Hunting Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

House Bills Aim To Bolster Hunting, Fishing Access For West Virginians

Two bills under consideration in the West Virginia House of Delegates aim to reinforce hunting and fishing access within the state. They passed a House committee with majority support, and will each be referred to a second committee for further deliberation.

On Wednesday, the West Virginia House of Delegates Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources voiced support for two pieces of proposed legislation that would reinforce hunting and fishing rights in the state.

House Bill 4280 would grant disabled West Virginia veterans free lifetime hunting, trapping and fishing licenses through a tax credit.

Brett McMillion, director of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, testified during Wednesday’s committee meeting, and said passage of the bill would not necessarily increase the cost of hunting and fishing licenses for other West Virginians.

Still, MacMillian said it would be important for lawmakers to help the DNR access new sources of funding to offset costs incurred by the bill.

“We support our veterans one hundred percent,” he said. But “any time we have a reduction in our special revenue… it certainly does have an impact.”

Additionally, House Joint Resolution 8 would pose a new item on West Virginia ballots in the coming general election.

Under the resolution, citizens could vote to codify “the right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife” in state law. The resolution stipulates that citizens must still adhere to laws on wildlife conservation and private property.

The resolution also describes hunting and fishing as a “preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife.”

Lawmakers on the committee emphasized it would be important that the resolution does not interfere with the operations of agencies like the DNR. They unanimously voted that it be referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary for discussion on the judicial implications of such a bill.

North Carolina’s Amy Ritchie Shares Her Love For The Art Of Taxidermy

For some people, taxidermy – preserving and mounting dead animals – can seem a little bit creepy. But for others, taxidermy is a serious art form that’s growing in popularity. One expert practitioner in Yadkin County, North Carolina enjoys sharing her work with others.

This story originally aired in the May 28, 2023 episode of Inside Appalachia.

I felt a little apprehensive as I walked up to Amy Ritchie’s workshop in Hamptonville, North Carolina. Especially after hearing the message on her voicemail.

Ritchie’s confident voice was bright and clear on the recording. “Hi! You’ve reached Amy of Amy’s Animal Arts. I’m probably skinning a bobcat or sewing up the neck of a giraffe. Please leave me a message, and I’ll call you back as soon as I can stop and pull off the rubber gloves.”

Ritchie is an award-winning taxidermist. Her studio is located in her four-bay garage. It’s large, bright and airy…with about 150 deer antlers hanging from the high ceilings. Everything is neatly organized. On one side, power tools hang on a wall next to shelves filled with paints and adhesives.

Over 150 deer antlers hang overhead in Ritchie’s studio. One by one, they will be paired with their corresponding deer capes (the head, and neck of the deer), which are stored in Ritchie’s freezer.

*Credit: Margaret McLeod Leef*/*West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

The other side of the studio is a veritable zoo. A few giraffes, lions, armadillos, bears, coyotes and foxes in suspended motion. They seem so vital, I couldn’t help but reach out and touch them. They felt soft and real.

“I’m really passionate about taxidermy,” Ritchie said. “I think at my core, I just love it. It’s what I was meant to do.”

Ritchie grew up in rural North Carolina, homeschooled by her mom. She said that gave her plenty of time to follow her interests.

That included animals… particularly dead ones.

“When I was 13, I found a roadkill snake and wanted to turn it into a belt,” she said. “I asked mom if I could have a knife from the kitchen to skin the snake and she said, ‘Just please wear gloves so you don’t get a disease.’”

It was a king snake with a white-chain pattern. Ritchie taught herself how to skin and tan it.

“I was able to find the information online, how to use glycerin and some different products from just the pharmacy to be able to tan that…And there I was… [wearing a] snakeskin belt,” she said.

Ritchie admitted she was an unusual child with unusual interests.

“I like being unique. I mean, why be like everyone else? And I never have been.”

Ritchie said her dad also supported her interest in taxidermy. He had a second job delivering newspapers early in the morning.

“He would find all the fresh roadkill,” Ritchie said. “So that’s how he would bring home raccoons and possums and things for me to practice skinning.”

When she was 16, Ritchie’s dad encouraged her to enter a national taxidermy competition. Her entry was a red squirrel mounted on a bed of leaves as if it was sleeping. Ritchie competed in the open division. And even though she was a novice, she walked away with third place.

She’s gone on to win many awards over the years. Now at 36, she’s a highly skilled taxidermist in demand. She makes her living mounting animals for hunters and collectors.

Ritchie continued our tour. She showed me what she was working on.

”We got some of the actual messy stuff going on. This is a wild boar someone brought in just yesterday.”

The bones and bulk of the meat had already been removed. Ritchie started by preparing and tanning the hide. She grabbed a knife.

“We have to take this meat off. And so I’ll hold the knife and work it. Down like this… it’s fascinating and kind of satisfying to slowly shave this off,” she said.

Ritchie is small, just over five feet tall. She wrapped the exposed hide tightly on the edge of her work bench and scraped the knife along the boar’s hide in rhythmic motion.

“I have to press down with this knife and shave this down,” she explained. “So, big job right here.”

At this stage, the hide was stiff and unwieldy.

“It’s hard. I can’t even fold the hide. By the time I’m done, it’ll be soft and I can. It will not take up as much space in my freezer.”

Amy Ritchie braces herself against a workbench as she shaves meat off of a wild boar hide before she wraps it tightly in a bag to store in her freezer.

*Credit: Margaret McLeod Leef/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

The freezer. It’s the part of the tour I was most curious about. Ritchie has seven chest freezers. She opened a freezer lid, and I pulled out one of about 50 gallon-sized Ziploc bags. Inside was something called a deer cape. It was compact. It felt like a frozen roast.

“Yeah, it’s just the skin, and it’s the head and the shoulders of the deer and wrapped up really tight.”

After Ritchie treats the hide, she crafts the animal shape. She carves muscles, veins and bone mass out of a foam mold like a sculptor. She sands the mold, applies adhesives and wraps the skin around it. Then she smooths out irregularities before sewing it up with artfully hidden stitches. She uses glass eyes.

“You got to detail the eyes so that they look realistic,” Ritchie said. “So they have expression… those things that separate, you know, just hide a similar from an artistic taxidermist.”

Ritchie says when she was starting out, she didn’t know many other women in the field. But she says that’s changed in the past few years. And she’s helping to train a new generation through her Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Ritchie is also training a new generation through an apprenticeship. Ritchie introduced me to her first apprentice, Mariah Petrea as she helped Petrea carve a foam mold with a deer mount. They’ll sand and apply adhesives before pulling a deer cape onto the form.

Mariah Petrea carves a foam mold to make the shape unique to the deer cape that she’ll wrap on the mold with adhesives.

*Credit: Margaret McLeod Leef/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Petrea started out as a customer. She came to Ritchie’s workshop a couple of years ago to drop off a deer to be mounted and the two hit it off. Mariah was a little uneasy with the work at first.

“Being an animal person myself, I was like, ‘Oh, my heart’s going to get in the way. Will I be able to clean this cat? Because it looks like my pet cat in a way just a little bit bigger,’ and you get to come to terms with things,” Petrea said. “What’s lying there, it can’t feel anything. And after you do it once, it’s just a motion you go through.”

Now Petrea works part-time with Ritchie and hopes to start her own taxidermy business. She says her favorite part is breathing life into her subjects.

“It has been amazing how you can make a piece of foam with some clay look realistic,” Petrea said. “And that is the start of everything, just taking something that looks lifeless and making it look realistic. When you saw it out in the woods or a picture.”

Like Mariah, most of Ritchie’s clients are hunters who bring in deer trophies or bobcats. Ritchie says she rarely hunts — though she doesn’t have a problem with it as long as the animals are legally obtained.

“I’m here in the South where really, if you haven’t seen a deer head or know what taxidermy is, you know, how are you even a Southerner?”

But Ritchie’s most prized mounts are from a trip she made to Africa. It includes the head and neck of an adult giraffe looming over ten feet tall in her studio.

Hunting giraffes is controversial. Ritchie says the animal was an older male that was beyond breeding age and had been attacking younger giraffes. She also has a mother and baby giraffe that were donated by a zoo after they died of natural causes.

Amy Ritchie poses with a baby giraffe donated by a zoo after it died from natural causes. Ritchie enjoys sharing her animal menagerie with others, especially kids who haven’t been able to see some of the animal types before.

*Credit: Margaret McLeod Leef/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Ritchie enjoys sharing her collection with others, especially kids.

“They come in here and they’re like wow, mom and dad, what’s that? What’s that? And I love to tell them, it’s, you know, this animal that you’ve never seen before,” Ritchie said. “And it really gets you more up close than you would even in most zoos… And how many kids get to pet a baby giraffe?”

Ritchie says she’s constantly looking for new ways to expand her craft. More active poses, more detailed scenery. She says part of the pleasure for her is the transformation. Like when she turned that snakeskin she found on the side of the road into an eye-catching belt.

“I think the fascination with just thinking, wow, that would have just been thrown away. And I have done something with something that would have rotted. And maybe that’s why I like taxidermy so much,” she said. “The idea that you can make something from nothing.”

For Ritchie, it’s more than just preserving animals. She enjoys sharing this art form… whether it’s with her clients or with people who just stop by to marvel at her studio.

Amy Ritche’s truck reflects her enthusiasm for her art form. It is unmistakable in Hamtonville, NC, complete with a specialized license tag.

*Credit: Margaret McLeod Leef/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Amy Ritchie sewing a bobcat.

*Credit: Margaret McLeod Leef/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

A taxidermy African Porcupine.

*Margaret McLeod Leef/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

——

This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia and the Folklife Program of the West Virginia Humanities Council.

The Folkways Reporting Project is made possible in part with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts and culture.

Spring Turkey Season Starts This Weekend

The regular season opens statewide April 17, and goes for five weeks until May 21.

The state’s spring turkey season kicks off with a two-day youth season Saturday, April 15 and Sunday, April 16, giving young hunters a chance to take part in the excitement.

Youth hunters must be at least 8 years old and less than 18 years old.

The regular season opens statewide April 17 and goes for five weeks until May 21.

All hunters 15 and older are required to have a valid West Virginia hunting license.

There is a season bag limit of one bearded turkey per day, two all season for all ages.

For more information on hunting requirements and limits, be sure to check the current Hunting and Trapping Regulations from the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The DNR calls wild turkeys one of the most wary game birds in North America, notorious for their keen senses and elusive nature, making them a challenging quarry for even the most experienced hunters.

All residents are advised by the DNR that the spring turkey season is the perfect opportunity to combine multiple outdoor activities into a single day’s trip including hunting, fishing, hiking or taking in the natural beauty of the landscape.

Hunters Encouraged To Donate Deer Meat To Combat Hunger

The Division of Natural Resources sponsors the Hunters Helping the Hungry Program, which provides thousands of pounds of venison to needy families across the state.

Hunters are encouraged to donate deer meat in order to help families around the state in need of food.

The Division of Natural Resources sponsors the Hunters Helping the Hungry Program, which provides thousands of pounds of venison to needy families across the state.

One in seven adults in West Virginia struggle with hunger.

Hunters who wish to participate in the program can take their deer to a participating meat processor and the venison will be donated to the state’s food banks.

The Mountaineer Food Bank and Facing Hunger Foodbank pick up the venison and distribute it to their statewide network of 600 charitable food pantries, senior centers, shelters, churches and more.

According to the WVDNR, more than 1 million pounds of meat has been provided to needy families and individuals throughout West Virginia.

W.Va. Hunters Return To Historical Roots

West Virginia’s Mountaineer Heritage Hunting season began Jan 9, two weeks after most hunting seasons have closed. It is the second year since its conception, and most notably, it is limited to primitive weapons – like flintlock muzzle loader rifles.

The season is meant to memorialize the state’s settlers, using similar hunting techniques and weapons.

Muzzle loader rifles are long guns, easily four feet. Hunters load black powder into the muzzle — the end of the gun — to fire. It takes an experienced person just under a minute to reload. That means that for hunting, you typically have one shot to kill an animal.

“Literally these are not high tech. These are primitive weapons. There’s nothing high tech about them,” Gene Wotring, a Morgantown-based rifle maker, said.

A New Generation

As of last spring, Gene started making the WVU Mountaineer rifle — the signature piece for WVU’s Mountaineer mascot. His father, Marvin Wotring, made the rifle for over 40 years prior to that. Marvin made 949 muzzle loaders in his life, and Gene is on number nine. It takes him about 80 hours to make one rifle.

Handmade rifles in Gene Wotring’s shop outside Morgantown. Wotring, who recently took over his father’s business, made the most recent Mountaineer mascot’ rifle. WVU replaces the Mountaineer rifle every five to six years. Because the rifles are shot at least a dozen times per WVU sports game, depending on scores, they wear out quickly.

Inside Gene’s shop in Morgantown, five rifles were mounted in front of a rugged, cotton American flag. The rest of the shop was in a bit of disarray — Gene is still going through all of his father’s tools, which he inherited. But the rifles on display stand out. He made them all this year.

“A lot of frustrating hours in that gun and I had to put it up for a little bit. So then I built this one and made out of completely scraps from his shop,” Gene said.

One of the rifles Gene made in 2019. It is made out of a rare patterned maple, called Birdseye.

They all have a glossy wooden shine to them. Two have a hand-carved gold emblem in the shape of W.Va. Another is made out of Birdseye Maple, which gives it a distinct, patterned look and is decorated with a metal bear paw.

Building It For The Challenge…

Gene said the knowledge of how to build muzzle loaders, and even how to shoot them, is dwindling. He said it is easier to hunt with modern rifles because they are easier to load, can shoot a longer range and can shoot multiple times within a matter of seconds.

But, he said, black powder hunting is almost a sport of its own.

“There’s a challenge to it. At some point, honestly it’s pretty easy to kill an animal with a modern rifle, you want to make it a little more challenging.”

And that is a big reason the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources advocated for the Mountaineer Heritage Hunting season. In a 2018 DNR survey of hunters, data showed that almost half of West Virginian hunters intended to take part in the season.

And Gene is one of those people. He made his first muzzle loader at 11 years old, but he had stopped building the rifles in adulthood.

…And The Legacy

When Marvin passed away unexpectedly, Gene felt like he needed take over his father’s legacy. WVU needed a new rifle right away, and Marvin had a list of other customers orders dating back to 2010. Gene said as Marvin got older, he could not keep up with the demand.

Gene was left with a stack of worn papers, big and small, that Marvin liberally scribbled names and phone numbers on.

Gene inside his shop. After his father’s unexpected passing, Gene inherited a lot of rifle-making tools, as well as a long list of orders.

“There’s 98, plus all the ones on the side, plus the ones on the top. He ran out of room. But some people are finding me,” Gene said.

For as long as Gene can remember his dad was making muzzle loaders, so Gene said he did not realize how special of a craft it is.

“I’ve heard comments where my work is just as good as dad’s, but when I look at it I think it doesn’t even match up – completely different category,” he said.

Building It For The History

Larry Spisak is another West Virginian who builds muzzle loaders.

His shop is down a windy turnpike outside Morgantown. It sits on several acres of forested land that he hunts on. Larry is retired and devotes much of his time to studying and interpreting the practices of our Appalachian ancestors.

Larry Spisak on his property outside of Morgantown. All of the tools pictured he or his friends have hand made.

“The ability of dressing in period clothing, firing period weapons, hunting and experiencing the woods as our ancestors did 200 years ago, even with today’s modern technology, for me and many others, that’s the closest as you can come to time travel,” he said.

Over 40 years he has made dozens of rifles. Larry prefers to make flintlock rifles, which are a type of muzzle loader, and are one of the oldest firearm technologies dating back to the 1500s.

“Ready To Fire”

With a flintlock, one pulls the trigger, and a piece of steel hits the flint, which is just a very hard rock. It creates a spark and ignites the black powder.

“First thing I do is take my powder horn and I’ve got my powder measure right here and that’s from a wild turkey leg bone,” Larry said.

Larry puts some black powder into the barrel of the rifle. He can load a Flintlock in under a minute, which is relatively fast given the several hundred-year-old technology.

All of his supplies are handmade. A friend made the turkey powder measure and Larry made the leather bag carrying the rifle and round lead ball, which serves as the bullet.

Larry wrapped the ball in a small piece of fabric, or a patch, before putting it into the barrel of the gun.

“The patch acts as a seal and it also allows the rifling to grip the ball better and put that spin on the ball,” Larry said. “Alright now we draw the ram rod and drive it home.”

He used the ram rod to push the black powder and bullet into the bottom of the gun, back by the flintlock.

“Alright it’s on the charge. Ready to fire. Put it on full cock and we’ll go,” he said.

The gun made a bellowing sound through the woods.

Historical Roots

The rifle is a large part of Appalachian history, Larry said. Early settlers had to hunt for food, and muzzle loaders were the way they did it, Larry added that West Virginians today still embody their ancestors.

Larry preparing to shoot his Flintlock. He hunts with his handmade rifles every year.

“A large percentage of the population lives in the mountains, and maybe not realizing it, they are, in their everyday activities in their farming and hunting, they are living a bit of the life that was commonplace 200 years ago,” he said.

And that is why Larry still makes and hunts with muzzle loaders. He likes to feel connected to the settlers who paved the way for us in Appalachia.

The 2020 West Virginia Mountaineer Heritage Hunting season is January 9 to January 12.

This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts, and culture.

Firearm Season for Deer Opens in West Virginia

West Virginia’s buck firearm season is underway.

Up to 250,000 hunters are expected to head into the woods for the deer gun season, which lasts through Dec. 1.

Monday’s start of the buck gun season in 51 of 55 counties coincided with the start of the antlerless deer firearms season, which is open on private land and specified public lands.

The Division of Natural Resources says hunters can shoot two deer on the same day, but only one can be an antlered buck.

The agency predicts the number of bucks killed will be higher this year due to good mast conditions and a healthy and adequate deer population.