Rem1100

I hope not, too,Bro... but SOMETHING is decimating the herds , from past years numbers... the farm I hunt on has been in the same family since the early 1800s... we've got buck mounts on the wall that are SO old..well, you get the idea... we're hunting outside of Baker, where it was easy to count as many as 100 deer in the fields of an evening... I dare you to try to count 20, in the exact same fields. overall size of bucks body & racks have declined to where now if you see a 4 pt, you better shoot... 'cuz the guy down the ridge WILL kill him...
another problem in our area, is these "hunting camps" that total 5 acres or less in size, that house 10-15 hunters( none local)... tell me where they hunt? yep... they trespass... and defy you to challange them. It's sad,but true. I was in my stand last weekend, when 1 of 'em walked right under my stand, carrying a rifle( no way was it a .22)...HUH? 400 yds from their property?... Ethics have gone by the wayside....

Jerky

I hunt in Jackson County and didn't see my first deer until my 5 th day of hunting. It was real slow until about a week ago. I've rattled in one buck on Saturday and I had a few nice ones walk by my stand on Monday within 10 yards. I watched about four bucks chase does around the field in front of my house yesterday. I have also seen plenty of good sign(active scrapes, licking branches, and big rubs) in some other areas I hunt in Jackson County. Now these places I hunt are not hunted alot by anyone so I guess that's why I'm starting to see plenty of deer. Also, I read somewhere, (I think WV game and Fish) that the DNR said we will start to see less deer now but the deer we do see will be bigger. I'm not sure how they came up with that but it doesn't make sense to me.

BeltedMag

Yeah the deer population is definelty getting smaller every year around here. I have lived and hunted Hardy county my whole life and have really seen a diffrence over the last 10 years or so. Rem1100 was right about Wardensville be a huge deer town at one time, Im born and raised there and remember the town tripling in size during deer season. Now you dont see near the people you used to. With Corridor H coming through and all the new people building and moving here, good hunting land is getting more scarce. The thing i cant understand is how the WV DNR keeps saying that doe populations are out of control and keep adding doe seasons and the number of doe tags and we are not really seeing that many does. I dont know where they are seeing these millions of does at. Havent seen many signs of the rut yet, but it wont be long. The yotes are gettin kinda outa hand around here from what i have heard. I have only seen 3 or 4 but i have had several friends kill one. My fiance saw one last week when she was bowhunting with me on my grandmas land, i didnt see it but i heard it and then saw a few deer busting down through the woods.

Where about are you at Rem1100?

NHBuck

Hunted the old family farm in Lewis Co last year. I saw over 100 deer in 3 days of hunting. To me they all looked like does. My Uncle kept picking out spikes in the distance 75yds or more but my eyes aren't as good as his. Either way a spike was the biggest bucks we saw in the three days.

Rem1100

BeltedMag... good to hear from a local boy!!! we hunt up at Baker(Needmore), off of Parker Hollow Rd.! My buddys' fathers' kin settled there over 100 yrs ago. Are you familiar with that area? Know any folks back there? Sure is alot of city-slickers movin' in the area, thanks to the Corridor, which in time will be the WORST thing that happened to the local people. The price of land is already passing the locals' ability to buy.... I tried to buy 18 ac of Mt ground, and it sold at auction for over 28K....MT GROUND!!! Rocks & sticks... unbelievable.
Email me,Bro: [email protected]
...we'll hook up & spin the yarn.......

BeltedMag

Hey Rem,

I went to school with a few people from up that way, havent been up Parker Hollow road in years though. That isnt too far from the ol alma mater of East Hardy. I bowhunt on my grandmothers land up arkansas road near Rio. The family has been talking about selling some of her 130 acres, at like 5 grand an acre, i hope they dont. It used to be i knew just about everyone around here but not anymore there are so many new people i cant keep up with them. As for Corridor H, it has taken out alot of good huntin land, the spot where i killed my first deer and many since then is now pretty much an offramp. Keep an eye out at the local relators some of the land isnt too awful bad, ive been lookin around for some land for another member on here RonM and some of it isnt too expensive. I found 100 acres up near Mathias for like 1700 an acre with is pretty great.
Good talkin too ya, maybe we will run into each other at the checkin station soon.

Dave

Rem1100

BMAG...$170k for 100 acres?...does it have a home on it.. it better! Either way, that's ridiculous for the locals to compete with.. and it encourages folks to sell out... I'd rather see the game than the people, especially the Yuppies in their SUVs that have never been off the hard surface roads.... but they're the ones' our kids will be competing with for their piece of the pie. I saw the realtor sign in Wardensville displaying a home on 5 ac for 550K... IN WARDENSVILLE !! New dam going in on PH road,Bro... exactly like the one on Dove Rd...you gotta go see it!!
Know Charles Wilkins..?... owns the store at Mathias?.. he's our neighbor....

BeltedMag

I thought it wasnt too bad a price considering most land goes for 3 to 5,000 an acre and more. I know alot of Wilkins around Wardensville, but that name sounds familiar. Havent seen the new damn yet, its it like the one up by the lake in Lost River, thats a pretty big damn. Me and my uncle were talking about all the new people around here today, and all the rich yuppies moving in. They are trying to get away from the big city and trying to turn our little town into what they left. Im sure some of them will get discouraged and leave when they realize that there is no cell phone service or Starbucks around, that usually scares them off, Plus the bad roads are hell on their Beemers and Benzs. You should stop by the White Star sometime, i usually get in there on weekends like Friday or Saturday when im not working.

Rem1100

WHITE STAR?... what a place!!!! is that albino deer still in there.. it was soooo old that it was damn near brown, last time I saw it yrs ago!!!!

DougMD

Update on deer and the rut.

First, there are only a few rubs around, and I saw NO scrapes at all.

I went out Wednesday evening and didn't see any deer. Plenty of squirrels, but that's it. Then I went out Thursday morning at another spot and didn't see any. My buddy was with me in the morning and shot a doe. Then last night, I had a buck trailing a doe behind me. It had to have small spikes because I didn't see any horns at all, but heard him grunting and follow her about 30 seconds behind. Then about 1/2 hour later, another buck chased a doe near me. He had a fork on one side and it looked like only a spike on the other. He was running up along side her trying to corral or turn her. She winded me and they ran downhill.

So I ask you, how can it go from not seeing or hearing any cruising bucks, to full blown chasing? One thing is for certain, this is by far the fewest deer I have seen since I owned the land. All four deer I've seen were last night, with zero deer seen on any of my other hunts this year. Frankly, I think the cruising probably has been going on, but there's so few deer, it's hard to see any.