful- 
ly implemented.  Additional  recre- 
ational hunting  programs  in  parts 
of  the  state  with  expanding  popu- 
lations will  generate  more  infor- 
mation on  population  status  and 
may  provide  some  necessary  re- 
lief to  growing  nuisance  concerns. 
When  population  control  eventu- 
ally becomes  necessary,  estab- 
lished hunting  programs  will 
already  be  in  place  as  a  popula- 
tion management  option. 

Individuals  hunt  for  many 
reasons  which  make  up  a  set  of 
distinct  pleasures,  such  as:  com- 
panionship, seeing  bears,  being 
close  to  nature,  testing  their  skills, 
the  challenge  of  pursuit,  obtain- 
ing meat,  and  working  with  dogs. 
Yet,  specific  information  on  bear 


hunter  satisfaction  is  limited,  es- 
pecially in  Virginia.  Recreational 
benefits  would  be  enhanced  by  a 
better  understanding  of  hunter 
satisfaction  and  by  tailoring  hunt- 
ing opportunities  accordingly.  Ad- 
ditionally, a  better  understanding 
of  constraints  (such  as  access, 
free  time,  cost)  could  help  explain 
changes  in  hunter  effort  and 
would  benefit  the  design  of  hunt- 
ing  programs  that  maximize 
recreational  satisfaction,  mini- 
mize constraints  to  hunting  par- 
ticipation, and  achieve  partici- 
pation objectives. 

To  view  the  Black  Bear  Man- 
agement Plan,  go  to:  www.dgif 
virginia.gov/wildiife/bear. 


This  black  bear  report  was 
contributed  by  Bear  Project 
Leader  Jaime  Sajecki,  wlio  is 
stationed  in  tiie  Forest  regional 
office.  You  may  reach  Jaime  at 
Jaime.Sajecki@dgif.virginia.gov. 


Ecology  and 
Management 


66\A/  here  Have  All  the 
w  W  Flowers  Gone?"— 
the  title  of  a  folk  song  penned  by 
Pete  Seeger  and  Joe  Hickerson  in 
1960— could  easily  be  modified 
by  today's  hunter  to  ask,  "Where 
Have  All  the  Ruffed  Grouse 
Gone?"  Many  of  us  old-timers 
can  remember  the  good  old  days 
when  a  bad  day  was  about  20 
flushes  and  on  good  days  you 
moved  30  birds.  My  best  day  was 
near  40.  Many  hunters  today  re- 
port flushing  only  a  few  birds  per 
hunt. 

As  coordinator  for  the  De- 
partment's ruffed  grouse  hunter 
survey,  I  oftentimes  get  asked  the 
question,  "Where  have  all  the 
ruffed  grouse  gone?"  The  Depart- 
ment annually  monitors  flushing 
rates  from  a  select  group  of  avid 
grouse  hunters.  Currently,  hunter 
satisfaction  is  low  and  flushing 
rates  and  recent  flushing  are 
among  the  lowest  of  the  survey's 
history.  It's  therefore  no  mystery 
we're  losing  grouse  hunters. 
While  I  still  grouse  hunt  with  my 
older  setter,  I  have  come  to  real- 
ize that  my  satisfaction  these 
days  is  working  with  my  dog 
rather  than  recounting  the  good 
times  of  the  past. 


40        VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.conn 


Many  theories  about  the 
grouse  decline  have  been  offered 
by  hunters,  outdoor  writers,  and 
biologists.  Popular  and  prominent 
outdoor  writer  and  author  George 
Bird  Evans  was  a  tireless  advocate 
of  shorter  grouse  seasons.  Hefirm- 
ly  believed  late  season  hunting 
was  the  root  cause  of  the  decline. 

The  grouse  decline  has  chal- 
lenged the  very  core  of  wildlife 
management,  the  principle  that 
hunters  only  harvest  the  "doomed 
surplus"  of  hunted  populations. 
This  characterization  from  Dr  Paul 
Errington,  a  prominent  ecologist 
from  Iowa,  has  been  easy  for  me  to 
remember  and  understand. 

So  are  we  being  good  stew- 
ards of  ruffed  grouse  and  other 
species  needing  young  forests? 
Many  researchers  and  managers 
have  addressed  this  question  for 
grouse  inhabiting  the  core  of 
grouse  range,  but  little  is  known 
about  the  ecology  of  ruffed  grouse 
populations  in  the  Appalachians. 
Dn  Roy  Kirkpatrick  of  Virginia  Tech 
has  summed  it  up,  "There  is  no  an- 
imal studied  more,  yet  still  known 
very  little  about." 

Northern  vs. 
Appalachian 
Grouse  Populations 

Unlike  their  northern  counter- 
parts, Appalachian  grouse  do  not 
follow  a  predictable  10-year  popu- 
lation cycle.  The  northern  cycle  is 
somewhat  complex,  but  Dr.  Lloyd 
Keith  of  the  University  of  Minneso- 
ta believed  it  involved  the  popula- 
tion dynamics  of  ruffed  grouse, 
snowshoe  hares,  and  goshawks. 
Briefly,  snowshoe  hare  popula- 
tions can  grow  rapidly;  they  can 
produce  as  many  as  4  litters  with  3 
to  8  young  per  year  However,  with 
such  potential  growth  rates,  hare 
populations  can  grow  so  quickly 
they  outpace  the  growth  of  their 
food  supply  and  their  numbers 
crash.  Goshawks  enjoy  the  over- 
abundance of  snowshoes.  But 
snowshoe  hares  eventually  dip 
and  goshawks  shift  their  diets  to 


grouse.  With  high  predation  from 
the  abundant  goshawk  popula- 
tion, grouse  populations  decline. 
By  then,  snowshoe  habitat  has  re- 
covered and  the  cycle  is  repeated. 

Southern  grouse  popula- 
tions have  unpredictable  good 
and  bad  years  but  do  not  experi- 
ence this  10-year  cycle.  Annual 
fluctuations  may  be  the  result  of 
environmental  conditions.  Young 
birds  are  vulnerable  to  extended 
cold  and  wet  weather.  The  De- 
partment conducts  annual  sur- 
veys of  drumming  males.  The  bad 
news  is  that  our  drumming  rates 
are  very  low.  On  the  positive  side, 
the  rate  we  hear  grouse  drum- 
ming has  been  stable  over  the 
past  several  years. 

Concern  for  the  status  of 
ruffed  grouse  led  our  Department 
to  sponsor  research  on  factors 
contributing  to  regional  declines 
in  numbers.  I  believe  many  avid 
grouse  hunters  and  some  biolo- 
gists were  second-guessing  the 
concern  Mr.  Evans  raised  about 
late  season  hunting.  Because  of 


the  regional  concern  for  grouse 
and  broad  implications  for  grouse 
season  lengths,  eight  states  decid- 
ed to  work  together  to  answer  the 
questions  and  address  our  con- 
cerns about  grouse  populations.  A 
cooperative  project  entitled  the 
"Appalachian  Cooperative  Grouse 
Research  Project"  (ACGRP)  was 
begun  in  1996  with  the  goal  of 
identifying  the  cause  of  the  de- 
cline. The  6-year  project  resulted 
in  one  of  the  largest  wildlife  stud- 
ies ever  conducted  on  ruffed 
grouse.  The  collaborative  effort  in- 
volved coordination  of  17  gradu- 
ate students  at  8  universities.  We 
captured  and  radio-collared  3,118 
grouse.  We  tracked  these  birds  to 
determine  the  cause  of  death, 
home  range,  reproduction,  and  a 
host  of  other  variables.  Finally, 
and  perhaps  most  importantly,  we 
closed  hunting  on  3  areas  during 
the  last  3  years  of  the  study  to 
evaluate  the  impacts  of  hunting 
on  survival.  If  hunting  was  affect- 
ing populations,  the  closure  ought 
to  result  in  a  significant  improve- 


ment in  survival  and  subsequent 
population  densities. 

Surprisingly,  survival  rates  of 
Appalachian  grouse  (42%)  were 
higher  than  northern  populations 
(25-30%).  Avian  predation  was 
the  leading  cause  of  grouse  mor- 
tality of  Appalachian  birds.  The 
timing  of  grouse  mortalities  was 
correlated  with  the  migration  of 
Cooper's  and  other  woodland 
hawks.  Hunters  only  accounted 
for  12  percent  of  the  mortalities 
observed.  During  our  test  of  hunt- 
ing effects,  we  found  grouse  pop- 
ulations increased  in  both  control 
and  experimental  areas  in  the  3 
years  where  hunting  was  closed. 
Because  the  closed  area  did  not 
increase  more  than  the  control 
area,  we  concluded  that  current 
hunting  levels  are  not  having  an 
effect  on  populations. 

So  if  Appalachian  grouse  sur- 
vival rates  are  better  than  the 
northern  populations,  why  aren't 
our  populations  doing  better? 
The  answer  is  more  chicks  survive 
in  northern  populations.  Only  22 
percent  of  Appalachian  chicks 
survive  to  35  days,  compared  to 
50  percent  in  northern  popula- 
tions. Weather,  predation,  and 
hen  condition  take  their  toll  on 
Appalachian  grouse  chicks. 

Wildlife  managers  can  help 
grouse  populations  by  providing 
cover  and  food  for  grouse  chicks. 
After  hatching,  grouse  chicks  feed 
almost  exclusively  on  insects; 
later,  they  shift  to  fruits  and  plant 
material.  Grouse  populations 
need  good  brood  habitat  that 
provides  both  cover  and  insects. 
In  most  woodland  situations, 
grouse  habitat  can  be  improved 
by  thinning  or  shelterwood  cuts 
that  allow  more  light  on  the  forest 
floor.  That  light  encourages 
herbaceous  plant  growth. 

The  job  of  helping  restore 
grouse  populations  is  being  en- 
hanced in  Virginia  by  the  Ruffed 
Grouse  Society  (RGS).  The  socie- 
ty's role  in  conservation  of  wildlife 
habitat  is  to  enhance  the  environ- 
ment for  the  ruffed  grouse,  Amer- 
ican woodcock,  and  other  forest 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      41 


m-^'UPOgt 


Wild  Turkeys 


wildlife  that  require  or  utilize  thick, 
young  forests.  Virginia  has  three 
active  RGS  chapters.  RGS  chapters 
have  been  working  to  create  new 
and  maintain  existing  grouse  habi- 
tats on  public  lands.  Most  impor- 
tantly, they  have  been  active  in 
planning  efforts  on  the  George 
Washington  National  Forest.  Every 
10  years  the  Forest  Service  creates 
a  guide  (Plan)  to  manage  1.2  mil- 
lion acres  of  public  lands.  RGS  has 
been  actively  representing  grouse, 
woodcock,  and  other  wildlife  that 
need  young  forests. 

♦  ♦  ♦ 

Pete  Seeger's  lyrics  continue  with 
the  question,  "When  will  they  ever 
learn?"  That  question  is  appropri- 
ate, as  our  conservation  efforts  for 
grouse  and  other  threatened 
species  have  failed  and  stand  to 
worsen  until  we  shift  gears  and  be- 
come seriously  interested  in  ap- 
plying sound  wildlife  research  and 
management  to  the  problem. 


This  grouse  report  was  contributed 
by  Turl<ey/G rouse  Project  Leader 
Gary  W.  Norman,  who  is  stationed  in 
the  Verona  regional  office.  You  may 
reach  Gary  at  Gary.Norman@dgif 
Virginia. gov. 


Development  of 
Management  Plan 
Underway 

Now  that  turkeys  have  been 
restored  and  are  thriving 
throughout  the  state,  the  Depart- 
ment has  begun  work  to  develop 
a  formal  Wild  Turkey  Manage- 
ment Plan.  The  plan  will  provide 
guidance  on  how  to  address  the 
complex  management  challenges 
and  issues  related  to  desirable 
population  levels,  recreation  (in- 


cluding hunting),  human-turkey 
conflicts,  and  habitat  conserva- 
tion. 

To  effectively  manage  wild 
turkeys  over  the  next  decade,  we 
are  using  a  process  that  affords 
multiple  opportunities  for  public 
input  as  a  means  to  incorporate 
the  diverse  values  of  different 
stakeholders.  Technical  guidance 
from  wildlife  professionals  also 
will  be  incorporated  to  develop 
planning  goals,  objectives,  and 
strategies.  Toward  that  end,  DGIF 
has  partnered  with  the  Depart- 
ment of  Fish  and  Wildlife  Conser- 
vation at  Virginia  Tech,  which  has 
a  long  history  of  providing  ex- 
pertise in  conservation  planning 
and  public  involvement. 

Focus  group  meetings  were 
held  across  Virginia  this  past  April 
and  May  with  representatives  of 
specific  interest  groups  (fall 
turkey  hunters,  spring  turkey 
hunters,  agricultural  producers). 
Participants  responded  to  ques- 
tions designed  to  identify  impor- 
tant issues  and  their  current 
satisfaction  with  wild  turkey 
management.  Similar  questions 
in  a  questionnaire  were  sent  to 
non-consumptive  users  and  agri- 
cultural producers  who  were  un- 
able to  attend  these  meetings. 


Youth  Fair 
Turkey  Hunt  Day 
October  20, 20t 

\  Youth  Spring 
TMrkey  Hii|it  Day 
/^ril  1^,2013 


A  stakeholder  advisory  com- 
mittee (SAC)  composed  of  10-12 
representatives  from  key  stake- 
holder groups  (including  public 
landowners,  sporting  interests, 
non-consumptive  interests,  and 
agricultural  producers)  will  now 
develop  draft  goals  that  reflect 
those  public  values  to  guide  wild 
turkey  management. 

A  technical  committee  com- 
posed of  wildlife  biologists  with 
expertise  in  wild  turkey  manage- 
ment will  provide  scientific  infor- 
mation and  technical  feedback  to 
the  SAC.  General  steps  in  the 
planning  process  will  include: 

♦  Stakeholder  Advisory  Com- 
mittee Meetings.  Represent- 
ing  a  cross-section  of  all 
Virginians,  the  10-  to  12- 
member  SAC  will  meet  in  a 
series  of  facilitated  meetings 
to  draft  a  plan  that  includes 
proposed  goals,  objectives, 
and  strategy  options  for  wild 
turkey  management  over 
the  next  10  years. 

♦  Build  a  Sound  Biological 
Base.  Relying  upon  the  latest 
available  research  and  man- 
agement information,  the 
Technical  Committee  will 
provide  the  scientific  foun- 
dation for  SAC  discussions, 
goal  development,  and  man- 
agement approaches. 

♦  Public  Review  &  DGIF  Board 
Endorsement.  All  citizens 
will  have  the  opportunity  to 
review  the  draft  plan  (ex- 
pected to  be  posted  during 
spring  or  summer  of  2013  on 
the  DGIF  website)  and  pro- 
vide comments  for  consider- 
ation by  the  SAC.  A  final  plan 
will  be  drafted  and  present- 
ed to  the  DGIF  Board  of  Di- 
rectors in  the  fall  of  2013  for 
consideration  and  ultimate 
implementation. 

This  turl(ey  report  was  contributed 
by  Turl<ey/Grouse  Project  Leader 
Gary  W.  Norman,  of  the  Verona 
regional  office,  and  by  Holly  Morris, 
graduate  research  assistant  at 
Virginia  Tech. 


42        VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    vmw.HuntFishVA.com 


AFIELD  AND  AFLOAT 


.-  -    •Nil 

^  Field  Guide 

-^-^F    Outdoor 


Classics 


A  Field  Guide  to  Coastal  Fishes  From 
Maine  to  Texas 

by  Val  Kells  and  Kent  Carpenter 

201 1 ,  The  Johns  Hopkins  University  Press 

448  pages 

1 ,006  species  descriptions 

1 ,079  full  color  illustrations 

www.press.jhu.edu 

www.fieldguidetofishes.com 

"If you  are  a  fisherman,  diver,  student,  scientist, 
naturalist,  or  fish  enthusiast,  then  this  book  is  for 
you.  If  you've  ever  seen  or  caught  a  fish  anywhere 
along  the  coast  from  Maine  to  Texas,  from  shal- 
low inshore  bays  to  offshore  depths  of  about  660 
feet,  it  is  most  likely  identified  here.  " 

-The  authors 

In  the  calm  that  followed  a  particularly  ener- 
getic hurricane,  I  dropped  a  bottom  rig 
tipped  with  small  bits  of  shrimp-impregnated 
bait  into  a  canal  situated  between  the  Adantic 
Ocean  and  the  Pamlico  Sound.  After  a  sharp 
tug  on  my  line,  I  pulled  up  a  tropically  tinted 
specimen  with  unusual  vermiculations  and 
an  unfamiliar  fin  configuration.  Returning 
the  fish  to  the  water,  I  headed  to  my  'EZ'  lam- 
inated coastal  fish  identifier  to  see  if  I  could 
put  a  name  to  the  lovely  little  creature.  No 
deal.  I  then  searched  through  one  of  the  bet- 
ter mid-Atlantic  guides,  to  no  avail.  I  figured 
the  fish  was  a  stray,  arriving  at  my  dock  in  the 
post-storm  disorder.  Later  research  uncov- 
ered that  the  fish  was  a  member  of  the  Wrasse 
species.  Where,  I  asked  myself,  could  I  obtain 
a  truly  comprehensive,  yet  portable  guide  to 
coastal  fishes,  not  one  that  just  highlighted 
the  usual  suspects.  There  seemed  to  be  a  void. 
Little  did  I  know  that  two  widely  recog- 
nized Virginians — Marine  Science  Illustrator 


Val  Kells,  and  Ichthyologist  and  Professor  in 
Biological  Science  at  Old  Dominion  Univer- 
sity, Kent  Carpenter — were  already  hard  at 
work  filling  that  void.  Their  new  book,  A 
Field  Guide  to  Coastal  Fishes  From  Maine  to 
Texas,  is  a  compact  and  wide-ranging  re- 
source; tridy,  a  labor  of  love.  The  product  of 
over  15  years  of  research  from  conception  to 
publication,  it  is  the  first  comprehensive  field 
guide  to  the  fish  of  the  marine  and  brackish 
waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts  to  be 
published  in  more  than  25  years.  The  book  is 
lavishly  illustrated  with  Kells's  painstakingly 
detailed  watercolor  and  gouache  illustrations, 
and  great  care  was  taken  to  'accurately  portray 
the  correct  placement  and  proportion  of 
anatomical  features.'  An  engaging  introduc- 
tion gives  a  brief  overview  of  the  evolution, 
diversity,  and  features  of  fish,  as  well  as  fish 
conservation.  Subsequent  sections  are  organ- 
ized by  family  and  species.  Each  profile  con- 
tains a  helpful,  condensed  summary  of  range 
and  habitat,  a  short  biological  rundown,  and 
approximate  maximum  recorded  depth.  The 
book  also  contains  a  short  but  solid  glossary 
and  a  list  of  additional  educational  resources. 
Priced  from  $16.95  to  $25.00,  depend- 
ing on  available  discount,  this  easy-to-use 
volume  is  a  steal.  It  is  also  ideally  sized  to  fit 
into  a  rucksack,  tote  bag,  or  tackle  box.  I 
highly  recommend  this  book. 


:«*^.:j:f^ 


-1?.^Tyfli);^- 


"Ever  since  Hank  taught  his  dog  to 
speak  ail  they  do  is  argue." 


ATipO'theHat 

To  retired  game  warden  Willard  W  "George" 
Conley,  who  implemented  a  canine  program 
with  Augusta  K-9  Services  back  in  1 997. 

You  may  recall  the  feature  in  the  Jime 
2012  issue  about  the  Department's  new, 
statewide  K-9  program.  Please  add  this  foot- 
note to  the  historical  record: 

In  April  1 997,  Mr.  Conley  was  certified 
as  a  Master  Instructor  and  Trainer  by  the 
West  Virginia  Police  K-9  Association.  His 
dog,  Alpha,  completed  academy  training  and 
became  certified  as  well,  and  helped  train  two 
other  dogs  for  wildlife  detection  and  track- 
ing. The  Department  supported  this  initia- 
tive, even  issuing  a  K-9  unit  Ford  Expedition 
and  special  uniforms. 

Although  Mr.  Conley's  territory  covered 
primarily  Tazewell  County,  he  worked  the  far 
reaches  of  southwest  Virginia  to  assist  officers 
in  the  field.  Mr.  Conley  was  very  instrumen- 
tal in  demonstrating  the  value  of  such  dogs  in 
wildlife  work  to  other  officers,  to  upper  man- 
agement, and  to  state  leaders — including  the 
governor — and  gave  seminars  about  the  pro- 
gram to  other  state  wildlife  agencies  in  West 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Ohio. 

Thanks  to  Mr.  Conley  for  bringing  this 
important  slice  of  history  to  the  attention  of 
magazine  staff. 

-SHM 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      43 


VnoiniA  Wildlife  Nagazii!E 


A  dog-gone  good  deal! 

Oa\cY  Online  www.HuntFishVA.com 

With  just  the  click  of  a  mouse  you  can  order  Virginia  Wildlife  magazine  online 
using  your  VISA  or  MasterCard,  and  have  it  delivered  to  your  home  for  just  $12.95 
a  year— an  incredible  savings  off  the  cover  price!  While  you're  there,  don't  forget 
to  check  out  the  Virginia  Wildlife  Outdoor  Catalog  for  a  unique  and  special  gift. 


You  Can  Make  a  Difference 
HUNTERS  FOR  THE  HUNGRY 


z 


o 


Hunters  for  the  Hungry  receives  donated  deer  from  successful  hunters  and  funds  to  cover 
the  costs  of  processing,  so  that  venison  may  be  distributed  to  those  in  need  across  the 
state.  Each  $40  tax-deductible  contribution  allows  another  deer  to  be  accepted.  Hunters  do- 
nating an  entire  deer  are  not  required  to  pay  any  part  of  the  processing  fee. 

The  David  Home  Hunger  Relief  Bill  gives  hunters  the  opportunity  to  donate  $2  or  more 
to  the  program  when  purchasing  a  hunting  license.  One  hundred  percent  of  each  donation 
goes  to  providing  venison  to  the  hungry.  For  additional  information  or  to  make  a  donation, 
visit  www.h4hungry.org  or  call  1-800-352-HUNT  (4868).  Each  of  us  can  make  a  difference. 


Doni  Forget! 


Mandatory  Duck 
Stamps  &  HIP 


2012  Virginia  Migratory  Waterfowl  Conserva- 
tion Stamp.  Artwork  by  John  Obolewicz. 


'4  ^1  hunters  who  plan  to  hunt  doves, 
waterfowl,  rails,  woodcock,  snipe, 
coots,  gallinules,  or  moorhens  in  Virginia 
must  be  registered  with  the  Virginia  Har- 
vest Information  Program  (HIP).  HIP  is 
required  each  year  and  a  new  registra- 
tion number  is  needed  for  the 
2012-2013  hunting  season.  To  obtain  a 
new  HIP  number,  register  online  at 
wTi'\*.V:\HII».c()ni  or  call  1-888-788-9772. 
In  addition,  to  hunt  waterfowl  in 
Virginia  hunters  must  obtain  a  Federal 
Duck  Stamp  and  the  Virginia  Migratory 
Waterfowl  Conservation  Stamp.  The  an- 
nual Migratory  Waterfowl  Conservation 
Stamp  can  be  purchased  for  $10.00  (res- 
ident or  nonresident)  from  DGIF  license 
agents  or  from  the  Department's  web- 
site. To  request  collector  stamps  and 
prints,  contact  Mike  Hinton  by  email  at 
ducks@hintons.org. 


IMAGE  OF  THE  N40NTH 


Congratulations  go  to  Erin  Haynes  of  Pennington  Gap  for 
this  gorgeous  photograph  of  a  snowberry  clearwing  hum- 
mingbird moth  feeding  on  bee  balm.  Erin  captured  this 
image  using  a  Canon  EOS  60D  digital  SLR  camera  at  ISO 
1600,  1/lOOOth,  f/4.0.  Beautiful  image,  Erin! 

You  are  invited  to  submit  one  to  five  of  your  best  photographs 
to  "Image  of  the  Month,"  Virginia  Wildlife  Magazine,  P.O.  Box 
11104,  4010  West  Broad  Street,  Richmond,  VA  23230-1104. 
Send  original  slides,  super  high-quality  prints,  or  high-res  jpeg, 
tiff,  or  raw  hies  on  a  disk  and  include  a  self-addressed,  stamped 
envelope  or  other  shipping  method  for  return.  Also,  please  in- 
clude any  pertinent  information  regarding  how  and  where  you 
captured  the  image  and  what  camera  and  settings  you  used, 
along  with  your  phone  number.  We  look  forward  to  seeing  and 
sharing  your  work  with  our  readers. 


44 


VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


Dear  Luke, 

I  live  on  a  farm  that  has  three  quail  coveys 

that  I  protect  in  earnest.  My  Lab  does  not 

point  quail  as  I  have  heard  some  Labs  do. 

He  will,  however,  point  a  snake  when  we 

are  walking  around  the  farm.  Do  you 

point? 

Wallace  M.,  St.  Stephens  Church 

Dear  Wallace, 

I  realize  you  may  think  a  dog  that  will  let  you 
know  there  is  a  snake  nearby  is  far  more  valu- 
able than  one  that  points  only  at  birds.  How- 
ever, for  me,  the  key  is  to  get  the  bird  you  shot 
back  to  you  quickly,  not  just  waste  time 
pointing  at  something,  which  is  basically  say- 
ing, in  effect,  "Hey  boss,  birds  are  in  here 
somewhere. .  .or  they  used  to  be. .  .or  I  think 
they  were."  That  is  why  a  dog  that  retrieves  is 
much  better  than  one  that  is  just  pointing. 
Besides,  it  is  impolite  to  point. 

Dear  Luke, 

We  just  moved  to  the  coimtry  and  yester- 
day I  saw  a  snake  on  our  back  terrace.  Do 
you  think  it  might  be  poisonous? 

Debbie  C,  Dinwiddie 

Dear  Debbie, 

According  to  "A  Guide  to  the  Snakes  in  Vir- 
ginia, "  which  you  can  obtain  from  the  Vir- 
ginia Department  of  Game  and  Inland 
Fisheries,  there  are  30  species  of  snakes  native 
to  Virginia.  Out  of  those  30,  only  three  are 
poisonous.  Some  non-poisonous  snakes  are 
docile  and  may  not  bite,  but  Of  Jones's  theo- 
ry regarding  snakes  is  the  same  as  doing  elec- 
trical work  or  handling  high  explosives:  If  you 
know  only  a  little  bit  about  it,  leave  it  alone! 

Dear  Luke, 

You  always  talk  about  hunting.  Do  you 

and  or  Jones  ever  do  any  fly  fishing? 

Clayton  P.,  Ennis,  Montana 


Dear  Clayton, 

I  retrieved  a  fish  once — and  I  can  tell  you — I 
won't  pull  that  stunt  again.  Of  Jones,  on  the 
other  hand,  will  try  it  every  now  and  then, 
when  his  memory  and  ego  have  faded  from 
his  last  fly-fishing  experience. 

Most  people  who  have  fished  with  Of 
Jones  call  his  technique  "River  Slapping," 
"Fly  Whipping,"  or  "Leaf  Lassoing."  I  call  it, 
"How  quickly  can  a  man  fall  in  a  cold  moun- 
tain stream  in  early  spring  and  fill  his  waders 
afi:er  getting  up  at  4  A.M.  and  driving  3  hours 
to  be  the  first  one  on  the  river? " 

It  is  a  long  name  for  fly  fishing,  but  Of 
Jones  probably  holds  the  record.  I  think 
Jones's  time  of  2  Vi  minutes  from  stepping 
into  a  stream  and  falling  into  said  stream,  to 
stepping  out  of  said  stream  (with  most  of  it 
still  in  his  waders)  and  starting  the  car  for  an 
uncomfortable  trip  back  to  Midlothian  is  a 
national  record. 

Dear  Luke, 

I  am  contemplating  getting  married  and  I 
must  admit  that  having  a  woman  like  your 
Mrs.  Lucky  would  be  ideal.  How  do  you 
find  a  woman  like  that? 

Ed  C,  Warsaw 

Dear  Ed, 

It's  a  lot  like  finding  a  good  bird  dog  or  re- 
triever. 

First,  you  have  to  decide,  "Do  you  want 
one  that  is  already  trained,  or  do  you  want  to 
train  it  yourself?"  Although  puppies  are  really 
cute  and  cuddly,  over  time  they  grow  out  of 
that  stage  and  you  are  left:  with  the  results  of 
how  much  training  you  put  into  their  early 
lives.  You  also  need  to  examine  what  traits  in 
their  pedigree  you  find  attractive  and  search 
for  one  that  has  the  qualifications  you  think 
work  best  with  your  desires  or  goals.  Of  Jones 
spent  a  lot  of  time  around  cooking  and  me- 
chanical engineering  schools  and  found  one 


that  was  strong  in  both  areas.  Knowing  your 
mate's  educational  proclivities  helps  when  it 
is  time  to  reward  your  mate  with  a  treat  for  a 
job  well  done.  For  instance,  just  the  other  day, 
Of  Jones  noticed  the  fence  needed  painting 
and  instead  of  handing  Mrs.  Lucky  a  brush 
and  a  bucket  of  paint,  he  went  out  and  pur- 
chased a  paint  sprayer.  Mrs.  Lucky  was  able  to 
finish  the  job  in  days  instead  of  weeks  and  this 
prevented  a  bad  case  of  sun  poisoning,  to 
which  the  fair-skinned  Mrs.  Lucky  is  prone. 

A  word  of  caution — if  your  new  spouse 
is  anything  like  Mrs.  Lucky,  when  buying  her 
contractor  supplies,  don't  go  cheap.  Buy  con- 
tractor grade  equipment!  She  knows  the  dif- 
ference and  will  appreciate  the  extra  thought 
you  put  into  her  gift. 

Keep  in  mind,  just  because  your  mate 
may  have  had  some  training  does  not  mean 
she  will  not  need  continued  training.  OF 
Jones  subscribes  to  the  "Busy  Hands  are 
Happy  Hands "  theory  and  does  his  best  to 
keep  Mrs.  Lucky's  hands  happy  by  staying  up 
late  at  night  writing  out  the  "To  Do "  list  for 
each  day.  This  explains  why  he  needs  to  spend 
most  of  his  daylight  hours  napping. 

Keep  those  letters  coming  and  always  re- 
member. 

Keep  a  leg  up, 
Luke 

Luke  is  a  black  Labrador  retriever  who  spends  his 
spare  time  hunting  up  good  stories  with  his  best 
friend  Clarke  C.  Jones.  You  can  contact  Luke  and 
Clarke  at  www.  clarkecjones.  com. 


National  Hunting  and 
Fishing  Day 

September  2Z, 
2012 

^THT^r.nhfday.org 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      45 


Photo  Tips 

by  Lynda  Richardson 


Macro,  Micro  "Tulip"  Photography -A  Closer  Look 


There  appears  to  be  a  little  confusion  re- 
garding what  true  macro  photography 
really  is.  Nearly  all  digital  cameras  ofFer  a  so- 
called  "macro"  (Canon)  or  "micro"  (Nikon) 
feature,  normally  located  on  the  camera's 
main  mode  dial.  Also  referred  to  as  the  close- 
up  mode,  you  might  recognize  it  as  the  sym- 
bol of  a  tulip,  but  don't  let  the  allure  of  this 
setting  fool  you.  It  is  not  a  real  macro  feature! 
True  macro  photography  is  defined  by  the 
ability  to  obtain  one-to-one  magnification  of 
a  subject.  For  example,  when  photographing 
a  1  -inch-long  insect  at  1 : 1 ,  it  will  be  exactly  1  - 
inch  long  in  the  photograph  taken. 

What  the  tulip/macro/micro  mode  does 
has  nothing  to  do  with  getting  true  macro 
photographs.  The  mode  is  set  up  to  automat- 
ically select  a  higher  shutter  speed  and,  thus,  a 
lower/wider  aperture  or  f/stop  setting.  One 
reason  it  is  programmed  to  choose  the  high- 
est shutter  speed  possible  is  that  folks  shoot- 
ing close-ups  normally  handhold  their 
cameras,  so  camera  shake  is  a  big  concern. 


As  you  can  imagine,  if  shutter  speed  is 
the  priority  in  the  exposure,  you  won't  get 
much  in  the  depth-of-field  department  since 
wide  f/stops  are  selected  automatically  to 
counter  high  shutter  speeds.  TKis  can  actually 
be  helpful  since  minimal  depth-of-field 
means  blurry  or  soft  backgrounds,  and  that 
can  help  your  subject  stand  out  from  the 
background. 

But  does  the  "tulip"  mode  really  get  you 
any  closer?  With  point  and  shoot  cameras  it 
appears  to,  but  in  reality,  all  it  does  is  allow  the 
lens  to  focus  at  its  closest  point.  With  digital 
SLR  cameras,  no  matter  which  lens  you 
use — other  than  a  true  macro — you  can  only 
focus  as  close  as  the  lens  you're  using  allows, 
tulip  mode  or  not. 

To  get  authentic  macro  photographs, 
you  need  a  macro  lens.  A  true  macro  lens  is 
different  from  other  lenses  in  two  ways.  First, 
the  lens  barrel  will  have  extra  settings  parallel 
to  the  focus  distance  (feet  or  meters)  indicat- 
ing 1:1,  1:2,  1:5,  and  so  on.  Second,  you  se- 


lect your  magnification  and  then  focus  the 
lens  by  moving  it  toward  and  away  from  your 
subject.  The  reason  you  have  to  focus  this  way 
is  that  if  you  try  to  automatically  or  manually 
focus  the  lens  in  the  normal  manner,  it  will 
change  your  aspect  ratio.  Your  1 : 1  will  sud- 
denly become  1:5  if  you're  not  careful.  This  is 
why  many  macro  photographers  use  focusing 
rails  or  long,  quick-release  plates  to  help  them 
focus  on  a  subject. 

Some  lenses  offer  macro/micro  features 
on  the  lens  barrel,  but  unless  you  see  the  1 : 1 
adjustment  somewhere  it  is  not  a  true  macro 
lens. 

Macro  lenses  come  in  several  different 
millimeter  lengths,  but  in  truth,  they  all  offer 
the  same  1 : 1  and  other  standard  magnifica- 
tion ratios.  The  difference  is  not  in  the 
amount  of  magnification  but  in  the  distance 
away  from  your  subject.  A  50mm  macro  lens 
will  have  you  pretty  "up  close  and  personal" 
to  a  subject,  whereas  a  100mm  macro  will 
allow  you  to  be  twice  as  far  away.  The  1 80mm 
macro  will  allow  even  twice  more  distance 
than  the  100mm  macro.  So,  before  deciding 
on  which  macro  lens  would  be  best  for  you, 
decide  what  you  will  be  shooting:  easily  ap- 
proachable mushrooms  or  skittish  snakes.'' 

I  hope  this  explanation  helps  you  better 
understand  the  difference  between  true 
macro  and  "tulip"  photography.  Happy 
Shooting! 


A  Day  in  the  Garden  at  Lewis  Ginter 
Botanical  Garden  in  Richmond,  Virginia 

Join  photographers  from  all  over  the  region 

for  a  day  of  photography,  fun,  workshops, 

demonstrations  and  more  on  Saturday, 

October  20  from  7:30  a.m.  to  4:00  p.m. 

For  more  information  please  go  to 

www.lewisginterorg. 


Using  a  Canon  EF  180mm  f/3.5L  macro  lens,  I  was  able  to  comfortably  photograph  this  green  anole 
at  the  magnification  I  wanted  without  having  to  get  too  close.  If  I'd  used  a  50mm  macro  lens, 
I  would  have  had  to  be  so  close  that  I  know  the  lizard  wouldn't  tolerate  my  presence.  Choose  the 
right  macro  lens  for  the  job!  ©  Lynda  Richardson. 


Correction  to  June  Caption: 
The  caption  accompanying  the  photograpti  in  the 
June  issue  should  have  read,  "yellow-throated 
warblers,"  not  common  yellowthroats.  The  editor 
regrets  the  error! 


46        VIRGINIA  WILDLIFE    ♦    www.HuntFishVA.com 


ning  In 

by  Ken  and  Mario  Perrotte 


Duck  With  Mushrooms  and  Wine  (Canard  au  Vin) 


Whether  you're  retrieving  that  last  plucked  mallard  or 
black  duck  from  the  back  corner  of  your  freezer  or 
anticipating  the  new  waterfowl  season  that  begins  in  just  a 
couple  of  months,  here  is  a  French-styled  dish  that  screams 
haughty  sophistication.  Don't  tell  your  dining  partners  it  really 
isn't  that  tough  to  whip  together! 

Big  puddle  ducks  seem  to  work  best  with  this  dish,  although 
smaller  ducks  such  as  wood  ducks  and  even  teal  would  taste  every 
bit  as  fine.  With  the  exception  of  canvasbacks,  it  is  not  recom- 
mended for  most  of  the  diving  duck  species. 

Do  not  overcook  the  duck  breasts!  Medium-rare  to  medium 
is  perfect. 

Ingredients 

1  large  duck,  impeccably  cleaned,  plucked  and  quartered 

V4  teaspoon  herbs  de  Provence 

V4  cup  all-purpose  flour 

1  tablespoon  olive  oil 

'/2  cup  chopped  onions 

%  cup  mushrooms,  quartered  (basic  white  mushrooms  work  fine, 


or  try  a  blend  with  crimini,  shiitake  or  oyster 

mushrooms  to  add  more  flavors) 
V4  cup  dry  red  wine 
%  cup  chicken  stock  or  broth 
Vs  teaspoon  cayenne  pepper,  optional 
Salt  and  pepper  to  taste 
Rice  or  egg  noodles  (2  cups  cooked) 

Directions 

Cut  away  the  leg  and  thigh  sections  of  the  duck,  then  bone  out 
the  breasts  and  cut  them  in  half  Rinse  and  pat  dry  the  duck 
pieces.  Sprinkle  with  the  herbs  and  dredge  in  flour.  Heat  the  oil 
in  a  Dutch  oven  or  large  pan  over  medium  heat.  Add  the  duck, 
skin  side  down,  and  cook  until  browned.  Flip  and  brown  the 
other  side.  The  duck  should  render  its  fat  at  this  point.  Remove 
the  breast  pieces,  which  should  still  be  rare  inside.  If  the  duck 
has  litde  or  no  fat,  a  small  amount  of  buner  can  be  added.  Add 
the  onions  and  mushrooms  and  cook  until  tender,  reducing  the 
heat  to  medium-low.  Add  the  wine,  broth,  and  cayenne  pepper. 
Increase  heat  and  bring  to  a  boil.  Reduce  and  simmer  until  the 
duck  legs  are  thoroughly  cooked  and  tender,  about  30  to  45 
minutes.  Remove  the  skin  fi-om  the  breast  pieces  and  add  to  the 
pan.  Cook  until  breast  pieces  are  warm.  Add  salt  and  pepper  to 
taste  and  serve  over  rice  or  noodles.  If  you  don't  mind  introduc- 
ing a  "finger  food"  component  to  this  meal,  add  the  cooked 
thigh  and  leg  portions,  as  well.  Serves  two. 


For  a  side  dish,  consider  a  basic  vegetable  pairing,  such  as  carrots 
with  pearl  onions  and  peas.  Some  traditional  "coq  au  vin " 
recipes,  upon  which  this  duck  recipe  is  based,  also  incorporate 
carrots  into  the  main  dish. 

Most  red  wines  will  go  well  with  this  dish,  but  we  suggest 
avoiding  the  big  "steak"  wines  as  well  as  anything  that's  over-the- 
top  fruity  and  opting  for  a  more  subde  pinot  noir  or  zinfandel. 


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2012    ♦      47 


Virginia  Department  of 
Game  and  Inland  Fisheries 
401 0  West  Broad  Street 
Richmond,  VA  23230 


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