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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 Some ads do, some don't. Ours do. Bring some business to your business - advertise in this newspaper. Call us at 706-367-5233. We're online at MainStreetNews.Com