Virginia Wildlife

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CommonwealthofVirginia
TimothyM.Kaine,Governor
L HUNTING &FISHING f^l
ICENSEFEED
Colonel W. Gerald Massengill Subsidized thispublication
SecretaryofNatural Resources
L. PrestonBryant,Jr.
n a couple of weeks the spring Iwouldliketoclosebyoffering DepaIrntlmaenndtFoifshGearimees and
gobbler hunting season will the following guidelines for this ColonelW. Gerald Massengill,
open across the Commonwealth spring gobbler hunting season InterimDirector
and the Virginia Department of thatwillnotonlymakeyourtrip
GameandInland Fisherieswants afield safer, but will offer you
to remind hunters that an enjoy- valuable knowledge that could Membersofthe Board
habulnetidnagysianfetlhye.woodsbeginswith saveyourlife. SWhaerrdryBSurmtiotnh,CHraulmilfeayx,Buchanan;BoardChai
worTkhhearDdepeaarcthmyeenatrtcooinntsiunrueesthatto dis1.tiBngeuciasuhseedabgyobitbslebro'lsdhwehaidtei,s JCW.ailmMleaisrasWmh.aTlHlaGzrDeeaelvr,i,sOJoar.nk,,tNoHonrafgoulek
hunting is a safe outdoor activity blue and red colors, NEVER C. T Hill,Midlothian
andthatthehuntingpublicisawareoflaws wear white, blue or red clothing - not even Randy Kozuch,Alexandria
and regulationsthathelp foster a safehunt- socksorundershirts. JohnW.J.Montgomery,Jr., Sandston
ingexperience.Thevastmajorityofthenear- Richard E. Railey, Courtland
ly 300,000 hunters that go afield in Virginia 2. Turkey hunters should wear blaze or- ThomasA. Stroup, Fairfax
eachyear do so safely. However, some inci- angewhenwalkingtoandfromtheircalling CharlesS.Yates,Cleveland
dents do occur that can result in an injury positionsandwhensettingupormovingde-
andattimesarefatal. Withoutquestion, one coys. Wearingblazeorangeisalwaysrecom- Magazine Staff
accident is one too many, but what makes mended;however,ifyouchoosenottowear LeeWalker, Editor
this doubly tragic is the fact that, in most blazeorange, thentieasashofblazeorange MelWhite, RonMessina,JuliaDixon,
cases,theseincidentswerepreventable. to anearby tree to alertothers ofyourpres- ContributingEditors
Forthe firsttime in47yearsorsince the ence. EmilyPels,ArtDirector
Departmentbegankeepinghuntingincident 3. Choose a calling position that will pro- Carol Kushlak, ProductionAssistant
reports,therewerenohunting-relatedfatali- vide you with a backstop as wide as your Colorseparationsand printingby
ties reported during the 2005 general shouldersandwill protectyou fromthetop NittanyValleyOffset,StateCollege,PA.
firearms season. Thisimportantstatisticis a ofyourheaddown.Alargetreeisbest.
testament to the Department's free Hunter VirginiaWildlife(ISSN00426792)ispublishedmonth
SafetyEducationProgramandthehundreds 4. Whenchoosingacallingposition, select ly by the Virginia Department ofGame andInlani.
ofvolunteerswhoassistin teachingcloseto onewithagood viewofyoursurroundings Fcihsahnegrieess.toSeVinrdginaillasWiulbdslcifrei,ptP.ioOn.oBrodxer7s47a7n,dReadddOreask'
15,000 participantseach year. In mostcases, andwherethesundoesnotdistortwhatyou Iowa51591-0477.Addressall othercommunication-
parentsaccompanytheirsonsanddaughters areseeing. concerning thispublication to Virginia Wildlife,P.O
andtakethecoursetogether,eachpreparing Box 11104, 4010 West Broad Street, Richmond
to share in this traditional activity. The 5. Never shoot at a sound or movement. Voinregiyneiaar,23$22330.-91510f4o.rStuwboscyreiaprtsi;on$2r.a0t0espaerree$a1c2h.95bafdoi
Hunter Safety Education program empha- Wait until you have a good, clean shot at a issue, subject to availability. Out-of-country rate i'
srmscMeiuoooszrmrrpevposieeanvshsaaiilusbbm,,nioptloufaiiirttnrntysdgawt.nimalItetidtladhlyin,iis,cfysahes,lomtsiosouwdaderafneetetnogtitiryfsnreiteacaewatanrtdhediwsooaanti,iynmgndogratiuaotpvtdoilpdudeaiaouacntoarsderl.n selmenoa6gc.uiaenl.nNdbesIihvrnitdsed.otrdeaaeldmen,ro,tcvaauelnnl,otoitulwhteatrivhnheeaunloottorehuredmrovafohkiyueconeuttareunrprdrkearecsey--- $NsPpaPlc.e2loOrr4ee.ii.anbo9srtBed5eero,iyfxcfsuoaeocn7rlfand4sfldo7silpc7ne,aaefstlio.lRodyrleealadad-atfrdmOrRroaeaieeukncs,ndsht(mI8scmoo0hun0wasl)daent,sg5s7ebV11sie50tr9-hgp1t9aio-a3nn0i6i4Vd9ai$7.r57iag..nin0Pn0dPUoi..oasaSst.Tdt\mdo\aafigstuestinuoedfbnorsi
knowledgesyourpresence. Copyright2006bytheVirginiaDepartmentofGamt
from the course learn that hunting is about andInlandFisheries.AHrightsreserved.
beingpartoftheoutdoorexperience,observ- 7. Never stalk a turkey. Another hunter TheDepartmentofGameand Inland Fisheriesslid]
ingwildlifeinthewild,andconnectingwith could be behind that gobble and those de- afford toall persons an equal access toDepartment
the natural—world. As most ethical hunters coys. programsandfacilitieswithoutregardtorace,color,
willtellyou it'smoreabouttheoutdoorex- religion,nationalorigin,disability,sex,orage.Ifyou
periencethanwhatyoubringhomefordin- 8. Whenyougetagobbler,carryhimoutof baenlyievperotghraatmy,ouacthiavvitey,beoernfdaicislcirtyi,mipnlaetaesdeawgraiitnesttion.
ner. thewoodsdrapedinblazeorange. Virginia Department ofGame and Inland Fisheries.
ATTN: Compliance Officer, 4010 WestBroad Street
P.O.Box 11104,Richmond,Virginia23230-1104.
"This publication is intended for general informa-
tionalpurposesonlyandevervefforthasbeenmade
to ensure its accuracy. The information contained
Mission Statement hereindoesnotserveasalegalrepresentationottisli
TomanageVirginia'swildlifeand inlandfishtomaintainoptimumpopulationsofallspeciestoserve theneeds and wildlife laws or regulations. The Virginia
of theCommonwealth; toprovideopportunityforalltoenjoywildlife, inlandfish,boatingandrelatedoutdoor DepartmentofGameand Inland Fisheries doesnot
recreation;topromotesafetyforpersonsandpropertyinconnectionwithhoating,huntingandfishing. assumeresponsibilityforanychangeindates,regu-
lations,orinformation thatmayoccurafterpublica-
Dedicated to the Conservation ofVirginia's Wildlife and Natural Resources tion."
VOLUME 67 .NUMBER 4
TheCircleRemainsUnbroken
byTeeClarkson
About
Virginia'sAmericanShadRestorationProgram
thecover:
Duringthe2005 continuestobeanupstreambattle,butisshowing
springgobbler promisingresults.
seasonhunters
reportedhar-
vesting 14,355 2ndAnnualJamesRiver
birds. Eastand FishFestival
westoftheBlue
byTeeClarkson
RidgeMoun-
tainschanged -^ Celebrating the annual shad migration is
til quickly "catching on."
littlefrom
springof2004.
Theharvestof
8,779gobblers PartnersforColdWater
incountieseast Conservation
oftheBlueRidgedecreasedonly 1%
Virginia'sstatefish,thebrooktrout, ishelping
overlastyear'sharvestof8,864birds.
toforgeanewgenerationofanglersand
WestoftheBlueRidgeMountains,the
harvestof5,576gobblerswas2%high- conservationists.
erthanlastyear(5,474).Despitesome
inclementweatherconditionsaround
YouthFriendlyHunting
thestateduringlastyear'sYouthDaya
totalof196gobblerswereharvested; byBruceIngram
thiswasupslightlyfrom 191 birdsin Virginia'sYouthSpringTurkeyHuntistheperfect
2004. photo©JohnR.Ford opportunitytointroduceachildtothesportof
hunting.
WhataSucker!
byEmilyBrown
A NativetocoastalVirginia,sealampreysareshowing
r
73111Gil J! upinsomeunusualplaces.
/ WILDLII
:
Magazine
APRIL JOURNAL
Subscriptions
For subscriptions, OnTheWater
circulation problems and BoatOperatorsResponsibilities
address changes call Recipes
1-800-710-9369 SpringtimeisShadTime
PhotoTips
12 issues for $12.95 It'sADigitalWorki
24 issues for $23.95 NaturallyWild
Common
Flicker
The story of Virginia's shad migration
continues to be an upstream battle.
VIRGINIAWILDLIFE www.dgif.virginia.gov
byTeeClarkson
photos ©Dwiglit Dyke
4?
here is something unmistak- and she is back on her way to the
ably comforting about the cy- spawninggrounds. Odds are though
%
cles ofnature that make us feel shewasn'tbornhereintheJames.
whole, that make us feel connected Inresponsetoanoveralldeclineof
again to the way things work, to the Americanshadintheearly1990sdue
waytheyhavealwaysworked. Ifyou to over harvesting, pollution and a
allowyourself, you can feel thepulse loss of spawning habitat, the Ameri-
of the earth spinning on its axis, the can Shad Restoration Program was
rushofsurvivalashickoryandAmer- initiatedinVirginiain1992,following
ican shad pile into our rivers every the lead ofMaryland and Pennsylva-
springby the thousands. One on top nia. With The Department of Game
another,slidingbackandforthandin- andInlandFisheriesactingasthelead
between each other in the current, agency, the restoration has been a
these fish battle their way hundreds massive group effort. Help has come
ofmiles upstream to where they will from a broad source of interests in-
spawn. cluding: the City of Richmond, The
Directly above me, where 1-95 JamesRiverAssociation,TheVirginia
bridges the James River, the world is Marine Resources Commission, The
rushing. The daily mad dash to Ash- Virginia Institute of Marine Science,
land, Petersburg, D.C. Perhaps we're The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
not so unlike these fish as we would The Association of Independent Wa-
like to think. Funneling into traffic, termen, Virginia Commonwealth
pushingforward,alwaysforward. University, The ChesapeakeBay Pro-
A couple false casts and let it go, gram, FlyFishersofVirginia, theFish
quartering upstream and across the Foundation and Coastal Zone Man-
current,letitsink,mend,letitsink,let agement, as well as the Pamunkey
it sink, okay strip, strip, strip, bang! and Mattaponi Indian tribes whose
Again my 6-weightis almostyanked ancestors relied on these fish for sur-
outofmy hand as anAmerican shad vivalthousandsofyearsbeforethear-
thumps hard against the current 40 rivalofEuropeansettlers.
feetbelowtheboat.Afterseveralmin- Throughtheeffortsoftheseorgan-
utes the fish reluctantly surrendersto izations, the American shad have
my hand. Just a quick pop of the fly made a substantial comeback. Begin-
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APRIL 2006
ningin 1995, whenthe firsthatchery- and seasonal employees, was
raised fishbeganreturningtospawn, shippedtotheJamesRiver,whereshe
the percentage of hatchery fish cap- and500,000otherfrywerereleasedat
tured has steadily declined from 90 duskintothesecoolflowingwaters.If
percent to 70 percent. "These num- this in fact is the story ofherjourney
bers are an indication that the pro- thenonlyroughly1inevery400ofthe
gram is working," says Tom Gunter fryreleasedthatdayhavesurvivedto
who coordinates the state's restora- adulthood and returned to the river
tion program for The Department of to spawn. This fish has defied the
GameandInlandFisheries. odds.
AsthisAmericanshaddisappears Justa fewmoremilesandshewill
backintotheJames, Icanonlyspecu- be past the rapids formed at the fall
latehowlongandstrangehertriphas line in downtown Richmond. The
been to this point. More than likely fishstackuphere,restingandwaiting
thisshad's life story reads something to make their way upstream into the
like this: Her motherwas caughtin a rushingwaters. ThroughHollywood
netinthePamunkeyRiver,wherethe Rapids, over the fish ladder at Bosh-
eggswereimmediatelyfertilized and er'sDam,someofthemcontinueup-
shippedtoeithertheKingandQueen stream as far as Powhatan and be-
Fish Hatchery or Harrison Lake Na- yond,over100milesfromtheocean.
tional Fish Hatchery. There, the eggs The spring runs of shad and her-
were kept in a hatchingjar for4 to 11 ring once led to fishing villages here
days, depending on water tempera- on thebanks oftheJames, where na-
ture, until sheemerged, wigglingher tive peoples scooped fish from these
way through the protective sac of a samewaterswithwovennets, smok-
nearly microscopic egg and swim- ingthem overfiresalongthe riverby
ming up a tube and into a holding the thousands. When the European
tank. Several days later the entire settlers arrived, they stopped here as
tank, loaded ona truckbyvolunteers well, their boats too big to continue
i ©Spike*00
upstream. The migra- \
tion of the shad helped them
surviveleantimesand created a
lucrative business in the years to
follow.
"This is the wheel of history re-
turning on itself. Twohundred, three
hundred,fourhundredyearsago,the
native people camped right here.
There were fishing villages on the
banksoftheriver and onBelle Isle in
downtownRichmond," RalphWhite,
the overseer of the James River Park
System, explained to a group of on-
lookers at theJames River Fish Festi-
val in May of 2005. "The species re-
mains the same and the festive sense
remains the same," he continued.
Ralphwasoneofthefoundingfathers
ofthe fish festival thathas celebrated
the return of the shad and the health
of the James River for the last two
years.
The James River Fish Festival is
not the only celebration marking the
shads' return. The Shad Rodeo,
formed five years ago by Cheairs
Porter, Rob Caudle and Matt King,
has celebrated the restoration of the
shad in the James River in a some-
whatdifferentway. This tournament,
Since 1995, fisheries biologists have
which has averaged 40-45 entrants
been taking and hatching shad eggsin
the last several years, raised over
the spring and releasingthefryback
$5000dollarsforTheYoungSupport-
intoVirginia'stidalrivers. Sincethat
timetheJames Riverhas received 84.8 ers Group ofthe Virginia Performing
million, Pamunkey 24.9 million, Rappa- Arts Foundation in 2005. Before that,
hannock 7.8 million and the Potomac the tournament raised money for
1.3 million, totaling 118.8 million shad. Freedom House Homeless Shelter
While hatchery raised shad stillmake up
the majorityofreturning adultstoVir-
ginia'stidalriversa good percentageof
naturalspawning is nowoccurring,
which isa good sign thatrecoveryef-
fortsareworking. In recentyears biolo-
gists havedocumentedthe natural
spawning ofshad upstream ofBoshers
Dam and downstream ofthefallline.
Illustration £,Spike Knuth
and the Historic Richmond Founda-
tion.Thetournamentwinnerisdeter-
mined by the cumulative length of
five fish, based on the honor system
sinceallfisharereleased,butwinning
the tournament is not first on the list
of most competitors, many don't
evenmeasuretheirfish. "It'sjustcool
tothinkthatsomeoneisgettinganew
musical instrument or a hot meal be-
causeoftheshad,"Cheairssays.
After releasing this fish to contin-
ue on herjourney, I stand and check
my fly before making another cast. I
am literally surrounded. Boats to my
left, my right, upstream, and down,
cars zooming past above me. This
mustbewhatitislikewhenyou find
yourself in the middle of the school
swimmingupstream.
Withsomeluckthatparticularfish
will makeittospawn, and witheven
more luck, her fry will survive and
make the journey downstream past
this spot, past Williamsburg, into the
Chesapeake Bay, then out into the
open ocean for four or five years, be-
forereturning.Swimmingagainright
past where I am anchored on their
way to the same spawning grounds
where they were born. With some
luck,Iwillbeheretoo.
TeeClarksonisanEnglishteacherandinhis
spare time runs Virginia Fishing Adven-
tures, afishingcampforkids. For more in-
formation you can contact Tee at: tsclark-
[email protected].
FormoreinformationonTheShad
Rodeo,emailquestionsto:
[email protected]
ShadFishing:A Com-
pleteGuide ToSpecies,
Gear, & Tactics, byC.
Boyd Pfeifferand
published byStack-
pole Booksoffersa
wealth ofangling
information.
American shad arestillundera strict harvestmoratorium (recreationaland commercial)
and itisillegalto harvestthem. Pleasecheckthe currentfishing regulations regarding
Virginia'sshad fisheries.
VIRGINIA WILDLIFE www.dgif.virginia.gov
byTeeClarkson
photos ©DwightDyke
attling along the old cobble-
stone street in downtown
*T Richmond on a Saturday
morninglastApril, onecan'thelpbut
be reminded of what life used to be
likehere.Theoldtobaccowarehouses
have been converted to loft apart-
ments, fish houses turned to office
spaces, andtheopenairmarkets, that
wouldhavebeenbouncingwithlifea
hundredyearsago,havesurrendered
tothenewmalls15milesfromherein
thesuburbs.
Mike Kendrick, a 22-year-old biology major
atVCU, pointsoutwhatlives underthe
rocksin theJames River.
APRIL 2006
Today, however, people have
come, not to reminisce about a past
they can't remember, or change for
that matter, but to acknowledge a re-
birth they can witness right before
their eyes, the rebirth of the James
River. The Second Annual James
RiverFishFestival, madepossibleby
a conglomerate of organizations and
volunteers from the Richmond De-
partment of Parks, Recreation and
Community Facilities to the Depart-
mentofGameandInlandFisheriesto
the Biology Department at Virginia
Commonwealth University, is a cele-
bration of all the work that has been
done in order to revitalize the entire
JamesRiverwatershed.
Thisisalsoacelebrationofthean-
nual shad migration. In the spring,
both hickoryandAmerican shad pile
into the James by the tens of thou-
sands,headingbacktothesamegrav-
el bars where they were born only a
fewyearsearlier.Inthe1970stheriver
hadbecomesochokedwithsediment Participantsoflastyear'sJames River Fish Festivaladmiring a hickoryshadjustcaught
and pollutants that the shad, which from theJames River.
Shad maketheirwayupstream through
the breachesin Manchester, Brown'sand
BelleIsle dams, upthrough the notch in
William'sIsland Dam and ultimately
through theverticalslotfishwayat Bosh-
ers Dam.
once migrated up the James in such
great numbers that people literally
scooped them out of the water with
nets, had all butquitcoming. Thanks
to millions of dollars in sewer up-
grades, the breeching of dams, the
constructionoffishladdersandacon-
certed jointstockingeffortby theU.S.
Fishand WildlifeServiceand theVir-
ginia Department of Game and In-
VIRGINIA WILDLIFE www.dgif.virginia.gov