Published: November 16, 2007 09:56 pm      

Handicapped can hunt from vehicles

Perhaps the word simply hasn’t been spread sufficiently, but handicapped hunters aren’t getting much mileage out of a special program that allows them to stalk deer from inside vehicles on designated roads in national forests of West Virginia.

Last year, one such hunter dropped a buck in the Mill Creek area of Randolph County.

“That was the first deer we’ve heard about in quite a while,” says Shawn Head, a biologist with the wildlife resources section with the state Division of Natural Resources in Elkins.

Actually, the program has been in force the past 16 seasons, and since its debut, the DNR has added more roads the physically challenged may use to hunt, but few such hunters appear to be using the special Class Q permit, Head said Friday.

“It still is not reaching everybody, even though we put out a news release,” Head said.

Hunters may apply for the permit in person or by mail at the appropriate national forest ranger district office or DNR district office. Such applications must include a copy of a Class Q license and a physician’s slip attesting to the nature of the hunter’s handicap. Those approved will get a letter of authorization, which must be on their person while hunting.

If a Class Q permit is obtained, such hunters may use specified roads in the George Washington and Monongahela national forests.

“They can get a letter of authorization and a key from the Monongahela or George Washington forests to go behind the gates with a vehicle with one extra person and hunt from that vehicle,” Head said.

This allows hunters who are permanently disabled from the waist down to actually sit inside a truck or car and hunt game.

“There’s some new language in it,” Head said. “What it means is you can’t walk more than 200 feet without having to sit down. They have to have a walker, a cane or a wheelchair to get around. It’s about mobility.”

Head said the 200-feet parameter was inserted by lawmakers about two years ago, adding that other states use different levels of mobility in allowing such in-vehicle hunts.

“It is being used, especially when you go into these ranger districts,” the biologist said.

“The Cheat, Potomac, Greenbrier, Gauley or Marlinton, or at the New River on the George Washington National Forest. They are using them. They can take a person with them and that person can hunt, but he has to hunt away from the vehicle.”

Any assistants who hunt must be away from the vehicle and have appropriate hunting licenses as state law requires. If the helper isn’t hunting, no license is needed.

Authorized hunters will be given access to specific gates with a lock. Keys issued to such hunters may be used throughout the season. All national forest and state gaming laws must be heeded while behind the gates.

Hunters may contact the DNR in Elkins at 304-637-0245 for more information. Areas in this region eligible for handicapped hunting are the Left Branch (Frosty Gap, forest road No. 731), Crooked Fork (forest road No. 251), Middle Mountain (forest road No. 790), all in Pocahontas County, and Spice Run (forest road No. 787) in Webster County, and Panther Ridge (road No. 298) and Bear Track (road No. 882), both in Greenbrier County. Roads also are available in the Bluestone and Burnsville wildlife management areas.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com