DougMD

[align=left]DON KESNER Review Staff[/align]
[align=left]WESTON — Division of Natural Resources administrators Sunday asked for a special two-day anterless deer hunt to be held in Hampshire County on Oct. 27 and 28.
Deer killed during the special season would be tested as part of the DNR’s ongoing plan to curb the spread of chronic wasting disease in Hampshire County.
And, according to Rogers, the does killed will help give DNR officials more data on CWD.
He said people who are concerned with not having enough deer on their property, have the perogative not to kill the deer.
Wildlife officials, for the second year in a row, are asking for stricter regulations on doe hunting.
The request came during a midwinter meeting of the Natural Resources Commission, and would close doe hunting in 17 counties, and reduce the bag limits and length of season in a total of 16.
According to officials, if the seven-person commission approves the proposal at its May meeting, only 21 counties, including Hampshire County, will remain open under the state’s most liberal regulations, which includes a 22-day anterless deer season and a three-doe bag limit.
Officials said two years of high harvest and poor acorn crops have dramatically reduced whitetail numbers.
Nine counties, including Cabell, Gilmer, western Grant, western Kanawha, Monroe, eastern Pendleton, Roane, Upshur and Wayne, would allow doe hunting only by state resident hunters who qualify for a limited number of lottery-drawn permits.
During Sunday’s meeting, DNR administrators also proposed to open four state-owned wildlife management areas for older-age buck hunting.
The four areas would reportedly include Coopers Rock State Forest in Preston County, the Burnsville WMA in Braxton County, the Bluestone WMA in Summers County and the McClintic WMA in Mason County.
According to officials, all bucks killed in those areas would have to have a minimum antler spread of 14 inches.
Officials said the public will be allowed to comment on the proposed regulations during a series of 17 sectional meetings to be held throughout the state in March.
Get the complete story in this week's Hampshire Review![/align]

cardeer

I dont understand I was in WV and seen tons of deer.they were standing all over the place in the middle of the day.I drove a 35 mile stretchof rt 250 and counted well over 100 deer out in the fields in the daytime

DougMD

When was that and what county? Since about five years ago, there has been a decline in the herd to REALLY low numbers in SOME places. I don't think people should be seeing 50 deer a day, but the numbers are below carrying capacity in quitea few counties now.

hillbillyhunter1

as was posted somewhere else, I think it is ridiculous for the state to put restrictions on bucks based on their spread (14 in). Why not use points or points on one side. How many hunters are gonna be able to tell 13 in. from 15 in. I know you could err on the side of caution but I don't know ANYWHERE else that uses AR based on spread. Also, I hope the dnr tries to manage bucks as well as does by limiting their bag limits etc (not just in the wma areas). Managing the herd by managing the does will only work to a certain extent. I think making genealized statements like "poor acorn crop" is also bs. we had great acorns last year.

Dnr's grade so far, imo, C-

cardeer

Doug that was between Morgantown and Hundred and around cameron. And I think it was route 7. The yards of the homes were coated with deer crap.The paths off the steep hills down toward the fields and yards were like cow paths.Looked at a place in clay countyalso 130 acres and everywhere we road on the proerty trails deer were running.

Another thing I noticed no one planted food plots or crops for the deer And some of the locals I talked to looked at me like I was nuts for suggesting planting crops for the deer. I quess because of the depressed income in them areas .They have enough problems feeding there families. I looked up the average icomes and wow low and the percent of welfare recievers were high. Land is cheap and I seen homes for 12,000 that would go for 60,000 here in pa.

DougMD

hillbilly hunter,

I agree with you point restrictions are easier to implement. But at least these are steps in the right direction. If you look at the deer herd numbers, I believe most areas experienced a steady decline in 2001 through 2004, and in some counties, 2005 was around the same or slightly higher deer kill (ie. the decline was halted, it appears). Where I am at, the last two falls have been good acorn crops, but the THREE prior to them were poor and led to serious deer number declines.

kevin1

If your herd is as depleted as this seems to be describing then trophy restrictions would be the last thing y'all should be worrying about. Shoot what looks best to you , but leave the does alone for a few years so the herd can recover . BTW , points are easier to count , but spread is much easier tojudge from a distance . If it's out to the ears it's at least 15"-16" .

Sylvan

I agree with kevin1. If you want to increase the number of deer you must back off on the doe kill. Doe numbers (not buck) is the valve that must be controlled to control total numbers. In fact by late season and the lions shareof doe are already bred, you can shoot every singleantlered deerin an area (including spikes and fork horns) and the population will still grow quickly if you leave the doe alone.

gutshot

I'm with Doug. It's about time that the DNR listens to the hunters and comes off of thier standard excuse of bad weather and low mast crop as a reason for low deer sightings. We've been over killing our herd for 5-6 years.

hillbillyhunter1

from the reports posted on here and other sources I agree that some areas of the state are low in overall population, but I think some are not.
That is why Iwish a more micro-managed plan be installed. The areas I hunted seem to have a healthy population--even with coyotes. Just because deer numbers are down doesn't mean that the numbers aren't those of a healthy herd, perhaps before they were just too high.

I'm not saying they WERE too high, just saying that the couple of areas I hunt in WV seem to have a reasonable herd right nowimo.

In those areas, I don'twant an increase in deer, just a decrease in little bucks killed--just my opinion on the area in WV I hunt.