ROANOKE, W.Va. — The annual celebration of hunting and fishing in West Virginia will come a week early this year.
The West Virginia National Hunting and Fishing Days Celebration is slated for this Saturday and Sunday at Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park in Lewis County. Typically the two-day event is held on the fourth Saturday and Sunday of September, in alignment with the national celebration, but organizers decided a change was necessary.
“A few years ago the opening day of bow season was moved to the last Saturday in September and nationally that’s National Hunting and Fishing Day,” said Jerod Harman, President of the West Virginia Wildlife Federation. “With it cutting into our crowd that was spending a lot of time hanging in a tree, we thought we want those people at our event. Several of us decided to move the event forward so we got it moved up a week and we believe it will work better for most people.”
The change also gave organizers the open weekend for WVU football which will further help attendance. The weather forecast is also favorable for this weekend’s celebration.
The event is truly a celebration of Hunting and Fishing, put on by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and the Wildlife Federation. It’s the showcase event annually for both the agency and the federation.
“We have a strong tradition of hunting, fishing, trapping and basically anything in the outdoors,” Harman explained. “We’re proud of it and we have one of the largest celebrations in the United States. It brings us all together and this is the weekend we’re celebrating.”
Among the attractions are more than 100 vendors, all stationed under roof either in buildings or tents on the park grounds. There will also be a return of the Outdoor Youth Challenge which has become a mainstay of the weekend. Children are given a card with various places in the park they need to visit during the weekend and participate in a variety of tasks from fish and wildlife identification to shooting, casting, or map reading. Each child gets a t-shirt and there are hundreds of prizes drawn for each participant.
Adding to the attraction are a couple of familiar names. Neal James whom people will recognize from the Animal Planet show “Call of the Wildman.” Byron Ferguson is another regular at the show, but this year’s visit will be different from what he typically displays.
“Byron is a unique story for this year. Instead of exhibition shooting, he’s going to be doing seminars about shooting long bow. The reason is a few weeks ago he had open heart surgery and doctors told him he had to wait a few weeks before he pulled the long bow back,” Harman said. “But he said somehow he was going to bring something to West Virginia to make it as good as he can. So he decided on seminars. That’s a unique opportunity to learn from the master how to shoot a long bow.”
As for Neal James, he’s already made a splash on the scene. James visited Charleston back in January for the West Virginia Hunting and Fishing Show at the Charleston Civic Center and Harman knew he would be a hit for National Hunting and Fishing Days.
“Neal James is Turtleman’s buddy on ‘Call of the Wildman.'” Harman said. “I’ve never had a guest so excited to come back to West Virginia to be part of our show. Folks will be able to meet and talk to him.”
James and Harman started making visits to area schools, nursing homes, and local businesses on Wednesday drumming up publicity about the show. James is the quirky fellow with the beard, the banjo, and a good nature joke with every remark.
Northside Automotive West Virginia Outdoors will originate live from the event on Saturday morning at 7 a.m. and I’ll be the Emcee of Saturday’s exhibition bass fishing tournament. The weigh-in is at 2 p.m. near the Stonewall Marina.
Hours are 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $6 for adults. Anyone 15 and under is admitted for free.