New Forum

[retiredsailor]

Thanks so very much to whoever created this new forum for State-by-State News and Hunt Reports for the state of West Virginia. I'm a long-time West Virginia hunter (grew up in the Eastern Panhandle area) and although I now live in Virginia, I still hunt in West Virginia, despite the somewhat steep non-resident licensing fees.

While WV doesn't contain a bunch of record-book deer, we do have a ton of deer and some wonderful hunting opportunities as well as great hunting land - both public and private. Unfortunately, WV found some cases of CWD in Hampshire County several years ago and the state DNR is in the process of trying to deal with that.

Consider this post as an invitation to anyone who hunts West Virginia or has anything to offer regarding WV hunting, to post away. Let's get a couple of good, interesting threads going here and exchange some meaningful information.

Let me start with this. Last year (2009) WV held its first early black powder season (antlerless only for a week in mid-September). The normal black powder season is for a week in mid-December (either buck or doe). It didn't appear to me that many folks took advantage of this early September season. Could be because it wasn't advertised enough, or it may have been that the weather was just too warm for many folks to think about trudging into the woods and mountains. Any thoughts - pro or con - regarding this September black powder season? Fire away!

[Spike]

Greeting Retired Sailor.
While I enjoy every new opportunity to hunt I do think the warmth in mid-September turned me off. I used to hunt Maryland for their early start, but quit that. I think a late season muzzleloader season that extends for a longer period of time will yield more deer being harvested. There is nothing quite like a well executed silent drive or a half day stalk in the snow to get the excitement and adrenaline pumping for the guy who hunts for the adventure and sport. Hell, we could have put a few in the freezer before Ole Man Winter did his damage, especially this year. I wonder how the heard is going to end up after all this snow.

Spike

[retiredsailor]

I too would welcome the opportunity to hunt (black powder especially) perhaps into January. In my opinion, I'd prefer that over the
mid-September week. But....that's just my opinion.
In the Eastern Panhandle area, where I hunt, we have had a good bit of snow and it has been with us a while. While I'm not a deer
biologist, my guess is that they just holed up in some thick stuff and waited out the worst of the weather. I expect some of the weaker
ones (those that went into winter a little weak, late born-2009 fawns, and maybe the old or crippled deer) may not make it to spring. But as we
know, deer are very tough hombres and they have an amazing ability to survive whatever mother nature throws at them. Fawning
numbers may be down this spring, but that probably won't impact the harvest for a couple of years.
Haven't been able to check out my hunting property since this weather hit but have started seeing a good bit of deer activity along the
roads and in fields, even saw a small flock of turkey last week.