10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

Renewal of a West Virginia tradition

ELKINS, W.Va. — A crisp breeze of the early autumn shivered the woods as I sat on an ancient beech log. The massive tree was so large, my young feet couldn’t reach the ground as I sat atop the horizontal trunk placed there years earlier by a massive  windstorm. I peered earnestly into the limbs of its brother tree 30 yards away scanning for any unusual movement.  I stared until my eyes ached, but the effort was rewarded as a lightening flash of gray rattled a small branch. I zeroed in on the lump of fur sitting statute still high above me. I slowly raised the .12 gauge, pulled back the hammer, and placed the bead carefully onto target.

Such was the story of my youth in the hills around the Virginia farm where I grew up. This Saturday the same scenario will be played out in hollows of hickory, oak, and beech trees across West Virginia as the statewide squirrel hunting season opens up.

“Our mast crop was off last year and mast drives the population of small game,” said Keith Krantz, small game biologist for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. “I wouldn’t suspect we’ll have a bounty year, but we should have an abundance of squirrels.”

Although this year’s mast survey isn’t complete, early indications are there will be plenty of nuts for squirrels to forage and feed upon. Typically hickory nuts are the first food source they’ll hit, but a stand of white or red oaks in abundance is also an attractive option.

“I have talked to quite a few people and I’ve seen some counties have an abundance of white oak and some counties have an abundance of red oak,” Krantz said. “It’s going to depend on where you are in the state as far as what your perception is of the mast conditions.”

The squirrel season for years has opened during the second week in October, but for a second year, the Natural Resources Commission approved a recommendation which called for moving the season up nearly a month. Krantz said the change came after a study group looked at the loss of squirrel hunters and a decline in squirrel hunting.

“There’s been a tremendous transition in the past 20 years from squirrel hunting to bow hunting,” said Krantz. “But according to national surveys we’ve lost two-thirds of our squirrel hunters.”

Consequently, as the state has lost high numbers of squirrel hunters, it has also lost the high number of future hunters who learned key concepts of all types of hunting while in the woods with a parent or grandparent squirrel hunting.

“Squirrel hunting is an excellent way to learn woodsmanship, scouting, trees, and all that stuff.  Our findings were we were getting away from that and losing that tradition,” he said. “So, we brought the season in earlier.”

The hope is it will draw in more youngsters or older hunters who in the past were forced to make a choice between bow hunting and squirrel hunting.

The early season drew some criticism because of the heat and heavy leaf cover. Both can be drawbacks to hunting. But Krantz said the overwhelming feeling among biologists was an early season would have little impact on squirrel numbers even though it isn’t biologically based.

The early opening also created the possibility of squirrels carrying parasitic warbles, or bot fly larvae. Many consider the presence of such larvae an automatic tainting of the meat and will discard the animal. Krantz advised that’s a myth and a waste of the resource.

“It migrates into the animal’s skin tissue and forms a pore. It’s not appealing to look at, but it doesn’t hurt the meat at all,” Krantz explained. “If you skin that animal out you’ll see a little red area underneath where that worvel was, but that’s just an irritant.  The meat is fine. I’ve eaten them for years. People have glaummed onto that wives’ tale and thrown those animals out and that’s a shame.”

Krantz and the agency are hoping the early season will restore an interest in squirrel hunting which used to be the most popular season of the year in West Virginia.

“Forty years ago, it was the deal. Everybody went, but it’s just not like that any more,” Krantz said. “Time constraints and a whole age group of hunters has grown up and grown out of the squirrel hunting tradition. People just don’t do it that much anymore. I hope the early season will change that.”





More Outdoors

Outdoors
Gold Rush to run April 1-13 across West Virginia
Starting Monday, the streams of West Virginia will have a golden hue in hope of attracting anglers young and old
March 27, 2024 - 2:10 pm
News
Final elk from USFS facility in Western Ky. have arrived in West Virginia
DNR officials say a large number of the cows received are bred and will start dropping calves in May
March 21, 2024 - 3:06 pm
Outdoors
Mason County angler hauls in a record bowfin
Lauren Noble of Letart, W.Va. was looking for pre-spawn bass, but found another hungry mouth in the an Ohio River backwater in Mason County this week
March 15, 2024 - 10:15 am
Outdoors
Barnick wins air rifle; Mountaineers finish runner-up to TCU
West Virginia had individual champions in both events for the first time in seven years, but narrowly missed out on a 20th National Championship.
March 9, 2024 - 10:27 pm


Your Comments