West Virgina
 

Been hunting w.v. for about 20 years, maybe more. Pretty bad year for us. Hardly heard any shooting, even far off. Most of the deer I saw were really tiny. Was it a bad winter there last year?

The weather sucked for rifle this season too.
-Jake

I'm going with missing the rut for firearms, acorns EVERYWHERE, 70*weather, and a bad moon phase, the deer had absolutely no reason to move in the daytime, none. Last year's winter did take some deer out though, no doubt about it, but I only stumbled across one carcass.

I only found 1 dead deer this spring...but it was a tough winter last year.

I think the rut being so darn early was a killer this year. I saw one of the hardest ruts I've seen in years in mid-late October. It looked like mid November with all the chasing, fighting and breeding I saw in October.

I was 100 yards below this guy when this pic was taken, he was 40 yards out of my vision the whole time. :happy0157:

that is a great picture

That really is a great picture. It perfectly shows the symmetry of that bucks antlers.

VA

That deer is 2.5, no way a 1.5 year old is looking like that on my property but you're right, plenty survived, at least in my area.

I think Ridge Runner has a pretty good handle on what happened. There was so much food in the woods that deer were spread out, and the weather was pretty bad also for most hunters.

I do believe there has been a good bit of deer kill in certain areas also. I think the deer hit a triple wammy. First was all the snow last winter. But we actually found alot of dead deer about 18 months ago from that disease they get from those "mites". We found a half dozen dead deer from that. I also believe the third part of the wammy is how hard coyotes have been on fawns. Our coyote popualtion is exploding in WV, and I believe they also have an effect on deer.

So IMO baiscally there were alot of small things that overall had a pretty good sized effect on the deer.

However, since the weather has changed, I am now seeing the larger herds of 30 or more again. But I didn't see that sized herd all through late summer, fall, and hunting season. And I can see them right out my back window. Tom.

Blue Tongue Disease was rough on them that year, 2007 I believe. I stumbled across 3 carcasses on 250 acres of property, and one was a damned fine 8 point.