TScottW99

Reward offered for information on killer of turkey hunter
By the Associated Press

April 18 2003

LEXINGTON, Va. -- An anonymous donor and a conservation group with a focus on turkey hunting are offering an $11,600 reward for information about the shooting death of a Maryland turkey hunter in western Virginia last weekend.

The Virginia chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries are hoping the reward will yield information about who shot David B. Stack, 44, of Nanjemoy, Md., while he was hunting with his family in Rockbridge County.

The federation initially offered a $1,000 reward. An anonymous donor pledged an additional $10,600 Friday, according to game department spokeswoman Julia Dixon Smith.

Spring gobbler season in Virginia, during which only male turkeys can be taken, runs from April 12 to May 17 this year, with hunting allowed from 30 minutes before sunrise until noon.

Unlike deer hunters, who wear blaze orange to be recognizable to other hunters, gobbler hunters wear full camouflage, including masks. They typically sit on the ground and use a hen call to lure their prey.

When Stack didn' t return to his camp Saturday, family members called local authorities, who called the game department, said Herb Foster, chief of law enforcement operations for the game department.

Game wardens and a state police helicopter with a heat sensor searched the area Saturday evening but stopped for the night.

Stack' s body was found Sunday morning, shot in the back by a rifle, Foster said.

The death occurs in the midst of a long-running debate about whether rifle hunting of turkeys should be outlawed in Virginia. Virginia is one of a handful of states east of the Mississippi that still permit it.

The vast majority of turkey hunters prefer shotguns. According to state game department statistics, 93 percent of turkeys taken in the last three years were by shotgun and 6.6 percent were by rifle.

Rifle opponents object to a weapon that destroys the turkey so there' s nothing left to eat. They also say rifles are too dangerous and hunters hit by rifle fire are much more likely to die than those hit by shotgun fire.


Anyone with information on Stack' s death is asked to called the game department' s Wildlife Crime Line, (800) 237-5712, or e-mail [email protected].

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local...lines-virginia

dochendrix

Unbelievable!!!! Get the rifles out of the woods during Turkey season.

TScottW99

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local...lines-virginia


Reward in death of turkey hunter grows to $16,600
By the Associated Press

April 21 2003

RICHMOND, Va. -- An anonymous donation of $5,000 has swelled to $16,600 the reward being offered for information on the shooting death of a Maryland turkey hunter in western Virginia this month.

Game wardens with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries are investigating the death of David B. Stack, 44, of Nanjemoy, Md., while he was hunting with his family in Rockbridge County.

Stack was found shot in the back April 13, one day after his family reported that he hadn' t returned to camp. Officials have determined that the bullet came from a rifle.

The Virginia chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation offered a $1,000 reward and an anonymous donor pledged an additional $10,600 on Friday, department spokeswoman Julia Dixon Smith said.

Spring gobbler season in Virginia, during which only male turkeys can be taken, runs from April 12 to May 17 this year, with hunting allowed from 30 minutes before sunrise until noon.

soonershooter

Not only was the shooter shooting at noise but he had to realize it was also a hen noise which would make him a poacher.

herman

I haven' t hunted in Va for many years but didn' t they change it for the fall season for shotguns only for turkeys?I would have took for granted they changed the spring season also???It allways pays to read the laws.
I hope they catch the guy that did it.I doubt if anything is done about it if they do.
Years ago here there was 2 guys that shot a man and his wife with a bow sitting in in a field at the same time,they both survied,but never did hear what the guys got for it.Now you try and convince me that was an accident[:@]
The last time I deer hunted in Va I had to take a young boy to the hospital that shot his self in the foot while gun hunting.I guess it hurt he was yelling his head off but the boys hunting with him wouldn' t come back to his aid so I took him and left him at the hospital.

TScottW99

Herman,
I' m sorry to say that rifles are allowed in both fall and spring. They just took the turkey season out of the rifle deer season, I guess that' s what your thinking about. We have shot size restriction on turkeys but not a rifle restriction nor a caliber restriction!?!? [:@]

herman

Thanks for the info,it has been years since I hunted in Va and it was around Moo maw lake,I think that was the name of it,have you ever hunted there, was plenty of turkeys and deer there then( late 80" s)its right close to the west Va line.
wish I could hunt there again but I don' t think I will ever get to because of of age and wifes disability.It sure was beautiful country.
during a bow hunt there I saw 3 very large racked bucks out in a cutout about 200 yds away going in the oposite direction from me,hunted hard for them during the gun and black powder season but never saw them again.I limited out on deer the 2 yrs i hunted there but none was a monster.
Good luck to you.

TScottW99

Nope, I' ve never hunted there. Have been planning on going up for a fishing trip sometime... the wife has been wanting to go fishing, might be a good place to go.

thundermug

Maybe it wasn' t an accident.... Whoever shot him could have done it in anger because the man had gotten this spot first.

I' ve seen fist fights, and heard of people being ran off at gunpoint for getting to a good spot before someone else.