West Virginia
Wildlife Section presents recommended game and fish law changes – WV MetroNews
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Members of the Natural Resources Commission heard the recommendations of Division of Natural Resources biologists Sunday for the coming big game seasons in the state. However, the most notable suggestion presented at the Claudia L. Workman Nature Education Center had very little to do with bag limits or season dates.
A proposal from the Director of the DNR recommended the youth whitetail hunting seasons be changed to allow the young hunter to kill a buck or a doe. Previously the hunts were strictly for antlerless deer.
“The Director of the Division of Natural Resources proposes that youth hunters during the Special Youth Deer Season be allowed to harvest either sex deer,” read the proposal as it was presented to the Commission.
The proposal goes on to say the youth hunter would be allowed to kill one buck during the youth season and it would count toward the young hunter’s season bag limit of two antlered deer. There is an exception for hunting in the CWD Containment Area where the season bag limit remains three antlered deer for the season. The propsoal would allow the youth to kill one antlerless deer during the youth season which would not count toward their season bag limit of antlerless deer.
The proposal from the Director wasn’t the only suggested change for the youth hunting seasons. There is also a proposal from the DNR Wildlife Section to change the limit in the youth squirrel hunting season to six squirrels in aggregate per day and the possession and season limit to 12 squirrels in aggregate. The change is proposed to take effect in the 2025 squirrel hunting season. Assistant Chief for Game Steve Rauch told Commissioners the change was to enable youth hunters to kill a limit of squirrels on both days of the season and corrects an oversight when the season went from a Saturday to a Saturday-Sunday season.
As for bag limits in the upcoming whitetail deer season, the biggest change is the well documented reduction of the overall number of bucks a hunter can kill in West Virginia from three to two. This fall will be the first season the new limit will be in place and hunters will only be allowed to kill two bucks combined across the archery, firearms, and muzzleloader seasons.
The rest of the proposed changes for big game hunting in the state for the coming year were minimal.
There is a proposal to loosen the restrictions on antlerless hunting in southern Kanawha County. Those areas were closed to antlerless hunting in 2023. For this year, the agency recommends allowing resident land owners to kill one antlerless deer and issuing 250 permts for non-landowners for antlerless deer hunting in the area. It’s likely a change which will be welcomed since two of the public speakers at Sunday’s meeting asked for the restrictions on antlerless huning in Kanawha County be loosened.
The agency proposed unlimited antlerless hunting permits for the eastern section of Raleigh County with a bag limit of one. The bag limiit for antlerless deer in 2024 in Brooke and Ohio County is recommmended to be raised to three.
There were no counties or areas of the state where antlerless hunting restrictions were tighened.
The proposed bear hunting regulations were also minimal. The DNR recommended a more liberal hunting season without dogs to a 7 day season running September 21-27. The season would be open in
–Barbour County west of Route 92
–Braxton County west of I-79
–Calhoun County
–Clay County north of the Elk River
–Harrison
–Lewis
–Mercer
–Monongalia
— Monroe County west of Route 219
–Roane
–Taylor
–Summers
–Upshur County west of Route 20
There is only one fishing regulation change presented to the commission. The DNR Fisheries section proposes to establish a regulation on black bass at Elk Fork, North Bend, O’Brien, and Woodrum Lakes with a 6-fish per day creel limit, of which only one may exceed 16 inches. Possession limit of 12, only two of which may exceed 16 inches.
The four lakes have been catch and release waters ever since they were built. Bioloigists said without any harvest, the population of black bass has grown to the point it has created a uniform size structure among the bass population.
“Biological data has illustrated an overall decline in size structure, while abundance data remains extremely high in comparison to most of WV’s impounded waterbodies. Additionally, the observed relative weight, a statistic used to evaluate body condition, of black bass is less than standard targets. These data suggest that an overabundance of black bass is negatively influencing growth rates, size structure, and ultimately maximum lengths obtained by fish in these waters,” wrote fish managers in thier presentation to the Natural Resoruces Commission.
“The goal of the proposed regulation is to encourage angler harvest of fish under 16 inches to reduce densities of smaller fish. Should these regulations work as intended, growth rates and size structure of black bass are expected to increase on these waters,” the proposal added.
The idea is experimental and would be augmented by ongoing tagging studies and annual electrofishing on the four waters to determine if the new regulation improves the average size of fish caught from the four impoundments.
All other fishing regulations are proposed to be unchanged from last year.
All of the proposed changes to game and fish laws will be up for discussion and public input at the March Sportsman’s Sectional meeting which are set for March 11-12. The big game regulations will be voted upon by Commissioners at the next Commission meeting slated for April 24 at Blackwater Falls State Park.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history, compiled by the West Virginia Humanities Council from its online encyclopedia, e-WV.
April 19, 1896: Writer Melville Davisson Post was born in Harrison County. His best-known works are the Randolph Mason series, published in three volumes, and the more successful collection Uncle Abner: Master of Mysteries.
April 19, 1902: Author Jean Lee Latham was born in Buckhannon. She wrote a number of children’s books, including Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, which won the 1956 Newbery Award.
April 20, 1823: Gen. Jesse Lee Reno was born in Wheeling. He graduated from West Point in 1846 with another cadet from western Virginia, Thomas J. Jackson, later known as “Stonewall.” Reno was the highest-ranking officer from present West Virginia killed in the Civil War.
April 20, 1863: President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation that in 60 days, West Virginia would become a state. The occasion was marked 100 years later during the state’s Centennial celebration with a special ceremonial session of the West Virginia Legislature on April 20, 1963, in Wheeling.
April 20, 1909: Fiddler Melvin Wine was born near Burnsville in Braxton County. A favorite of old-time music enthusiasts nationally, he was chosen as a National Heritage Fellow in 1991 by the National Endowment for the Arts — the highest recognition given to a folk artist in the United States.
April 20, 1939: Poet Irene McKinney was born in Belington, Barbour County. Gov. Gaston Caperton appointed her state poet laureate in 1993, and she served in that capacity until her death in 2012.
April 21, 1908: Musician Phoeba Cottrell Parsons was born in Calhoun County. Parsons’ traditional clawhammer banjo style, unaccompanied ballad singing, riddles and storytelling have influenced countless younger musicians.
April 21, 1936: President Franklin Roosevelt established the Jefferson National Forest. The West Virginia portion of the forest includes about 19,000 acres in Monroe County.
April 22, 1908: Marshall “Little Sleepy” Glenn was born in Elkins. Glenn coached basketball at West Virginia University from 1934 to 1938 and football from 1937 to 1940. He was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
April 22, 1948: Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and musician Larry Groce was born in Dallas, Texas. He is best known as the longtime host and artistic director of the Mountain Stage radio program.
April 22, 2003: Activist Judy Bonds, a Raleigh County native, received the Goldman Environmental Prize for her fight against mountaintop removal mining. Her efforts inspired thousands and turned a local West Virginia issue into a national cause.
April 23, 1857: Andrew S. Rowan was born in Gap Mills, Monroe County. Rowan, a military officer, was chosen as the messenger when President William McKinley wanted to send a message to Cuban Gen. Calixto Garcia during the Spanish-American War. The 1899 pamphlet A Message to Garcia made the incident famous.
April 24, 1865: McNeill’s Rangers surrendered to Union troops at New Creek — now Keyser. The Confederate guerrilla force probably never numbered more than 100 men at any time but managed to inflict regular damage on Union operations.
April 25, 1863: In what became known as the Jones-Imboden Raid, about 1,500 Confederate soldiers under Gen. William “Grumble” Jones advanced through Greenland Gap, a deep pass through New Creek Mountain in present Grant County. The Confederates encountered 87 Union soldiers who held off several assaults before finally surrendering.
April 25, 1923: Union leader Arnold Ray Miller was born at Leewood on Cabin Creek in Kanawha County. In December 1972, he defeated Tony Boyle to become president of the United Mine Workers and served until 1979.
e-WV is a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council. For more information, contact the council at 1310 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston, WV 25301, call 304-346-8500 or visit wvencyclopedia.org.
During the Gold-Blue spring game on Saturday, the West Virginia coaching staff named wide receiver Cyrus Traught the recipient of the 2026 Tommy Nikolich Award.
The award, which is always given out at the end of spring ball, recognizes a walk-on team member who has distinguished himself through his attitude and work ethic. The award is presented in memory of Tommy Nickolich, a former WVU player (1980-82) who passed away from cancer in 1983.
Traugh is a Parkersburg native and graduate of Parkersburg South High School. He began his career at Youngstown State before transferring back home to play for the Mountaineers last season. In his final year with the Penguins, he logged 36 receptions, 409 yards, and a team-leading five touchdowns, two of which came against Pitt.
During the 2025 campaign with the Mountaineers, he saw action against Robert Morris and Kansas, playing 10 snaps against the Jayhawks, but did not record any stats.
Head coach Rich Rodriguez has mentioned him twice this spring as someone who has been doing some good things and making progress. Wide receivers coach Ryan Garrett also showed him some love during his press conference last week.
The Mountaineers completely revamped the wide receiver room this offseason, upping the level of talent at both inside and outside receiver spots, but perhaps Traugh can work his way into the mix if he puts together a strong summer and fall camp. If he’s not a regular in the rotation, he’ll serve as a quality depth piece who can play special teams.
Past Nickolich Award winners:
2025: Clay Ash, RB
2024: Avery Wilcox, S
2023: C.J. Cole, WR
2022: Nick Malone, OL
2021: Graeson Malashevich, WR/H
2020: Osman Kamara, S
2019: Jake Abbott, LB
2018: Evan Staley, K
2017: Nick Meadows, LS
2016: Jon Lewis, DL
2015: Justin Arndt, LB
2014: Michael Calicchio, OL
2013: Connor Arlia, WR
2012: Tyler Anderson, DE
2011: Ryan Nehlen, WR
2010: Matt Lindamood, FB
2009: Josh Taylor, DL
2008: Adam Hughes, LS
2007: Andy Emery, LB
2006: Tim Lindsey, LS
2005: George Shehl, H/DB
2004: Jeff Noechel, LB
2003: John Pennington, WR
2002: Moe Fofana, RB
2001: Jeremy Knapp, TE
2000: Ben Collins, LB
1999: Bryan Lorenz, LB
1998: Mark Corman, TE
1997: David Lightcap, DB
1996: Matt Ceresa, OL
1995: Rob Keys, DB
1994: Randy Fulmore, DB
1993: Matt McCulty, WR
1992: Brett Parise, WR, Ray Wilcox, LB
1991: Keith Taparausky, RB
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