Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 5 · column 6 of 9 · from the scan, no model involved
According to Rappahannock game warden Jim Bankston, the deer kill in the county for the 1980-81 hunting season was down slightly from the previous year. Bankston projected that the final tally will be between 700 and 750 deer, including does, once records are turned in on animals checked in neighboring counties. Last year, the harvest was around 830. ' “Fewer animals were killed this year than last because there were fewer hunters in the woods, not because of a scarcity of deer,” Bankston said.
While the deer kill was down, the bear kill climbed. Bankston reported. To date, the warden said, 16 cards have been turned in for bear, a record in Rappahannock. He added that Madison, Rappahannock and Albemarle counties may account for as much as a half of all the bears taken this year in Virginia.
Bankston attributed the increase in numbers slain to a scarcity of food in Shenandoah National Park which forced, the animals to come down to orchards and farms to forage. Although he predicted that the record kill will reduce population in the area for a few years, the warden doesn’t expect a shortened season. “We had a large number of bear complaints this summer because of the large bear population roaming around outside the park. This will keep things in balance.” He noted that of the 16 bears killed in Rappahannock, only two were females. "The males tend to wander much more." he said.
Cards for 57 wild turkeys were turned in for the county. Bankston continued, with a 50 per cent split between hens and gobblers. The turkey harvest for Rappahannock in 1980-81 is up slightly over the previous year, the warden said.
According to Bankston,
93.8%