It is a beautiful early fall morning. We had a day of rain that lasted through the night with the clouds clearing and a nice cool breeze coming from the north. All I have on my mind is deer hunting right now, but I feel compelled to write my column for this issue of Virginia Forests. This is my favorite time of year, and I hope I can reflect these feelings in what I write. But I cannot lie, my mind is on getting into my tree stand this afternoon with hopes of putting a tag on a nice eight-pointer I have seen on camera on my property in King and Queen County. How times have changed. When I first started hunting 40-some years ago, we did not have cameras to see what was out in the woods. We relied primarily on signs, such as deer rubs and scrapes, to make a guess as to how big that buck was or how long ago he had come through that area. Back then I could not wait for the next issues of Sports Afield or Outdoor Life to come out to read the stories and adventures that their writers had to share with us. Much of what I read seemed like adventures in far off places that I only hoped to experience. Now all we need to do is go online to find the latest YouTube video that someone just like me has put out. Things don’t seem as exotic and out of reach anymore. I grew up in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York. We had the great fortune of having an abundance of public land to hunt. If you really wanted to, you could find a spot to hunt miles from anywhere without seeing a soul. Of course, it is a huge challenge to get your deer out of those locations. But some hardcore hunters like those in Sports Afield magazine would do it. Back in those days we did not see many posted signs on property lines. I could leave my house to grouse hunt all the way to my buddy Marky’s house, crossing several local landowners’ properties without realizing it. If I saw Henry Coolidge as I crossed his lot, he would just ask me if I have seen any birds and then tell me where he saw them “budding” in the maples up the hill the evening before. I would see our neighbor, Ann Straight on what I thought was a large property at that time: 20-some acres we called Straight’s Hill. She would greet me and ask how my mom was and what we had “put-up” from the garden so far. Things certainly have changed. Now, when I go back home, there are abundant posted signs on boundaries I did not know existed back then. Homes have been built on most of the lots that I would cross on my two-mile walk to Marky’s house. Nowadays you won’t see any kids walking up the dirt road with a double-barrel shotgun, hunting grouse as they go to meet their buddy halfway. Rather than getting the latest intel on the grouse population, you might get a visit from the local sheriff’s deputy. As Times Change, We Can Prepare and Adapt Dan Hockenberger PRESIDENT’S COLUMN 3808 Augusta Avenue Richmond, VA 23230-3910 Phone: 804-278-8733 • Fax: 804-278-8774 vfa@vaforestry.org • www.vaforestry.org OFFICERS (2023–2024) President Dan Hockenberger Virginia Forest Resources, LLC West Point Vice President and President Elect Chris Harris Pinecrest Timber Co. Prince George Treasurer Christina Hager Dominion Energy Richmond Past President Stephanie Grubb International Paper Pawleys Island Executive Director Corey Connors Richmond EX-OFFICIO OFFICERS Paul Winistorfer Virginia Tech—CNRE Blacksburg Rob Farrell Va. Dept. of Forestry Charlottesville DIRECTORS Term Expiring 2024 Lavan Daubermann Colonial Farm Credit Mechanicsville Michael Harold Speyside Bourbon Cooperage, Inc. Harrisonburg John E. Jones III Central VA Land & Timber Montpelior Term Expiring 2025 Ben Cole Cole Timberland Management LLC Appomattox Laurie Wright Wright Forestry LLC Blackridge Jay Phaup Greif Packaging LLC Amherst Term Expiring 2026 Scott Barrett Virginia Tech Blacksburg John Reid Forest Resources Mgmt. Aylett Brian Irvine Roseburg Roanoke Rapids, NC Eric Goodman WestRock Clarksville STAFF Corey Connors, Executive Director Sonnia Montemayor, Deputy Executive Director Chris Frost, Operations Assistant The Virginia Forestry Association, chartered in 1943, is a notfor-profit, non-governmental, privately-supported association of forest landowners, wood product industries and businesses, loggers, foresters, forest use groups, and conservation-minded citizens. New board members are elected annually by mail ballot to all VFA members. Any VFA member may be a candidate for the board. —continued on page 28 Fall 2023 7
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