HUNTINGTON — J. R. House is the third base coach with the Cincinnati Reds. The player who won the honor — premier high school quarterback in West Virginia — named for House also will take his talents to southwest Ohio. Huntington High quarterback Gavin Lochow, a University of Dayton ...
When I read that wolves that had a parasite had a much higher chance of becoming the leader of the wolf pack, I was astounded. A parasite affected the behavior of a mammal. How could that happen? I found it all rather interesting, and I think you will, too. There is a microscopic organism that can only reproduce in cats, but it can thrive in most mammals. That parasite is Toxoplasma gondii, and a study of 26 years of wolf data analyzed the blood of 229 wolves and found the disease in some of the wolves. After reviewing all the blood data for 26 years, they ...
I know hunting season is drawing to a close, but last week I wrote about deer vision, and one of my readers wrote and asked why I haven’t written about another sense that deer have … their nose. Here is a little bit about a complex subject. Has this ever happened to you when hunting? On a cold November morning a hunter walks to his tree stand before daylight. He sits all day and sees nothing, but he knows there is a big buck in the area so the next morning he goes again. He notes the wind and enters the stand on a different path than the one he took the morning before. He sits ...
Years ago one of my graduate students was taking imprinted wild turkeys into the field to see what they ate. Often I’d tag along. Several times I noticed that the poults (about 10 weeks of age) would stop and look into the sky then seek cover. At first I thought they were spotting hawks in the air, but I never saw one. Then one day I realized they were seeing jet planes 30,000 feet up. Amazing. It turns out that turkeys have very good vision and detect movements really well. Their eyes are at the side of their head and each eye is constantly on the lookout for ...
MORGANTOWN -- The hot November days have really impacted the bow deer season. Bucks are rutting and does are ready, but the abnormal hot weather has impacted their movement in the day. Harvests are being made, but those big bucks just aren’t moving much during the day. One rule of thumb: I always used the temperature at night. When the temperature got below 45 or so, I found that buck movements in November increased and sightings did, too. I had friends in Kansas two weeks ago hunting on private land where big bucks are common, yet the hot weather really limited ...
MORGANTOWN -- Between 2012 and 2014, elk were reintroduced into Virginia in Buchanan County. Now there are an estimated 250 elk in that area, and six hunters had the opportunity to harvest a bull from October 8-14, 2022. Virginia’s wildlife agency established an Elk Management Zone in ...
