WV Bow season is finally here...doe down!
 

An opening day doe...I can not complain. It was a nice sit this morning, temperature was fall like, wind was not bad, and the leaves on the forest floor were dry and loud.

She came by me at 7:30 AM, and presented me an 8 yard, steep angle, slightly quartering away shot. I hit about 1/2 inch to high and to the front of where I was aiming.

The arrow plowed through the top of the shoulder blade, nicked the underside of the spinal cord, and powered through the left lung. She dropped in her tracks.

I was impressed with the G5 Montec. It pushed its way all the way through the deer even after contacting the shoulder blade, ending up with the arrow still in the deer but the broadhead 5 inches out the other side.

Now I can concentrate on a nice buck:-)

WTG!!!!!! Congrats on your opening day harvest...Enjoy a back strap BBQ tonight man... I had 3 does come in at 7:30 also, but they where in some tree's and I just couldn't get a shot. To many branches in the way. Its very windy here today. Made for a tough hunt this morning...

West Virginia's hunting has declined dramatically in the last 15 years.....I'll let you guess why.

You are free to take your sour attitude to another thread.

Here in the eastern panhandle we have lots of deer, maybe not many trophies, but lots of deer (and this is only 3 years after blue tongue decimated the herd in my area).

The guy shoots a doe and your criticizing him?? Uncalled for....

Congrats. Tomorrow I will be out for the first time after having to work today.

Congrats, nice doe.

WTG!!! My opening day didn't goe as good but I'll be out tomorrow afternoon to give it another try.

Not criticizing him at all. I just think in West Virginia the DNR is more about selling extra tags and permits and the money than they are about managing the deer herd. I hunt WV and PA and in PA there is an antler restriction, and in WV you can legally take around 12 deer with extra stamps. That is entirely too many deer to be taken and still be able to manage the deer herd there. On the other hand, Pennsylvania's regulations are not perfect. In PA if you kill a legal buck during archery season you are done and not allowed to take a buck during rifle season. Like I said before, I'm not criticizing at all. Enjoy your deer.

Congrats on the doe,
last season in PA I saw 3 deer on around 25 hunts. Soooooo its kinda hard to say to anyone that their state sucks.

Just sayin

Ryan.


I guess I should have read more before I posted that

Anyhow yeah, where I hunt in PA Sucks real bad. S.W. PA still has a good heard cause of Pitt being there.

Ryan.

congrats,nice doe going to be good eatin!
I had a nice piebald doe come in to 40 yards saturday but couldn't get her to come any closer,so i let her pass hope to get another chance at her!

Congrats on the doe! I live in Mcdowell county WV where their isnt a gun season and deer down here are plentifull!

Congrats!

I have farm in Braxton county...and I'm not sure what RidgeFactor is talking about. Our hunting is far better than it was 15 years ago. Sure, we used to see 20-30 deer every day out, but we also saw 1 buck out of every 50 deer...and it was a spike or 4pt. Last year I killed a 115" 8-point the first day with a bow...and it wasn't the biggest deer I saw.

We bought our farm in '67 and a 100" deer was unheard of in the late 80's into the late 90's. There were just too many deer.

We've killed some dandy's in the last 5-10 years, and it's all because our numbers are down a little. I still see tons of deer, but the numbers aren't stupid like they were. Some people just want to shoo the deer away....climb a tree...have the deer come back...and shoot one. LOL

Being that you live in Pulaskiville, Ohio.....you sure must get alot of time to scout and hunt your farm in Braxton County, West Virginia?

RF
So you...living in PA can criticize the hunting, but I...living in Ohio can't say that it's good?

So you're saying that if I scouted my land more that I would find that the hunting in WV is terrible? OK...now I follow your logic...not.

Gotta love those southwestern, PA deer.

Yeah don't believe RidgeFactor has been in the same woods we WVians have been... I will agree on the rack requirement, but as for deer... yeah clueless there. Though I do believe a combination of the 40 year mast high this year and a extremely hard winter may make deer success here tough. Also hunting farm country verses forest country will grow different deer.

Greenbrier County first day... Let a spike walk, had a doe in the brush, a button buck smell my ladder on my stand and a doe flank me too far out. It was breezy, and the woods were quiet with a bit of rain late in the week. Full moon this week, maybe similiar slow luck for Saturday.

My friend I am from WEST VIRGINIA and have been hunting in WEST VIRGINIA for over 30 years now. Clueless? Not hardly. Where I hunt in southwestern, PENNSYLVANIA (Greene County) there is an antler restriction, must be 4 points to a side, that's something WEST VIRGINIA doesn't have therefore you wont see the "Big Rack" bucks unless you are hunting the 4 southern WV counties that hasn't allowed gun hunting since 1972. That's not to say that there aren't any "BIG RACKED" deer in the Mountain State, just hard to see any when they never get to reach maturity.

nice doe. they dont have to have horns to get my heart racin..

as for the conflict, the first post about the declination of hunting in dubv was a little inflammatory, heated rebuttals were to be expected lol..

Nice doe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Michigan probably hasn't managed their herd like they could of....I for one like to see tons of deer, and in michigan there are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many deer in the souther part, especially in the southwest part....It's fun going out and seeing deer.....Now if michigan can just get some of the weekend warriors to be more selective....
We have all the right ingrediants for MI to be a Wallhanger state....and there are a fair amount...but could be better

As far as football teams
I love the Mountaineers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Mountaineers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michigan Wolverines are my next choice

Nice! Droppin does never gets old:happy0001:

RidgeFACTOR you made the generalized statement that hunting WV is down and your only rebutal is because we don't have a antler restriction... thus making "record" racks hard to find, though every year there are beasts that come to checking stations all over the state. In my original post I said other than we don't have a rack restriction. To me that is a double edge sword for my hunting experience and others. yeah the theory is if you don't kill a spike or 4 point then they will grow to 6 points +. Biologically I agree. The trouble is, though i don't own the wildlife the state does, it is what i want to do on my hunting property. On the other side of your generalized statement on WV "Hunting"... your on the greedy side that says "hunting" is big buck killing. He should be excited about killing a doe and if you are a true management hunter you better be killing does, ideally 2 to one buck you kill is our moto (and we impose a rack limit on our hunting property). So, to paint your statement in your eyes, yeah WV "hunting" isn't down it is just that we have smaller racks on percapta. But the deer herd is growing great. To me hunting is hunting. i would rather set in a stand for 8 hours and see 6 does, a spike and a 6 point. then set in a stand all hunting season and maybe see a deer. So, if you want to hunt and see deer then WV is booming, if you want to hunt a 180 class buck then go to OH, Ill, Kan, Tex, somewhere else for a trip. Also have you hunted the southern WV counties? By the way they have openned up gun bear season in Wyoming County this year.

RT1 you are the man! Well half right anyway :-) WVU!!