My wife’s cousin, Mike O’Neil, and I came across this fresh bear print while out turkey hunting this morning. It’s from a farm on the James River in Goochland County. It was probably 6-7 inches, toe to heel. It was one of a couple we saw, but we never made contact with the burly critter that created it. That would have been quite a site! We also heard plenty of gobbling from a Tom or two, and flushed a hen, but never got a shot at a Tom.

The turkey season ends Saturday at sundown.

But perhaps I should have.

“It”, of course, is Annika Sorenstam’s startling announcement that she will retire from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season. That she would announce a date for her retirement isn’t surprising. She is, after all, pushing 38. That she would announce it 48 hours after playing brilliant golf while vaporizng the field in the final round of the Michelob Ultra Open is quite surprising. In retrospect, she dropped more than a few hints during her post-championship press conference at Kingsmill. She talked a great deal about feeling “relieved,” about feeling “calm,” about feeling “at peace.” She talked about her upcoming marriage to and honeymoon with fiance Mike McGee. She responded sharply when someone asked an innocent question about whether she intended to defend her Michelob title in 2009. After satisfying herself that the question contained no hidden implications, she offered a non-response response: “…at the end of the year I always assess a season (with respect to whether or not to play the next year). I’ve been doing that for the last few years. At this point, I feel great about what I’m doing.”

Why now? I don’t pretend to know. You’d have to know Sorenstam very well to be able to answer that question, and I don’t. But I can venture a guess. She knows the clock is running, both competitively and biologically. When you’ve been the best – perhaps the best ever – at a given endeavor, you don’t want to settle for making the cut and finishing in a six-way tie for 30th. Sorenstam will reach that point soon enough if she continues to play. Moreover, the player who has replaced her atop the world standings, Lorena Ochoa, is 11 years her junior and is only now beginning to understand how good she can be. The prospect of chasing Ochoa for the next 4-5 seasons surely holds little appeal.

Her personal life is a significant factor – perhaps THE significant factor. This will be Sorenstam’s second marriage. Her first unraveled when, as a tour insider once told me, her husband “got tired of being Mr. Sorenstam.” Clearly, she doesn’t want to travel that path again. Just as clearly, she wants children. She has wanted them for a while, actually. Ultimately, it seems an issue of time and devotion. Sorenstam ascended to the pinnacle of her sport by making an enormous investment of hours, effort and emotion. Staying at the pinnacle will require nothing less. My guess is, she is no longer willing to make that investment – and she knows it. I applaud her for her wisdom. We were privileged to see her when she was a matchless, magical competitor. That is how I want to remember her. Perhaps that is what she wants to remember, too.

For three days next month—June 6, 7 and 8 – you can fish for free in Virginia. No fishing license of any kind will be required for recreational rod and reel fishing on those days, except in designated stocked trout waters.

However, all fishing regulations—size, season, catch limits and gear restrictions – will remain in effect.

“We have some of the best river, lake and stream fishing in the country and we would love it if the non-fishing public would give it a try,’’ said Bob Duncan, Executive Director of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, which regulates freshwater fishing.

A Virginia saltwater fishing license costs only $12.50 a year for state residents, and much of that money is used for programs that directly benefit recreational anglers, such as boat ramps, artificial reefs and fishing clinics for children. A freshwater fishing license costs only $18 a year for state residents and a trout license cost $18 a year for residents. Those license fees also support valuable fisheries work across the Commonwealth.

On Saturday I completed my first adventure race, the Primal Quest Sprint Series, with friend Jason Miller. That’s me on the left above and Jay on the right.

What an unbelievable event, and what an entry into the sport of adventure racing. The 6-hour “sprint” was held at Pocahontas State Park, and despite the ridiculous amount of rain we’ve been getting, the course was in great shape. It went like this: 10 miles of running, during which you had the option of searching the woods for orienteering checkpoints; 15 miles of mountain biking on singletrack and fire roads; a 4-mile flat water paddle; “log pt” and a ropes course invention. It took us about 6:40, though we earned an hour of time credits for finding 3 of the 4 orienteering points.

It was brutal, but in a good way...I guess. Look for the column on the event this Friday.

As expected, Kyle Busch received a villain’s welcome from a crowd that unmercifully booed him during his entire ride around this 1.366-mile racetrack prior to the start of the Dodge Challenger 500. In contrast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. received another hero’s welcome after his late-race encounter with Busch at Richmond International Raceway last Saturday night.

Busch ignited this flame of disdain when he got into it with Steve Wallace at the end of the Nationwide race at RIRaceway. Then, he sprinkled fuel on the dying embers when he clipped Earnhardt near the end of the last Saturday night’s Dan Lowry 400, which denied Earnhardt his best shot at ending a 72-race winless streak.

Busch, who was jeered by the crowd after getting knocked out of the Nationwide race on Friday, responded with a Hulk Hogan-like gesture. He wanted to hear more from crowd, putting his hand to his ear and pumping his fist to incite more venomous attacks from the crowd.

Maybe Tony Stewart is right. NASCAR— at least Busch—is starting to look and sound a lot like pro wrestling. At some point, said a rival crew member, someone is going to “body slam the trash-talking Busch.”

Actually, I wanted to feel that sensation that Nationwide and Sprint Cup drivers experience as they try to tame this famed 1.366-mile hairpin. So I asked NASCAR officials if I could drive with Bodine riding shotgun.

Of course, they shot down the idea. They laughed, really.

As I strapped myself in the passenger seat, Bodine rattled off something about how many times he has hit the wall here. He laughed about that, too.

I forced a grin.

But I was thinking—as he scaled the banks coming out of the corners in turns 3 and 4 at about 140 mph—how many times the drivers banged into the wall during yesterday’s practice session.

Then, as Bodine turned toward the frontstretch I wondered aloud how Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon can easily finesse their cars in and out of the corners at Darlington while barely throttling down—and racing three abreast.

No one can truly appreciate the driving experience at Darlington by watching it on television or in the stands. Even though I got a sense of what’s it like to race on this high-banking racetrack, I’m not naive enough to believe that I came close to imagining what it’s like when the competitive juices are flowing as car roars down the straights at better than 200 mph here.

I’m not sure if I want to know. I was tightly holding on as Bodine inched closer to the wall in of Turn 4, a slick part of the racetrack that gathered up Johnson during yesterday’s practice.

I was relieved some with Bodine suggested Turn 4 won’t be the problem today. He said there will be wide-open racing and that the new surface will not stress the tires as much as they have in the past.

“There’s going to be a different strategy this time,” Bodine said as he turned toward pit road. “They can really go racing, but it’s a little tricky getting onto pit road.”

He might be right about pit road. You could feel the pace car bounce slightly as it dropped abruptly from the racetrack to the infield apron. So, don’t be surprised if someone misses a mark as they try to win the crucial battles off pit road today.

The way I figure, if anyone has it clue it’s probably Bodine. After all, he’s made enough mistakes here. I must admit it made the three-lap ride around the “too-tough-to-tame” racetrack much easier not knowing exactly how many times he’s kissed the wall here.

Paulk’s pick: Look for Hendrick Motorsports to perform well today. Jeff Gordon will finish just ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch. Busch wouldn’t dare knock Gordon off stride would he?

What makes Richard Childress Racing click? Find out in Tuesday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch

In fact, the first driver on the track eclipsed Burton’s mark of 173.797 mph. David Reutimann toured the 1.366-mile racetrack with a speed of 176.125. That number paled in comparison to the 179.651 put up by former Chesterfield resident Denny Hamlin during today’s final practice for tomorrow night’s Dodge Challenger 500.

Reutimann kept dropping down the speed charts like a bad record. Greg Biffle, a two-time winner here, post a 179.442, just shy of Hamlin’s practice effort. But he won the pole with a record qualifying speed of 179.442 mph.

A number of drivers weren’t sure what to expect during qualifying. But they were certain they wouldn’t have a problem generating speed—and plenty of it.

“The track is really fast,” said Kevin Harvick. “It’s really smooth. It’s going to be tough to make it all right this time and that’s probably not a fair situation to be in. But there’s nothing you can really do about it because you got to repave the racetrack in order to keep stuff from flying out of it.”

So far, a fast, slick track has gotten the measure of several drivers—including Hamlin and two-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who for the first time in his career crashed twice during practice. He used a back-up chassis during the final practice run and his crew had to hammer out the dents before he qualified third with a speed of 179.206 mph.

“I almost hit the wall, so when I was trying to pull it off the wall over here I just kind of spun it out to miss the wall, and I just brushed the inside of the wall” said Johnson, a two-time winner here. “But it’s just some cosmetic stuff, so we’re cool.

“I just barely grazed [the splitter], so the splitter must have caught on something. But we won’t go to another back-up. We’ll be using that car and we’ll be fine.”

Hamlin had a shot at winning the Nationwide pole earlier this afternoon. But the Manchester High School graduate put his car into the wall. He damaged his ride enough that he couldn’t complete his qualiyfing run, and he was forced to sit out tonight’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200.

Hamlin expects tomorrow Dodge Challenger 500 to be an unpredictable race, in part, because no one knows exactly what to expect on a track that is likely toi change some after tonight’s Nationwide race.

“Right now, it’s definitely going to be a situation where when guys get close to each other their cars are really going to get edgy. So, we’ll just have to see how it plays out.

Greg Biffle, a two-time winner here, post a 179.442, just shy of Hamlin’s practice effort. But there’s plenty of time and even faster cars still lined up to bump Biffle from the pole.

Dale Earnhardt, who is trying to snap a 72-race winless streak, qualified second. Tony Stewart was fouth quickest, followed by Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Emporia’s Elliott Sadler. Hamlin qualified 21st while South Boston’s Jeff Burton will start 12th.

The first practice session began with the Nationwide Series at 3 p.m. at Darlington Raceway. So far, former Chesterfield resident Denny Hamlin has posted the fastest practice speed (178.348 mph).

A.J. Allmendinger, who was sidelined for six weeks after he failed to qualify in the first three races of the season, continues to rebound. He toured the 1.366-mile racetrack with a Sprint Cup-best 178.679 in the first session.

The Nationwide drivers qualify tomorrow at 3:10 for the Diamond Hill Plywood 200. Sprint Cup qualifying for the Dodge Challenger 500 is scheduled for 7 p.m.

There were several crashes during practice. Scott Riggs and Steven Wallace—who was involved in a postrace altercation last Friday with Kyle Busch at Richmond International Raceway—were seen and released from the infield care center after both crashed.

http://www.brmsstore.com/blogs/community/article/52/run-like-a-girl-8k

This is from the Peregrine Fund:

Washington, D.C. – Studies of several bird species, including the endangered California Condor, have provided extensive documentation of the health hazard posed to birds that ingest lead ammunition residues in the remains of gun-killed animals. Now, new studies suggest that humans who eat game shot with lead ammunition may also be at risk. A conference to further explore these links, “Ingestion of Spent Lead Ammunition: Implications for Wildlife and Humans,” sponsored by The Peregrine Fund, will be held May 12-15, 2008, at Boise State University.

“We’ve been studying the effects of condor lead ingestion for years,” said Rick Watson, Vice President of The Peregrine Fund, a conservation organization that leads the California Condor recovery program in Arizona. “Condors are sickened and some die from eating the remains of shot animals. The possibility that other species, including humans, are also at risk prompted us to organize this conference.”

Recently published research suggests that even very low levels of lead exposure in children can cause learning disabilities, and in adults may increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease and death from stroke or heart attack.  Lead is also associated with impaired visual and motor function, growth abnormality, neurological and organ damage, hearing loss, hypertension and reproductive complications. The degree of lead exposure associated with many of these problems is much lower than previously believed.

North Dakota state health officials recently ordered food banks to discard donated venison because it can contain lead fragments. Dr. William Cornatzer, a Bismarck physician and member of The Peregrine Fund board of directors, made the discovery after learning about the problem in a Peregrine Fund report. Cornatzer collected about 100 one-pound packages of ground venison from food pantries in December and ran CT scans on the meat. The North Dakota Health Department confirmed the presence of lead in its own tests. Cornatzer plans to present his findings at the conference.

The Peregrine Fund will present results of its own recent investigation on lead in hunter-killed animals at the conference. The group is studying the amount of lead in venison from deer shot with standard lead bullets, which fragment into hundreds of tiny pieces upon impact. Their previously published research has shown that these fragments scatter widely into the meat along the bullet’s path of travel. Preliminary results of The Peregrine Fund’s current study will be given at the conference on May 13. The final report will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

A recent study found elevated levels of lead in Common Ravens during the hunting season for deer and elk in the Yellowstone region. Scavengers, such as ravens and raptors, eat offal piles left by hunters, or animals that were shot and not recovered.  These remains contain lead bullet fragments. Derek Craighead and co-authors of the raven study, are expected to present additional data at the conference showing that lead is also reaching elevated levels in Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, and other scavengers during the hunting season.

Recently, there has been a great deal of attention on the problem of lead bullets due to the poisonings of endangered California Condors, highlighted by several independent studies that will be presented at the conference. The use of lead bullets has been banned in the California range of the condor, and work continues to protect the species in Arizona through voluntary use by hunters of non-lead ammunition.

“When informed of the severity of the problem for condors, most hunters in Arizona have chosen to use non-lead ammunition to benefit wildlife,” added Watson, “and once the results from the conference become widely understood, hunters may also choose non-lead ammunition to benefit themselves and their families.”