Thursday, May 12, 1949
SHOCKED BEAR LOVER
When I read your January issue I was shocked to read that two men killed 30 black bears in Pocahontas county last year, and I was further shocked to read that it appears to be legal. Is it really true that there is a bounty on bears, and, if so, who is responsible for this is outrage? Personally, I think both these men should be rewarded with about ten years in the pen for such an example of game hoggishness. That is just what would happen in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. I think West Virginia would do well to study Pennsylvania’s conservation setup. This state has the best hunting and fishing in the East, if not in the whole U. S.A.
D. C. McDowell
Charleston
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Frantic sheep raisers in Pocahontas county and our harassed Conservation Commission can answer your question better. – Ed.
The above is clipped from the May-June issue of West Virginia Hills and Stream Magazine, published at Charleston.
Personally, I think the man who wrote the above is hair hung and wind blown over the bottomless pit of perdition, and should be rewarded with about a thousand years in purgatory for such example of game hoggishness. I like my hunting and fishing, too.
However, let rust choke the barrel of the old gun; moths consume the fishing line, and now supple fly rod become brittle from misuse if providing my fun and recreation brings hardship and privation to any householder and his family.
In this Greenbrier Valley, the black bear is no museum piece, nor is he a harmless, interesting game animal to be kept and pampered the year through to be butchered for hide and meat, to make a sportsman’s holiday, come hog killing time.
The black bear is a predatory beast, a hang over of wilderness ages, which preceded the coming of the white man and his civilization.
The black bear’s forthright disposition cannot be made to fit in the proper scheme of modern times and things. He costs more than he is worth. Only the last few weeks, three bears have cost three farmers on Wares Ridge 33 head of sheep. A reasonable valuation placed the loss at $500. Over a period of 10 days, these bears were killed. However, this did not bring back the money; it merely safeguards against future losses.
Back in Britain’s uncivilized time of a thousand years ago, those who had the power turned people out of fruitful countrysides in order to furnish game hunting for sporting, idle, useless aristocrats…
Came America and West Virginia. The title to the king’s game became vested in sovereign states. A greater part of the area filled so full of people, big game and particularly predators were crowded off the countysides.
Came the city and that peculiar biological development known as the city slicker. Such are throwbacks to the time of kings who could do not wrong, plus the beggar on horseback who rides fast. In the name of sport, they would turn our happy Greenbrier Valley back to wilderness…
Don’t point with pride to the Pacific Quaker State of Pennsylvania. Their last insurrection was the Whiskey Rebellion of a century and a half ago. I have report no longer than last year that a bear raided a Pennsylvania kitchen and actually ate mince pies off the cooling boards…
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Richard McNeel, of Hillsboro, a daughter, named Nora Lou.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Hefner, of Beard, a son.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. June Buzzard, of Huntersville, a daughter, named Linda O’dell.
DEATHS
Hubert Ervine, aged 53 years, one of nine children of Mrs. Mary Sharp Ervine and the late George M. Ervine, departed this life May 7, 1949. The funeral was held from the home with burial in the family plot in Mt. View Cemetery with military honors by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The deceased was a veteran of the first World War and saw nearly a year of service overseas.
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Sidney W. McKenney, aged 35 years, died May 3, 1949. The funeral was held from the Draft church. He is survived by his wife and six sons. The deceased was a son of Mrs. Lena Moore McKenney and the late J. V. McKenney.
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Mrs. Nancy Margaret Hefner Gilmore, 72, passed away at her home on Stony Creek May 7, 1949. She was a daughter of the late L. A. and Naomi Galford Hefner, who lived on Swago. On September 19, 1906, she was united in marriage to Wm. H. Gilmore, who with their two children, Lanty P. Gilmore and Mrs. Ralph Elliot, survive… The funeral was held at the West Union Church Monday afternoon with burial in the Cochran cemetery… She was a devoted wife and mother, a good neighbor and a kind and loving friend to all who knew her.