Having no one in my family who hunted or fished, I didn't start hunting until I was 33. And the first game animal that I pursued was the gray squirrel back in that autumn of 1985. A friend, who was a veteran bushytail enthusiast, consented to take me on my initial outing; he spent a great deal of time instructing me on the rudiments of the pastime.

About an hour into our efforts, we glimpsed a silvertail, perched high in a hickory, sending slivers of hickory hulls toward the forest floor. The rasping sound made by the animal as it gnawed away the hull from around the nutmeat gave the gray's location away. My buddy insisted that I take the first shot at the critter, so I slowly raised the borrowed .410 -- I didn't even own a gun at the time.

After the blast from the shotgun, the squirrel tumbled to the forest floor, and I had taken my first game animal, which made its way home as the dinner entree that night. Since then, I have continued to hunt squirrels for two main reasons -- doing so is both fun and relaxing.

A month or so later, I went on my first rabbit excursion and found that diversion just as pleasurable, although hitting the darting critters was a difficult task. As I remember, I missed several scurrying cottontails that day. These days, West Virginia's outdoors contingent is no doubt focused on deer. And this is understandable. But squirrels and rabbits remain very popular with large numbers of folks. Squirrel hunting, especially, is of very high quality in the Mountain State. Here's a rundown of opportunities around the state, as the squirrel season will continue until Jan. 30, while the rabbit season runs until Feb. 27.

SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA OVERVIEW
Larry Berry, veteran District IV biologist for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR), keeps tabs on bushytails and rabbits from the Beckley office.

"We are seeing a lot of squirrels this year in District IV," he reports. "They had plenty of food last winter. Rabbits seem to be doing well in the habitat available to them. There's plenty of grass for cover this year."

Berry's comments bring up several relevant points. First, one of the most important factors regarding squirrel numbers in any region of the state is the availability of hard and soft mast the previous year. The reason why squirrel numbers seem to be up is because the abundance of food last year enabled the creatures to survive the winter in better shape and thus produce more offspring -- those will likely be many of the squirrels you will see in the woods this month.