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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
The first day of Spring Gobbler Season dawned with a howling wind, pelting snow and rain in most of the state. Many like me didn’t see the need to battle the elements and knew that there was plenty of time to put that gobbler in the freezer. The second day was better but there didn’t seem to be a lot of gobbling activity where I was. I heard one distant bird a time or two and one shot so far off that I...
posted Monday, April 30, 2012 at 3:58 PM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Monday, January the 2, and the day New Year’s is celebrated by many throughout the state. I had talked to two of my grouse hunting buddies the night before. The plan was to check the weather about 7 a.m. and make a decision about going grouse hunting that day. I had already made my decision the night before. If the wind didn’t blow the dog off its feet and if the snow wasn’t over my knees I was going. So, as...
posted Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 9:59 AM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
With the traditional deer gun seasons ended, the muzzleloader deer season opened on the following Monday. As it has many times in the past, Monday morning dawned cold with lightly falling and blowing snow. While not the most comfortable conditions, it did present excellent hunting conditions. The cold and snow would keep the deer moving more during the day as they searched for food.
I had hunted the morning hours...
posted Friday, December 9, 2011 at 9:34 AM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Hunting season changes mean more opportunities
I hadn’t bow hunted for more than 30 years until this year. Like many of our hunters, there are so many hunting opportunities that we often have to pick and choose when, where and what species we will hunt. Most of us have one hunting passion we hold above all others. In other words, if we were told we would have to choose only one species of game to hunt, we...
posted Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 9:54 AM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Snoopy’s Test
It was a typical grey day in Canaan Valley. As I dropped off of the mountain and turned onto the Cortland Road there was a mist in the air that hung heavy on the beech leaves. The clouds were sitting on top of Canaan and Cabin Mountains. As I slowed by the spot where I planned to hunt, I could hear little Snoopy shuffling around in her dog box. Like me, she could sense that we were about to embark on...
posted Friday, September 30, 2011 at 10:28 AM by Frank Jezioro
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This year, hunters will add squirrel, dove, goose, deer and coyote to the game
that can be hunted in September.
By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Dawn broke cool and quiet with only a hint of a breeze. The aroma of fall leaves was drifting on the breeze. There was some fog rising from the valley below where the river wound its way through the bottoms and pastureland. It had been a good...
posted Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 5:41 PM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
In most West Virginia families, someone hunts and or fishes. My grandchildren are like most youngsters across the state and most of the nation — they are fascinated by shooting. Because of this fascination, we have an obligation to do a couple of things. The first is to decide if we want our children involved in hunting and shooting. If the answer is yes, then the second thing we need to do is to prepare them...
posted Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 11:39 AM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
“Grandpa, there’s a fox.”
“Where?” I asked little Frankie as I searched with the binoculars.
“Right there, right there!” he exclaimed excitedly while pointing into about a 20 acre cut over area. But look as I did I couldn’t see it. The season was out but I still wanted to see it. I put down the binoculars and asked again where it was. To my surprise he was actually pointing to a small woods road not 35 yards away. I...
posted Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 1:18 PM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Some of the most beautiful of God’s creations occur in West Virginia. As I drive around the state this time of year I can’t help but notice the burst of color springing forth. From the pure white of our mountain dogwood to the brilliant hues of our redbuds, the true, natural beauty of West Virginia is everywhere.
And then there is the magnificent wild turkey. I think it was Ben Franklin who said the wild turkey should...
posted Monday, May 2, 2011 at 12:23 PM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Well, not sure about French Creek Freddie’s powers of prognostication as I look out the window this April’s Fools day. At the West Virginia Wildlife Center on Groundhog Day, Freddie called for an early spring and maybe it is coming after this snow. Or maybe this was his idea of an April Fool’s trick. After all, I have always heard that if March comes in like a lamb it will go out like a lion and certainly today was a...
posted Friday, April 1, 2011 at 3:32 PM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Like a lot of our readers, I started my hunting adventures in the fields and thickets where the cottontails lived. I was 10 years old and we were going rabbit hunting. The night before, I cleaned my old Iver Johnson, 12 gauge, 30 inch, full-choked single barrel. I counted and rolled around the four shells I would be allowed to carry. I knew where Boothsville was at the edge of Marion and Taylor Counties, but didn’t...
posted Friday, February 4, 2011 at 3:48 PM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
As we enter into the month of December I can’t help but make some comments based on my own field experiences. In a way, it was sort of a strange hunting season.
We opened the hunting season on September 1st with a dove hunt in the northern panhandle near Chester. The wildlife manager had done an excellent job of preparing the fields. The crops were abundant and the fields had been brush-hogged to provide both food and...
posted Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 2:27 PM by Frank Jezioro
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By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
When we think of the largest single-day sporting event West Virginians take part in, many say it is the day West Virginia and Marshall play football. Others say it is the day when a NASCAR race is going on. The truth is that the opening day of the buck gun deer season sees more West Virginians taking an active part than any other sporting event that takes place in West Virginia. On the opening day we will see nearly...
posted Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 3:00 PM by Frank Jezioro
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October kicks off the bulk of our fall and winter hunting seasons. We will see our sportsmen and women running in different directions, depending on their heritage and traditions. Probably the greatest number of hunters will be out trying to arrow a nice fat whitetail – buck or doe. There will be others scratching on their various turkey calls just waiting for the chance to “bust up” a flock of fall turkeys. Grouse and woodcock hunters have waited all year for the opportunity to follow their...
posted Monday, October 4, 2010 at 11:34 AM by Frank Jezioro
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September 1st signals the beginning of another hunting season in West Virginia. For many years now, September 1st is the traditional opening of dove season across a wide swath of the United States. These early seasons provide extra opportunities to get out and enjoy good shooting before the regular seasons kick in.
For such a small bird, dove hunting, or better phrased, dove shooting, is a major event. The farther south you go the bigger event it becomes with cookouts featuring the day’s...
posted Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 3:56 PM by Frank Jezioro