
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 24, 1995                   TAG: 9511240065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: |The New York Times|
DATELINE: BEAVERDAM                                LENGTH: Medium

STATES RECRUITING WOMEN, KIDS TO HUNT PROLIFIC DEER

With abundant deer munching shrubs and crumpling cars, state governments are working to lure women and children to hunting, and are even promoting hunts in the way that tour companies plug cruises.

Thursday, Virginia hoped to thin the deer herd on a former plantation with a $250-a-person ``Southern Heritage Deer Hunt,'' designed like a 19th-century expedition, complete with a blessing of the hounds.

Louisiana teaches ``Beginning Shotgun'' and ``Rifle Markswomanship'' at its ``Becoming an Outdoors-Woman'' program, which has been copied by several states. A program in New York pairs adult mentors with teen-agers for hunts and game dinners

But opponents of such efforts say that many state wildlife departments have become hunting bureaus, and have neglected other ways of controlling herds.

Deer populations are surging around suburbs. At the same time, urbanization has choked the father-and-son tradition that once nurtured hunting.

So the states are stepping in. Gary Taylor, a wildlife biologist at the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, said several states were appealing to modern sensibilities with ``Hunt for the Hungry'' programs, which donate venison to needy people.

``Many communities have gone through the whole exercise of looking at alternatives,'' Taylor said. ``They all have arrived at the same conclusion: Hunting is the most efficient and effective means of controlling the deer population.''

In some areas, hunting remains a way of life. But here in Beaverdam, 40 miles northwest of Richmond, farms that were hunted for generations now sport ``No Trespassing'' signs, posted by outsiders who have bought and subdivided the land.

So local residents like Pee Wee Harper, hunting in camouflage fatigues before Thanksgiving dinner, have to go farther afield. The drive paid off for Harper, who bagged an 11-point buck - a prize mount.

Harper, a 42-year-old carpenter, added a Polaroid of his 11-pointer to the ``Wall of Fame'' on the ice machine at the Beaverdam Quik-Stop, where he lingered to shake hands and tell the tale as neighbors admired the kill, lashed to the bed of his pickup.

Harper lovingly patted the dead animal's neck as blood ran down the tailgate, spattering the gravel parking lot.

Critics of the hunting programs contend that public money is being used to promote sales of firearms. ``Hunting for the Big Bucks'' was how The Fund for Animals, a group that opposes animal abuse, put it in a report last month. The report accused states of a ``massive effort to recruit children into recreational hunting.''

The group said 31 states planned children's hunts during the current hunting season, up from five last year.

Michael Markarian, the group's director of campaigns, said, ``State wildlife agencies, even though they are supposed to represent every citizen, are acting as pro-hunting activist groups.''

And Bruce Hamilton, national conservation director of the Sierra Club, said states resisted other solutions. ``When we promote the reintroduction of natural predators, states routinely oppose it,'' he said. ``They make money by how many hunting licenses they sell.''

by CNB