Busy Month for Deer Hunters
By Frank Jezioro – Director, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. – -(Ammoland.com)- When we think of the largest single-day sporting event West Virginians take part in, many say it is the day West Virginia and Marshall play football.
Others say it is the day when a NASCAR race is going on. The truth is that the opening day of the buck gun deer season sees more West Virginians taking an active part than any other sporting event that takes place in West Virginia. On the opening day we will see nearly 300,000 orange clad hunters actively in the woods and fields hunting. When you throw in the opening of rabbit, raccoon, bear gun season and the opening of the trapping season, November becomes the busiest month of the year for the hunting and trapping community.
This figure highlights the fact that hunting in West Virginia is truly big business as well as a part of our heritage and tradition. If you check, you will find that there is someone in nearly every West Virginia family who hunts or fishes. This is one reason that the Division of Natural Resources is so important to so many people in our state. Through sound management and changes in natural habitat, the deer herd has spread and increased to the point that we have good deer hunting close to nearly everyone in our state.
Changes in Attitudes
One of the greatest changes has been the change in attitude toward the taking of a deer. When I started deer hunting more than 50 years ago, not only did we have to travel to one of several counties to just see a deer but we also were brought up to shoot any buck. If it had antlers, shoot it. And today there is nothing really wrong with that if you are satisfied with the deer you shoot. Point is, a trophy is in the eyes of the person who takes it. While we all recognize that a buck with eight or 10 tines, heavy and wide, to be a true trophy, there are people who enjoy the hunt much more and simply want to shoot a deer. They are just as happy with a spike or four point as they would be with a 10 point.
Attitudes are changing as the reasons for hunting are changing. With so many social programs to help people, few people hunt now to feed their families. More and more hunt for recreation and the total experience of being out of doors and closer to nature.
But that feeling is changing in our hunters, especially our younger hunters. These hunters are now more interested in shooting a truly mature buck that has a 14-20 inch spread with eight or 10 long points. If they shoot a trophy buck like this, they are satisfied. Point is, they are interested in shooting one true trophy deer instead of three immature bucks. Trying to satisfy all segments of the hunting community led us to establish some areas with special antler regulations in hopes of growing more mature bucks.
Deer Management Concerns
In the past couple of years, we are getting more and more requests from our hunters to limit the number of bucks that a hunter can kill, from the three we can now legally take to one or no more than two. They are indicating that they would like to see the DNR limit the number of bucks killed to one or two and to remove the regulations and let the hunter kill both bucks with the weapon of their choice. In other words, if a bow hunter wanted to kill both his bucks with a bow that would be legal. Or if a gun hunter wanted to kill both his bucks with a rifle or a muzzleloader that would be legal.
When you look at other states that have outstanding hunting for trophy whitetail bucks, you find that they limit the buck kill to one buck per hunter per year and you can take it with the weapon of your choice. I have hunted in Kansas, Ohio and Montana, and all follow this system and continue to produce large bucks.
But I go back to what I said originally, in that we still have people that are not at all interested in killing the biggest buck in the woods and they simply want to kill a deer and enjoy the fun of the hunt.
So, to get more input, we hope to be able to get some questions out to the hunting public this spring during our sectional meetings to get a better feel for what our hunters really want as far as deer hunting opportunities go. We already know that our hunters are not interested in a state-wide antler restriction, but do like the idea of having several areas set aside for trophy or older age deer management.
We must also realize that we need to do what is necessary to keeping the deer herd to a number that doesn’t outgrow the habitat. This is where our hunters are playing a very significant part of deer management and taking as many deer as they are allowed to take. While some frown on taking antlerless deer, they need to realize that one of the keys to growing large bucks is removing a large number of does. This is where the deer management becomes complex. We don’t have too many deer on the national forest, state forests or our wildlife management areas. We only have too many deer in areas where the public is not allowed to hunt.
Be safe out there, never take your safety off or look at an object through your scope until you have identified it as a deer, and be sure to wear plenty of orange. Hopefully, your November will be full of pleasant memories of our days in the wonderful West Virginia outdoors.
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