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    <title>Sports Columnists &gt; Andy Thompson for Richmond Times-Dispatch</title>
    <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists</link>
    <description></description>
    <dc:language>en</dc:language>
    <dc:creator>Richmond Times-Dispatch</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights>Copyright 2009</dc:rights>
    <dc:date>2009-11-25T08:23:23-05:00</dc:date>

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          <title>Let&#8217;s talk turkey, the wild kind, this Thanksgiving</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY22_20091121&#45;204402/307193/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Always has been. If I have a second favorite, it&#8217;s not even close. I love Thanksgiving because it&#8217;s the only holiday on which all Americans can agree. We dress up, get together with friends and family and sit around a big table. On that table are foods we hadn&#8217;t considered eating since last Thanksgiving. But we sit there anyway, look around and realize we have many reasons to be thankful.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:01:14 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>OUTDOORS: Fishing for trout washes your soul</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY20_20091119&#45;212603/306820/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Ilike people who need no excuse to go fishing. You simply broach the subject, and the conversation quickly turns to matters of when and where&#8212;logistics&#8212;not why it can&#8217;t be done. That&#8217;s Mark Emory for you. The 44-year-old Richmonder recently shut down his audio-visual consulting business of 14 years because of the sour economy. He&#8217;s making ends meet with savings until he finds another job, for which he spends most of every day looking. But Emory is a fisherman, a fly angler usually, and he doesn&#8217;t have to be reminded of the value of a day spent on a mountain stream.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:05:47 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY20_20091119&#45;212603/306820/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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          <title>The Remington Man: His job is decidedly high&#45;caliber</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY15_20091114&#45;195601/305720/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The Marlboro Man rode a horse; Oscar Mayer wiener men (and women) drive Wienermobiles; Red Bull dudes drive Mini Coopers. Chuck Carlisle is the Remington Man, and he drives a custom truck that could swallow any of the above modes of transportation whole. Carlisle is also a Chesterfield County native, a Trinity Episcopal grad, a former forester and a lifelong outdoorsman. His job is to travel the Mid-Atlantic, park the Remington truck in front of outdoors stores, answer questions and show off Remington products.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:05:39 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>OUTDOORS COLUMN: Rogaines easier in 3D vision</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY13_20091112&#45;201602/305353/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
On the side of a mountain, tired and underfed, strange things can creep into a man&#8217;s mind. In that very situation this past Sunday, I found myself thinking: &#8220;Man, I could really use a pair of those 3D movie glasses.&#8220; Bizarre, I know. I was standing in a pine thicket holding a topographic map when this thought shot up from my burning quads, through my empty stomach and into my head. &#8220;It sure would be nice to look at this two-dimensional map and have it come to life in 3D, to have the valleys, ridgelines, spurs and hollows rise off the page.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:01:04 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Try This</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/local_other/article/TRY13_20091112&#45;201602/305356/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
On Dec. 19, the Central Virginia branch of the Quality Deer Management Association will hold its annual youth hunt at the Doodlum Hunt Club in Purdy. Hunters 15 and younger are encouraged to submit a letter of no more than 100 words explaining why they should be chosen to participate. The letter also should include the hunter&#8217;s name and birth date, address, daytime and evening telephone numbers, and an e-mail address of the parent or legal guardian who will attend.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Performed properly, a deer hunt is a portal into another world</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY08_20091107&#45;211603/304346/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
For the record, I considered taking this column off. I figured I&#8217;d get the editors to hang a sign in the spot where they normally put me: &#8220;Andy Thompson is out of the office. His column will resume when he comes down from a tree stand in Fluvanna or Prince Edward or Caroline counties or wherever he is. Don&#8217;t hold your breath.&#8220; Instead, I&#8217;ve emerged from the woods to bring you this dispatch. I do so reluctantly because, frankly, I&#8217;d much prefer to be out there still.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:01:44 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>OUTDOORS: White nose syndrome affecting state bats</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY06_20091105&#45;205404/303924/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
This past spring, the game department announced that it had found white nose syndrome in bats at two different caves in western and southwestern Virginia. The news was alarming on many fronts, not least of which is that so little is known for certain about the condition - how it is contracted, how it operates, how it kills. What is obvious are its outward signs: Infected bats exhibit a white fungal growth around their noses as well as on their wings, legs or tail membranes.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:01:51 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Frank Hollis: man, friend like no other</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY01_20091031&#45;222808/302953/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Is it a curse or a blessing to know the sunlight is fading, that you can count your last moments on Earth on one hand? Your body is failing, wracked by a cancer that invaded your liver and spread quickly. You don&#8217;t know how long you have, but it doesn&#8217;t feel like much. It&#8217;s a double-edged sword to know: You can count the precious few moments on one hand, but you also hold them in that hand. They&#8217;re yours.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:01:23 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>OUTDOORS: To draw a buck, smell like a doe</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY30_20091029&#45;221603/302490/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Like it or not, every deer hunter worth his fox urine cover scent must also be a scholar of chemical attraction. Of course, I aspire to be worth my fox urine cover scent, every last ounce of the bottle currently sitting in my garage next to the red oak acorn wafers and natural cedar incense sticks. To bag a big buck, you must think like one. And this time of year, with the rut almost upon us, that means thinking about sex.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:01:29 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Elk may be on the way back</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY25_20091024&#45;223006/301515/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
A little less than a year ago I wrote about the possible reintroduction of a substantial elk herd in Virginia. The eastern elk, of course, was native to Virginia and much of the eastern United States, but, due to hunting and habitat loss, the subspecies was extirpated from the region before the turn of the 20th century.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:01:46 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Park offers wildness close to civilization</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY17_20091017&#45;223204/300090/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
When I introduced the Urban Oasis series at the beginning of this year, the goal was to find patches of overlooked wilderness in the Richmond area. There are a surprising number of them - green spaces such as Williams Island, Powhite Park and Tuckahoe Creek that are often missed, even by outdoors lovers. But as I&#8217;ve searched the area for these places, what&#8217;s surprised me most are not the places that, through quirks of geography, are hidden away or off the beaten path. More surprising has been the number of places hidden in plain sight.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:05:42 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>OUTDOORS COLUMN: Their works truly are forms of art</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY16_20091015&#45;214402/299605/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts doesn&#8217;t reopen until May of next year. The November First Fridays isn&#8217;t for three weeks. What&#8217;s an art lover to do? Usually the answer to that question would not be, &#8220;Go to Orvis.&#8220; But tomorrow it is, especially if you&#8217;re into art with an outdoors theme. The fly-fishing store in the Short Pump Mall wraps up its Fall Orvis Days tomorrow with seminars on everything from duck and goose calling to targeting game fish around the Outer Banks. But for my money, the real draw is the art.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:01:43 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Patient 9&#45;year&#45;old bags career buck</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY11_20091010&#45;223004/298754/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Throughout the summer and into the early fall, the biggest celebrities in northwestern Powhatan County were a bruin and a buck. In still-rural communities like Pine Tree and Trenholm, the pair was as well known as any Hollywood A-List couple. &#8220;A few people had set up cameras in the woods up there to see the bear, and they had,&#8220; said Amy Potter, a lifelong Powhatan resident.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:01:09 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Sharp choice for Richmond baseball: the Flatheads</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY09_20091008&#45;214403/298279/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Imagine with me a day in the not so distant future. The ballpark debate has been settled. A gleaming stadium sits overlooking the floodwall and the river in Manchester. It&#8217;s April. Opening day. A day of pure promise. Your young son and daughter are ready, have been for hours. &#8220;Daddy, can we go now?&#8220; they plead in unison.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:03:51 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Video contest helps with message: keep the James clean</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY04_20091003&#45;222005/297333/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
As societal ills go, littering might not be up there with violent crime, political corruption or purse snatching, but there is something particularly galling about it. Really, how hard is it not to litter? Don&#8217;t flick your cigarette butt out the car window. Is that too much to ask? At least actuarial tables suggest smokers won&#8217;t be around as long to cover the streets with their refuse.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:01:11 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Burns&#8217; National Parks project casts an exquisite spell</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY02_20091001&#45;204404/296819/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Funny the images that stay with you from childhood. Any time someone mentions the Civil War, there&#8217;s this snapshot that flits across my brain of being in my parents&#8217; TV room watching the Ken Burns documentary on the subject. It&#8217;s nothing more specific than that, but I remember my whole family being glued to the TV for days. I was 12 when &#8220;The Civil War&#8221; came out. Four years later, Burns had us fixated again with his nine-part series on the history of baseball. He&#8217;s done much since then, including an acclaimed history of jazz, but nothing that really pushed the Thompson family buttons. That is, until this past week when &#8220;The National Parks: America&#8217;s Best Idea&#8221; came to PBS.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:02:44 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Trees&#8217; turning leaves mean change on way</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY27_20090926&#45;204604/295736/</link>
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In the room where I sit to write, a second-story makeshift office at home, there are two windows. One looks out over a road and the neighbor&#8217;s house, bracketed by two large silver maples. As long as I&#8217;ve lived in this house, these two trees have offered the first intimations of autumn. They always turn before any others in the neighborhood. It&#8217;s no different this year. In just a handful of places&#8212;the tips of a few branches&#8212;the one on the corner is turning bright red. Behind the house, the other maple has just started transitioning to brilliant yellows and oranges.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:01:04 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Reason for optimism on sturgeon in James</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY25_20090924&#45;210005/295279/</link>
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When I asked Matt Balazik about the gill nets he uses to catch prehistoric fish in the James River, he explained in his typically enthusiastic way about water temperatures and dissolved oxygen and how the ancient beasts he&#8217;s spent years trying to net and study can&#8217;t stay entangled too long&#8212;two hours at most. Balazik, a fish biologist working on his Ph.D. at VCU, has the kind of passion for his subject that is infectious. But his voice trailed off contemplating the idea that one of his nets could be responsible for the death of even one example of this giant and rare species.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:01:43 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Richmond gaining foothold as trail mecca</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY20_20090919&#45;203005/294127/</link>
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I&#8217;ll talk until I&#8217;m hoarse about Richmond&#8217;s trails. For years, I&#8217;ve extolled their virtues to anyone who&#8217;d listen. The variety, the amount, the way they bring so many different kinds of users downtown while still maintaining a sense of wilderness. I&#8217;ve always argued that this re source is truly special. But then I&#8217;m a Richmonder. I&#8217;m biased. Now, however, you don&#8217;t just have to take my word for it.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:01:08 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>OUTDOORS COLUMN: This forest no lost cause</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY18_20090917&#45;214205/293686/</link>
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CYPRESS BRIDGE In a slough off the Nottoway River south of Courtland lies an orgy of the gothic and grotesque. Few find it by accident, and those who do rarely know what they&#8217;ve stumbled upon. Until 2005, the Lost For est wasn&#8217;t on any map. They say true places never are. Only briefly every year can anyone explore Virginia&#8217;s most bizarre and wonderful 37 acres on foot. Today, though, is one of those times, and I&#8217;m lucky enough to have a guide, Emporia resident Kevin Kessler. He, in turn, is lucky enough to have as his guide Byron Carmean, the man who first &#8220;discovered&#8221; and named the Lost Forest. That is to say Carmean was the first person to recognize the matchless value of this grove of ancient cypress and water tupelo and call attention to it.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:01:50 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>He beat the odds at Pony Pasture twice</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY13_20090912&#45;215807/292549/</link>
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I&#8217;ve never understood how they compute the odds of winning the Mega Millions lottery game. On every billboard announcing the jackpot in small print it says, &#8220;Odds of winning 1 in 172 million.&#8220; Yet there&#8217;s no guarantee someone will have the winning numbers each time. Whatever. Math has never been my strong suit. It makes my brain ache a little every time I think about problems like that.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:01:36 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Widlife Center flies like an eagle</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY11_20090910&#45;211403/291941/</link>
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Under gray and threatening skies, Ed Clark jumps up on the tailgate of his pickup truck and launches into a speech. Behind him in the covered flatbed is a small cage, a travel kennel for a medium-sized dog. But the 60 people listening in rapt attention didn&#8217;t go out of their way on this Labor Day to hear Clark introduce a dog.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:01:56 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>A few uses of wildlife areas won&#8217;t be allowed</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/local_other/article/ANDY06_20090905&#45;214404/290978/</link>
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There are very few outdoors-related activities prohibited on Virginia&#8217;s Wildlife Management Areas. In 38 places across the state, on a total of 200,000 acres, anyone can hunt, fish, birdwatch, hike, jog, ride mountain bikes or horses, and more. And they can do it all for free. There are, however, limits to the game department&#8217;s generosity, even on these most open of public lands. Let&#8217;s say you wanted to get married on a four-wheeler with a fireworks display in the background and race dirt bikes at the reception. That would not work out.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Psychology a key part of the hunt, also</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY30_20090829&#45;211004/289260/</link>
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Preparations for the upcoming hunting seasons can be broken down into two loose categories: the physical and the psychological. The first is necessary conditions to hunt. We must put our weapons in working order, buy ammunition and licenses, etc. These acts are perfunctory. The second is not, and they often are overlooked. But the psychological preparations every hunter makes as he readies himself to go afield are no less important, no less an obligation, than the physical. Ignoring them won&#8217;t stop a hunter from hunting, as a defective rifle will, but it will rob the experience of its fullest meaning. It will demean quarry and hunter alike.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:01:09 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>OUTDOORS COLUMN: Gearing up for hunting season</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ANDY28_20090827&#45;215005/288850/</link>
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The signs are unmistakable: a rustling in basements, attics and garages as gear is brought out and dusted off; targets with hay bales behind them set up in backyards; shot guns and rifles retrieved from their summer-long hibernation and oiled to a high shine. If you see any of these signs associated with your husband or neighbor, that can only mean one thing: He&#8217;s getting ready for hunting season. With that time of the year almost upon us, here is a preview of the early seasons - dove, deer (for bow hunters), and turkey - in central Virginia and throughout the state.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:02:27 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ANDY28_20090827&#45;215005/288850/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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          <title>Poaching on James still problem</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY23_20090822&#45;215007/287786/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
This column was originally going to be about noodling, the mostly insane practice of angling for catfish with one&#8217;s hand popular in parts of the country where people often have more all-terrain vehi cles than teeth. I was all set to go noodling (what does that say about my sanity - or total teeth?). I&#8217;d even lined up someone, local catfishing guide Mike Ostrander, who could show me where a few cats might hide. We would dive, find the beasts and hope to wrestle them to the surface. Then we&#8217;d snap a few pictures before letting them swim away.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:01:30 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Short memory helps when it comes to pain</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/local_other/article/ANDY21_20090820&#45;211403/287326/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Ihave the bad habit of forgetting the pain of physical endeavors shortly after they&#8217;re over. How bad is my memory for painful experiences? Every now and again, I get nostalgic about the marathon I ran, even though it was a big, fat disaster in which every muscle in my legs cramped up, and I got passed at the end by a hulk of a man draped in a car-dealership-size American flag.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>OUTDOORS COLUMN: Catalina &#45; paradise island</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY14_20090813&#45;210002/285868/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
SANTA CATALINA ISLAND, Calif. For most of his adult life, Eddie Harrison operated a glass bottom boat, giving tours to visitors of this mountainous island 26 miles off the coast of Los Angeles. In his spare time, he was a poet. My fellow hikers and I dis cover this in the middle of a grueling almost-three-hour hike. We&#8217;ve reached the unnamed summit, having done nothing but go up for two hours - from sea level to more than 1,500 feet. Two turned back, the pregnant lady and the guy in flip flops. Four remain.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:30:34 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Lakoskys featured attraction</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY02_20090801&#45;202803/283534/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
For 26 years now, Hugh Crittenden has been putting on the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show. It&#8217;s the longest running and best-attended show of its kind in the state, despite focusing exclusively on hunting. Crittenden, a full-time taxidermist, could put forward the same show every year with the same exhibits, same guest speakers, same everything. He could rest on his laurels, but that&#8217;s just not his style.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:05:49 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Book key to the IDs for trees</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY31_20090730&#45;214003/283199/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Ever wanted to learn a new language? Gain some culture? Impress your friends? Let me suggest one. All it will cost is $2 for a slender paperback book. It&#8217;ll take lots of work, but if you stick with it, you&#8217;ll soon be fluent. The best part is you barely have to leave your back yard. The language? Trees. Identi fying them, that is. Don&#8217;t speak tree? Don&#8217;t know a pawpaw from a poplar? Don&#8217;t feel bad. I&#8217;m not fluent, not yet, but I&#8217;m getting there thanks to my rediscovery of that slim, information-packed volume&#8212;&#8220;Common Native Trees of Virginia.&#8220; It&#8217;s a tree identification guide put out by the Department of Forestry since the 1920s. I received my copy as part of the Virginia Master Naturalist classes I took two winters ago, but it languished on my bookshelf ever since.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:03:25 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>History abounds at Lee Memorial Park</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY26_20090725&#45;220606/282199/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
This being Virginia, history is deposited everywhere like sediment from the flooding of a mighty river. America&#8217;s first colonists washed ashore at Jamestown, and a stone&#8217;s throw away at Yorktown, the British surrendered to George Washington. Just more than an hour west of there is Richmond, the former Confederate capital. You can&#8217;t cross a county line in this state without seeing a gray sign telling you why you&#8217;re on hallowed ground.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:01:48 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Taking the classroom outside</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/local_other/article/ANDY24_20090723&#45;221007/281799/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Drew Garey points out a largemouth bass sitting in a hole near the bank of the James River, and Nick Boston springs into action. &#8220;Ooh, I see him,&#8220; says Nick, 12, scrambling onto a rock to get a better look. &#8220;He&#8217;s being picky,&#8220; Garey explains. &#8220;He followed my grub, but he didn&#8217;t take it.&#8220; Nick flips his own white curly-tail grub at the bass but is ignored. After a few casts, he moves on. That&#8217;s fishing.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>OUTDOORS: What site for possible record bass</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/fishing/article/ANDY17_20090716&#45;212404/280420/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Fifteen days ago, a Japanese angler named Manabu Kurita set the bass fishing world abuzz with news of a possible record catch. The headlines were practically covered in drool from the excitement, and there was a massive run in cyberspace on exclamation points. &#8220;Angler may have landed record!!&#8220; &#8220;Possible new world-record bass?!?!&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:01:18 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Fish and I fall for lure hook, line and sinker</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY12_20090711&#45;204602/279480/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Fish and I fall for lure hook, line and sinker I&#8217;m a sucker for infomercials. It&#8217;s embarrassing, but true. It started years ago with the AB Dolly, a plastic board on wheels that promised to turn my flabby abs into cold, hard steel. It continued early one morn ing this past fall. I turned on the TV and there was the ubiquitous SI special offer, this one commemorating the 2008 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. As a native Philadelphian, how could I say no to the subscription? They were offering a DVD, a handsome hardback book (numbered individually, of course) and that&#8217;s not all, a ball signed by the entire team!           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:01:28 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Plenty of places to lean, loaf along &#8216;The Rivah&#8217;</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY10_20090709&#45;212402/279076/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
I take Whitman&#8217;s words down to the water. The Potomac is warm today, almost warmer than the air this July 4, another strange day in a string of them this young summer. But it&#8217;s a good day for leaning and loafing, and this is as fine a place as I&#8217;ve yet found for idle pursuits.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:07:15 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Let&#8217;s make sure Richmond&#8217;s gem doesn&#8217;t lose its luster</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY05_20090704&#45;215804/278105/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
By my estimation, there are two things unique to Richmond&#8212;its history and the James River. I&#8217;m not alone in this thinking, I know, because each was identified as one of seven &#8220;foundations&#8221; for the downtown master plan. I live where I do&#8212;the Woodland Heights section of Richmond&#8212;because of the proximity to the river and the parks all around me. I love mountain biking the Buttermilk Trail in the James River Park System and walking by the lake in Forest Hill Park. My dogs love swimming in the river. I love canoeing it; fishing it and watching it slide by.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:05:22 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>UR lake offers different type of summer school</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/other/article/ANDY03_20090702&#45;215806/277743/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
It&#8217;s evening rush hour on the University of Richmond campus. Even though it&#8217;s summer, there is plenty of activity, as employees, professors and students make their way elsewhere. Only I&#8217;m not going anywhere. I&#8217;m sitting behind two other cars on Lakeview Drive waiting for a gaggle of Canada geese to make a move. They&#8217;re obviously in no hurry. The six or seven of them just stand there. There&#8217;s no room to pass. A few students walking by have a good chuckle at our expense before the geese finally waddle down to the edge of Westhampton Lake.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Parks naturally appealing when times are tough</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY28_20090627&#45;202002/276796/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
There&#8217;s a lot in the news about the economy turning around. Here&#8217;s a headline about foreclosures leveling off. There&#8217;s one that says housing starts are up. Says here the stock market is rallying and consumer confidence is improving. I say blah, blah, blah: Let the bad times roll. Before brandishing the pitchfork, hear me out.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:05:46 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Occoneechee folks make you feel special</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY26_20090625&#45;211802/276414/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
I&#8217;d like to say anyone can make the trip to Occoneechee State Park and truly experience its almost 2,700 acres as I did. It&#8217;s true, anyone can rent a pontoon boat at the park near Clarksville and explore miles of undisturbed coastline on Buggs Island Lake. And, yes, anyone can reserve a campsite, cabin or lodge near the water and fish from the banks for bass, catfish and stripers. They also can bring their horse and trot the Panhandle multiuse trail for a 15-mile, out-and-back tour through hardwood and pine forest. Heck, they can hunt here, too, in season, go bird watching, or watch re-enactments of Native American tribal customs.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:05:35 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>OUTDOORS COLUMN: Oh deer, beware of coyotes</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ANDY21_20090620&#45;202003/275055/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
That coyotes have spread rapidly across Virginia in the past decade or so doesn&#8217;t surprise game biologists. It might be a revelation of sorts for people in the state&#8217;s cities and suburbs, but coyotes are present and multiplying in every county in Virginia. &#8220;When I came here 20 years ago, they were uncommon,&#8220; said Matt Knox, head deer biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.            ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:01:16 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Stoltz sidelined, but he has no regrets about decision</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/article/ANDY19_20090618&#45;202804/274648/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
It turns out there are limits to the toughness of Conrad &#8220;The Caveman&#8221; Stoltz. Laid up in a local hospital bed when I spoke to him Wednesday, the former Olympian, who just won Richmond&#8217;s XTERRA Atlantic Cup off-road triathlon, admitted that he was putting on a brave face when asked how he felt. &#8220;You don&#8217;t really feel good, do you?&#8220; I inquired.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:01:48 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Triathletes gear up for Atlantic Cup</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY12_20090611&#45;222003/273417/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
On top of Belle Isle, heaving and gasping for air, I finally caught a break. Dan Hugo wanted to re-ride a section of trail to see if he could find a better line, one that would shave a second or two off his time Sunday. I gladly stopped and waited while he took his mountain bike back and chose a route between two trees. It was straighter that way but dangerous. Catch a handlebar on a tree trunk and a nasty spill is very possible. High risk, low reward. He decided against it.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:01:42 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>River trip was simply Finn&#45;tastic</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY07_20090606&#45;195201/272306/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
River trip was simply Finn-tastic The best journeys always have a touch of Huck Finn in them. This first occurred to me as I watched Tim Buffkin standing in the back of a canoe reading the coming rapids in the Staunton River, his straw hat set at a jaunty angle. That was earlier in the day, but it seems a distant memory. Much has happened since then.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:05:56 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Top angler is citation sensation</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY31_20090530&#45;215831/270937/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
As impossible assignments go, deciding on the best fisherman in Virginia is up there with lassoing a wild grizzly and running Niagara Falls in barrel suspenders. But if Stephen Miklandric isn&#8217;t the best angler in the state, he&#8217;s certainly in the conversation. The Harrisonburg native and current Chesterfield County resident recently was named &#8220;Creel Angler of the Year&#8221; by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, meaning he caught more citation freshwater fish than any other Virginian in 2008.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 31 May 2009 00:01:48 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>James River seems capable of winning this cat fight</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/fishing/article/ANDY29_20090528&#45;214253/270518/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Is America&#8217;s founding river primed to give Big Muddy a run for its money? That&#8217;s the question we&#8217;re left to contemplate after the news that Tim Wilson and Danny Ayers, two cousins from Rockbridge County, hauled a 102-pound, 4-ounce blue catfish from the tidal James River near Dutch Gap on May 20. That fish will soon be certified as the state record, besting the mark set by Archie Gold - 95 pounds, 11 ounces - in June, 2006.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 29 May 2009 00:01:25 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Bike trip is all about the journey</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY24_20090523&#45;182204/269550/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
We are each the hero of our own life story. And if you read Friday&#8217;s column, you know that the three heroes, in the midst of writing a particularly heroic chapter of their respective stories, were in dire straits.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2009 00:05:04 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Pounding the pedals along the C&amp;amp;O Canal</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/biking/article/ANDY22_20090521&#45;220009/269174/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Welcome to Hammertown: population 3. This is the way it was supposed to be all along. Pounding the pedals, pushing a strong cadence - hammering - down the hard-packed, crushed gravel of the C&amp;O Canal towpath from Cumberland, Md., to Washington. It&#8217;s Day 2 now, a Saturday, and my partners on this 184.5-mile journey - Jason Miller and Andrew Shoaff - are putting the hammer down despite pulling heavy and filthy bike trailers. We&#8217;re nearing the halfway point of this slightly mad three-day endeavor, and we are right on schedule as long as the weather holds.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2009 00:01:38 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Class soon will be in session</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY17_20090516&#45;222013/268247/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Change is on the way for boating enthusiasts in Virginia, and I&#8217;d venture to guess a large percentage of them are blissfully unaware. But with National Boater Safety Week beginning today and Memorial Day - the unofficial start of summer - not far off, it seems a good time to do a little informing because the changes are significant and failure to heed them could cost boaters a lot of money.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 00:01:50 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Harvesting longbeard a challenge</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY15_20090514&#45;221811/267819/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Harvesting longbeard a challenge The crow is a common locator call for hunters after wild turkey. The two birds being sworn enemies, no tom worth his salt will let a crow caw near his roost without offering his distinctive response. Eddie Griggs was about to reach for his crow call when something just as annoying to a turkey and just as useful to Griggs came along: a Canada goose. It squawked, and in the distance a turkey gobbled a territorial retort.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 15 May 2009 00:05:02 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Blazing new and old trails</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY10_20090509&#45;223416/266901/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
In 1828, during the presidency of John Quincy Adams, ground was broken on what was then an engineering marvel. When it was finished in 1850, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal became a ribbon of water linking Cumberland, Md., with the nation&#8217;s capital 184.5 miles away. Teams of horses towed boats that carried all manner of goods through the canal next to the Potomac River&#8212;from frontier to civilization&#8212;and along all 184.5 of the canal&#8217;s meandering miles there exists to this day a crushed gravel towpath.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 10 May 2009 00:01:45 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>A hidden gem: Three Lakes Park</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/fishing/article/ANDY08_20090507&#45;221215/266435/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
When I introduced my monthly urban oasis series back in January, I received an email from Vee Davis suggesting I visit Three Lakes Park in Henrico County. It seemed perfect. I had never heard of it but, after doing a little research, realized the park had much to offer. Fishing lakes, trails, and a nature center and other habitat display areas.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2009 00:01:42 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>It&#8217;s about more than the ducks</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY03_20090502&#45;215804/265405/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Standing there on the skeet range at the Conservation Park of Virginia, my friend Geoff Murphy and I had no intentions of handing over an extra $25 to take part in a shooting competition we were sure to lose. But Preston Hale, the man doing the soliciting, knew how to twist the knife of guilt. &#8220;Come on, guys, it&#8217;s for the ducks.&#8220; We already had spent $75 each to be here at the sponsors banquet of the Western Henrico chapter of Ducks Unlimited, but it was obvious Hale had us cornered. We exchanged a defeated glance, then opened the wallets. It was for the ducks, after all.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2009 00:05:49 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Fishing provides an escape</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/fishing/article/ANDY01_20090430&#45;222619/265034/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Fishing provides an escape It&#8217;s quiet by design on Swift Creek Reservoir. Only electric motors are allowed on the giant impoundment that provides recreation and drinking water for many in Chesterfield County. Lifelong fisherman, artist, and lure maker Bill Grossman sits in the front of his fiberglass fishing boat while I man the trolling motor in the back. We whisper out of the protected cove where he, his wife and three children live and out into the main section, hugging the bank, searching for spawning bass.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Husband&#8217;s sinking feeling</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY26_20090425&#45;205607/263915/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Before Tuesday, my wife Jess&#8217; lifetime experience with a fishing rod in her hands consisted of a few dozen lazy days waiting for croaker and spot to take a bloodworm at her grandparents&#8217; place on the Potomac River. So I chuckled a little to myself listening to Captain Phil Hughes on Tuesday. We had motored out of Ancarrow&#8217;s Landing on the way to find some spawning shad, and he was talking about the differences in teaching women and men to fly-fish.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:01:17 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Duathlons gaining popularity in Richmond</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM24_20090423&#45;222615/263586/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
I can see Riverside Drive from my front porch, and over the past weeks I&#8217;ve noticed a pronounced uptick in the number of road bikers pedaling by. Weekends, workdays, rain, shine, they&#8217;re out there hammering up and down the hills. It&#8217;s always been a popular thoroughfare for skinny-wheel, spandex lovers, but this has been far more than the usual Sunday crowd out for a spin.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:05:50 EST</pubDate>
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         <item>
          <title>Pro tour returns to state</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY19_20090418&#45;213006/259748/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
It&#8217;s been almost two years since the top bass fishermen in the world descended on Smith Mountain Lake to coax mostly postspawn largemouth out of the deep, clear impoundment. This week, the big boys are back, and though the conditions will be different, the fishing competition promises to be no less intense. ESPN&#8217;s Bassmaster Elite Series last stopped at the lake on the Franklin-Bedford County line in June 2007. That year, unknown rookie Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C. - then just 23 years old - became the youngest winner in the history of the Elite Series. Ashley&#8217;s four-day total of 57 pounds, 3 ounces bested veteran pro Terry Scroggins by 2 pounds.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:01:13 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY19_20090418&#45;213006/259748/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Father and son to fish 50 lakes in 50 days in hopes of renewing realtionship</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY17_20090416&#45;220811/258436/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The idea pushed its way into Jeff Turner&#8217;s subconscious over time like a seed finally finding the right conditions to germinate. First it was a book - &#8220;Wild at Heart,&#8220; by John Eldredge - that he read with his church&#8217;s men&#8217;s ministry. &#8220;It talked about how society has thrown cold water on men as far as their passions for adventure,&#8220; Turner said.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:01:47 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY17_20090416&#45;220811/258436/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Bat disease worries officials</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY12_20090411&#45;210618/254429/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Chances are you&#8217;ve heard of Colony Collapse Disorder, the massive die-off of honeybees that&#8217;s occurred throughout the United States the past few years. But unless you&#8217;re a caver or wildlife biologist, you&#8217;re probably not familiar with white-nose syndrome, a fungus that&#8217;s killing off cave bats by the thousands in the Northeast. The usually fatal condition may not be as well-known as CCD, but if it continues to spread - it has been confirmed in Virginia and West Virginia - it soon will be, and its effects could be just as far-reaching.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:01:18 EST</pubDate>
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         <item>
          <title>Anglers ready for shad run</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/anglers_ready_for_shad_run/253599/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
People like fishing for lots of reasons. Primarily, though, they like catching fish.            ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:15:15 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/anglers_ready_for_shad_run/253599/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Take a paddle, stroke for liberty</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY05_20090404&#45;211209/249111/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
It&#8217;s spring, you see. The rains have come; rivers are up; shad are running, and I can no longer stand this tyranny of the land. I need water, or at least access to it. Spring is time to explore and discover, and the land is a limiting factor. What to do? Buy a boat with a friend. Freedom at our fingertips. So, with sincerest apologies to a Virginian who knew more than a little about free dom from tyranny, I submit this declaration of independence from a land-bound existence and affirmation of watery adventures to come.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:01:33 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY05_20090404&#45;211209/249111/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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          <title>One man&#8217;s swamp, another man&#8217;s oasis</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY03_20090402&#45;214611/247762/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Jeanne and Mike Decker&#8217;s dream home sits on the Goochland side of the Goochland-Henrico line, looking out over 60 acres of wetlands where Tuckahoe Creek snakes by. To many in the Richmond area, Tuckahoe Creek is that swamp you drive across on River Road or Patterson Avenue on the way to or from somewhere else. The Deckers know better. From two leather chairs in their living room, binoculars and identification books at the ready, they are treated daily to as dramatic and dynamic a display of nature&#8217;s vigor as any you could hope to find in a metropolitan area of 1 million people.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:05:31 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Trip on James provides watershed moments</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY29_20090328&#45;232605/243561/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
For Andy Lee, it was the &#8220;itchy feet&#8221; that drove him. For Earl Swift, it was the need for &#8220;something to mess with the routine.&#8220; For Ryan Williamson, it was another chapter in a lifelong love of the outdoors and a focus on being &#8220;self-sufficient.&#8220; Lee is a homebuilder; Swift a journalist; Williamson a clothing maker. What do they have in common? They are the only three people known to have paddled the entire James River from its headwaters at Iron Gate to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:01:29 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY29_20090328&#45;232605/243561/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Tracking the ghosts of hunting seasons to come</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM27_20090326&#45;222011/242077/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
My first ghost hunt began at 8:30 a.m. last Saturday. If that seems a strange time to look for ghosts, that&#8217;s because the specters I was after are almost certainly still alive. And it wasn&#8217;t them I was after, really, just an intimation, a clue that they passed through. Something they left behind. The sun was beginning to burn away the morning chill as I pulled down Nick Hall&#8217;s driveway in Amelia County. Waiting for me were Matt Knox and Denny Quaiff. The four of us would hunt together. Knox had brought his dog, a yellow lab named Izzy. She would be crucial if we were to have much success.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:01:06 EST</pubDate>
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         <item>
          <title>New event celebrates James River</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM20_20090319&#45;222623/236468/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
OUTDOORS New event celebrates James River If you read Wednesday&#8217;s Metro section centerpiece about a new Richmond festival called Riverrock and wondered for a moment about the name, you weren&#8217;t alone. &#8220;I saw the title . . . and was trying to figure out what it was,&#8220; Mayor Dwight Jones said at Tuesday&#8217;s press conference introducing the new event. &#8220;Now, I know what it is. And I&#8217;m really excited about it.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:01:34 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM20_20090319&#45;222623/236468/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>2 guys in a bar? No joke, it&#8217;s a mountain&#45;bike fest</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY15_20090314&#45;214621/231864/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
So, a guy walks into a bar . . . OK, technically he walks into a microbrewery and sits down at the bar there. He has a drink or two. Or three. Possibly four, but this is where the details get hazy because this isn&#8217;t Bud Light. These beers have some kick. The owner of the microbrewery walks in and sits next to the guy. They get to talking about beer. Turns out, like most men, they share a love of malted beverages. Then conversation shifts to the outdoors and outdoor pursuits. They have this in common as well.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:01:58 EST</pubDate>
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         <item>
          <title>Ducks Unlimited work helps more than a few</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM13_20090312&#45;205005/230374/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
A few months ago, I joined a group of local birders on a bird-banding demonstration in Chesterfield County. You could tell these people truly loved birds. They spend much of their free time on projects such as this. Talk of hunting a bird species, even for food, would not go over well among these dedicated volunteers. I&#8217;m guessing they skip the roast duck entr&#233;e on fancy-restaurant menus.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:01:34 EST</pubDate>
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         <item>
          <title>Three ways to warm to next snow</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY08_20090307&#45;213803/224437/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
It&#8217;s over, Richmond. Winter has left the building. The heavenly bounty of a week ago is no more. If there are any forlorn patches of snow still clinging to life in the region, they soon will be puddles. It was fun while it lasted, though, wasn&#8217;t it? Tell the truth. You liked it. I know I did. I&#8217;m Northern-born, and thus of the mind that spring is earned and appreciated only when it follows at least a mildly trying winter. This winter has been cold, it seems to me, and now we&#8217;ve had a respectable snow. That&#8217;s really all I can ask for.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2009 01:05:57 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Youngsters trying to hook peers on fishing</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM06_20090305&#45;221829/223061/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The activity levels of America&#8217;s youth are often lamented, and probably deservedly so. We&#8217;re all familiar with news reports of rising child obesity and attention disorders. We see the inordinate amounts of time many kids spend in front of computers, TVs and video games. If the message doesn&#8217;t sink in when you tell your kid he or she needs to go do something constructive, I have the solution: Take them to Green Top Sporting Goods tomorrow.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:01:20 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Game board focuses on quail, bear</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY01_20090228&#45;222808/218698/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
As usual, the house was packed and the docket full at Friday&#8217;s meeting of the board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Quail and black bear drew the most attention on a day when the group considered staff recommendations for changes in hunting and trapping regulations. The approved staff proposals will be advertised in publications across the state. In two weeks, a two-month public-comment period will open, and the board will make its final decisions at its meeting June 2.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:07:49 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Powhite Park works for beavers, mountain bikers</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM27_20090226&#45;205209/216962/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Many species of mammal call Richmond&#8217;s Powhite Park home, but two set it apart. Their combined influence has altered the park&#8217;s landscape more than any other and made it a place worth repeat visits for all mammals, humans included. Yet few Richmonders know that Powhite Park exists, much less where it is. On any given day, thousands of cars pass by the park - most on the Powhite or Chippenham parkways, some on Jahnke Road - without an inkling of the work those two species have put in to make the place a hidden gem, a beguiling 90-acre wilderness within city limits.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:05:08 EST</pubDate>
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         <item>
          <title>Andy Thompson goes to Colorado</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM20_20090219&#45;221435/211127/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
WINTER PARK, Colo. It&#8217;s still dark in this A-frame cabin at 9,000 feet. Friends slumber upstairs, but my mind races. I tiptoe down to the living room. There&#8217;s the fireplace where we sat last night&#8212;my wife and I and friends&#8212;catching up, enjoying the actual need for a fire.            ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:01:01 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM20_20090219&#45;221435/211127/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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          <title>Recession putting anglers on hook for more expenses</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/fishing/article/ANDY15_20090214&#45;222822/206943/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Four times a year, professional bass fisherman and Richmond native John Crews sends out a newsletter to his fans and supporters updating everyone on his life as a pro angler. The most recent newsletter featured some ominous news, not just for Crews, but for anyone who follows professional fishing. &#8220;&#8216;Due to the economic times&#8217; or &#8216;We have been put on a spending freeze&#8217; seems to be the most common replies I have gotten [from sponsors] this offseason,&#8220; the newsletter read. &#8220;Advance Auto Parts has had major advertising budget cuts and they will no longer spend any serious amount of money in bass fishing. This one was a blind side.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:01:26 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Lower Congo Rapids: a journey to relive</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM13_20090212&#45;215606/205367/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
When last we heard from Trip Jennings, the expeditionary kayaker and Richmond native was picking up awards from the National Geographic Society for braving giant whitewater and bloodthirsty villagers in Papua New Guinea. That was summer and fall of 2007. It&#8217;s been almost two years since then, but Jennings&#8217; day job hasn&#8217;t changed much.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:01:11 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM13_20090212&#45;215606/205367/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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          <title>Williams Island&#8212;a hidden James River gem</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hiking/article/ATOM08_20090207&#45;222225/200997/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
In the summer, Pony Pasture Rapids is one of the James River Park&#8217;s most popular destinations. Hundreds of exposed rocks create endless riffles and eddies for thousands of Richmonders to swim, play and cool off in. On hot weekend days, the Pony Pasture parking lot often overflows with cars and trucks stuffed to bursting with inner tubes, fishing tackle and every other known item of water-related recreational gear.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:01:53 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hiking/article/ATOM08_20090207&#45;222225/200997/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>In real life, Bugs is no match for Elmer Fudd</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM06_20090205&#45;214216/199491/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The problem with the Looney Tunes characterization of Bugs Bunny is twofold: Bugs never dies, and Bugs never procreates. If the famous cartoon rabbit lived in the piedmont of Virginia, he would do both&#8212;a lot. Bugs doesn&#8217;t look much like his corporeal cousin, the Eastern Cottontail rabbit. But since that&#8217;s the most common rabbit species in eastern North America, let&#8217;s assume that&#8217;s what he was loosely based on.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:01:22 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM06_20090205&#45;214216/199491/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Special gun is loaded with family heritage</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY01_20090201&#45;004131/194513/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
I&#8217;m standing in a thicket near Farmville listening to beagles howl. It&#8217;s early and cold and I know I should be focused on the rabbits, but I have a moment to myself when the sound of barking dogs falls away and my gaze comes to rest on the shotgun in my hands. A thousand thoughts wash over me. This is no ordinary gun. This gun is a flood of memories, shared moments and family tales. It is the mystery of fathers and sons whispered down the years. It wouldn&#8217;t much impress a collector, but then he or she wouldn&#8217;t know the stories. For me, it is an inheritance of incalculable value.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:01:26 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Many hands lessen load at James River Park</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM30_20090129&#45;214205/192768/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
It&#8217;s easy to forget, walking along the trails of the James River Park System, that 150 years ago this was an area of intense industry. Rock quarries, water-powered grist mills and saw mills dotted the riverbank. Now, mountain bikers, bird watchers, runners, dog walkers, hikers, anglers and many others come to spend time in a sliver of urban wild.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:01:15 EST</pubDate>
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         <item>
          <title>Doughnut story has catch to it</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY25_20090125&#45;201022/188334/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The story of the Doughnutfish is one of high drama on the moderately choppy Chesapeake Bay. It&#8217;s the sometimes tall tale of one man&#8217;s unquenchable thirst for striped bass by the bucketload and another&#8217;s insatiable desire for processed sugar perfection. It has all the ingredients of a great fishing yarn: a salty-dog boat captain, hard-bitten fishermen and a charismatic outdoors writer (yes, that is redundant).           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2009 00:01:16 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY25_20090125&#45;201022/188334/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>There are few snags in Virginia Anglers Club</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM23_20090122&#45;212013/186277/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
It was more than 30 years ago, but Glenn Carter remembers exactly what brought him to the Virginia Anglers Club. The accounting manager at Tredegar Corporation grew up hunting and fishing near his home not far from West Point, but he never had much exposure to saltwater fishing or the diversity of freshwater fishing available in the area.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:01:41 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM23_20090122&#45;212013/186277/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Richmond Fishing Expo looking for a big catch</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM16_20090115&#45;214641/179661/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
If you like solitude while fishing, this weekend might be the best days of the year to find it on any local body of water. Now, would be the time to hit the lower James for catfish, the upper James for smallmouth bass and maybe Swift Creek Reservoir for largemouth. You&#8217;ll get out there and wonder if you missed a memo that everyone else got: &#8220;Sewage Spill Yesterday. Fish Hiding. Might As Well Go Rake Leaves.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:01:17 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM16_20090115&#45;214641/179661/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>In the hunt, loving every minute of it</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ANDY11_20090110&#45;194814/174670/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Aworking theory of mine: Days that begin with bacon have a leg up on all the others. There&#8217;s no point in arguing. I have a lifetime of evidence to support this. I drive west out of Richmond in the pre-dawn, a stomach full of bacon, a shotgun in the trunk and birds on the brain.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:01:29 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ANDY11_20090110&#45;194814/174670/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Trash talking: keys to making a clean river</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM09_20090108&#45;220245/173121/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The James River watershed covers an area of more than 10,000 square miles - about a quarter of the state of Virginia. For the past 33 years, the James River Association has acted as a guardian of the river and the land that washes into it.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:01:33 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM09_20090108&#45;220245/173121/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Roll the cameras for wet trip to Hollywood</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM19_20081218&#45;211216/157589/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
There comes a moment in every suspenseful movie - usually early on - when something happens that you just know will be crucial at the climax. So you store it away and wait to see if you were right. I found myself in the middle of one of those moments this past Sunday as Ingrid Shannon went through her briefing for a raft trip down the James River.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:01:04 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM19_20081218&#45;211216/157589/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Elk hunting in Virginia on the horizon?</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY14_20081213&#45;180007/150285/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Elk hunting in Virginia on horizon? Quick word association: If I say &#8220;elk,&#8220; what do you see? What picture forms in your mind? A majestic bull with giant antlers maybe, but what about around the animal? What does the landscape look like?           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:01:24 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY14_20081213&#45;180007/150285/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Striped bass are out there, bigger than ever</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/fishing/article/ATOM12_20081211&#45;210236/148407/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Striped bass fishing doesn&#8217;t have an official opening day, but let the record show that 9-year-old Jake Garren of Ironto ushered in the 2008 striper season Nov. 29 with a strapping 50-pound, 9-ounce rockfish hooked off Kiptopeke on the Eastern Shore.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:01:50 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/fishing/article/ATOM12_20081211&#45;210236/148407/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Skiers find peak winter at Showshoe Mountain</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/skiing/article/ANDY07_20081206&#45;185504/144147/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Word of the madness unfolding on Snowshoe Mountain first arrived in an e-mail: &#8220;31 inches of snow overnight!,&#8220; it read. Had this been February, I wouldn&#8217;t have given it a second thought; the West Virginia ski resort receives an average of 180 inches of the white stuff a year.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:01:53 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/skiing/article/ANDY07_20081206&#45;185504/144147/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Out of the bullpen to drive a buggy in a hunt</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ATOM05_20081204&#45;212053/140322/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
When the phone rang and I saw who was on the other end, my first thought was: This is what it must feel like to get called up from the minors. It was Darin Strickland, assistant upland hunting manager at Blandfield Plantation.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:01:21 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ATOM05_20081204&#45;212053/140322/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Black bear killed on 2nd shot</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ANDY30_20081129&#45;211308/124425/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Like most Virginians, Adam Creswell&#8217;s only experience with black bears had been on TV. The Chesterfield County firefighter has been a hunter most of his 27 years. He&#8217;s seen plenty of wildlife, but never a bear. That changed on Oct. 18,           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:01:51 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ANDY30_20081129&#45;211308/124425/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Branch out on shopping: Buy a book about trees</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM28A_20081127&#45;201428/123089/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
More than three decades ago, not long after I was born, my parents planted a yew tree in the side yard of their new home. They did it to celebrate beginnings, to commemorate one new life by cultivating another.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:01:41 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM28A_20081127&#45;201428/123089/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Let&#8217;s take a closer look at a few hunting issues</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ATOM21_20081120&#45;203429/118642/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
With general firearms season for deer in full swing across the state, it seems a good time for a hodgepodge of hunting-related news and notes.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:01:37 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/hunting/article/ATOM21_20081120&#45;203429/118642/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>The Kanawha Canal is a fine place to fish</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/E40185A_20081117&#45;140734/117075/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Just before the rains returned Friday, I flipped a thick piece of catfish bait into the dark water in front of me. &#8220;Liver w/ blood&#8221; the package said. &#8220;Nasty and stinky! Fish crave it!&#8220; Right on both counts.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:57:28 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/E40185A_20081117&#45;140734/117075/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>People remain pumped about the Pump House</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM14A_20081113&#45;151411/116084/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Some parks are refuges for flora and fauna. Some are refuges for people. Others are refuges for history. Richmond&#8217;s Pump House Park is a mix of all three.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:01:29 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM14A_20081113&#45;151411/116084/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Hunting the west a different look</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM7_20081106&#45;200807/114548/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
For many hunters who live in the eastern United States, the west exerts a mysterious kind of pull explained by a combination of foreign species and exotic landscape.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:01:00 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM7_20081106&#45;200807/114548/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Hunting is more than just the kill</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY02_20081101&#45;195213/113353/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Exactly one month from today, I&#8217;ll be sitting on the forest floor - shotgun in hand - in Pocahontas State Park waiting for a big buck or doe to come my way.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:01:36 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ANDY02_20081101&#45;195213/113353/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Plan for hound hunting pleases few</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/columnists/article/HUNT241_20081023&#45;233416/111517/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The Board of Game and Inland Fisheries yesterday received the results of a 15-month study designed to identify and reduce conflicts between landowners and Virginia hunters who hunt with dogs.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:01:38 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/columnists/article/HUNT241_20081023&#45;233416/111517/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Banding birds helps tell story</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/columnists/article/ANDY19_20081018&#45;210008/110309/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Bob Reilly cups an ovenbird in his hand, its head and neck gently resting between his index and middle finger. He shows the gathered Girl Scouts its white and dark streaked underside, tells them about its life - what it eats, where it nests, how it migrates.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:01:10 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/columnists/article/ANDY19_20081018&#45;210008/110309/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Kiptopeke an ideal spot for birds of a feather</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM16_20081016&#45;202010/109833/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
There are lots of reasons to visit Kiptopeke State Park on Virginia&#8217;s Eastern Shore. There&#8217;s ample camping and great fishing in a protected cove on the Chesapeake Bay. But seeing the birds, especially this time of year, is a must.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:01:24 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/ATOM16_20081016&#45;202010/109833/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>The work of an artist lures fish</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/columnists/article/ANDY12_20081011&#45;180008/108667/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Bill Grossman is an artist and a fisherman, one not more than the other. For years, he taught high school and painted on the side, but he felt &#8220;tortured&#8221; by the nagging sense that something more fulfilling awaited.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:01:45 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/columnists/article/ANDY12_20081011&#45;180008/108667/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>OUTDOORS: Three rules to stopping &#8216;incidents&#8217;</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/&#45;RTD_2008_09_14_0139/25920/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The victim was crossing a barbed wire fence and his coat became entangled. While attempting to free himself, the gun discharged, striking him in the lower right leg, resulting in amputation.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:07:18 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/&#45;RTD_2008_09_14_0139/25920/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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         <item>
          <title>Minding his own business: Northern Neck kayak fishing</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/fishing/article/&#45;RTD_2008_07_11_00521/4043/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Don Davidson&#8217;s passion for fishing was born more than a decade ago when his parents bought a second home near the Rappahannock River on Virginia&#8217;s Northern Neck.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:07:24 EST</pubDate>
<guid>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/recreation/fishing/article/&#45;RTD_2008_07_11_00521/4043/#When:13:23:23Z</guid>
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