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PACE 2B
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008
OUTDOORS WITH SKIPPER
An enjoyable morning on the Soque
L ast Friday Lance Herrin of Lake
Lanier, and myself decided to
head up to the Soque River out of
Clarkesville to see how the trout were doing.
The last time Lance had gone with me
was when Dr. John Blumer also accompa
nied us. If you recall some of the past sto
ries, all three of us had attended high school
in Tampa, Florida. Doc had cancer, and
passed away last year. We had been friends
for over 50 some years.
Now Lance and I are the remaining two of
the original threesome. We met up with our
host, and soon headed to the woods and the
river, me on the front of the four wheeler,
Ron driving, and Lance on the rear. It was a
wonder all the tires didn’t blow.
We arrived at the same spot where all
three of us had fished in the past. The
sandbar, where Doc had sat in his chair and
caught the big one, was now washed away.
Being a good friend, I told Lance, that I
would just wait a bit before fishing, and let
him have the first chance.
It wasn’t too long before Lance was onto
a nice one. His drag was screaming, as the
trout made runs. When he thought he had it
coming in, it took off way across the river
on another rod bending trip.
A nice rainbow that we estimated at
around three and a half pounds. After that
event, I decided it was time to fish. We
both landed a couple more “bows” around
a pound and a half each. Lance caught a
catfish and some redbellies also.
The river was low, and the current slow.
We will give it another try when the weather
turns cooler.
At lunch in Cornelia, we ran into the
game warden for the area. Buddy Lovell,
and had a great visit sharing stories. By the
way. Buddy says there are plenty of bear
up in the area. Saturday should have been
a good archery day, for bear, in spite of the
hot weather.
Speaking of the heat, I went out in my
back woods Saturday evening. I didn’t have
a bow or the crossbow
I hope to have shortly. I
only took a small cam
era with me.
As I entered the gate,
a deer blew and took
off, ran a few yards and
stopped to see who I
was. It then quickly ran
off. When I got up in
my ladder stand, I was
sweating up a storm. It
reminded me of days
bow hunting in Florida, with sweat and
mosquitoes, and me wondering why in the
world would a person hunt in that situation.
Well, it wasn’t long before I heard a sound
behind and slowly turning around, I noticed
a yearling and a doe. I glanced again and the
yearling was bedded down. Soon the mother
had circled around and was looking at me.
She would stomp a bit, but I didn’t move a
muscle.
Shortly she went back to looking for
something to eat. This went on for 30 min
utes or so.
She was within bow or crossbow range
several times, if I had wanted a deer for the
freezer. Then right at dark I hear another
sound, and here come a set of twins, hers I
reckon.
They are now right at my stand, I could
have reached out and touched them if I
had been on the ground next to my stand. I
slipped the camera out and took a picture,
the little one never looked up, and didn’t run
off at the flash.
Well, even though it was hot, I did enjoy
being back in the woods once more. If you
got a nice deer, or a bear let me know about
it.
Skipper Smith is an outdoors columnist
for The Banks County News. His column
appears weekly. Let him know about
your outdoors or hunting adventures at
706-677-1520.
skipper
smith
BRINGING IT IN
Lance Herrin with around a 3.5 pound trout from Soque River during a recent
outing with fishing columnist Skipper Smith.
Run continued from page IB
Jorge Diaz, another return
ing state participant, ran 19:49
at East Jackson while Simon
Hurtado, a returning state al
ternate, set a personal best
mark of 19:54.
Sophomore Trey Martin ran
20:09 last week while Nathan
Holloway, a junior, set a per
sonal best of 20:28.
Freshman Avery Chastain
ran a 20:42.
For the Lady Leopards,
Vanessa Hurtado, a returning
state qualifier who had a stel
lar 2007 season, ran a 24:25 to
lead her team last week.
Sarah Wolf, also a returning
state participant, ran a 24:26
followed closely by Amy Sims
in 24:37.
Freshman Maggie McCoy
ran her first varsity race in
25:15 and senior Tiffany sims
set a personal best mark of
25:28.
Kayla Mabry finished the
event in 27:44 while Jessica
Grisham ran a 27:49.
“We are excited for our
teams,” McDuffie said. “Sev
eral of them are beginning the
season where they left off last
year. Our course is super hard.
We appreciate everyone work
ing so hard on it this summer.
At the beginning of the sea
son I was concerned about
the leaders rising up. We defi
nitely have runners who will
lead and they are doing a great
job.”
Preview continued from page IB
With BCHS defeating Rabun County last sea
son, Armstrong said it will be important for his
players not to overlook the Wildcats in 2008.
“It would be human nature to be a little over-
condident but I believe we have matured as a
team and won’t have that problem,” the coach
said. “Playing Rabun at their place gives them
at least a touchdown advantage.”
Scheme-wise, the Wildcats use a run-ori
ented attack using a spread attack mixed with
some wishbone.
“They have some quick backs, a good quar
terback and remind me of Dawson County with
their size,” Armstrong said.
D
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