My cousin ,who lives in Ritchie county,lives in Auburn.Looks like where u grew up is pretty close. My mother an brother live in Whitesville (boone county).Strip mines all over the area and the coal companies own about 90% of that particular area(no hunting an they enforce it from what im told). Brother does'nt deer hunt unless someone is with him(can't handle the gutting process).So as u can imagine he does'nt hunt deer that much. The terrain looks trecherous as all heck,staight up and rocky.He tells me there are'nt deer,but i see them grazing along the r/r tracks not far away when im down in the summer.He was also telling me u need a 4 wheeler,supposedly they ride them around with loaded weapons,does'nt sound like hunting to me,but i'm not from around there and it seems like eveyone has them.I was the only one in my imediate family that didnt grow up in WV.When i talk to other people there,they go to other counties to hunt,i've never heard them mention Ritchie county though.I was checking census for the Auburn area and was surprised that there are only 305 residents,Might explain why the herd(quanity)is so good as compared to a 1000 people per square mile where i live. How did your buddy handle the cold weather,hope he brought enough layers.