Doe kill in early season
West Virginia
Anyone know what the doe kill was for the early season?
I heard it was low, around 3000. But don't quote me on that, it wasn't an official count and I've been too busy hunting to check the official count. LOL
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. – West Virginia archery hunters are having a successful year so far in 2015, showing a 53 percent increase in their harvest of white-tailed deer compared to this time last year. The Division of Natural Resources reports that, as of Oct. 26, bow and crossbow hunters have taken 11,798 deer compared to 7,729 deer taken up to the same date in 2014, a 53 percent increase. The archery season began Sept. 26 and runs through Dec. 31, 2015.
The total for all seasons up to this date, including archery, urban hunts, youth/Class Q/XS and the early antlerless deer gun season (Oct. 22-24), is 17,776 deer. That compares to 15,216 taken at this time in 2014, a 17 percent increase. For the early antlerless gun season alone, including the one-day youth season, the 2015 harvest 5,373 compared to 6,974 by this date last year, a 23 percent decrease.
"The count is available this early in the season thanks to DNR's new electronic licensing and game checking system that went into effect this year," according to Chris Ryan, supervisor of game management services for DNR. "Previously, game tags had to be collected from check-in stations across the state at the end of the hunting season and counted by hand, which took a long time. With electronic licensing and game checking, that information is available almost instantly."
Beginning this year, hunters are required to get a permanent DNR identification number which allows them to check in their game from their phones at 1-844-WVCHECK, their computers at wvhunt.com, or at one of more than 170 official license agent/checking stations across the state.
"Hunters are showing us that they have easily adopted the new system and like using it to check in their game," Ryan said. "It's fast and easy for them, and it makes important information available to DNR on a much timelier basis. Hunters are reminded to get their DNR ID numbers before they go hunting so they can use the new electronic check system right away. This includes lifetime license holders, resident youth under the age of 15 who don't need a license, and resident landowners who normally do not have to purchase a license to hunt on their own property."
Hunters can call or visit a license agent or DNR district office or log on to wvhunt.com to obtain their DNR ID number, which is valid for the hunter's lifetime. That number will be printed on the top of the license for those who buy a license each year. Lifetime license holders may call a DNR district office or the Elkins or South Charleston offices between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to obtain their DNR ID number, which has already been assigned.
"Although hunters no longer have to bring the animal in with them to be checked, what doesn't change is that hunters and trappers still have to follow the time, field tagging and transportation restrictions as listed in the regulations," according to Ryan.
Information about the electronic game checking system and about how to obtain an official DNR ID number can be found in the 2015-2016 West Virginia Hunting and Trapping Regulations Summary available at and DNR office, license agent or by visiting www.wvhunt.com.
DNR
Thanks Sunday. So are they going to break down the difference from crossbow kills and bow kills? It would be interesting to see if the increased bow kill was due to crossbows as I suspect it is because the antlerless gun kill was down. As it was explained to me earlier the crossbow season is a separate season that just happens to run concurrent to the bow season. It was explained to me that this was done so they can change the crossbow season dates if need be. I guess my question is how will they know if they need to change it or not if they don't keep track of the crossbow kills. I guess if they start killing too many deer with the bow and the crossbow then both the bow season and the crossbow season will both have to be reduced. Just me thinking out loud. I find interesting that the bow kill is up but the gun kill is down. this would suggest to me more hunters are killing deer with the crossbow. But maybe they do know the number of crossbow kills and just don't publish it. I can't remember if they asked me what weapon I used when I checked in my deer.
The electronic system did ask what weapon was used and even before that DNR has been asking when using the old paper check in slips. Hopefully people are paying attention and selecting the proper weapon. The accuracy of weapon used was always questionable when dealing with the clerk at a check in station. They didn't look at the deer and wouldn't know the difference between xbow or compound. Now, DNR is depending on the honesty of the hunter. DNR will know how many are killed with a crossbow and they know how many have been killed ever since that weapon came into legal status.
The DNR will have the data for each county broken down into which weapon as well as how many bucks , antlerless, and button bucks were killed and when. It isn't and never will be 100% accurate. You can't legislate ethics and morality. There will be deer killed and not checked in now just like it was before. On the other hand it may help make some people more honest?!
For example, under the old system if somebody got a deer when it was hot or late in the day they may not take the time to load a deer up in a truck and drive 25 miles to find a check station then drive 25 miles back. Now they can do it in 3 minutes right where they are which will save time and gas. We will just have to wait and see.
Yea I know about the ethics. So the article I read about they didn't mention how many were killed with crossbows. I mean the figures they give us are based on the hunters honestly so we just have to believe that all the animals killed were killed with the weapon listed. I would like to know how many were killed by crossbows. I know now that based on the new system they have the ability to do that. I checked mine in as bowkill btw. I just didn't remember if they asked if it was a bowkill or a crossbow kill. I would think that the increase in the bowkills had something to do with crossbow kills. If not I would think the gun kills would be up too. But maybe there were not as many gun hunters. I sure didn't hear much shooting where I hunted.
For a news article they aren't likely going to break it down. But the information will be available to the bilogist and other interested parties and it will be monitored. You can read between the lines if you want.
Well they did break it down into bow and gun kills but not crossbow kills. And I am an interested party and do read between the lines. I'll bet it will never be made public and will be lumped together with the bow kills as a total even though the crossbow season is a separate season. It's funny they list the kills for the other concurrent seasons but not the crossbow season. Oh well
Not to high jack the thread, but I understand why spikes less than 3" are legal during the doe seasons. Unfortunately killed what I thought was a doe a couple of years ago that turned out to be a buck with spikes about 1.5-2" long. Does anyone know why with this check system they left the doe/spike less than 3" options together and didn't break them apart when checking them in to help better track true buck and doe harvests.
I will stake my reputation that it will be listed seperately in the big game bulletin. It may or may not be in a press release because most newspapers want to keep it short and sweet.
Some may think that's not worth anything, others may think it is. Time will definitely tell on this one and I know where the smart money is.
Good question! I brought that up with DNR a couple of weeks ago and it is being looked into. I think it was lumped together initially because legally they are treated the same, but I think it can be tweaked to provide more biological data for true buck/doe harvest information. I'm really excited with this new computer system, I think the amount of data will really help fine tune the management. It's a rolling bar so they can put several things on it. I thought there should be an option for bucks that have already shed also because of previous years mast supply and how bad the current winter may be on certain years there are several shed bucks killed during the late doe seasons. While legal as an antlerless deer they are in fact bucks also.
There is a point where it can get too complicated. Currently there are 3 options.
1. Buck
2. Doe/ antlered deer 3 inches or less
3. Button buck
If they can split it up with 2 additional options such as splitting the antlered buck into
4. Antlered buck less than three inches legally classified as doe
5. Already shed buck legally classified as a doe
Going from 3-5 options should not be overly complicated, and would provide valuable data
I agree. I too like the system and believe little tweaks like that can really improve the data gathering abilities to a whole new level.
Thanks Gobbler. I saw where they reported the bear kill from the earlier season and was just wondering why they didn't list the crossbows. I was just wondering if the crossbow had any effect on the overall bow kill because many on here said it would have no effect. I refuse to believe that it won't . But I am not an expert on that.
I agree. I love the new system. What a way to get a lot better handle on deer kill. It should be easy to tweek. I know a way to get rid of the bucks killed after the drop their antlers but I am sure it would not be accepted. Just stop the doe seasons late in December. May not get rid of all of that problem but it would sure help. But I know they want to kill does and don't mind giving up some bucks to achieve that goal. That reminds me of a story I heard years ago in Grant county. some good old boy killed a nice buck in the late doe season. Seems he couldn't help himself. When his buddies got on him about it and told him he was in big trouble he shot the antlers off the buck and loaded his "doe" in his truck. Problem solved. LOL. Not sure if it was a true story or not but it was told at the checking station.
They are still waiting on a software program to be able to extract the data. The data is in the computer but they need the software program to extract it. They are contracting with the state IT dept. it should have been installed by now, but with it being a governmental agency it is running behind. Why?, IDK. But was assured it will be in place within 2 weeks .
I may be mistaken, but I also feel that the crossbow kill will be significant .
I think it will too gobbler. Lots of guys on here said it would not effect the deer kill but i think it will
it appears that the crossbow has already affected the numbers, thus the increase in archery kills to date being up 53 percent! doubt that is new archery hunters, but hey that's what the dnr wants right? more numbers killed?
It appears to me that the fact there were more deer in the woods have made it impossible to account for a weapon increasing the kill. It appears that the lack of mast, making hunting easier this year versus last, makes it impossible to credit the increase to a particular weapon. For conclusive reasons, it would appear to me that it would take 4 or 5 seasons to even begin to try and contribute increases or decreases in harvest data, to any one variable. Much less a weapon.
God Bless men.
While we will get some data , as with any initial weapon, season, etc it will take a minimum of 3 years to get a better and more reliable result . It's like a study. The more data you have over a longer period of time the more accurate the results will be. That's why I'm wanting them to start getting and putting together all this data bow. That way in 5 yrs we can look back and compare what's going on then with what's going on now.
Now , with that said, there will some initial data reported at the end of the season on # of kill with type of weapon that will give a "general" idea of what happened this season.
Well then why was the doe rifle kill down?
IDK, too hot? , football games? My crystal ball cracked.
"It appears to me that the fact there were more deer in the woods have made it impossible to account for a weapon increasing the kill"
your nuts if you don't believe a 53 percent increase in the archery kill was not caused by the new weapon. drum up the data from past archery seasons to show where a 53 percent increase happened within the first month of the archery season and ill politely tell you im wrong. I swear yall , wake up, this is exactly what you said was going to happen. look at other states inaugural crossbow seasons. PA did the EXCACT same thing!
I agree with you shaky. Otherwise the rifle kill would be up.
