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• World record spadefish
• Bike to Work Day, Week, Month
• White-nose syndrome in bats
• Save the planet: Get rid of your cat
• More on Shed Hunting

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A report from Capt. Julie Ball out of Virginia Beach:

Pending IGFA All tackle World Record Atlantic Spadefish
14lbs, 14oz

13 June

I had the privilege of speaking with a gentleman last night who experienced the catch of a lifetime. Roland E. Murphy was fishing at the Cell aboard the “Kingfish” captained by Allen King and his first mate, Sherie King, all of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

They were in search of big spadefish, and caught a handful, and lost around 15 or so. Roland was up next when the rod in the holder doubled over. But this was no ordinary spadefish. Roland claims that “the fish put up a gallant fight for over 20 minutes, taking me around the boat, back and forth, under the boat, around the motor, almost wearing me out before wearing it out.” But Roland did wear it out, and in the live well it went until tipping the scales at a whopping 14lbs, 14oz. The existing record spade is 14-pounds.

Jon Lucy of VIMS traveled to meet Roland, helping him with his application. Not only is this awesome catch a pending World Record, but paperwork was also submitted for a pending Virginia State Record.

May is National Bike Month, this week is National Bike to Work Week, and Friday is National Bike to Work Day. So in honor of these occasions, I present to you the League of American Bicyclists‘ list of the most and least bike friendly states.

Click here to learn more about bike month and bike week events in Richmond and throughout Virginia.

I will be celebrating bike to work day on Friday by joining two friends in Cumberland, Md. to start our three-day journey down the C&O canal towpath by bike. Actually, that the trip and bike to work day coincide is entirely accidental, though since I’ll be writing about the trip when I get back, you could argue I’ll be biking to work on Friday. I’m just saying…

The above was taken in Breathing Cave in Bath County, Va. You can see the white fungus around the nose of a bat in the middle of the hibernating cluster.

There are a number of Websites out there with good information on white-nose syndrome.

Let’s start with some sites focusing on bats and WNS in Virginia: Click here for the DGIF press release from a couple of weeks ago confirming WNS in Virginia…and here for some info on WNS in Va. from the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The National Speleological Society maintains a number of related links. Click here for their WNS page.

A good primer on the history and spread of WNS, as well as some relevant links and videos, can be found at batmanagement.com by clicking here.

Seriously, wanna be “green?“ Lose Mr. Bigglesworth. Click here to find out why.

There was a ton from my conversations with Matt Knox (above, with Izzy) that didn’t make it into today’s column on shed antler hunting. Here are a few highlights.

On when to go shed hunting: You can start finding sheds as early as late December. I don’t get serious until February 1st and that’s still a little early. Mid-February to mid-March is by far the best time.

On why all deer hunters should shed hunt: It provides a tremendous opportunity to scout. If you want to learn where the deer are and where they’re moving on your property, you think you can do it pre-season, you’ll learn 10 times as much post-season. That’s because in the fall the leaves have fallen down and you can’t see where the deer are walking and right now the deer trails are like pig paths.

On picking a shed dog: I’m convinced now that the drive for the hunt is much more important [than the retrieval instinct]. That drive to search and look. I predict in a decade is bunches of people will have [shed] dogs.

When you find one antler, Knox says, keep your eyes peeled for the other: The most amazing thing to me is how often both antlers fall off at the very same place at the very same time. You’d be amazed.

Here are a few outside resources that can help you learn a little more about the hobby.

http://www.shedantlers.org is a good place to start. It’s the Website of the North American Shed Hunters Club.

For an article from Deer and Deer Hunting Magazine…click here.

Field and Stream’s Bill Heavey on shed hunting…click here.

Tips from Outdoor Life…click here.

 

I wanted to pass along part of an email from reader Brandon Wright. I’ve had encounters similar to the one he describes while riding my bike on the road, and I think he’s exactly right. As for the column he links to here, I don’t necessarily agree with the writer’s take on “obnoxious riders” but I do think his conclusion is correct and worth considering in Virginia.

Andy,
I’ve read your stuff, and know that of all the people at the Times Dispatch who could get something like this column from the Baltimore Sun out there, it’d be you. I commute by bike whenever I can to save money and train for races. When it warms up it’ll be daily. I’m selling my car, too. I just don’t need one.
What it boils down to is that I am tired of being buzzed by motorists who feel like I’m better off in a ditch. Like I don’t have a right to their road. I just hope that you can get awareness out there. I feel like this guy but without a camera to mount on my bike.
Thanks Andy. See you on the trail.

This is a very cool story with a happy ending. The below press release is from the Wildlife Center of Virginia.

The Wildlife Center of Virginia, a leading teaching and research hospital for native wildlife released an adult bald eagle on March 9 at the Dick Cross Wildlife Management Area near South Hill. Participating in the release was Ed Clark, president and co-founder of the Wildlife Center as well as staff from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, who helped in the rescue of this eagle, including Sergeant Robbie Everidge. 

On February 16, at about 7:30 a.m., the bald eagle was hit by a truck at milepost 17 on I-95.  Sergeant Everidge was called to the scene and found the bird, alive, on the side of the road.  The eagle escaped capture by flying off a bridge and into the Otter Dam swamp.  Sergeant Everidge returned to the site at about 4:30 p.m. and saw that the eagle was close to the same spot in the swamp.  He contacted VDGIF Conservation Peace Officers John Rush and Brandon Woodruff and planned a rescue effort for the next morning.

On February 17, Sergeant Everidge and CPOs Rush and Woodruff entered the swamp and successfully captured the eagle.  They borrowed a cage from the Greensville County Animal Control and, with an assist from volunteer transporter Clarke Brady, transported the eagle to the Center’s clinic in Waynesboro by shortly after noon.

Upon admission, the eagle was bright and alert, but had soft-tissue bruising, open wounds on the right thorax [chest], and superficial foot wounds – all consistent with a collision with a truck.  The bird was given fluids and treated with antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and pain medication.  While radiographs found no broken bones, tests revealed elevated blood lead levels in the bird. The eagle was treated with a medication that binds to lead in the blood, allowing it to be excreted from the body through the kidneys. 

The eagle responded well to treatment and was moved to a small outdoor pen on February 21.  By February 22, lead levels were within normal limits, and the eagle had gained weight.  On February 24, the Bald Eagle was moved to one of the Center’s 100-foot flight pens, where it has demonstrated that it is able to fly. 

“This eagle is a case study of what can be achieved through the cooperation of concerned citizens, state officials, and a non-profit organization,” according to Clark. 

Clark noted that speedy action probably helped save this eagle’s live.  “In animal medicine, as is true for humans, time is of the essence – quick medical intervention can make a huge difference,” Clark said.  “If this bird had spent much time on the ground – likely in some state of shock, unable to fly well, and with open wounds – its chances of survival would have decreased greatly.  Our thanks to the timely and determined help of the VDGIF staff.”

It is estimated that the Bald Eagle population of North America numbered about half a million before European settlement.  With the loss of habitat, shooting, and the effects of DDT and other pesticides, the U.S. eagle population plummeted. 

In 1977, there were fewer than 50 bald eagle nests in Virginia.  Today, the bald eagle population in Virginia is on the rebound.  There are now more than 500 active bald eagle nests in the Commonwealth. 

Every year, between 2,000 and 3,000 animals – ranging from Bald Eagles to chipmunks – are brought to the Wildlife Center for care. 

“The goal of the Center is to restore our patients to health and return as many as possible to the wild,” Clark said.  “At the Wildlife Center, we treat to release.” 

The eagle being released on March 9 is one of nine Bald Eagles admitted thus far in 2009 to the Center.

No, not me. Albert Dancy. The West Virginia native was recently buried in his favorite possession, his 1967 Chevy pickup, wearing Realtree camo and holding his Old Timer pocket knife and his Remington.243-caliber deer rifle. Seriously, this really happened.

Click here for the article in the Charleston Daily Mail. Click here for the slideshow.

Mr. Dancy’s last wishes have inspired me to put in writing, here for the first time, how I wish to “cross over” into the next world. If you are reading this and happen to be present at my funeral, please see to it that I am not buried. Instead I would like a funeral pyre to be put in the James River at the west end of Belle Isle, set ablaze, then cheered on as it traverses Hollywood Rapid. With me on the pyre I would like my 1993 Honda Accord, my crappy first mountain bike—a Gary Fisher Advance—and my first BB gun (I’m still sorry about killing that robin when I was 12. It never did anything wrong). I’d like to be wearing nothing but blaze orange and posed, as a taxidermist would a wild animal, in some sort of menacing posture.

Thank you. That is all. 

I didn’t get a chance to add any pics to the blog before last Sunday’s column on a new mountain bike race called the Devil’s Backbone Challenge (March 28th near Wintergreen). If you read the column, these should help you get a sense of the place. Maps of the race courses (beginner, sport, expert are all somewhat different) can be found by clicking here.

All of the below pics were taken by Jesse Peters.

The Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company, the race start/finish line, sits in the valley below Black Rock mountain, where Wintergreen Resort is located.

The view from the brewery includes the Three Ridges Wilderness area.

There was still snow covering some of the singletrack on the day I went up there with Woody Elliott and Jesse Peters.

If you like to climb, this is your course.

Here are some links to more information regarding today’s column on the Devil’s Backbone Challenge, a mountain bike race scheduled for March 28th near the Wintergreen ski resort (Rain date: May 23rd). The race starts and ends at the Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company. I grabbed lunch there a couple of weeks ago, and I can vouch for the quality of both the beer and the food. Top notch stuff.

Click here to register for the race.

A few factoids I didn’t get to mention in the column. According to Woody Elliott, who GPSed the whole course, the beginners will gain and lose a total of 1,900-2,000 feet over the eight miles of riding, Sport riders will do 4,000 feet over 14 miles and the Expert/Pros will climb and descend 4,400-4,500 feet over about 18 miles. Should be brutal.

Woody also put maps of each course online at Bicycling Magazine. Click here for a main page that has links to all three maps.

The race is one of 21 in this season’s Virginia Off-Road Series, which Woody and Jared Stangl set up last year as a way to incentivize people to enter races all season long. Like in NASCAR, racers accrue points throughout the season based on their placement in different events.