2008.12.05
Mike Bowling with his awesome wilderness 13-pointer
My feature on the Outdoors page in today's Roanoke Times was about three guys -- Mike Bowling, Bob Hage and Matt Ireland -- who recently hiked deep into the James River Face Wilderness for a deer hunt.
They didn't see many deer -- about a dozen total over five days. But they saw a couple of good ones, including this giant 13-pointer Bowling killed three days into the hunt.
The story was about more than the deer, but I had hoped to run this shot with the story. We didn't have space for it, so here it is.
What an outstanding reward for such a long and difficult hunt! Congrats Mike on a fine buck. That one will be hard to top.
Comment by chuck sharp — December 5, 2008 @ 4:05 pm
We are so proud of you! Way to check one off of your "Bucketlist! Happy Hunting!
Comment by Lorie, Colton, Livvie — December 5, 2008 @ 7:09 pm
What an awsome buck and a great story to boot! I'm a firm believer in hunting fair chase [natural habitat] and this definately one of those hunts. Way to go guys and congradulations Mike.
Comment by JR Mitchell — December 5, 2008 @ 9:39 pm
Wicked looking Deer. Good going Mike.
Question have anyone seen the numerous amout of deer on the surrounding property going toward Brush Mountain near Audie Murphy monument area.
On 2 separate occasions late evenings, I counted close to 150 to 200 deer near the road areas.
Again why is rifle season only 2 weeks in Montgomery county?
If that's not deer out the Wazoo what is.
Comment by Static Lines — December 8, 2008 @ 8:21 am
Mike - that is an awesome looking deer. Congradulations
Comment by Doug Overfelt — December 9, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
is it true that wilderness only offers a "diminished" hunting experience?
http://www.roanoke.com/outdoors/billcochran/wb/185583
Comment by J. Boggs — December 10, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
Thanks for the comment, and for the link to Bill Cochran's column, J. Boggs.
I hadn't seen Bill's piece before I reported and wrote the story about this wilderness hunt. There's no doubt opinions vary greatly about the relationship between wilderness and hunting.
Plenty of professional wildlife managers aren't big fans of wilderness. They are managers, after all, and the idea of wilderness is to not actively manage it. A forest that is managed, with timber cutting, wildlife plantings, etc., can support more of some species, including ruffed grouse and white-tailed deer. And, of course, when roads and trails in such forests are open to vehicles, hunters have an easier time getting to that game.
The three hunters in my story didn't see many deer during their trip. But they didn't expect to. What they sought was solitude and a challenging hunt. They got it.
What's the right mix of wilderness and managed forests? Just like with every controversial topic, the answer is somewhere in the middle of where the staunchest advocates on both sides of the argument say it should be.
mt
Comment by marktaylor — December 10, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
Mark, I agree. The proper mix of wilderness and managed forests is somewhere in the middle. However, only 5.6% of Virginia's NF lands are currently designated wilderness. That doesn't seem like a balanced position.
Artificially increasing game density doesn't make for better hunting -- space and solitude are much more important components.
This is probably not the venue but I was disappointed by Bill Cochran's treatment of the issue. Conservationists and outdoorsman should be working together to expand public and otherwise protected lands, not bickering over forest management. A great example of how these two groups can help one another is Ducks Unlimited.
Comment by J. Boggs — December 11, 2008 @ 5:25 pm
Mark,
Loved the story and congrats to the crew. One question, were they hunting primarily on foot (using elevation as a stand) or did they use tree stands or ground blinds? Just curious...
-Jeff, They didn't take in stands or blinds, just still hunted from the ground. Moving slowly, pausing for a while, etc. I think I said in the story they felt like the wind they had on that Friday helped them because it covered some of the noise they made moving through the woods. --mt
Comment by Jeff James — December 21, 2008 @ 10:28 am