We had confirmed that at least one gobbler lived on the mountain and had survived the fall turkey season, and a well-worn deer trail offered possibilities for bow season. Even some late-season squirrel hunting was possible on the WMA. For those three reasons -- and seasons -- I will definitely be back to that individual hollow, logging road and mountainside.

OVERVIEW OF SQUIRREL & RABBIT POPULATIONS
Gray squirrels and cottontail rabbits are two of the most popular small- game animals in the Mountain State. Dick Hall, game management supervisor for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR), believes fellow silvertail chasers have much to look forward to this year.

"Squirrel numbers should be up," Hall said. "We had improved mast conditions in 2005, and that typically means positive things for squirrels. When there is more mast the year before, the animals are often able to have two litters the next year. When the mast crop fails, the squirrels are doing pretty good to have one litter.

"Now, there was a frost in much of the state in mid-May of this year. I don't think that frost had much of an impact as far as hurting this year's mast crop; at least I don't think it did. It was the type of frost, though, where I had to cover my tomato plants."

Biologists often have a harder time getting a handle on rabbit populations. Cottontail numbers often fluctuate wildly from year to year, and, for that matter, from area to area within the same county.

"With rabbits," continued Hall, "their populations are totally dependent on habitat. Rabbits are an early successional species. By that I mean they need open areas with lots of cover and brush. Clearcuts are something else that rabbits benefit from, at least for a time until the trees grow too large.

"In West Virginia, the best rabbit hunting generally takes place on private land. A great place to hunt would be an old farm that is slowly growing up in vegetation.

"I often hear hunters say that they saw all kinds of rabbits in the summer, but when the hunting season came, they didn't see nearly as many. That's easy to explain. In the summer, the growth is green, lush and tall, and predators have a lot of foods to choose from. But when the vegetation dies and is beat down in the fall, the predation goes way up. The rabbits can no longer 'jump in the brush' when they need to."

And there are a great many creatures that like to chow down on cottontails. Hall lists bobcats, foxes and various avian predators as well as a relatively new creature on the block.

"Coyotes started appearing in West Virginia about 20 years ago," he said. "Now they are practically in every county. Coyotes feed mostly on rodents, but they will, of course, take a rabbit or even a doe fawn."

Hall laughed when asked if the DNR still had to deal with the ridiculous rumor that it had stocked coyotes in West Virginia.