ORIGINAL: madvilledoc
In southern West Virginia, there are four counties that have been archery-only for deer since the mid 70's. At the time, the whitetail deer population had nearly been wiped out. Due to the archery only status and a one buck limit, the population has slowly recovered although it is still no where near the population of most counties in West Virginia. Also due to the archery-only status and one-buck limit, the age structure is much higher than what is found elsewhere in the state. In these counties bucks have a great chance to reach their true potential. It is no surprise that 80-90% of the P&Y bucks taken in the state are from these 4 counties. You will find that most hunters in these counties allow small bucks to walk as a rule which is the opposite of what you find elsewhere in the state.
I believe the 4 counties in southern West Virginia you are talking about are Mingo, Wyoming, Logan and McDowell.
I hunt in West Virginia and believe me, the only people ruining West Virginia's hunting the DNR of that state. They (DNR) are more concerned aboutselling extra tags than managing the states deer herd. Their is no antler restriction like neighboring state Pennsylvania and they slaughter way too many does. I have said it for 10-15 years now and it's now finally happening, lower dder kills and less and less deer sightings. I think you can kill up to 10-12 deer a year (with permits) in West Virginia, that entirely too many deer allowed to be able to manage the deer herd and expect to hunt them in years to come down the road.
Since the ban on gun hunting in the mention 4 southern counties of West Virginia, there has been a great increase in high scoring bucks. If West Virginia continues to slaughter their deer like they have been doing, the other 51 counties will experience a deer population like it was in the 40's and 50's.