Mere hours into West Virginia's annual firearm season for buck deer, wildlife officials realized hunters weren't going to kill as many whitetails as expected.
Mere hours into West Virginia's annual firearm season for buck deer, wildlife officials realized hunters weren't going to kill as many whitetails as expected.
Rain and sleet kept thousands of hunters out of the woods on opening day, a day that normally accounts for at least one-third of the harvest. Clerks at game-checking stations said fewer hunters than usual reported kills.
"The only way the weather could have been worse is if the wind had been blowing 30 miles an hour," said Paul Johansen, assistant wildlife chief for the state Division of Natural Resources. "It will definitely keep us from having the harvest we thought we were going to have."
DNR officials had predicted a kill of 70,000 to 75,000 antlered bucks during the 12-day season. Johansen declined to predict how much a sub-par opening day might pare off the total, but he said the difference would be "significant."
"We were expecting a really good harvest, but with final numbers so dependent on the opening-day kill, we now think our [pre-season] predictions are out of reach," he added.
Johansen spent the day working a DNR game-checking station at Shanks, in rural Hampshire County. He said the weather that plagued most of the state didn't reach the Eastern Panhandle until late morning.
"For the guys that got out early - and most of them do - hunting was fairly decent," he said. "We probably haven't checked quite as many deer at this station as we checked last year, but we're not far off."
The biggest difference, he added, has been in the number of bucks with trophy or near-trophy antlers.
"We had anticipated that this would be a good year for big bucks, and that seems to be the case," he said. "Over here in the Eastern Panhandle, bucks don't ordinarily grow big antlers. But the bucks I've seen today have some of the nicest racks I've seen since I began working this station in 2005."
Clark Combs of Buffalo bagged one of those larger bucks. Hunting in the rain in western Putnam County, Combs shot a nice eight-pointer not long after sunrise.
"Conditions were about as bad as I've seen for opening day, but I decided to give it a try anyway," Combs said. "I saw about five does before this buck popped up."
Mere hours into West Virginia's annual firearm season for buck deer, wildlife officials realized hunters weren't going to kill as many whitetails as expected.
Rain and sleet kept thousands of hunters out of the woods on opening day, a day that normally accounts for at least one-third of the harvest. Clerks at game-checking stations said fewer hunters than usual reported kills.
"The only way the weather could have been worse is if the wind had been blowing 30 miles an hour," said Paul Johansen, assistant wildlife chief for the state Division of Natural Resources. "It will definitely keep us from having the harvest we thought we were going to have."
DNR officials had predicted a kill of 70,000 to 75,000 antlered bucks during the 12-day season. Johansen declined to predict how much a sub-par opening day might pare off the total, but he said the difference would be "significant."
"We were expecting a really good harvest, but with final numbers so dependent on the opening-day kill, we now think our [pre-season] predictions are out of reach," he added.
Johansen spent the day working a DNR game-checking station at Shanks, in rural Hampshire County. He said the weather that plagued most of the state didn't reach the Eastern Panhandle until late morning.
"For the guys that got out early - and most of them do - hunting was fairly decent," he said. "We probably haven't checked quite as many deer at this station as we checked last year, but we're not far off."
The biggest difference, he added, has been in the number of bucks with trophy or near-trophy antlers.
"We had anticipated that this would be a good year for big bucks, and that seems to be the case," he said. "Over here in the Eastern Panhandle, bucks don't ordinarily grow big antlers. But the bucks I've seen today have some of the nicest racks I've seen since I began working this station in 2005."
Clark Combs of Buffalo bagged one of those larger bucks. Hunting in the rain in western Putnam County, Combs shot a nice eight-pointer not long after sunrise.
"Conditions were about as bad as I've seen for opening day, but I decided to give it a try anyway," Combs said. "I saw about five does before this buck popped up."
Terry Keeling, a state native on military leave from Fort Knox, Ky., said the rain influenced his decision to cut the day short.
"The deer were moving, but I only saw two small bucks," he said. "I finally decided to take a nice healthy doe and get in where it was dry. This way, I've got venison in the freezer and I can always take a buck later in the week."
In 44 counties, hunters on private lands had the option of taking either does or bucks. Jim Crum, the DNR's deer-project leader, believes many hunters might have exercised that option.
"That's the big advantage of having an antlerless season concurrent with the buck season," he said.
Crum worked a checking station near Slanesville, in the heart of an area where chronic wasting disease has been found. He and other DNR biologists have been collecting brain-tissue samples from deer brought to the station. He said none of the deer he checked appeared to have signs of the disease.
"So far, all the ones we've handled have seemed healthy enough," he added. "In the past, we've had animals checked that we thought might have CWD symptoms, but we tested them and found them to be healthy."
Crum said the rain, which rolled over eastern Hampshire County at about 11 a.m., appeared to have dampened hunters' enthusiasm for staying afield.
"Last year, we checked 116 deer on opening day," he said when contacted at 4:15 p.m. "We're running in the 60s right now, and we usually have a bit of a late-afternoon surge, but I don't anticipate" getting enough deer to match last year's total.
With snow showers and flurries predicted for most of the state through Wednesday, Crum and Johansen are hopeful hunters might compensate a bit for the opening-day washout.
"Snowy conditions are certainly better than rain," Johansen said. "Hunters don't get as wet, and they are able to see the deer a lot better. If the weather cooperates, maybe the kill will pick up."
Reach John McCoy at johnmc...@wvgazette.com or 348-1231.
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