Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 12, 1993 TAG: 9311120150
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: COVINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Plans to open a preserve in the county's Potts Creek area by Dec. 1 were discussed at a Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday night.
The 170-acre Bora-Walla Game Preserve will be located near Virginia 610 and will employ up to 10 people, said Ken Martin, a managing partner in the business venture.
The Bora-Walla will be one of three exotic-game preserves in Virginia. The others are in Cumberland County and Martinsville. Exotic-game preserves are common in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, North Carolina and Texas, but Martin said they are rare in Virginia because of stringent regulations.
"I think this could be a lucrative industry in Virginia," he said.
Martin said he expects the Alleghany County preserve will lure hunters from throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern portions of the United States. He projects that Bora-Walla will draw 200 hunters during its first year of operation.
"We chose Alleghany County because of the terrain," Martin said. "The mountains are beautiful, and they're not rugged to the point where they can't be used by the average person."
He also cited the county's central location in the state.
Approximately 75 animals will be kept in stock at the preserve, which will be enclosed with a fence. The stock will include buffalo, goats and seven varieties of wild sheep.
The preserve will offer lodging for up to six hunters when it opens, and will be expanded later to accommodate 12. The preserve will operate six days a week and will also offer a taxidermy service and 3-D archery range.
Excess meat from the preserve will be donated to the Hunters for the Hungry program, which is operated in Virginia by the St. Andrew's Society and the Virginia Deer Hunters Association.
Martin said his business partner, Betty Hawkins, appeared before the supervisors during a work session.
Martin used to work for a Highland County preserve that features white-tail deer.
by CNB