Rutherford Weekly

Thursday, August 25-August 31, 2022 www.rutherfordweekly.com 828-248-1408 Rutherford Weekly - Page 9 Email: Email: events@rutherfordweekly.com events@rutherfordweekly.com Mail or Drop-Off: Mail or Drop-Off: 157 W Main St, • Forest City, NC 28043 157 W Main St, • Forest City, NC 28043 *Publisher has fi nal decision of which photos appear in print, per available space. We Want Your Kids Sports Photos! •Basketball •Baseball •Softball •Soccer •Archery •Equestrian •Etc! We Want Your Outdoor Photos! We Want Your Outdoor Photos! Hunting, Fishing, Playing Ball, Etc. Hunting, Fishing, Playing Ball, Etc. Sportsman's Corner Sportsman's Corner Email: events@rutherfordweekly.com Mail: 157 W Main St., Forest City, NC 28043 Phone: 828-248-1408 *Publisher has the fi nal decision of which photos appear in print, per available space. One of the benefi ts of hunting is getting to see so many different animals and other things that one just doesn't get to see otherwise. I have renamed one of my trail cameras, the zoo camera, because it always has pictures of so many kinds of animals. On that one camera, within the last two months, I have pictures of deer, coyotes, bobcats, turkeys, raccoons, squirrels, and a bear. Not to mention the various birds. And not only do I get to see various creatures, but sometimes it's the oddities that are the most fun. It's when you see a piebald deer or an albino coyote. I look forward to seeing what shows up next, every time I check that camera. But these things are even more fun to see while I'm actually hunting. These are the real memories. The other day I read about a hunter who had one of these experiences. His was very odd. It was once-in- a-lifetime odd. He shot a deer with two heads. Well, not with two attached heads. One had come from another deer. The deer this guy shot had evidently been in a previous fi ght with another deer and had killed the other deer but was unable to untangle his antlers from the other one. So, somehow, as the other deer decomposed, the deer that won the fi ght was able to decapitate its foe. Since that time, however, he's had to walk around with a dead, smelly, heavy, cumbersome, remembrance of a victorious fi ght, that was not worth the price paid. The comparison, for me, was too blaring. When I saw the picture of the guy's trophy and the attached carcass, I thought about how many of the things people fi ght for are just not worth the hauls of a victory. While we may carry around the evidence of a win, it may also come with the stench of other spoils that may never go away. I wonder how many of us can remember a victory where the prize was not worth the win? And now the trophy is a burden of a painful memory. My friend, winning a battle, or an argument, over something that doesn't really matter may bring immediate satisfaction, but don't forget it could also be the very thing that brings about your own demise. The slow death of personal regret and its burdens is sometimes worse than the immediate pride that comes from destroying another. By By Gary Miller Gary Miller Aiming Outdoorsmen Toward Christ GARY MILLER Gary has written the Outdoor Truths article for 20 years. He has also written four books which include compilations of his articles and a father/son devotional. He also speaks at wild-game dinners and men's events for churches and associations. gary@outdoortruths.org Like the bog turtle itself, bog turtle populations in North Carolina are very small. A collaborative effort between multiple conservation organizations hopes to change that by giving them a little help. Last June, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), US Fish and Wildlife Service, Tangled Bank Conservation and Zoo Knoxville began a population augmentation process called head-starting. Head-starting involves raising turtles in captivity their fi rst year to increase their size relative to wild hatchlings, thereby increasing their chances of survival in the wild upon release. Head-starting is part of a much larger conservation effort for the bog turtle that includes habitat management and restoration, protection from unnaturally high-predation levels, collaboration with private landowners, addressing road mortality and land protection. Despite all these efforts, most populations are still in decline, and many have only a few adults remaining and even fewer or no young turtles, which is what prompted the Wildlife Commission to consider augmenting populations. "Head-starting is one of many tools in the conservation toolbox for the bog turtle," stated Gabrielle Graeter, a conservation biologist with the Wildlife Commission. "Wildlife biologists hope the new initiative will help bog turtles be able to one day thrive on their own." In June 2021, over 50 turtle eggs were retrieved from collection sites and transported to Zoo Knoxville to begin the head-starting process. Zookeepers incubated the eggs until the hatchlings emerged in August, then reared the baby turtles for 10 months. Zoo Knoxville has a long legacy with bog turtle conservation, beginning in 1986 after the late Bern Tryon, then director of herpetology, pioneered the head-starting program when they were discovered in Tennessee. Since then, Zoo Knoxville has been part of the reintroduction of more than 200 bog turtles into their native range. In 2021, Zoo Knoxville opened a state-of- the-art Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Campus (ARC), with a dedicated bio-secure room for the rearing of turtles slated for release. "As a modern zoo, it's our job to do all we can to contribute to the conservation of our most endangered species," said Michael Ogle, Zoo Knoxville's curator of herpetology. "We are proud we could be a partner to ensuring a future for bog turtles in North Carolina." This summer, wildlife biologists from the Wildlife C o m m i s s i o n returned the turtles to the native habitats where they were collected as eggs. It was a special day, as baby turtles scampered away into the cool mud. Around the same time this summer, about 70 more eggs were collected to continue the head- starting process. "Mountain bogs are rare ecosystems but are home to a number of rare species," said Adam Warwick, TNC's mountain stewardship coordinator. "There are very few mountain bogs today – likely just tenth of what there was before European settlement. That's why TNC protects, restores, and manages mountain bogs. Bog turtles are especially imperiled because they take six to seven years to reproduce and then only produce a small number of eggs. Turtle head-starting is an important component of TNC's mountain bog work." Wildlife Commission staff are collecting data and closely monitoring the success of the program. "Over time, as we evaluate this project, we will learn more about the utility of head-starting with bog turtles and when it is most appropriate," said Graeter. "As we learn more, we will adjust our methods to ensure this project aligns with the state's conservation goals for the species. I am grateful to all the partners that have come together to help make this project happen!" To fully evaluate the success of this project, monitoring will continue for decades due to how long it takes for the species to reach sexual maturity. It will be a marathon effort, but one this group is committed to seeing through. A Collaborative Approach to Restore Bog Turtle Populations Article by: ncwildlife.org. Zookeepers incubated the bog turtle eggs until the hatchlings emerged in August, then reared the baby turtles for 10 months. The Rutherford County Carolina Bass Club had 28 anglers to fi sh Mt. Island Lake Saturday, August 20, 2022. Typical August fi shing; water temp 85%, the fi sh were scattered but catchable, boat traffi c was moderate. Here are the tournament results: 1st place- The team of Phil Murray and Dean Ford with a 5 fi sh limit weighing 10.51 pounds. 2nd place- The team of Brian Branch and Doyle Hudson with a 5 fi sh limit weighing 10.24 pounds. 3rd place- The team of Richard Young and Josh Perkins with a 5 fi sh limit weighing 7.21 pounds. 4th place- The team of Terry Horn and Gary Horn with a 5 fi sh limit weighing 6.19 pounds. Dean Ford won the big fi sh of the day award with a 3.87 pound largemouth. Terry Horn won the 2nd big fi sh of the day award with a 2.81 pound largemouth. The Carolina Bass Club fi shes Lake Lookout September 17, 2022. Article Provided By: Rutherford County Carolina Bass Club Fishing Report ROSS ROSS WINDOWS WINDOWS THE BEST FOR LESS! CALL FOR ESTIMATE 828-437-4848 • DOUBLE PANE • FULLY WELDED • FREE LOW E GLASS ARGON GAS LIFETIME WARRANTY ©Community First Media Community First Media "up to 101 u.i." CALL FOR $$$BEST PRICE$$$ Strong communities are able to thrive thanks to the efforts of their residents, including those who give up their free time to volunteer with local charitable organizations. Though the impact of volunteers is often seen through the lens of the projects they help to initiate and complete, there's no denying just how valuable volunteers are from an economic standpoint. In its 2018 "Volunteering in America Report," AmeriCorps, an organization dedicated to strengthening communities and fostering civic engagement through service and volunteering, reported that Americans volunteered nearly 6.9 billion hours worth an estimated $167 billion in 2017. Volunteering fi gures to be even more valuable in the months and years ahead as towns, cities and countries look to recover from a global pandemic that claimed millions of lives and devastated economies big and small. As the world attempts to rebuild itself once the pandemic has ended, volunteers can play vital roles in reestablishing their communities. In fact, many people have already made that recognition. According to data from the professional social networking site LinkedIn, the site's users had added more than 110,00 volunteer activities to their profi les between the early stages of the pandemic in 2020 and the end of summer 2020. Did you know? You'll be You'll be glad you did! glad you did! BUY LOCAL LOCAL

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