The Mountain State is home to some of the most spectacular fishing and hunting in the East.
Beautiful rivers and high mountain streams provide the perfect backdrop for your next outdoor adventure, according to West Virginia DNR wildlife and fisheries biologists headquartered in Beckley.
“Whether fly fishing or spin casting for any of the variety of species including bass, (smallmouth and largemouth), trout, walleye or musky, the Southern West Virginia experience promises to help you and your fishing companions enjoy all the region has to offer,” explained Mark Scott, WV assistant chief fisheries biologist with the DNR in Charleston.
“We’re lucky to be in the heart of some of the best smallmouth bass and trout fishing in the East. Southern West Virginia counties are a recreational hub when it comes to providing year-round, world-class fishing opportunities in virtually all directions north and south from the robust New River and its tributaries, as well as many other streams and rivers in the region.”
The same goes for both big and small game hunting for the fall of 2022, according to wildlife biologists.
Bow hunters also should have some excellent opportunities during the fall season.
Best advice: hunters should do their homework, as in preseason scouting, finding out where deer are traveling and bedding down and foraging.
Finding a constant flow of movement and staying with it usually provides the best results. Hunting evening hours also could prove to be the key in some areas; it’s often just as productive as hunting through the day, even perhaps surpassing the morning hours, according to some wily hunters.
Hunters also should scout several hunting sites, not just hunting only one favorite spot day in and day out.
As far as the trophy bucks are concerned, the same advice also applies for those big-antlered animals.
Think about it: It’s probably beneficial to try and understand what makes a trophy animal able to survive from season to season.
Hunting in remote areas where not many people get into to woods likely is a good place to start. These are the ideal remote locations to find trophy animals.
The four bow-hunting-only counties of Wyoming, Logan, McDowell, and Mingo the best places to look for trophy bucks. The reason is that deer live longer in those areas. The older deer have eluded the hunters for years, and they’re more cautious; hunters must take extra steps to harvest one of these trophy animals.
Again, hunting for whitetails in 2022 promises to be as good as last year’s harvest, or perhaps even better, depending on the mast conditions and weather. “It appears to look good for archery season which runs through Dec. 31.
Things might look good early in the season, but scouting is important to see what deer are eating throughout the area.
Buck gun season opens in late November and should see a harvest like that of last year. Gun season goes out Dec. 6. With an extra stamp, however, two deer can be harvested with a firearm.
Muzzleloader season opens later in December. The black powder sport is popular in the state, and it’s gaining every year.
Hunters always should check their 2022 Hunting and Trapping Regulations for more information and county listings where hunting is permitted.
During the fall turkey season, hunters are permitted to take birds of either sex in designated counties where hunting is legal. Hunters have a good chance to harvest birds during the fall season in specific counties.
Hunters, however, are not aggressively pursuing the wild turkeys in the fall as they once did, according to wildlife biologists.
Rifles are common during the fall turkey season because the birds can be more challenging to call this time of year. But it is positively essential to identify a shooter’s target before discharging a firearm.
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Top o’ the morning!
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