I suspect other West Virginia squirrel hunters who hunt public land have similar feelings for why they like one WMA over another. Let's face facts. I doubt if there are few, if any, West Virginia squirrel hunters who are going to drive several hundred miles to go afield on a WMA. If an individual does not have access to private land, he will journey to the closest public domain - where the hunting will likely be just as good as a WMA many miles farther away.

With squirrel numbers being down because of the poor mast years of 2001 through 2003, there is little reason for an individual to think that he can drive great distances to experience better hunting. Again, to emphasize, if an individual is willing to still- hunt through any given WMA and spend several hours doing so, he should be able to bag several squirrels.

The first time I squirrel hunted in the Potts Creek WMA was with Jim Craft, now the supervisor for the Neola WMA. The same conditions that made this public land a good place to pursue squirrels during that hunt still exist now. For example, oak-hickory-pine forests blanket most of this mountainous area in Monroe County. A good game plan is to hunt along the hollows that lead down from the mountains. If one of those hollows happens to have a tributary of Potts Creek, so much the better.

Another place where I have experienced good squirrel hunting is on the Neola WMA (97,928 acres) in Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties. Again, the reason I enjoy hunting the Neola is because it is conveniently located to where I live. Oak-hickory and oak-pine forests blanket the vast majority of the Neola - in other words, it contains great squirrel habitat.

Another thing I like about the Neola is that old logging roads honeycomb this public land. I can wander along these passageways until I find an area where hard or soft mast exists. Then based on whether fresh cuttings are present, I can either take a stand or continue on my way.

Yet another public land where I have experienced quality squirrel sport is the Potomac WMA (139,786 acres) in Randolph, Pendleton, Grant and Tucker counties. Oak-hickory and northern hardwoods comprise the majority of this domain. The elevations on the Potomac range from 900 to 4,862 feet. Sportsmen should concentrate their efforts in the lower elevations, as gray squirrels are likely to be very low in number at the higher elevations.

During the spring of 2004, the weather was once again cool and wet - a terrible condition for turkeys and ruffed grouse reproduction, for instance, but a very positive event for cottontails. If autumn rainfall was average or above normal in your home area may well mean that there will be abundant cover - and some quality rabbit hunting - in November and December. The cottontail and snowshoe seasons continue through Feb. 28.

In 2003, rabbit reports from around the state generally noted that populations were stable or slightly increasing. The relevance of those reports for 2004 is that the areas that had adequate populations in 2003 will likely have more rabbits available to produce offspring in 2004.

In the eastern part of West Virginia, rabbit numbers were generally stable with the prospects being better in Berkley and Jefferson counties. The same was generally the case in the mountain counties with Greenbrier, Pocahontas and Webster offering the best opportunities.

Southern West Virginia also had a stable rabbit population with Clay, Fayette, Lincoln, McDowell and Mercer counties perhaps having the best numbers.

Rabbit numbers seem to be trending upward in the northern reaches of West Virginia with the counties of Barbour, Marion, Monongalia and Taylor showing increasing numbers of cottontails. Rabbit numbers were described as being the same or slightly better in the Northern Panhandle with Brooke, Marshall and Ohio counties offering the most fetching sport.

Generally speaking, given the fact that unbroken tracts of hardwood forests characterize the majority of West Virginia public lands, rabbit hunting on these areas cannot compare to the sport that can be found on nearby private lands. This is especially true if these private lands feature agricultural pursuits, livestock operations, regenerating, overgrown fields, or recently timbered forests in the early stages of regeneration.

A major exception to the unbroken forest trait of most state WMAs is the McClintic WMA (3,655 acres) in Mason County. This District 5 spot, Chris Ryan said, features the most diverse habitat of any public land in the Mountain State. Situated near Point Pleasant and Mason in the western part of the state, McClintic is characterized by farmland, brushy fields, wetlands and mixed hardwoods. Given this great diversity of habitat and good game populations, McClintic is one of the most popular public lands in West Virginia. If you live in that region of the state and need access to some quality public land for rabbit hunting, McClintic is a great option.

For rabbit fanciers living in the central part of the state, the best public-land choice would probably be the Stonewall Jackson WMA (18,289 acres) in Lewis County. Stonewall Jackson has a high proportion of forestland, but this area also features old farmland, rolling hills with plenty of brush and edge habitat along the edges of Stonewall Jackson Lake.

Very few sportsmen go after snowshoe rabbits in West Virginia. This species is probably not abundant anywhere and exists mainly in the higher elevations of some of the state's most mountainous WMAs that make up the Monongahela National Forest.

The most extreme elevations include Beaver Dam WMA (37,674 acres) in Randolph County, and the Blackwater WMA (58,978 acres) in Tucker and Preston counties. Also, Cheat WMA (80,771 acres) in Randolph County, the Cranberry WMA (158,147 acres) in Nicholas, Webster, Pocahontas and Greenbrier counties, the Little River WMA (124,483 acres) in Pocahontas County, and the Tea Creek WMA (67,919 acres) in Pocahontas, Randolph and Webster counties are possibilities.

To emphasize, even in these WMAs that do contain snowshoes, the numbers are not high and the mountainous terrain and the elevations where this species is found combine to make hunting extremely difficult. If you should go after snowshoes in December, expect snow to already cover the ground in the upper elevations of these WMAs. Hunters and their beagles will have to be in tiptop shape in order for them to succeed.

Last January, I spent two pleasant Saturday afternoons squirrel and rabbit hunting. I bagged a total of two squirrels and missed both rabbits I shot at. I found the squirrels difficult to find and the rabbits difficult to hit. The bushytails will likely be difficult to locate this year, although rabbit numbers will be about the same or slightly better.