West Virginia's 2019 wild boar firearms season opens Oct. 26, runs through Nov. 2, and is open to West Virginia residents only. A second annual wild boar firearms season will run Feb. 7–9, 2020.

Boars will be foraging on acorns abundant this season in Boone, Logan, Raleigh, and Wyoming counties, to which boar hunting is restricted, according to Colin Carpenter, a wildlife biologist for the W.Va. Division of Natural Resources.

“Wild boars are dependent on hard mast crops," Carpenter said.

"Red, black, and scarlet oak acorn production is up significantly in 2019, and boars will take advantage of this food source. The abundant mast will have boars scattered and require hunters to move to find boar feeding areas.”

In 2018, hunters took 137 boars during the boar firearm, archery, and crossbow seasons, Carpenter said. Boar of either sex may be taken, but only one may be taken per year.

Concurrent hunting of deer and bear, where legal, is permitted. Hunters are reminded that if they are hunting in a county open to firearms antlerless deer hunting, they must wear 400 square inches of blaze orange over their outer clothing during the antlerless season.

To hunt wild boar, hunters must possess one of the following licenses: Class X, XJ, XS, AB-L, A-L, Class A+CS+BG or Class AHJ, AH+CS+BG or be exempt from purchasing a license.

Each harvested animal must be checked in to the Division of Natural Resources (DNR) by calling 1-844-982-4325 (1-844-WVCHECK), going online at www.wvhunt.com or going to an official DNR license agent.

For more information about boar hunting, go to the 2019-20 Hunting and Trapping Regulations. The regulations are available at DNR District Offices or online at wvdnr.gov.

Herds of wild hog once roamed the West Virginia hills

On occasion, you might hear old-timers speak of a time when herds of wild hogs were hunted in the West Virginia hills. Chances are, they never witnessed such a hunt themselves, as the practice was a tradition so long ago that they likely heard of it from their own grandparents.

These hunts would have been undertaken in the 18th and 19th centuries when the store food could grow scarce in winter. Read the full story here.