"Rabbits prefer early successional habitat, such as overgrown pasture fields with blackberries, greenbriers and other early successional species that provide cover and food," says Knotts. "Also good are hayfields, orchards, edge areas around meadows and other areas that provide high-quality foods, especially legumes, such as clovers and alfalfa. The key items here are food and adequate cover from predators. Rabbits are very prolific, and if good habitat is available, the rabbit population can increase rapidly."

Central West Virginia offers a wealth of public-hunting destinations for squirrels. Knotts emphasizes that most state-owned or leased WMAs in District III have some areas of mature timber and should offer good squirrel hunting opportunities this fall and winter. National forest and state forestlands that support oak/hickory timber stands (especially the lower elevation ones) should also be worthwhile for pursuing squirrels.

Specific WMAs the biologist recommends include Stonewall Jackson Lake (18,289 acres) in Lewis County, Burnsville Lake (12,579 acres) in Braxton County, Elk River (18,225 acres) in Braxton County and Wallback (11,758 acres) in Clay, Kanawha and Roane counties; and he states that all have "excellent potential." For rabbits, he says that the Wallback and Stonewall Jackson Lake WMAs "probably offer the best rabbit hunting opportunities due to the presence of more suitable habitat."

WESTERN STATE OVERVIEW
Kem Shaw, assistant district biologist in District V, helps keep up with squirrels and rabbits in the western part of the Mountain State. He offers glowing reports on both species.

"Rabbit and squirrel numbers are high here," he says. "Mast conditions were good in 2008, so squirrels had plenty of food available. Last year we had the highest rabbit populations that I have seen in the 21 years that I have worked for Wildlife Resources. Those high numbers carried over to this year."

What's more, Shaw considers every WMA in District V as "good squirrel areas," as they all have areas with lots of timber and mast-producing trees. Some of the larger WMAs include Amherst/Plymouth (7,061 acres) in Putnam County, Beech Fork Lake (7,531 acres) in Cabell and Wayne counties, Big Ugly (6,000 acres) in Lincoln County, Chief Cornstalk (11,772 acres) in Mason County, East Lynn Lake (22,928 acres) in Wayne County, Fork Creek (7,000 acres) in Boone County, Laurel Lake (12,856 acres) in Mingo County, and Morris Creek (9,874 acres) in Clay and Kanawha counties. Obviously, public hunting for squirrels in this part of the state is fantastic.

Shaw emphasizes that rabbits require habitat with lots of cover and suggests that District V hunters on both public and private lands look for cover in the form of brushpiles, overgrown fields and brushy fencerows, among other things. Ideally, hunters will find areas with combinations of these types of cover; if so, they have truly located prime rabbit habitat.

For public-land hoppers, the biologist suggests two WMAs that the DNR manages for farm game species. Those public lands are the Green Bottom WMA (1,096 acres) in Cabell and Mason counties and the McClintic WMA (3,655 acres) in Mason County.