WV Buck Harvest Up Dramatically for 2011

The small 3-point I took this past Rifle Season.

By Chris Lawrence of WV Metro News - Outdoors

Biologists with the West Virginia DNR expected the 2011 buck season to be better than 2010, but nobody expected it to be this good. Preliminary harvest figures indicate West Virginia hunters killed 59,835 bucks during the two week season.

"The magnitude of the harvest increase certainly was a pleasant surprise," said DNR Game Management Chief Paul Johansen. "I personally didn't expect it to be that high."

The southern counties of West Virginia and the western counties saw the highest percentage increase over the totals from 2010, but Johansen said it didn't really matter where you looked everybody was killing more bucks this year.

"Those trends were apparently across all of our districts at least as reflected in the overall buck harvest," Johansen said. "It was pretty much a statewide phenomenon."

For the rest of the story click here...

2011 Doe Season Review

This past Saturday ended West Virginia's rifle season as a whole,although the last week was doe only. Today it moved onto a week of muzzleloader before heading back to bow for the final two weeks, but as for myself I'll be headed back to my bow. But for now, I'll share a little bit about last week.

On Monday, the first day of doe season, I caught something out of the corner of my eye before I even made it to our property. If you remember me talking about the new pair grouse I had jumped back in the first week, I got a picture of one of them. At this point, my day was already made from getting a few great pictures. As I made my way into the stand, I managed to spook a flock of 10+ grouse and doves from my stand area. We went from thinking we only had a pair of grouse to now having at least a handful or more. The morning was slow from then on out but a trip to check one my trail camera let me see a doe with it's two yearlings cutting up over the hillside at the top of the property. After not getting a shot at these deer, I decided to head over to a spot that I hunted a few years back and have been thinking about hunting next year. After radioing with Rick and deciding to call it an early day, I headed over there spot just to see if I could have any luck. Within 12 minutes of sitting down, in the location I want to put a blind up,  I saw two does walk through, two more run through, and then a buck I'd been waiting to see all rifle season, but that wasn't it. Soon there after I saw two more does run through with another little spike trialing them. It was a great day to be in the woods, even though I wasn't about to get a deer in my cross-hairs.

It wasn't until Friday that I was able to make it back out due to the start of finals, but it was a great be back out there in all the fresh new snow. That morning had to be one of the most beautiful morning of the season so far. I didn't get to see anything that morning but, I was hoping again to take a deer that afternoon and I knew there where a few around from the massive amount of track marks in the snow. After sitting most of the morning and not seeing anything, I decided to go for a walk, I knew there was a spot where a lot of deer like to bed in bad condition. I took off for a little walk, as soon as I made it across Heartbreak Ridge and into Fisher Hollow, I looked up to see the flicker of two little tails and then I saw two more start trotting behind them, it wasn't a long to take a shot, nor would I have wanted to take a shot at that angle, but I did what I wanted to do. I tested out how well I knew the area and figure out where the deer where, I didn't get to harvest one, but I was happy enough I knew where to be expecting them next time.

Saturday was my last hope and a half day hunt at that, with family coming in on Sunday and dinner date planned, I thought it couldn't hurt to go for another hike. Who would have thought, on my way into my stand to check the trail camera, I bumped up that same doe and fawn that is always around my stand, they took off and I didn't even attempt to take a shot, it wasn't worth it at this point. After a little deliberation, I decided to take the hike I took the day previously, it didn't pan out the same way. I didn't see any deer, so I decided to sit at the top of my food plot on a downed tree for my last half hour I had planned to hunt, within a few moments a little spike walked in, the same one I let walk on the last Saturday of Buck Season. I watched him for a while, but nothing was spooking him. My phone began to buzz so I looked down and Jay was calling me so I decided to take it, figured I wasn't going to shoot the spike and I was ready to leave. During our conversation that spike proceeded to walk within 10 feet of me. A crazy way to end rifle season for sure.

Now to leave everyone with a throught,  I was tweeting with Michelle (@sdo_mlt) during my final hour of rifle season and we were talking about just being happy to be out and see deer, she said something that I can't agree with more, so I'm going to share it with everyone.

2011 Rifle Season Review

A preview of TCT

The first week of rifle season held most of the excitement, as it normally does. This is a quasi-holiday in WV, some school systems take off the opening day and other give the kids off the whole week.However, the second week, it is the forgotten week. This week is when the woods start to settle down and everything gets back to normal. Most people have to go back to work or school, this is where the folks that have retired or have some extra time off enjoy some quite hunting.  Sadly enough, between a project and a paper due during last week I didn't get out as much as I wanted to. But what can you do in those situations?
I was only able to make it out on Friday and Saturday, the final day of antlered rifle season. And wouldn't you know it.. I shoulda, coulda, woulda - If I had been in my tree stand on Monday evening I would have seen a great looking deer and possibly had a chance at taking it, but then again if I was in stand would he have came in following these does? There wasn't much activity the rest of the week on camera, actually the only activity was me catching a nasty head cold. This put a damper on the rest of rifle season, if you didn't know the deer aren't to fond of hacking and coughing as well as blowing your nose. While only having the last two days to hunt I sucked it up as best I could.

On Friday I slept in a little and finished up some studying before I hit the woods around 11:15 AM. I thought with a cold all I would be able to pull off was a mid day and evening hunt. In theory this was a great idea, but my cold didn't think so. When I arrived and radioed to Rick, who had been there since day break, I was there , he said he had a deer in front of him, but it had bedded down. It was a very slow day on part of Foggy Mountain to say the least. Then again that could have been due to the coughing and sneezing. I spent part of this day in stand but after realizing that there wasn't going to be a deer come within a mile radius of me, I went to check some cameras and do some scouting. The day ended with no deer, one hell of a headache, but one amazing view.

Then next  morning came and I still wasn't feeling my best but I managed to hit the woods around 8:00 AM. I was still straggling in, but at least I could breath. I'm not sure if this was from the medicine but  I was grateful. As I slowly walked into my stand I knew I would probably jump something, I was right. As I walked in, I jumped up a doe and yearling that frequent the area. Shortly after this I got into my stand and it didn't take long for another doe to make its way in. After it milled around for a while I had hoped that a buck would be trailing it her. It was only about two hours later, and a little less than a stud. It was great getting to see a buck on the last day, but I wasn't going to take him, if he had made it this long, he deserved to make it to be another year older. Although I did get some good video of him. The rest of the day I spent in anticipation waiting for the evening to roll around to, this was the only pattern I had on the deer, that I talked about in the opening, he liked evenings. I was hoping the buck would make an appearance, but he didn't. Then as it went from twilight to dusk to dark, he never came in, the most I saw were two more does running up the hillside behind me.

The season closed out on a gorgeous sunset I could help but to be thankful for having a good season and just being able to hunt and take part in the outdoors with great friends and family. Now it's on to a week of doe season, then because I don't have a muzzle loader, I'll be back to bow hunting until the end of the year.

The sun setting on the final day of antlered rifle season. 

The First Week of Rifle Season: Part 2

After what started as a slow, wet morning, opening day turned out to be a pretty interesting day. Then again, any day hunting is better than sitting on the couch. Once I got the deer checked in and hung, I pulled up the forecast to find out that Tuesday was going to be nothing but rain. A quick call to my uncle Rick to make sure he was still going to come up and make sure of the meeting time and I was off to dry out my gear and repack for the next day.

Tuesday - 11/22 - BSing with Rick

Rick and his blind

After taking a deer on the first day and adding more meat to the freezer there was little to no pressure. At least that's what I was telling myself considering the day was looking to be a totally wash out. It started out the same way as Monday, the fog was heavy and didn't lift until nearly 9:00 AM. I had radioed Rick and told him if I hadn't seen any deer and the rain didn't let up I was going to take a hike around the property in the hopes of pushing some deer his way. As 11:00 AM rolled around, the only thing in my sight line were a few gray squirrels and rain drops. At this point I knew that there wasn't much point of sitting on stand as I knew no one else was out, due to the lack of shots and text messages, to push the deer around, so I thought the best chance Rick or I had at seeing a deer was if I bumped one up. I proceeded to hike around Foggy Mountain, until I met up with Rick at his lean-to ground blind. The only thing I managed to see was a pair of Grouse that have taken to Foggy Mountain the past year. On a day like today, Rick had the best idea. He was held up under his homemade lean-to blind that was big enough for the two of use to comfortable sit in and stay dry. So what else is left to do on a wash out day like this other than have a nice hot lunch, he has everything in this blind, sometimes those old-timers still have a few tricks up their sleeves that we've never even thought of. As we sat there and waited for our lunch, we BS'ed about everything from the early days that Rick hunted this property to the current state of Foggy Mountain and the hopes for its future. Then after we ate, he talked about his hunting trips out west and even still had a few pictures on his camera that he showed me. All in all, this had to be one of my favorite days hunting even without seeing a deer.

Wednesday - 11/23 - Butchering

This was another rainy day that I used as day to catch up with everyone that'd had been hunting this week and hadn't been able to talk to. I also finished butchering my deer and got it into the freezer, by the way it's looking I have enough room for one, maybe two if I'm lucky, but who knows. The second half of the day was used to travel to Cassie's parents for Thanksgiving.

Thursday - 11/24 - Thanksgiving

This was the first time I was able to hunt on Cassie's parents land. I was very eager as this land is close the Ohio River and I knew that a few of the locals had told me about some great looking deer in the area. At day break, Cassie's dad and I heading out. He went to his stand, which he saw a bobcat at Monday, and I headed to the furthest field edge from his stand in hopes of pushing a few deer this way on my walk back in to another stand. I felt like a little kid exploring a new world trying to hunt this area. As soon as I cut down into the woods I jumped up two does and then a moment later I saw a rabbit take off. I slowly crept through the woods until I made it to the stand I was using that day. Shortly after getting into stand I saw a figure of a deer in the creek bed, roughly 150 yards from me. At this point the fog was so thick I couldn't see much more than a figure. Around 9:00 AM, her dad texted me to see what I saw thus far, I told him and he told me he had 6 turkeys, 3 long beards included in front of him for the last 45 minutes. We proceeded to text as I had a doe walk up the hill in front of me towards his stand. In hopes that it would work its way towards him I let the deer walk. Around 10:30 AM the fog finally broke and I texted him that I was going to continue  heading towards him trying to push him that doe I saw earlier. Before I even made it out of stand 25 yards I bumped up a young doe, At this point Cassie's brother texted me that he'd gladly take a deer if felt like shooting one for him considering he didn't hunt much or at all. I decided to head to the field to wait for it to make its way out. After waiting for it for a while I decided to slowly head back down the path to see if it was still there. I didn't even make it five yards back into the woods before I had a 48 yard chip shot. Normally in this situation I wouldn't be taking a doe this young, but someone else was wanting the meat. I laid the cross-hairs on it's neck and dropped it in it's tracks. This left me just enough time to take it to the processors and get back and get a shower before turkey time!

Kick Off

Friday - 11/25 - Backyard Brawl


With taking my second deer of the week and still trying to recover from the tryptophan, I slept in and took it easy as we packed up to leave and head to the last WVU home game of the season, The Backyard Brawl, WVU vs. Pitt. I know I didn't get to hunt, but I did get to watch WVU beat Pitt in possibly the last Backyard Brawl so I'll take it.

Saturday - 11/26 - Exploring Foggy Mountain

I had plans of getting up and hunting all day on Saturday, but after a late game and not getting home until nearly 2:00 AM, I slept in again and went breakfast with Cassie, something we rarely get to do in hunting season. I still managed to get in an afternoon hunt. Late in the first week of the rifle season I prefer to still hunt and explore more of the property, mainly because you never know at this point and time where the deer are going to be hiding. This also gave me time to look for where I want to put my own lean-to blind next year, like I said I'm learning and staying dry this past week would have been nice. My hunting strategy paid offed, I ended up seeing two does, I had a shot on both, but with only being able to take one more buck and doe I held of considering I still have a week of buck season left and two in doe. I also stumbled onto those same two grouse again as well as a massive gray squirrel. I also pulled the camera cards from my trail cameras and I must say that everyone is in for a treat tomorrow.

The First Week of Rifle Season: Part 1

With the forecast calling for warm, rainy weather in the early part of the week, I wasn't looking to have much success if any at all. But as the saying goes, "You can't kill 'em from the couch." The first week of rifle season always sounds like a World War 3 is starting, just one of those things one gets use to hunting rifle season in WV. Past the first morning, the deer are running scared as well as a few hunters. But there are two parts to this season, the openings week (this past week) that everyone has time off to hunt a portion of the week and the second week when there is rarely anyone out and the deer start to get back on their patterns and the start of the second half of the rut. Luckily, this year I had the whole week off and  a few days in the second week to hunt also. As for how my week turned out, you may have got a clue in the past TCT, but I'll give an overview of the past week over the next two posts.

Monday - 11/21 - Opening Day

Mainly being a bow hunter, I still get excited for this time of year. Even with only starting my reemergence into the outdoor world five years ago, there is still a little bit of tradition here. As a little kid I always went hunting with my grandpa this week, now that he's beyond the point of being able to tote a gun and run the ridges, Foggy Mountain is mainly left to my uncle and myself.

As with any eager morning I got to my stand early, I met my uncle Rick at the bottom of the mountain as he was unloading his ATV and we wished each other luck and we were on our way. With a heavy mist in the air, that quickly turned back into a drizzle, we both knew this would be a long day. This proved to be true, on any normal opening morning, you can normally count 75 to a 100 shots by noon. This wasn't the case, I didn't hear my first shot that morning until nearly 8:00 AM, that wasn't as shocking as it was to not hear a second shot until 10:28 AM. Shortly after hearing that second faint shot of the morning, I saw my first deer. Well, more like a tail, it was a deer that was bumped up by someone, it was off to the races and  nothing was stopping it. Luckily I was able to see that it was a doe. That was my only action all morning. The rain was still coming down and I wasn't getting any drier so I decided to take a 20 minute lunch break. I climbed down and still hunted my way back to my Jeep for a quick lunch, I was hopeful to at least jump something up on the way out, but still no luck.

It wasn't until a little after 3:00 PM that I saw my next deer. It was a 3-point that I had been seeing on and off all of bow season, to be honest I thought it was 6-point I had pictures of from the previous weekend. I actually have some video footage of this deer, from bow season. This deer snuck in behind me before I even saw it. It was already at 75 yards when I saw it and heading towards a thicket with little to no visibility. I proceeded to watch this deer with my binoculars for 45 minutes after it bedded down in the thicket. This deer wasn't moving, I ranged it at 111 yards, but no matter how I looked at it, I didn't have a shot. I had a choice to make, watch this deer until it was to dark to shoot or try and sneak out of my stand and get a clean shot on it. After weighing my options, I decided if I could make it out of my stand I'd have a good shot at making it through another thicket adjacent to the buck on the opposite side of the creek.

I made it out of my stand without spooking the buck. I knew the rest should be easy, right? Over the next 20 minutes I managed to close in on buck at 45 yards, this was the first spot I was able to get a clear shot. Luckily, I was able to stalk crawl through the thicket on my side of the creek. This should like a lot of work for a 3-point I know, but at this point it was more about seeing if I could do it or not, plus I was this thinking it was that six point. After closing in and getting set up for the shot, the buck was still bedded down when I was able to get my cross-hairs on him. No matter what I did, he wasn't getting up, so at this point I decided my best option would be a neck shot, not my first choice, but there wasn't much left to choose from. As I bore down on fire my shot, another close shot rang out only seconds before I pulled the trigger. Finally that made the deer stand up, of course I wasn't ready for this. I was already firing my shot, in that split second I fired the buck, he stood and my shot fired right under him completely missing him. This was the first time I have ever missed a deer on a first shot, hell the only time I had to use more than one bullet on a deer period. I thought this chance was over and he was gone, but he only took three steps in the opposite direction into a hard quartering away shot and paused that's all I needed, I let another shot ring out and he buckled and he was done. I had successfully stalked and harvested one of the only deer taken this past week on Foggy  Mountain. This was the third consecutive year (you can read about last year's here) I was able to take a deer on opening day of rifle season.

My trophy from Rifle Season... So far...

Trail Cam Tuesday - 11/22/11

This is the "Gone Hunting" Edition... 

Between it being opening week of Rifle Season here in WV and trying to finish processing my deer, I am going to forgo this week's TCT. Look for a new one next week. And if you haven't guessed or heard on Twitter yet, I got a deer, but you'll have to wait a little bit longer for the full write up......