2010 buck kill
West Virginia
Just read that the buck kill for 2010 was 43226 down 31%. Do you think it could be becouse for years we have been killing every buck we see causeing the breeding to be spread out, resulting in the fawning period being spread out. Resulting in more predation of fawns which in return will result in a crash in deer numbers. Time for 1 buck and done, with limited doe permits. Balanceing the buck to doe ratio will result in a more compact and heated rut. Also the fawns will be born closer resulting in less predation. What are your thoughts?
Limit some counties to very limit to no doe tags with a riffle and black powder. Like always it will have to be county to county. Some can stand more than others. One buck reguardless bow, riffle, black powder (Only One). Reguardless of how many does you have the key to having big bucks is letting them live long enough to get big.
I believe that coyotes have played a big part in the deer numbers being down i mean what chance does a newborn fawn stand against them and around here nobody hunts them i think it will only get worse
Maybe it was a worse winter kill than people knew, but you didn't hear a lot about it during the spring and fall except for a few limited areas.
Next year could be really good for antler growth with the food supply and if the numbers are really cut back that much. Lets hope the winter isn't as bad as last year.
in my county its because the deer were in the woods and alot of hunters were too lazy to go after them instead just sat in the truck watching fields where the deer were definitely not, until after dark. i know several though who passed on smaller bucks and never saw a "shooter". this is a good thing but would still effect the overall numbers because no buck was taken
Thats fairly common practice for the monroe county farmers. The deer are used to f-250 diesels and if you have satelite radio it can help pass the time. A lot of the farmers only hunt like that.
lol gobbler you right on there
I just think we kill too many deer period. I would like see a breakdown of the counties. I find it hard to believe we killed that many. My county was done 50%
I don't think we should have a doe season during buck season. And one buck and u r done.
If the numbers hold true I would think there will be significant changes for next year. (I hope)
IF a county is going to have a doe season I don't mind it being during buck season, if a person just wants a deer maybe they will shoot a doe and get out of the woods before they shoot a small buck. If this tally holds true they will cut back the does tags a lot. the availability and number of doe tags is based on the buck kill per square mile of that county.
I figured it was more like 50%... I have read in couple of QDM sites that black bears kill as many fawns as coyotes,, I know around here in Fayette theres lots of bears,, sooo knee deep snow for month or so,+ coyotes +bears +no mast for 2 years multiplied by the "chest beaters brown its down mentality" = NO DEER
Gobbler I know the doe Kill is supposed to be set on the buck kill, BUT look at last year compare Braxton then Kanawha counties, it just doesn't add up .
Anyhow I feel we should have the doe season only in buck season for the very reason Gobbler stated above .
Follow up the doe season with a 1 week traditional muzzloader season then a 1 week high powered muzzleloader season .
The kill is way down here also , but according to the check staion I talked to more deer were killed the 2nd week than the first week ?????
1 buck limit - it's time DNR ! Everyone needs to go to the sectional meetings.
my 2 cents worth! Jack
Every year that the mast is heavy you hear no deer, the next year usually a very high kill. People try to blame the weather. Ohio had snow also and their kill wasn't down 50%.
Where did they go? This spring and summer you didn't hear about all the dead deer being found. Did they all die between fall and deer season? Before season you heard about all the deer at the cameras.
A supply of food, full moon, rain, all affected the hunters. The bucks didn't have to move far if any to feed, the number of does they had to move very little to breed. People will walk by a bedded deer and not see it and if it isn't basically stepped on it will lay still.
Yea but with so many people in the woods to kill a doe in buck season they luck on to a lot of buk kills. The less people in the woods the less deer (bucks) are killed. Put the doe hunters in a week by themselves. Keeps the deer killed down and the bucks alive
Well where I hunt the bear hunters aren't seeing deer either. I think we kill too many does. Why not go back to the old two day doe season we used to have. Right Now you can kill does from buck season to end of December. If guys are in the woods they will kill deer.
That won't keep them out of the woods. You will still have the same number of hunters in the woods during buck season. They just won't have a chance to shoot a doe and get out of the woods.
The preliminary numbers were in the charleston daily mail today. Total 43,226 down from 62,986 from last year. Top 3 counties
1) preston-2,030
2) Randolph-1,817
3) hardy-1,350
They only had the 3 top counties listed. I checked the DNR website and they haven't posted anything yet.
It said all the state expenienced a decline with the central and western counties leading the decline.
The buck kill is less than half of what it was 8-9 years ago.
Scroll dow to the buck harvest table and it will take you back to 2001.
I don't get out in woods in the summer very much because of the brush and briers everywhere.
I know for a fact that we had almost 2' of snow here fore more than two months and then a foot or so.
That plus no acorns and with the little grass we have in our pasture and the hay field=no food=no deer....
There is an article in WV Metronews that lists the top 10. Preston (2030), Randolph (1817), Hardy (1350), Greenbrier (1348), Mason (1264), Hampshire (1261), Ritchie (1236), Jackson (1216), Lewis (1141), Wood (1113).
I really hope this is the type of events that are needed to make major changes to the regulations. It is extremely important for everyone to get out to the meetings and speak loud and often! With bad numbers and the DNR coming to the end of their 5 year management cycle, THIS IS THE YEAR to get things done!
Usually it's posted on the WVDNR website but I don't see a thing. Must be somebody is getting their stories straight.
I don't ever remember Randolph being a top county
If the low numbers are really because the deer population is down that much then the DNR biologists really missed the boat on this. They make the recommended number of doe tags for the counties. I don't see how we could lose a third of the deer population and nobody knew about it until now. I know the mast can have some impact but I don't know how it can explain a 20,000 decrease. I can see them missing the forcast by around 5% but they missed this one by over 30%.
We will never see those numbers again . Insurance companies won't allow that
The charleston paper had an article on it today. Basically saying the DNR may have underestimated the extent of winterkill last year, because the biologists were short staffed.
My questions are
1) why were they short staffed, I know of a couple that retired but they knew that was happening why wasn't it planned for?
2)If they recommended the number of doe tags based on what they thought the population was instead of what it actually was I fear we are going to way overshoot the does in some areas. And from what I hear some areas can't take much more of that. Are they sitting in an office and only using last years tag results to come up with a doe recommendation and not doing field work
3) How can the DNR not pick up on a 30+% winterkill? Was there not a coordinated plan with the biologists and natural resource police to try to get this information? After all, everyone knew it was a severe shortage of food along with one of the worst winters in recent history.
4) if this turns out to be real (and things are looking that way) The DNR really needs to cut way back on buck and doe tags for next year. I don't know how we can justify 3 buck tags to residents and nonresidents as well as essentially unlimited doe tags to residents and nonresidents. I know it will cut into their income but if this continues for another year or two nobody will be buying licenses because there won't be any deer to hunt. I hope they remember what happened to Tucker county in the late 50's, it took years to recover.
Well if they were short handed maybe they didn't have the money for more people to work and figure out the deer numbers. If so their mentality will be to sell more doe tags to make money. I am not sure how much those guys can do tell the deer population. I think they merely go on the previous year kills. They have no clue how many deer we have. I read once that they said we had over 1 million deer. If that is true then we barely kill 1/10 of the population. We all know we kill more than that. I really don't think they want many deer because of the grief they get from farmers and insurance companies. They are happy now that there are not as many deer . It will be interesting to see what they do. They are now forced to cut back to one buck and reduce the number of does killed or else they will look like they really don't care about the deer population.
I just read an article in our local paper that said the deer have plenty to eat going into the winter so we should have more deer next year.
I knew this was coming and told everyone so. Once deer season ends, I step up the time in the woods trapping and scouting hard until just before gobbler season and then it all starts again. This past spring, I found 8 dead deer in my pine thicket in an area less than 30 yards square. I also found three 8 points and a 5pt. while turkey hunting late spring. I saw on average less than a third of the deer while on stand as normal in Hardy county. Yes, in my area, the winter kill certainly made a difference. Yes, the abundant acorn crop made a little difference in difficulty. But NO I have no real concerns for next year because nearly half the does have twins or tripletts and they will rebound quickly. I took 3 eight points this year and hope for the same next year. However, I would not object to the one buck limit everyone else wishes for. I agree, it's time for some change.
I agree they can probably catch up in a couple of years if we have a couple normal winters and average mast. I still don't understand how we could lose a third of our deer approx, 250,000 to 300,000 deer and the DNR didn't know about it?
"and the DNR didn't know about it" LOL
the DNR dosen't count deer...they count MONEY.
I found a complete list. The DNR hasn't posted it yet on the DNR site.
It just popped up on the DNR website at 10:15
In Pendleton County where I hunt the kill has been down every year since 2006.
You're killing too many deer. You need to lighten up a bit on them. You must be a killing machine!
I didn't kill all of em. LOL. In fact I passed up bucks this year with my bow. Anyone that knows me knows I'm not a trophy hunter so that was kind of hard. I figure I better do what I preach.
TTT. Same talk 4 years ago
TTT. Same talk 4 years ago
LOL, I've always heard that history repeats itself . Looks like its true.
They will make no significant changes. The only way to take our deer management from the DNR is to put it in the hunters control. If hunters would ban together and reduce their own bag limits and reduce buying all the extra stamps that would hit them in the pocket financially and then maybe they would listen to what we have to say. I know that wont slow down the good ol boys but it would be a start. I for one only usually try to kill one buck in a bow county, one in gun buck season and a few does between myself and my kids.
We have seen our best days of hunting and seeing a lot of deer for a long time. I have been saying for years that letting people gun the hell out of our deer herd, and allowing 7-10 deer to be killed a year per person, would eventually backfire. It is all playing out now, and what we have now is a large number of disgruntled hunters, as well as far less hunters. The issue is not complicated to me, and once again our precious resources are suffering at the hands of the almighty dollar..
I think I read where a hunter can only take 3 antlered deer and 3 antler less deer a year.
I'm talking about in years past up til now....there was a time in the recent past in which a hunter could kill up to 10 deer in a year
Looks like you still can in some counties
Looks like mountain william is a knowledgeable guy. I hope he is still around.
It never, ever flipping fails. Mast equals less deer sightings and according to most, we've killed all the deer. Heavy mast equals very few deer sightings all season.
Deer are nocturnal by choice this time of year. If they can make baby deer and feed themselves in the security of darkness, that is exactly what they are going to do.
Kicking out a spot against the trunk of any oak tree in every county I've been in, with the exception of Pocahontas, still shows a dozen or more budding acorns under the duff. Good eating acorns with plenty of meat. You are not going to see deer in those conditions unless you step on them.
Next year it will all be forgotten but, if the same scenario as this year, repeats itself year after, the same will be said.
I have seen plenty of deer this year in multiple countys.
Hunt where the food is and you will find them.
I have trail cam pics of at least 10 bucks that have made so far in the gun season....They are there..Just gotta find them
If I hunt where the food is and food is everywhere deer should be everywhere.,
