Pro-Line

Our camp (Braxton County) had one of the better years we've ever had as far as seeing bucks goes. We've killed a lot of bigger bucks than we did this week, but we've never seen this number of bucks. We bought the camp in the mid 60's and this year was one of the most promising we can remember.

There were only 4 hunters at our camp. Health reasons kept 2 others at home. We all killed bucks...BUT we passed on non-shooters and left some young-mature bucks for seed. We killed one 10" spike, one 8" spike, a beautiful 6pt, and a tight racked 8pt with great mass. We try to kill the "long" spikes. Some may disagree...but that's our practice. I saw 7 bucks, and one was a dandy, but I didn't have a shot. We have a feeder in the yard, and we had 3 bucks in on Thursday night...one was pushing 20", and another was a 10pt.

My cousin missed a bobcat. He killed one about 3 weeks ago,but missed a bigger one monday.

The only negative was that our checking station had only checked in 12 on friday when I checked my deer. (4 of those were ours) The owner (relative) said that he checked in over 100 the first week in 2000. I'm not sure what that's all about.

Our herd looks great. All deer were large bodied, and fat.

Hopefully you guys had a week as good as mine.

scottpk

Did pretty well in my neck of the woods. (Elkview area) I got a nice 4 point Monday morning, missing one whole side; buddy got a 4-5" spike on the same hunt.



On Tuesday, same guy got an 8 point in its bed and he missed a nice one on Thursday. My cousin got a 5" spike Friday morning. Had a couple buddies miss a couple bucks on Thursday and Friday also. Another buddy of mine got this in Mason Co. One heck of a deer!

gutshot

I don't gun hunt anymore but I killed a nice buck in bow season, you can see a pic on the bowhunting form on the 6th page. I didn't see very many deer this year and from what I've been hearing I think that the DNR will be suprised to see how low that the kill will be this year. Unless they change the bag limits the best years are behind us.

DougMD

Couldn't stay long for snow forecast and my truck brakes going bad on the way there (ABS and brake light came on and pedal creeped under my foot when braking), so I left on Tuesday.

My one friend got a 9 pointer and I didn't see a shooter buck so shot a doe. I also saw a button buck mount a doe multiple times within about 15 to 20 yards of my stand. The other guy shot a spike against our self imposed rules, so won't be invited back unless he really chips in on finishing the place.

paco97

Our camp had one of their better years as well. We're in Paw Paw (Hampshire). I killed the biggest buck we've ever taken in 5 years we've hunted there. It was an 8pt 12 3/4" inside spread, not huge, but for a really nice mountain buck. DNR aged him at 3 1/2 yrs. We also had a 3 1/2 yr 7pt, and an unusual spike with palmation at the tips with a total of 6 points. I also shot a 4-5" spike on Tues, I thought it was the last of a group of does and it ended up being a spike running does. Another guy hit a 6" spike just as it jumped a log and chased the bloodtrail for 3 hours but the deer eventually ran off the property, and was never found. We saw more bucks this year than any other year. Monday was slow action except for the 6pt and my 8pt, but tuesday we all saw bucks chasing does. There was a nice racked buck that is still there and several spikes left for next year.

paco97

I forgot, our camp is 10 miles from the CWD infected zone so we got all our deer checked for CWD. It will be nice to know if that stuff has reached our property yet. Its only a matter of time unfortunately.

cc

wvbowhntr

I'm from Braxton County also, and i've seen more bucks this year than I have for a while. During bow season I saw at least 6 different bucks on the small land that I hunt and 3 during the week of rifle season. On another property in Gilmer, I saw a nice 8pt in bow season and on another day I saw 4 smaller bucks all chasing does.I managed to kill a 5pt in Gilmer and a nice 8pt in Braxton. He wasn't a monster, but was about as perfectly even as you could get and was about 12in wide. I haven't aged him, but he's at least 2 1/2 and possibly 3 1/2 years old. I've seen more chasing this year that I have and also some nice rubs and scrapes, including one that I could have laid down in. Biggest scrape i've ever seen.

Pro-Line: Where do you hunt in Braxton County?

Rem1100

that's 2 folks here who saw more bucks this yr.... me,too.... the DNR isn't wrong in the approach of management. I'd rather see 10 deer in a week,with most being bucks, than 100 doe a day.... BTW, I hunt in Hardy co.

DougMD

We saw some small racked bucks in bow season. Are there more bucks, or just less does? If there are more bucks, why do you suppose that is?

Pro-Line

Doug...We just have less does, making the bucks more prevalent. We're also not shooting as many small ones, leaving bigger ones.

Where we used to see 40/day, now we're seeing 10 with more being bucks. I also believe that the less does there are, the more the bucks have to compete for some lovin'.