This has been a year I'll never forget. you will know what I mean if you read "when the hunter becomes the hunted", but now to problems that are depleting our deer herd. 1. Not enough DNR Officers, one officer cannot take care of all the poaching going on here. Poaching is getting to be at a all time high in this County. 2. McDowell has been known as a place to bag a good Pope & Young, out-of -state fees are way to low, compared to what it cost us to hunt in other states. 3. Why do out of state hunters, 80% that I have run into, bring rifles with them, this County is closed to gun season, maybe it's because they have heard how easy it is to kill a buck with a rifle and check it in with know problem. 90% of the checking stations do not even go look at the deer. 4. DNR has been trapping our big bucks and sending them up north to try and get bigger racks for the gun season, I have seen this with my own eyes! 5. House dogs running deer until they drop, the coyotes are growing out of control, why in the hell would the DNR want bring back theses killers? I guess it the same reason truck loads of Rattlesnakes for wild turkeys. 6. We need to speak up and let the people that make the laws undrestand that this is not going to be a big joke ,like last year, they need to be serious about what is going on in McDowell County. We need more DNR Officers, we need them to leave our deer herd alone, make strong examples out of poachers, make people responseable for thier house dog as well as the coon hunters. If their dogs are found the next day by someone else, the owners should be fined or lose thier dogs, and last but not lease, stop bringing in dumb ass animals that serve no purpose except to kill and sooner or later become a danger to the public.

Dude I can agree with you that you need DNR Officers down there because from what I understand poaching is rampant there. But why would you think that the DNR would transplant rattlesnakes and coyotes to control the deer and turkey population? That makes no sense to me.

I am originally from hardy county and have some land there and I can tell you that coyotes are rampant--not sure how they got there--you always here things--they are definately there though--you are right about WV needing better overall game management procedures and enforcements--One thing I think also contributes is the field tag system--I know people who put the field tag on then drive strait to there own garage. Thereby never using there tag--One thing I like about the way MT has it set up is that you are issued your regular tag and that tag has the dates on it that must be cut out and put on the animal. and you are in trouble if your hauling an animal with no tag--thats just one thing. Be nice to see WV get it overall act together--even putting antler restrictions like PA on bucks and definately monitoring poaching and your right--nobody hunting deer in those southern four counties needs to have a rifle in the vehicle--especially out of staters that come in to archery hunt.

You are right something needs to be done but there is too much land and not enough GW's plus some of the people that I know in that area will shoot a deer anytime they see one with a rifle so it is hard. Plus the main reason the deer are and were so big there was that for years they had no hunting pressure at all hardly anyone hunted them. but now it is out that there are hugh deer there and moe and more people are bowhunting there as they see the 6 and 8 pointers that are 1 or 2 1/2 years old they take them not giving them a chance to grow. I know that there are still hugh deer there but not nearly as many as they used to be.

Could ya get some of those traped deer put in Preston County. Our coyotes need feed to. Or wate ill trade ya two coyotes and one snake for a buck fawn. By the Way the only game animal the gets traped and moved around in this state is black bears (problem ones). No way is the DNR transplanting sanks and coyotes, the coyotes are just making a come back deal with it did you ever consider coyote hunting it is alot of fun and not nearly as hard as it looks.

I don't believe in the coyote and rattlesnake conspiracies either. Yotes spread on their own and no rattlesnakes are being transplanted to take down the turkey population, in my opinion. One thing that IS weird is that during daylight, you can hunt yotes year round, but at night, there is a season. What's up with that? Seems to me they should be open day and night for trapping and hunting, no restrictions whatsoever. I can understand if the traps at certain times of the year might snare something else and be detrimental, etc. but haven't heard this as the reason. If the yotes are out of control, they need to be taken care of!

The state also traps Turkeys and have for years and years and sell them to other states like NC I know this to be a fact. I dont think the yotes have been as much a factor in McDowell Co as poachers have.