| Wildlife officials in Charleston are saying there will be a serious shortage of mast - nuts, fruits and other wildlife foods this winter.
According to Division of Natural Resources biologists, this year's mast crop is the worst in the survey's 40-year history.
"There's always some mast out there, and there are always some areas of relative mast abundance," said DNR biologist Randy Tucker. "But what is out there this year is really spotty. Overall, the food situation is dismal," he said.
This year, every wildlife food item except dogwood is running below the Mast Survey's long-term average.
Beechnuts are running 46 percent under their long-term average; walnuts, 23 percent; hickory nuts, 22 percent; white oak acorns, 48 percent; chestnut oak acorns, 64 percent; black and red oak acorns, 42 percent; scarlet oak acorns, 32 percent; black cherry, 30 percent; apples, 66 percent; and crab apples, 39 percent.
"Ordinarily, you don't get shortages of hard mast items and soft mast items in the same year," Tucker said. "This year we did. It's kind of a double whammy."
The DNR expects the shortage to have short-term and long-term effects on Mountain State wildlife.
"If we have a really hard winter, some animals won't have the energy reserves they need to survive harsh weather conditions. If we get a late freeze or a big snowstorm in March or April, there's a good chance we might get some winter-kill, especially among deer," Tucker said.
There will also be a reduction in breeding.
DNR officials avoid using the term "mast failure," but Tucker said there's no other way to describe the situation.
"The grocery store [for wildlife] is pretty empty right now," he said. | 
