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During our recent vacation to South Georgia we got out on my father-in-law's farm pond for some bass fishing. The girls had a good time. I hooked them both up with spincasting rigs with Zoom Baby Brush Hogs and that's all it took.

The pond is packed with stunted bass so we took a bunch home. We ate some down there and I was surprised that it was pretty good compared to some mushy late-summer bass and bluegills I've had before.

After the girls had their fill I spent maybe 10 minutes working the shallows with a Zoom Horny Toad and had a blast. I got a bunch of blow-ups, although I was having trouble keeping the fish buttoned. Needed a bigger hook, I think.

A reader sent this shot of a big bear at a feeding trough.He's a Virginian and said it came from his buddy, so I assume it was shot in Virginia.

This feeding station is clearly set up to attract wildlife. (Note the game cam in the background.) I guess it could be for deer, as long as those aren't donuts in there. But as soon as it starts attracting bears it becomes illegal since feeding bears is unauthorized.

I hate to be too cynical. But anyone want to place odds on whether or not there will be a treestand set up near this thing come opening day?

We're on our way to South Georgia for our annual trip to my father-in-law's place on Lake Blackshear.

The lake has bass and he's got a couple ponds on his nearby farms that are loaded with bass. But the past few times down here I've been focusing on catfish.

Blackshear has some big flatheads. We've caught some OK ones off the dock on set lines but I want to get one on a rod and reel. That won't happen this time, though, because I managed to forget my catfish rods and reels. Ugh. I did bring some trotline gear and may try that. I just hope I don't catch turtles like I did earlier this summer at Smith Mountain Lake.

My Outdoors page in The Roanoke Times today featured a piece on some of Virginia's most interesting quota hunt opporunities. It ran long so I had to cut one of the hunts I wanted to feature. Here's the information on the hunt, which is at Featherfin wildlife management area near Appomattox.

More information on Quota hunts is on the DGIF Website, while you can click here for Virginia State Parks information.

Also, if anyone else has any quota hunts they would recommend (or discourage), please comment.

Featherfin Wildlife
Management Area hunt

Species: Any legal species during designated hunting days

Hunt dates: 18 separate hunting periods starting in November and running through early January.

Application deadline: Aug. 29

More information: www.dgif.virginia.gov/wmas/

overing 2,800 acres near Appomattox, Featherfin is a fairly new addition to the state’s wildlife management area system. This will be the third hunting season on the property since the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries took it over.

Prior to becoming public property the area was a hunt club that was carefully managed for quality deer, and the DGIF has continued to manage the area under those goals. To be legal, a buck must have at least four points on one side.

The lottery will select 14 hunters for each 3-day hunting period during muzzleloader and general firearms seasons. (The first hunting period Nov. 1-5 is four days, not including the non-hunting Sunday.) Each hunter may bring one guest.

Knox said the DGIF hasn’t gotten a good handle on how the hunting is going on the property because it’s still early in the state’s management of Featherfin.

"It’s so new it’s sort of an unknown," he said.

But he said that, anecdotally, the area seems to have great potential.

"The people who are working on it are seeing lots of deer," he said.