KATY —
For 330,000 people across West Virginia, the week of Thanksgiving is more than a week for family, traditions and food.
It’s also a week for hunting.
Monday marked the first day of a two-week gun season and many hunters across the county took full advantage of the nice weather.
Henry Chisolm, of Farmington, said he has been hunting since he was a boy. Now a retired coal miner, Chisolm hunts bucks once a year, always on the first day of buck season.
“The first day of deer season — that’s all I go,” he said.
Chisolm and a friend went to Stonewall Jackson Lake on Monday to hunt and fish.
“I go down there every year,” Chisolm said. “I go to Stonewall Jackson because it’s good. For me, it’s easy to get a deer down there.”
Starting the day at 4:30 a.m., Chisolm said it took about three hours to land his first buck of the season. He scouted out his plan earlier this month when he went squirrel hunting.
After checking his buck at the checking station across from the Katy Mart, Chisolm said he didn’t plan to waste his kill.
“I make deer jerky,” he said. “I’m the only one that’ll eat it at the house. I won’t let it go to waste.”
Chisolm said he enjoys hunting and looks forward to it every year.
“It’s good exercise,” he said. “I like the sportsmanship.”
