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I haven't been shy about pushing my belief that small game hunting is a way to get youngsters interested in the sport, and have said I believe that kids care more about the activity than the size of the game. I think this picture and the smile on Cody Wilson's face pretty well support my philosophy.

Michael Wilson said he and his son weren't able to hunt deer on youth day because of some other commitments. Rather than just waiting for regular deer season, they went out for a quick squirrel hunt Monday evening after Cody got home from school. Cody got these with his new .410 shotgun, with Michael capturing the action on video. They two also saw and filmed a nice black bear.

Michael reports that Cody is eagerly awaiting deer season. The lessons he has learned hunting squirrels will pay off come November.

Enola Ross sent in this shot of her granddaughter, 12-year-old Emily Ross, with a great Craig County whitetail killed with a rifle on youth day. This was Emily's first hunting trip. Nice way to start, huh?

Emily, the daughter of Charlie Ross and Annette Mills and a seventh grader at Craig County Middle School, was hunting with her grandfather, Marion Ross, on the family farm.

You know how you spent Saturday afternoon on your couch in your dry house watching college football?

Thirteen-year-old Sam Nicholson and his dad, Dan Nicholson, were among the hardy few -- as I wrote about in my column this morning in The Roanoke Times -- out there braving the elements. And this was Sam's reward.

They had hunted the morning and seen six does. After a break for lunch they got back at it, sitting in a two-man ladder stand overlooking a 30-acre field. They saw 10 does, and this one got close enough to offer Sam a good shot.

One problem with having a specific youth-only hunting day is that weather can really affect how things turn out.

Saturday, the first Virginia youth deer hunting day, was a good example. The morning was tolerable, but by the afternoon the rain was pretty brutal.

Kudos to all those who stuck it out.

One pair was 14-year-old Spencer Roberts and his dad, Jeff. From Independence, they were hunting in Wythe County when Spencer shot this great eight-pointer with a .243 rifle.

I've gotten a couple more youth day pix that I'll post as soon as possible.

A friend recently sent this trailcam photo from one of his hunting spots.

I suspect a lot of mentor/youth hunter groups will be in ground blinds tomorrow, the debut of Virginia's youth deer hunting day. A lucky few may even have a buck like this walk by their blind.

Blinds are great for younger hunters because kids tend to move a lot. Tomorrow, with rain in the forecast, a blind will have the added advantage of providing some protection from the rain.

I won't be hunting tomorrow. I think it will be a couple of years before my kids are ready, should they even want to hunt deer.

Instead of hunting, I will spend the morning at Smith Mountain Lake at the Big Lick Triathlon. And, for a change, I won't be covering it. I'll actually be doing it.

The race at Smith Mountain Lake State Park, is basically a mile swim, 25-mile bike and 6.2-mile run. When I was doing these in my mid 20s that distance wasn't too scary. But I haven't done anything that long since, well, my mid 20s. But I've been training a fair amount so I should get through it. The rain will make things interesting, especially on the bike.

It will likely take me just short of three hours to do this race. I won't be able to go home and veg the rest of the day, either. Another couple invited me and my wife to the Tech-Miami football game. The guy is a triathlete, so I talked him into racing. After the race we're going straight to Blacksburg to meet our wives, hopefully with enough time for a little tailgating before kickoff. (Here's hoping the showers at the park beach are open tomorrow!)

Anyway, tomorrow has potential to be a mini-epic!

Good luck to everyone heading out tomorrow with a youth hunter. Be careful, have fun, and send reports and pictures!

A few weeks ago I wrote about tangling with triggerfish during my vacation in the Outer Banks.

No visual evidence of my exploits existed because I realized upon my return to the 'Noke that my beloved little Canon Powershot G9 camera had not made the return journey with us.

I assumed the camera had gotten punted out of my too-full truck during a stop on our trip's final two days. It wasn't labeled, so even if someone found it, they would have had a hard, if not impossible, time tracking me down.

But this picture is that visual evidence, so clearly the camera is back in my hands.

About a week ago we got a call from the Ramada Plaza on Nags Head beach. We had spent the final night of our trip there because we had a cottage for a week but needed and extra day so I could race in the Outer Banks Triathlon (which became a run-bike-run duathlon due to dangerous surf from Hurricane Bill).

In the message the manager said they had a camera they thought might be ours. It was. Apparently the cleaning crew found it in the room. It got stuffed somewhere with a note listing the room number and date found, but no manager was notified, which is why it took so long for them to contact us. The manager was actually apologetic, which was totally unnecessary. I was grateful that they made the effort to find me, and return the camera promptly (via FedEx) when they confirmed it was mine. I can tell you who I will call first next time I'm looking for a motel room in the Nags Head area.

Of course I have since purchased a new point-and-shoot camera. It's a Canon D10, which is waterproof so actually better for me in many ways because I can use it on fishing trips without sweating getting it wet. In fact, I've already had it out a couple of times and taken a few undwerwater shots (I'll post one here one of these days). My wife doesn't mind. She's already laid claim to the G9.

Here's a shot of Terry Hale Jr. with the 468-pound black bear he killed on his Pulaski County land last year. The bear scored 28 7/8 under the Virginia scoring system, topping the bear class at the recent Western Regional of the Virginia Big Game Contest.

According to Hale, the bear scored 20 3/4 under the Boone and Crockett system, just missing the minimum score of 21 required for inclusion in the all-time record book.

Hale said he recently heard back on the bear's age and was surprised to find that it was only 6 years old.

The animal had been running amok on Hale's farm last year, gorging on corn and autumn olives. One day Hale met some houndsmen and got to talking about the situation, and the group agreed to come see if they could get on the bear's track.

They got started first thing on the morning of Dec. 18, and the hounds quickly picked up a track. It didn't take long for the hounds to tree the animal on the farm, at which point Hale arrived and finished the job.

As I wrote about in my Tuesday column in The Roanoke Times, Pete Eshelman of the Roanoke Regional Partnership has put together a pretty cool event Sept. 30 at the Mill Mountain Theatre.

The evening starts with the Roanokeoutside.com Expo, starting at 5:30 p.m. The Expo -- a social mixer, really -- will feature representatives from about 20 of the area's outdoors clubs and organizations.

At 6:45 p.m. the Banff Mountain Film Festival's Radical Reels will be shown in the theater. The film fest is nine separate short films featuring epic action in gorgeous locations.

I've got three pairs of tickets to the event to give away. Just send me an e-mail by noon Thursday if you want a pair. If I get more than three replies I'll just draw for the winners.

Stuart McCoy just sent me this shot. As you might figure when you see the street sign in the lower left of the photo, this wasn't in the woods. It was in the "heart" of Covington, according to McCoy.

McCoy said he was driving along when he spotted what looked like a bear in a yard. It was a bear. Two cubs were up the tree. The sow later went up the tree, too.

McCoy snapped some shots and then called animal control. He had to get back to his office so he didn't get to how the situation played out.

The hunter who sent me this shot said he's caught glimpses of this buck over the past couple of years, as well as seen giant rubs around his hunting spot. But this is his best proof that this thing is a serious trophy. It appears to be a mainframe nine, though it wouldn't surprise me if it has a few stickers around the base.

He said this picture will help him spend more time in the stand this fall, and I can understand that.

I got out for a quick scouting trip yesterday afternoon to a spot I hunt in Bedford County. It was a productive trip.

First, I checked a stand I'd left up by a big white oak that hits just about every year. But it didn't hit this year. It is absolutely bare. The place is only decent in the early season to I pulled the stand.

The next spot I checked was better. A good white oak there was loaded with acorns. They were also also still green, so the timing for them falling around the opener should be good.

I've hunted the spot before and it seems to be a yearling buck hot spot. Maybe this is the year a shooter shows up. I don't have a stand there so will need to get that done soon.