Summer 2012 - West Virginia Department of Commerce

National Hunting and Fishing Days1978: French Creek, West VirginiaThe idea of holding a big celebration of NationalHunting and Fishing Day in West Virginia at theState Wildlife Center was the brainchild of BillVanscoy, former superintendent of the French CreekGame Farm, as it was called at the time. Early in1978, he tasked Art Shomo, who operated the mobilewildlife exhibit, with organizing the event. The firstDNR celebration of National Hunting and Fishing Daywas held September 22-24, 1978 at the wildlife facilitylocated 12 miles south of Buckhannon.The event included displays of recreational vehicles,boats, and hunting, fishing and trapping equipment.Visitors could watch demonstrations of electro-fishing,turkey cannon netting, fly casting and bird dogtraining. Attendees could try their hand at shootingmuzzleloaders, air rifles and shotguns. Contestsincluded a raccoon hunt, raccoon dog bench show andturkey calling. In addition, wildlife movies were shownin a large tent supplied by the National Guard. Morethan 5,000 visitors attended that year. The celebrationcontinued at French Creek until 1996 when it wasmoved to Stonewall Jackson Lake Resort State Park foreasier access and more space.Today, West Virginia’s NH&FD Celebrationcontinues to grow in popularity. Stonewall ResortState Park is an ideal location for the event because itis located close to the state’s center and is just minutesoff Exit 91 of Interstate 79. West Virginia’s event willlikely be held at the park in the foreseeable future.Recent headline acts and seminars continueto generate buzz about West Virginia’s NH&FDCelebration. Internationally acclaimed longbow trickshooter Byron Ferguson is the event’s highlight andlargest draw. Byron shoots instinctually and can split aplaying card in half from the side, shoot dimes out ofthe air, and snuff out candles with an arrow. Byron’sperformances always draw large crowds. Tom Bechdelhas annually brought his nationally acclaimed seminar16 West Virginia Wildlife