The Farmville Herald And Farmer Leader

Powhatan Game Association Finding Answers To Mounting Gun Pressure

Powhatan county's Department with wildlife food patches is paying dividends even though there is much more to be done. So reports McQuire Morris Jr., county game warden and an interested supporter of game conservation.

The county was the first in the Commonwealth to purchase a tractor for exclusively plowing up and tilling out the patches. The board of supervisors authorized the expenditure for the tractor from the dog license income four years ago.

Today the county supplies game food in 20 tractor-planted patches and 200-300 patches planted by individuals.

In addition the Powhatan County Game Conservation Association encourages farmers to leave odd corners and small patches vacant when harvesting wheat and small grain.

Last year Powhatan's deer kill was 50 and the doe numbers are on the increase. Morris believes the county's hunters bagged 4 turkeys and had unusually good luck with quail.

Much of the success Morris attributes to the county's committee system of game conservation and the more-than-average thought of such men as Floyd Yates, a Powhatan businessman who last month was elected president of the Virginia Wildlife Federation.

Morris last February sold the state during a sales campaign on subscriptions to the Virginia Wildlife Magazine. For his effort he won a 22-gauge Remington automatic shotgun and was featured in the magazine October issue.

Plugs Conservation

Morris is a firm believer and plugger on behalf of the patches which provide food and cover all the year round for Virginia game, especially quail. He and the soil conservationist will be taking orders come February for seed for the patches.

The seed is supplied free to landowners in exchange for their promise to protect the patches from fire and grazing by domestic animals that don't need the wild food.

The seed packages contain a mixture of millet, Korean lespedeza, cowpeas, soybeans, buckwheat and cape. The growth provides heavy cover and when the seeds mature into vines the stalks provide food in snow, ice and sleet when game birds and animals have difficult time finding sufficient food.