RE: West Virginia Deer Hunting Hurting!
I agree with Jim Bell
I'm originally from WV and still go back there and hunt every year with friends and family. I have two diferent pieces of land in hardy county--1 is up in the hills where the deer kill was down overall and deer seen was also down. the other was a low lying farm where we saw record numbers of deer and bucks in particular.
I had a chance to shoot 6 different bucks between the two (none of them very big) and I choose to pass on them, then shot a doe later.
I think coyotes are probably a bigger problem then most realize (we saw tracks all over on the mountain property) and NOOOOO they are not decreasing (as someone said earlier) just b/c they are legal to shoot.
But what hurts most of all is the age old tradition there of making sure that "you get your buck" no matter how big it is. A lot of hunters (good guys) back there have given over to think that they never will see a big one--so they just shoot their little forkhorns or spikes, then when asked, they can reply with assured satisfaction "yeah, I got my buck"--two buck limits per weapon make this attitude even easier--"I'll shoot the first one I see--then trophy hunt at least until the end of the week". And if this is the way that most hunters in WV want it, than so be it.
But hopefully, attitudes will change with new generations of hunters. One thing they should do is say ONE BUCK--perhaps one for bow and one for gun. That makes a person debate whether they want to pull the trigger on that scrub or not. That's what happens here in MT--You get One--combined bow and rifle--so believe me there is a psychological deterrent to shooting any ol' buck--and who cares if you don't shoot it--than you just get to hunt longer.
hb