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bear_dance

As part of their Northern Divide Bear Project, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey are using motion-triggered video cameras to record the behavior of bears (and other wildlife).

There are some good videos on the studies Web site. This is one of them, and it's even better than the original after someone fixed it up a bit by adding music. If this doesn't crack you up, there's something wrong with you.

I don't know how to imbed video into the blog. Sorry. But click on bear_dance above and it should open in your .wmv viewer.

Those of you who read the obituaries in The Roanoke Times already know that the Roanoke Valley fishing community lost one of its icons this week. Melvin Crewson, the 67-year-old owner of the Minnow Pond, died Tuesday.

Melvin, pictured with his doting wife, Christine, has battled health problems for years, but I was still shocked when I learned of his passing. Not even a month ago I did a story on the reopening of his store, one of the ever-shrinking number of mom-and-pop bait and tackle stores and a place that was devastated by a fire in October of 2008.

I stopped by there last week and Melvin looked fine and was in good spirits. "After that story ran, I had some people who hadn't seen me in a while come in and say, 'Man, Melvin, you got fat!'" he told me, laughing. "Since then I've lost 5 pounds."

My plan is to write a story on Melvin for tomorrow's Roanoke Times.

I hope some of you take time to offer your comments about this fine man.

Late last night I got a tip that Sportsman's Warehouse in Roanoke would be closing. The news was just confirmed by the company's corporate headquarters.

The Roanoke store is one of 23 locations Sportsman's Warehouse plans to liquidate.

The store opened in the fall of 2007, and was welcomed by the region's sportmen, who had been clamoring for large outdoor retailer.

Timing was difficult, however. Not only did the store open at the front end of what has become a nasty economic downturn, but just a few months later a large Gander Mountain store opened just a few miles away.

Sportsman's Warehouse had plenty of fans in the region. Many sportsmen were grateful for the company's support of local outdoors conservation groups and efforts. For example, they were key supporters for this past fall's Hunters for the Hungry fundraising banquet.

Stay tuned to this blog and to The Roanoke Times Business section for more on this developing story. 

In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the news.

This morning I got a note from a reader who was concerned that wild bobwhite quail (picture at left is from the DGIF quail Web site), which were fairly common on his Botetout County property just a few years ago, had disappeared.  As he believed the habitat was as good or better than ever, he wondered if increases in bear and coyote populations in the area could have been responsible. I told him I'd forward the note to DGIF biologist Marc Puckett, the main man behind Virginia's new quail action plan.

In my basic coverage of this ongoing story I've gotten to know Marc reasonably well. It's clear he is incredibly dedicated to his job. But I was still impressed by just how detailed he was in his reply, which came about 30 minutes after he got the question. Now that's customer service.

Just to give you an idea what kind of issues are at work here, and the level to which Puckett is willing to go to personally assistlandowners, here's his note (posted with his permission). Read more »

Matt Wimmer sent in this shot of the great brown trout he caught Sunday while fishing at Potts Creek in Craig County. The fish was 22 inches long and weighed 5.2 pounds.

The creek was stocked on Friday, and Wimmer said some locals told him it was like "opening day" on Saturday. But they must have put plenty of fish in because it was still loaded on Sunday. Wimmer said he caught nine, releasing all but this one, and his brother caught five. They were using Trout Magnet jigs.

Sounds like others had some good fishing, too. In a comment to an earlier posting, blog reader Jim Basham said he had good fishing for bluegills and crappies in a pond near Stewartsville. On Friday my friend Tom Maynard went back to the Claytor Lake, where we had caught some nice yellow perch a few weeks ago, and he said they caught a bunch more.

I was hoping to get out Sunday but got caught up working on a project at the house and couldn't get away. A warm stretch this early in the season is always nice, but we all know that the best fishing is yet to come.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission just sent out a press release covering some noteworthy changes to its hunting regulations.

The release mentioned that one item would be of "particular interest" to deer hunters: an addition of an extra week of muzzleloader deer season.

In the news business, we call that burying the lead.

Certainly, the extra week of muzzleloader hunting is important. But I suspect another change would be of at least as much if not more interest. The commission also approved bowhunting on private lands on Sundays.

Let's say that last year, when the DGIF added the extra week of early muzzleloader season in Western Virginia, they also approved Sunday bowhunting on private lands. Which change would have gotten the most attention?

I'm betting bowhunting on Sunday.

That's because this kind of change has potential to eventually touch all hunters. You know, it's the old slippery slope thing. If bowhunting on Sunday turns out to work OK, this could be one of those baby steps toward bringing North Carolina in line with the 40 or so states that don't single out hunting as one of the few (in many cases, only) activity not allowed on Sunday.

Anyway, here's the release.

RALEIGH, N.C. (March 5) –The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission approved dozens of changes to state hunting, fishing and trapping regulations which will take effect July 1, 2009.

After a year-long process of careful consideration and review of some 40,000 public comments received online and at nine public hearing held across the state in January, the 19-member commission voted on the proposed regulations changes at the March 4 Commission meeting.

Of particular interest to deer hunters statewide, the Commission voted to extend by one week the muzzleloader deer season. Additionally, Commissioners approved extending the gun deer season for counties in the Northwestern deer season through January 1. Eastern, central and western deer seasons remain unchanged.

Proposals to alter the statewide spring wild turkey season generated substantial interest during the public comment period. Commissioners ultimately voted to retain the current wild turkey season structure.

Also approved was a proposal to allow bow hunting on Sundays on private lands, with the exception of migratory game birds. Sunday bow hunting on game lands was disapproved.

Travis Patsell of Vinton sent me a recent rundown of his fishing exploits, including this shot of his girlfriend Brook Ayers with a 22-pound blue catfish from Buggs Island Lake.

Patsell said he's made two recent trips to Buggs and done pretty well on the blues. Fishing with cut gizzard shad on Carolina rigs (with circle hooks) they caught six in the 10-pound ranged on the first trip and nine on the second trip, with this one the biggest.

As I wrote about in my Sunday column in The Roanoke Times, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is considering a proposal to remove the bear tag from the big game license, and to create a separate bear license. The cost would be $25 for residents, $150 for non-residents.

Unlike most proposed regs changes, this one didn't come from the agency's staff. Bear hunters with the Virginia Bear Hunters Association asked for it, and the agency's board decided to forward the proposal for public comment. The board will take a final vote on the proposal on June 2, with any rule change being put in place by next fall's hunting season.

Why would bear hunters ask for an additional license? Well, nearly all VBHA members use hounds to hunt bears, which are their priority. Their basic thinking is that bears shouldn't be a "bonus" animal for deer hunters. Of course, fewer bears killed by deer hunters equates to more bears available for the houndsmen when their season opens in December.

Odds of a deer hunter seeing a bear during an open bear season are pretty slim. So would hunters who are not specifically targeting bears be willing to part with $25 on the off chance they would get a shot? Complicating the debate is the fact that the DGIF's biologists are saying the bear kill needs to increase across many parts of the state. Would they be able to achieve those objectives with fewer bear hunters?

Plenty of other states have separate bear licenses. But I'm guessing this isn't going to be too well received by the general hunting public. Sure, plenty of deer don't have any desire to shoot a bear. But for many deer hunters, I don't see them wanting to give up (or pay extra for) those rare chances.

I also would be surprised if DGIF biologists agree to this given their concern about the growth of the bear population.

But maybe if the public is generally supportive, this might fly.

So, are you supportive of the proposed bear license?