Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 89

lr" i1 outdoor page DETROIT FREE PRESS SUNDAY, DEC. 19, 1982 "J1H Carolina's coast is hunter's delight JT. TJ- J. 'T Virginia NORTH CAROLINA By TOM OPRE firee Press Outdoor Writer BELHAVEN, N.C. "Down East" is what North Carolinians call this country, this fertile-flat maze of ancient cypress swamps where waters drain sluggishly from the Pungo River into Pamlico Sound, a saltwater sea protected from the raging Atlantic's -a 1 ir'x ft Belhaven I frT7 winter storms by a thin string of Cape Hatteras islands.

After all, in North Carolina, everything slopes toward the sea. 0L erns reraam- So do plantation man- sions. now collapsing like the slave cabins surrounding them. But the swamps are grudgingly yielding to man, a fact that alarms lnral privirnntnentalists. Drainage mmr Free Press Map by DOMINIC TRUPIANO The North Carolina license entitles the hearer to take home as many as four deer.

honorable sport "down You perched andi waited. When deer appeared on the road, shots were often long (high-power rifles are the rule; buckshot is used only when hunting with dogs). All of us encountered bear signs on our forays into the second-growth jungle. George and Larry actually saw, bear, a creature biologists say is disappearing from coastal areas. Jim said he saw a cougar (the rare endangered eastern mountain lion) standing in the road a month earlier.

Bobcat and grey fox are abundant. We all passed up shots on does and fawns, too, despite permits to take them. Bucks had been thinned by previous hunting pressure. Jim had a long shot at one but missed. And between the full moon cycle keeping deer afield longer at night (and bedded longer during the day) and the heat (unseasonably warm 75 to 80 degrees each day), we did not fare well.

THAT'S WHEN Uncle Hoyle called. He and Nick had flown into an airport in the next county (I dare not divulge exactly where). Several years ago they obtained permission to hunt the airport grounds, and it had always been productive especially for bucks. We arrived by car that afternoon. Hunting here was done from high in yellow pines bordering the runways, sometimes as much as 40 or 50 feet in the air.

The arrow-straight trunks of the pine trees literally could be "walked up" with a climbing tree stand, the occasional dead limb being sawed off on the way up. Williams -had been right. That first evening, watching out over the cutover pine and briar tangles surrounding the airport, Nick shot three deer two does and a buck in about 45 minutes as they came into the clearings. He mentally marked where each fell for fater recovery. The next evening he killed another buck, this one a five-pointer.

The only creature running under my tree was a fox. Larry saw no deer, either. But the others passed on more does and fawns. We hadn't thinned the deer population much, but then we had seen quite a few. "It's just the weather," Caruthers counseled when we finally left the club.

"The weather and the phase of the moon." He and his wife had sweetened the pot, anyway, by offering a dinner of fresh and steamed oysters and shrimp, taken right from the Sound topped by a huge roast of venison. It was small solace, I guess, for not bringing home much venison of my own. But the "down east" cooking was as tasty as the fun and camaraderie these genteel Southerners had offered all week. So who really cared? fi v.1 Wi It) .41 .1 11 .4 Larry Hand ditches expose cypress that is cut and burned. The resulting volunteer maze of myrtle bushes, bay trees, pine and broom sedge flats is fair for grazing cattle.

Cleared of all wild vegetation, the soil is shot through with rich peat and is ideal for raising soybeans. raises something else pretty good, too. Deer. Harry Caruthers, a transplanted "down easter" who leaves the foothills each fall when hunting seasons begin, said old-timers had told him that draining and clearing the swamps had created more and larger deer. "ALTHOUGH AN average buck might weigh just 110 pounds on the hoof, there are plenty of them.

There are so many, in fact, that the state's natural resources agency annually establishes several late-season either-sex deer hunts of two to 14 days (and these following liberal bow, muzzleloader and rifle deer seasons). For an out-of-stater, a hunting license costs just $43.50 (combining a six-day hunting tag for $25 and a big game tag for for six dollars more you get a year-round hunting license). In Michigan, a license to bag one deer costs a non-resident $100.75. The North Carolina license can entitle the bearer believe it or not to take home as many as four deer, two bucks and two does. Larry Hand suggested the hunt.

Hand, the former outstanding defensive lineman for the Lions, moved to Winston-Salem five years after he retired from football. "These are a great group of guys," he told me on the telephone. "They have 18,000 acres under lease, loaded with deer and quail. Come on down." il ill -in While the western mountainous areas of North Carolina have many public hunting grounds, very few exist "down east." Almost all hunting is on privately leased farmland. Coming here to hifht without prior arrangements for access is foolish.

"We shoot trespassers," one landowner told me without smiling. THE PEOPLE we hunted with turned out to be a family the Chrysson brothers, George and Jim, both in the real estate business in Winston-Salem. Their brother Nick and uncle Hoyle Williams joined us later (or rather, we joined them, I guess). They and Caruthers were part of a 35-man group leasing the "club," a rather generous designation since accommodations included two old school buses, a small travel trailer, one converted semi-trailer and an open shed. We opted to stay in town at the antique, yet luxurious, River Forest Manor, a stopover for boatmen on their way south along the intercoastal waterway.

Hunting at the club was from tree platforms or elevated blinds perched on tall poles at the intersections of back-country tracks. Much of the foliage was so thick it was impenetrable except by wildlife (or dogs, since chasing deer with dogs is an old and Free Press Photo bv TOM OPRE Trvvd Jim Chrysson sits in wait high above the ground (see circle, photo at right) and takes aim from his perch (above). outdoor calendar Anti-hunters shoot offivith faulty ammo Acquaintances often ask me if it's irksome to be pilloried in readers' letters and by other columnists (or what I've written such as the recent counterattack from anti-hunters over i '82 Avhitetail harvest estimated at 153,000 Michigan's Department of Natural Resources estimates firearms deer hunters took home 153,000 whitetails during the recently completed season. That is about 10 percent below last fall's record take of about 170,000. If the estimate is correct, the 1982 harvest was bested only by last year's take and the 162,000 taken in 1952, making this fall the third-best deer season on record.

Preliminary data shows a buck kill: of 109,000, compared with nearly 124,000 last year. Biologists have estimated the buck kill was off 14 percent in the Upper Peninsula and nearly 20 percent in the northern Lower Peninsula. Southern Michigan hunters experienced a six percent decline in bucks taken. Some 49,000 antlerless deer were' taken, the DNR says, nearly the same-total as last year. Monday Late goose hunting season; opens, Southeast Michigan Goose Management Zone only (check DNR waterfowl guide for exact boundaries), three Canada geese permitted daily; Detroit Chapter of Michigan Salmon Steelhead Association meets, Behnan Social Hall, 25536 Lahser south of Northwestern Highway, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 31 Mink, muskrat and raccoon trapping seasons end, Upper Peninsula only; black bass season ends, statewide. Jan. 1 Archery deer hunting ends, Lower Peninsula; ruffed grouse hunting ends, Lower Peninsula; bobcat hunting begins, northern Lower Peninsula (consult DNR hunting guide for open counties), no trapping allowed, bobcat must be registered within 72 hours at DNR office; sturgeon hook-and-line fishing season begins, inland lakes and non-trout streams; pike and muskie spearing through the ice begins statewide, except designated trout lakes (no muskie spearing allowed in Lakes Erie and St. Clair and the Detroit and St.

Clair rivers). my attack on an animal-control bill that was killed recently in the state Legislature. Nope. It's an occupational hazard. Columnists express controversial opinions on both sides of most issues.

Other columnists' or readers' disagreement is expected, especially in a debate about hunting. 1 do chuckle a bit when an anti-hunter demands that this newspaper employ an anti- Tom Opie ucts in their manufacture. In the long run, what more non-renewable resource is there than oil? IT'S EASY TO BE misled these days, especially by anti-hunters. And don't think it ends with hunting. Animal righters eventually target trappers, farmers, research labs, pet sellers, pet owners and perhaps even restaurants and grocery stores with their half-cocked measures.

Are they treating live lobsters in a tank humanely before they boil them alive and eat Sound silly? Fishermen should recall that a former Humane Society of the U.S. publication spoke out against causing fish pain by hooking them. Add sport and commercial fishermen to the list of people perhaps affected eventually by animal righters. Those folks will tell you that rhetoric such as this is just meant to scare you. They're right.

Few people oppose reasonable controls promoting humane treatment of animals, and few oppose reasonable neutering regulations to control pet populations. There is a pet-control measure in the state Senate that may prove worthy of support. Sen. Robert Geake, R-Northville, will have to reintroduce his Senate Bill 952 in the next legislative session since it died without action this year. The bill was written mostly by a group of veterinary and dog breeding associations.

An aide to the Senate Public Health Committee said last week that any bill seeking to modernize Michigan's 1919 State Dog Law "would have to be very precisely crafted to insure that it doesn't produce unintended results later." Amen to that, Militant animal righters continue to rcteach us all an old lesson. It pays to be careful with whom you deal. court, they felt, to seriously hamper hunting as a sport and wildlife management as a science. The Michigan United Conservation Clubs the sportsmen's most effective lobby in Lansing agreed that the bill was bad. So did various pet-breeders groups and some veterinarians.

I'm told that farm interests were skeptical, too. So hunters groups (and outdoor writers) were not the only ones saying Wills' bill was a big mistake. Apparently the chief sponsor, Rep. David Evans, D-Mt. Clemens, agreed.

He asked the Senate Public Health Committee chairman to kill the bill without a hearing. I CAUTIONED, THOUGH, that such efforts on the part of humane groups (especially those as militantly against hunting as the Humane Society of the United States, with which the Michigan group is affiliated) and other "animal righters" are only beginning. They have not won any issue at the ballot box, so they are turning to state legislatures, Congress and the courts, especially federal courts. It's frightening to realize how pervasive this small minority has become. Animal-rights courses are being taught in law schools.

Vour kids are probably getting a dose of it, even in grade school, when they encounter some zealous teacher. It permeates the media. Even John Kelly and Marilyn Turner last week turned down a fur-coat designer for a guest spot on one of their shows because they didn't think it right to show dead animals' skins. But someone ought to tell the Kellys that natural fur coats promote wise use of renewable resources (as long as they are not made of threatened or endangered species, a practice outlawed in this country anyway). Fake furs require petroleum prod LAST DAYS! 111 XMAS GIFT TO YOU hunting writer to offset its pro-hunting writer, namely me.

In case you haven't noticed, we have a general columnist, a political columnist and an editorial writer who are vociferously anti-hunting and proud of it. I'm already outnumbered. WHAT SET OFF my debating rivals lately was my derisive view of H.B. 6099, written by the Michigan Humane Society. David Wills, the society's executive director, complained that I never read his bill.

Fact is, he never asked me. I did read it and the analyses of it offered by others with some interest. Not being a legal expert, I always seek out these opinions, just as legislators and other press representatives do (or should) to fully understand a bill's possible implications. The Department of Natural Resources, for one, strongly opposed the bill. It could have been used in BF Mm THE ishin Hole I JIFFY POWER 8 INCH ICE AUGER M7295 outdoor tip ONE DAY SERVICE CALL FOR APPOINTMENT Auto Painting Prices Rolled Back! 1 "7 USE OF SPORTSMEN'S DOLLARS QVESTIONED Report could doom fee increases ZEBC0154 CLOSED FACE SPINNING REEL ONLY 24" l'OELUXE'4'PAmTI'Jpp DELUXE ICE TENT 39" When hunting cottontails, never walk past an old pile of tree limbs, a blown-down tree top, any thick clump of brush or even a pile of old trash without giving it a good kick or two or three, Cottontails use these thick, protected areas as prime winter cover, even digging burrows underneath them.

Fresh Iracks on the snow around such places should indicate cottontail use, Be prepared for a quick shot once you kick the pile. PLUS MANY OTHER MODELS CHECK US OUTI BALE ENDS 12-24-82 1 AW DEC. HOURS: 10-8 12-6 SUNDAY INTERSTATE'S TRANSMISSION MAINTENANCE SERVICE. $95 Change transmission fluid Adjust bands, if needed Clean screen, if needed This service helps prevent transmission problems. Should you already have a problem, we'll diagnose it for you and recom Replace pan gasket Complete road test mend just wnat i visa LANSING The powerful Michigan United Conservation Clubs may fight any increases in the cost of hunting and fishing licenses in light of a privately prepared report released last week by a joint legislative committee.

Such a stand, capital observers agree, would doom legislative efforts to raise the price of annual licenses. The report, financed by MUCC, cites several areas of what it calls "questionable" use of sportsmen's dollars. It was prepared by David Drews, a member of a Detroit accounting firm. Rep. Thomas Anderson, D-Southgate, retiring chairman of the special joint committee, said the committee would submit the report about Department of Natural Resources' spending of Game and Fish Fund money to the incoming Legislature "along with recommendations from the committee on what might be done to correct some of the spending practices highlighted in the report." Anderson emphasized that he found nothing in the report to indicate that the DNR was guilty of unlawful use of money, but said, "There are certainly some areas where we have to examine how the money is being spent." James Cleary, assistant director of the DNR, said earlier that the agency would be about $4 million short in the Game and Fish Fund by 1984 if license increases weren't approved soon.

MUCC's anti-increase stance is not official. But Tom Washington, the group's executive director, said he anticipates no support of license increases soon. We never suspected when we undertook the study to find that anything illegal was being done by the DNR," Washington said. "But we found thAt it was easy for the DNR to use these sportsmen's dollars for things they were not originally intended for. "We think the report raises enough questions to urge our membership to further license fee increases until certain changes are made in spending formulas." The MUCC report called questionable such practices as: Spending $2 million annually to pay for fish plants and enforce regulations in treaty waters where Indians are the principal beneficiaries.

Paying all expenses of regulating non-Indian commercial fishing, nearly $750,000 a year. Subsidizing lawsuits in the attorney general's office which only indirectly affect fish and game, lawsuits the attorney general prosecutes despite DNR indifference or opposition. The legislature's failure to reimburse the Game and Fish Fund for the cost of giving senior citizens a discount on licenses. A 1979 bill says it should; MUCC calls this a "social welfare" program. Paying for DNR staff time devoted to business other than fish and game matters.

Spending $1.35 million annually to support waterfowl management and hunting areas that service a small percent of the state's duck hunters and which are not supported at all by others who use them, such as bird watchers, campers and picnickers. Spending 14.4 percent of the wildlife division's budget on put-take pheasant hunting which is used by only 1.6 percent of the state's small-game hunters. Tom Oprc needed. Detroit fis I Atf1 i Clawson 700 14 Mile Rd. 13033 Gratiot 1 .1 435-2162 Livonia Wvto WKWWWW 12500 Conant 892-6667 Plymouth Rd.

261-5600 Warren 17333 Llvernois 341-5772 241 1 1 Groesbeck(M97) Redlord 773-3801 23400 Dequindre 1 26357 Grand Rivor Ave. 533-2411 Ponllac Lincoln Park 31 18 W.Huron 2084 Dix-Toledo (M59) 383-6600 682-7433 J. 759-42UU Dearborn Heights 6152 N. Telegraph Rd. 565-0690 DETROIT, 13620 EVERGREEN 272-3100 DEARBORN, 1O1O0 FORD RD.

846-5050 FERNDALE, 836 E. 9 MILE RD 548-7300 LANSING, 1 127 N. CEDAR ST 485-1708 LINCOLN PARK, 2068 DIX AVE 382-6390 PONTIAC, 1 10 S. TELEGRAPH RD 681-0888 REDFORD, 25161 GRAND RIVER 535-6995 ROSEVILLE, 28010 GROESBECK HWY 772-2320 TROY, 33181 DEQUINDRE 585-6820 WARREN, 7657 E. 8 WILE RD 757-5600 SO IS OUR WE'RE.