A preliminary count of deer registered at game checking stations across the state indicates that deer hunters in West Virginia harvested 64,547 bucks during the two-week buck season, which ran from November 22 through December 4, according to Ed Hamrick, Director of the Division of Natural Resources. The 2004 buck harvest was down 12 percent from the 2003 harvest of 73,128. The top ten counties were as follows: Roane (2,477), Hampshire (2,336), Mason (2,315), Jackson (2,082), Hardy (2,046), Preston (2,017), Ritchie (1983), Tyler (1963), Wetzel (1943), and Wood (1,855).