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Groundhogs can be a nuisance for farmers

In West Virginia, I have not yet found a farmer who likes groundhogs. These critters may look cute on Feb. 2 (National Groundhog Day), but for the remainder of the year this is one destructive rodent. I don’t know how many times I have had a farmer to tell me, “Having a groundhog on your farm is like having a nest of rats in your house.” One groundhog can wreck a well-kept vegetable garden in a very short period of time. I was in my early 20s when I went groundhog hunting on my distant cousin’s acreage in Roane County. I was only using a .22 rimfire rifle but was able to get ...

Spring gobbler harvest numbers down

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has released the preliminary harvest figures for the spring gobbler season this year. In 2019 spring turkey hunters harvested 11,210 gobblers. This is down from the 12,287 gobblers that were harvested in 2018 or nine percent. This year's harvest is still three percent above the ten year average. Youth hunters took 357 gobblers during the one-day youth season on April 13. This is down from the 431 that was taken in 2018 or 17 percent. The WVDNR Wildlife Districts 4 and 5, which takes in the southern and southwestern counties, reported ...

DNR releases summary of questionnaire

Last week, I got a summary of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources questionnaire that was handed out to all of the sportsmen and women who attended one of the regulations meetings held this past March. A total of 379 attended the 12 meetings that were held throughout the state. This is up from the 248 who attended these meetings last year. The one for this area was held in Buckhannon and had an attendance of 54, which was the highest of all the 12 meetings. The meeting at Fairmont finished a close second with 53. The meeting that had the lowest was held at North Bend ...

More acreage available for public hunting this year

This fall hunters in the greater Parkersburg area are in for some very good news. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has plans to open five new wildlife management areas, expand four existing WMA’s and add a 200-hundred acre tract of land to the North Bend State Park. The Conservation Fund, a Virginia-based environment nonprofit group, acquired 18,778 acres of current and former Timberland and has plans to sell these tracts to the WVDNR. This new acreage is located in Calhoun, Doddridge, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt and Wood counties. The new WMA’s, all of ...

Baby fawns should be left alone

This is the time of the year when people often find baby fawns alone in the woods or in an open meadow. It is easy to think that the new-born has been abandoned by its mother. Too many fawns are often picked up and brought home by people who think they are doing a good deed. The sad part is the fact that most of them are simply being fawn-napped from their natural mothers. The West Virginia Division of Natural resources (WVDNR) personnel urge everyone to leave young wildlife alone. First of all, picking up a young fawn is illegal. It is also unsafe and all too often detrimental to ...

Big game harvest numbers now official

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has released the annual Big Game Bulletin for 2018. The big game harvest figures for all of West Virginia big game hunting seasons (black bear, white-tailed deer, wild boar and wild turkey) are now official. All of West Virginia hunters would do well to get one of these bulletins, study it and keep it for their own records. The total black bear harvest for 2018 was 2,606 bears. This is down from the 3,160 that was bagged in 2017 or 17.5 percent. However, this is still the 6th highest bear harvest on record. The record year was 2015 when ...