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Apparently, your money should be on the Canadians. This story is amazing.

We’re revamping the Friday Outdoors page and moving the calendar of outdoors-related events to the Website, but I wanted to give the guys at Orvis a little run. Their “Orvis Days” fall event is full of good stuff. Here’s the schedule:

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11

Beginning Fly-Casting Lessons
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Intimidated by the sport of fly fishing? Want to introduce your child to this great sport but haven’t had the time? Come attend this special session in the store’s casting pond, as Orvis Endorsed Fly Casting Instructor Captain Russ Cress will teach you how to cast and make sure you have what you need to get started. If you still haven’t decided whether or not to give fly fishing a try, now’s the time!

Burgers and Brews
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Enjoy sliders and sample beer from Legend Brewing Company, central Virginia’s oldest and largest microbrewery.

Learn to How to Take Advantage of Your Local James River
2:00 pm – 2:30pm
Whether you’re new to Richmond and just getting to know your local fishery or a seasoned angler who’s fished the James River for years… a kayaker or a wader… don’t miss this informative discussion on how and where to access all types of water stretching from Ancarrow’s Landing to the Willey Bridge. ALL IN ATTENDANCE WILL RECEIVE A FREE WATER RESISTANT MAP OF THE RICHMOND STRETCH OF THE JAMES RIVER !!

Big Water, Close to Home… Exploring the Delaware River System.
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
No need to travel all the way to the Rockies to find large water and big trout. The Delaware River system offers some of the best trout fishing in the world and Michael Kaplan will discuss all of the equipment, technique, and traveling how-to’s important to a successful trip to this premiere East Coast fishery only six hours from Richmond.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12

Rick Smith – Distinguished Brittany Breeder and Upland Hunting Dog Expert
11:30 pm – 1:00 pm
Renowned bird dog trainer, columnist for The Pointing Dog Journal, and hunting guide to dignitaries and a U.S. President, Rick Smith will be discussing his “Silent Command System”, developed for training upland hunting dogs around the world. Rick has handled four dogs into the “National Bird Dog Hall of Fame” and is the only person ever to handle a Continental breed to win “The International Endurance Open Shooting Championship”. Enjoy donuts, coffee, and free giveaways, while taking advantage of this great opportunity to talk to Rick about his distinguished Brittany breeding experience. Rick’s Wonder Lead product and Huntsmith DVD’s will also be available for purchase. All in attendance will automatically be eligible to participate in the Grand Prize Raffle… see details below.

Fly-tying Demonstration
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
With certain stretches of the James River seeing a lot of angling pressure, fishermen are often forced to utilize a variety of patterns to fool educated fish. Flies of the classic feather-wing style are commonly overlooked, easy to tie, and very effective. Learn how to tie these patterns and call on them as reliable substitutes when finicky fish become too wooly-buggered-out.

OCTOBER 1-12
SPECIAL IN-STORE ORVIS DAYS GRAND PRIZE RAFFLE
Enter to win a specially packaged, half-day Virginia quail hunt on the historic 3,500-acre Blandfield Plantation. The winner and a guest will join Dave Pomfret (Blandfield’s Upland Manager) with his 2007 American Pointer National Champion; Darin Strickland (Blandfield Guide, and Richmond Orvis Liaison); and three additional AKC Field Champion Dogs. After enjoying this fast-paced hunt from the luxury of a customized bird buggy, lunch will be provided at The Blandfield Lodge. See store for details and any restrictions that will apply. Drawing will be held on Monday, October 13… need not be present to win.

Today’s outdoors column was on the Virginia Capital Trail.

The Website for the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation has a lot of great information and pics to help bring it to life.

Click here for VDOT’s Va. Cap. Trail Website, with a clickable map that allows you to look at facts and figures for each section.

Here are some links to related subjects:

http://www.rivertrail.org is a website for the Arkansas River Trail, whose urban portion have done a lot for downtown Little Rock.

Here’s a .pdf file that talks about the economic benefits of the Va. Creeper Trail.  It’s pretty dense, but around page seven you’ll find visitation numbers and dollars spent.

Here you’ll find the Friends of the W&OD Trail in Northern Virginia. And here’s a blog where people discuss what they see along the trail.

We didn’t have room for this announcement in the Friday (Oct. 3rd) Outdoors calendar, but it’s worth mentioning that the Richmond Orvis store at the Short Pump Mall has a bunch of events coming up. Here’s the schedule for this weekend. Next weekend’s events will be in the calendar in the paper.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4

Beginning Fly-Casting Lessons
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Intimidated by the sport of fly fishing? Want to introduce your child to this great sport but haven’t had the time? Come attend this special session in the store’s casting pond, as Orvis Endorsed Fly Casting Instructor Captain Russ Cress will teach you how to cast and make sure you have what you need to get started. If you still haven’t decided whether or not to give fly fishing a try, now’s the time!

Burgers and Brews
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Enjoy sliders and sample beer from Legend Brewing Company, central Virginia’s oldest and largest microbrewery.

Alaska’s Orvis Endorsed Boardwalk Lodge
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
For years, web sites, magazines, and television have applauded Alaska’s Orvis Endorsed Boardwalk Lodge as one of the world’s top salt and freshwater fishing destinations. Come enjoy hors d’oeuvres while guide, Captain Bob Johnson, discusses the fishing and many other activities available to guests, the 5-star cuisine, and the scenic oceanfront accommodations offered by the lodge.

James River Catfish on the Fly
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Got the itch for fish large enough to test your 9 weight rod, but don’t own a boat or have the time to travel? Let us change your opinion of catfishing as we discuss the techniques and flies guaranteed to help you consistently fool one of the James River’s largest resident freshwater species. If you had no idea that 20+ pound fish can be caught with regularity in the middle of downtown Richmond, then this is one discussion you don’t want to miss.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5

Jack J. Sharkey – Distinguished Vizsla Owner, Handler, and Training Expert
11:30 pm – 1:00 pm
Jack J. Sharkey accomplished the impossible with his second Vizsla (Hungarian Pointer) when he became the ONLY Quintuple Champion in the 124-year history of the AKC. Come enjoy coffee, donuts, and free giveaways, while Jack discusses and demonstrates his field training techniques and how his book Winning Ways, chronicles his perspective on navigating competitive field, obedience, and agility trials. A limited number of signed books will be available for purchase. All in attendance will automatically be eligible to participate in the Grand Prize Raffle… see details below.

Fly-tying Demonstration
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Tired of standard old top-water fly patterns that lack variety and durability? Join us for an informative tying seminar that will focus on incorporating foam into your top-water patterns for increased buoyancy and functionality.

Primal Quest, North America’s most gruelling adventure race, has announced that next years 10-day event will be in the Badlands of South Dakota. A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Jeremy Kuhlen, a Richmonder who’s competed in at least two of the Primal Quest races. Click here…

Closer to home, the Primal Quest Sprint Series will return to Pocahontas State Park for another 4-6 hour adventure race on April 18. I did the first PQSS race back in May at Pocahontas SP. It was a lot of (painful) fun.

Here’s the schedule for next year’s expanded race schedule:

Northeast PQSS Series:

Event #1 - Richmond (April 18, 2009)
Event #2 - Detroit, Michigan (June 13, 2009)
Event #3 - New York/New Jersey (August 8, 2009)
Event #4 - Pittsburgh, PA (October 10, 2009)

Southeast PQSS Series:

Event #1 - Miami, Florida (March 15, 2009)
Event #2 - Charlotte, NC (May 16, 2009)
Event #3 - Nashville/Chattanooga, TN (July 11, 2009)
Event #4 - Atlanta, Georgia (September 12, 2009)

As you can see, there will be plenty of opportunities for teams to compete in these shorter, faster, Sprint Series races. In addition, points will be awarded to teams based on how they finish the race, and at the end of the season, an overall PQSS champion will be crowned. That team will win an automatic entry into the Primal Quest Expedition Race in 2010.

Field & Stream Magazine has a couple of interesting interviews with Barack Obama and John McCain in its latest issue, focusing on their views on guns, hunting, the outdoors in general.

Click here to read the article and the interviews.

The Department of Forestry is now live with its fall foliage info and “road-less-traveled” fall
driving tours. The link is http://www.dof.virginia.gov/fall/index.shtml

I received the below email today from the people at the new Bass Pro Shops off of I-95 in Hanover. In case you missed it, click here for the column I wrote about my visit to the store a couple of weeks ago.

STAR-STUDDED CELEBRITY CAST JOINS BASS PRO SHOPS FOR SPECIAL
EVENING FOR CONSERVATION AND RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY

Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops President Jim Hagale, Buckey Stanley, Chairman of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors, Cecil R. ‘Rhu’ Harris, Jr., Hanover County Administrator, Mark Weiss, Director of Economic Development for Hanover County, John Phair, CEO of Holladay Properties and other county elected officials along with Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World store manager Greg Bulkley are among those scheduled to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Green is in. Green is everywhere.

Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, makes a compelling case in this column in the Washington Post that hunters having been quietly “living green” for generations.

Kudos to the Post for making space for an insightful, well-written opinion that may challenge and surprise its core readership.

We didn’t have enough room to run a few things with today’s Outdoors column on hunting whitetail deer on public lands in Virginia.

First, here are the directions to Featherfin and Fairystone Farms WMAs:

Fairystone Farms WMA is located 15 miles northwest of Martinsville and 45 miles south of Roanoke, near the town of Bassett. From Bassett, the area is reached via State Route 57 west.

Featherfin WMA is located approximately 10 miles west of Farmville. From Farmville, take U.S. Route 460 west. Turn right onto route 626. At the intersection of route 626 and route 609, proceed north on route 609 to the WMA. Featherfin may also be accessed by taking Route 626 east from Route 24 northeast of Appomattox.

Click here for more information on the two WMAs from the DGIF Website.

The DGIF harvest summary from last hunting season includes some interesting information, including a list of the top 10 counties in the state.