Originally Posted by HEAD0001

I think Ridge Runner has a pretty good handle on what happened. There was so much food in the woods that deer were spread out, and the weather was pretty bad also for most hunters.

I do believe there has been a good bit of deer kill in certain areas also. I think the deer hit a triple wammy. First was all the snow last winter. But we actually found alot of dead deer about 18 months ago from that disease they get from those "mites". We found a half dozen dead deer from that. I also believe the third part of the wammy is how hard coyotes have been on fawns. Our coyote popualtion is exploding in WV, and I believe they also have an effect on deer.

So IMO baiscally there were alot of small things that overall had a pretty good sized effect on the deer.

However, since the weather has changed, I am now seeing the larger herds of 30 or more again. But I didn't see that sized herd all through late summer, fall, and hunting season. And I can see them right out my back window. Tom.