CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) today announced that hunters harvested 92,553 white-tailed deer during the 2025-2026 seasons, which is a 17 percent decrease from the 2024 deer harvest of 111,646 and 14 percent below the 5-year average of 107,434.

This year’s decreased harvest was caused by an increase in hard mast production, which often results in decreased harvests due to the difficulty of tracking and targeting game species spread out over a landscape. Several counties also experienced an outbreak of hemorrhagic disease, which likely impacted hunter success, especially in the western part of the state.

According to preliminary numbers collected through the WVDNR’s electronic game checking system, hunters harvested 33,823 bucks during the traditional buck firearm season, 25,453 antlerless deer during all antlerless firearm hunting opportunities, 29,654 deer during the urban and regular archery/crossbow seasons, 3,102  deer during the muzzleloader season and 501 deer during the Mountaineer Heritage season.

Click here to download county-by-county 2025-2026 deer harvest numbers.

Antlerless Deer Season 
Hunters harvested 25,453 deer during the 2025 antlerless deer season, which includes the youth, class Q and Class XS deer season. The harvest was a 23 percent decrease compared to the 2024 harvest of 33,057 and 13 percent below the 5-year average of 29,303. The top ten counties for antlerless deer harvests were Preston (1,442), Upshur (907), Greenbrier (877), Monroe (876), Mason (841), Lewis (836), Hardy (775), Randolph (774), Barbour (695) and Braxton (680).

Archery and Crossbow Deer Seasons
Hunters harvested 29,654 deer during the 2025 archery and crossbow season. The 2025 harvest was an 8 percent decrease over the 2024 harvest of 32,240 and 5 percent below the 5-year average of 31,139. The proportion of the archery harvest taken using a crossbow has stabilized and was greater than deer reportedly taken by a bow.

The archery and crossbow harvest does not include the 29 deer taken with recurve or longbows during the Mountaineer Heritage season. The top ten counties for archery and crossbow deer harvests were Preston (1,573), Raleigh (1,378), Wyoming (1,224), Kanawha (1,045), Fayette (1,032), Mercer (892), Nicholas (889), McDowell (876), Randolph (860) and Monongalia (842).

Muzzleloader Deer Season
Hunters harvested 3,102 deer during the 2025 muzzleloader season, which was 26 percent less than the 2024 harvest of 4,173 and 22 percent below the 5-year average of 3,979. The muzzleloader deer season harvest does not include the 472 deer taken with side lock and flintlock muzzleloaders during the Mountaineer Heritage season. The top ten counties for muzzleloader deer harvests were Nicholas (186), Preston (179), Randolph (158), Greenbrier (131), Upshur (115), Fayette (111), Raleigh (95), Mason (93), Barbour (90) and Kanawha (88).

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James Bailey, Lauren Winans, Vincent Cava, Michael Simon, and Vips Alpizar were announced as the newest members in a press release from the Governor’s office late Monday.   They will join Commissioners Janet Hamric Hodge and Jeff Bowers on the commission for the first meeting of the year on Thursday, March 12, 2026.

The meeting will be the first of the year and will include presentations of proposed season dates and bag limits for big game for this fall’s hunting season along with fishing regulation proposals for the coming year.

“West Virginia’s natural resources are one of our greatest blessings and a cornerstone of our economy and way of life,” said Governor Morrisey. “James, Lauren, Vincent, Michael, and Vips each bring valuable experience, strong community ties, and a deep appreciation for our state’s outdoor traditions. I am confident they will help guide sound policies that balance conservation, access, and economic opportunity for generations to come.”

“These appointments reflect our commitment to protecting West Virginia’s natural beauty while ensuring it remains accessible for our citizens and visitors,” Governor Morrisey added. “We will continue to champion policies that strengthen our outdoor economy, and preserve these resources for the future.”

The meetings will be held in six locations across the state and can also be streamed online at the Commerce Department’s YouTube Channel.

Those wishing to attend the meetings in person to make public comment can attend at the following locations:

• District 1 – 1110 Railroad St, Farmington, WV 26571
• District 2 – 1 Depot Street, Romney, WV 26757
• Elkins Operation Center in District 3 – 738 Ward Road, Elkins, WV 26241
• District 4 – 2006 Robert C Byrd Drive, Beckley, WV 25801
• WVDNR Headquarters in District 5 – 112 California Avenue, Charleston, WV 25305
• District 6 – 76 Conservation Way, Parkersburg, WV 26104

Biographies on the five new Commissioners provided in a Governor’s Press release:

James Bailey, a Charleston attorney representing District 5,  previously served as the West Virginia Secretary of Commerce, overseeing numerous state agencies, including the Division of Natural Resources. He brings a background in community engagement and a long-standing interest in conservation and responsible land use.

Lauren Winans, a Buckhannon resident, offers experience in organizational leadership and public service, with a focus on collaboration as she represents District 3. Her grandfather, Sgt. Gary Wade (District 1), helped foster her passion for conservation, family, and service of officers across the state, something she has proudly handed down to her daughters. As a television show host, Winans would often highlight Natural Resources Police Officers and showcase the important role they play in protecting West Virginia’s people, land, and wildlife.

Vincent Cava, a seasoned business leader and professional in Bridgeport representing District 1, contributes a strong perspective on resource management and outdoor recreation, reflecting West Virginia’s proud hunting, fishing, and tourism traditions. He is passionate about protecting and responsibly utilizing the region’s natural resources.

Michael Simon, a Weirton attorney with a diverse practice, and who previously served on the Brooke County Board of Education, will serve as an at-large representative, bringing a broad statewide perspective and a strong appreciation for the role outdoor recreation and conservation play in supporting local communities and economic development.

Vips Alpizar, a Monroe County resident, adds a strong commitment to conservation and community engagement, especially with environmental issues. Owner of a Monroe County Bed and Breakfast, she supports the Commission’s mission to preserve West Virginia’s natural beauty while expanding access to outdoor activities.

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“We project we’re going to be flowing water on the second of March out of the right side stilling basin for the first time in about five and a half years,” said Josh Miller Project Manager at Bluestone Dam for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Crews removed the cofferdams from the right side last week and will soon move to the other side and begin to construct the cofferdams to create the left side stilling basin. The basins are critical for the long-term life of the dam because they prevent scouring and erosion of the bedrock by passing water. Over time, the scouring effects can weaken the dam. The stilling basin, as the name suggests, “stills” the water after it comes over the spillway and settles it down to flow gently on out the other side and downstream without a violent crash into the river bed.

It’s the final phase of a 30 year project to upgrade the dam which was constructed in the 1940’s. The structure provides flood protection downstream to many communities, including Charleston. The aging structure proved its worth in 2025 when Hurricane Helene struck. The water level at Bluestone Dam from the storm which ravaged North Carolina was inches away from its highest mark. Without the protection of the dam, damage downstream including the Capitol City would have been catastrophic.

Construction teams previously anchored the structure to the bedrock to prevent slippage. Crews drilled through the dam itself and installed steel cables which are now anchored to the bedrock all the way across the span of the dam. The cables were tightened and now hold the dam in place firmly. The work was completed in previous phases. Along with the right side stilling basin, a large divider wall was constructed to split the downstream side of the dam and to separate the flow. That’s a part of the project which won’t have to be replicated on the other side.

Miller said the work on river right will translate into experience they’ll need on the left side to help speed the process.

“Any and all understanding and knowledge gained on the right side will be transferred to the left side and there’s the added bonus the divider wall is already complete. That divider wall is a massive chunk of concrete,” he added.

The concrete in the original structure was poured in1943. Engineer’s have examined its makeup and believe it’s still in good shape. There was one major crack discovered in the dam when the process began, but it was in an area which was not complicated to cut it out and replace with new concrete. Miller said that process was done and went well.

The final phase is expected to be completed in 2030.

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Last year, the DNR changed the Commission meeting format from a location somewhere in West Virginia on a Sunday afternoon, to a live-streamed meeting from six locations across the state simultaneously where people can attend and participate. They also moved the meetings from Sunday afternoon to a weekday evening.

“Total views topped over 1400 per meeting. We have over 100 folks join in the live stream. We’re seeing participation at levels we haven’t for many years in person. We had over 29 people attend in those six locations which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s big for this commission given the history it’s had,” he said.

McMillion told the Senate Natural Resources Committee the change was a result of Governor Patrick Morrisey’s executive order to look at inefficiencies and how to improve the operations. McMillion said they decided to target the Commission meetings for improvement.

“How would we get the public more involved, how do we become more transparent, and how to we encourage that participation,” said McMillion.

He concluded the live streamed events which are at the DNR’s six district headquarters and at the State Capitol,  rather than one, have been a successful solution. He said they have implemented present technology and brought the Commission and the agency into modern times.

The Commission is required to meet once each quarter of the year. The first of those meetings for 2026 will be at 6 p.m. Thursday. The public can attend in person or watch the live stream on the Department of Commerce YouTube Channel. 

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That’s the direct opposite of B.T. Roberts’ 2025 buck.

“This buck showed up on December 2nd. I get a picture of him walking away and I knew immediately this was a deer I wanted to go after,” Roberts said on West Virginia Outdoors.

Roberts changed up his whole hunting plan on his lease in Boone County and repositioned his stand in an area close to some food plots he cultivated on the property.

“When he showed up, I changed my whole hunting area and focused on that particular spot,” he said.

Roberts hadn’t previously seen the buck and suddenly was getting picture after picture of him and some of them were in daylight. One particular picture he feared would haunt him. The alert on his phone dinged and he was in Lexington, Kentucky headed to Louisville with his wife her parents to see the Lights Under Louisville Christmas Display. It was a trip Roberts forget he promised his wife he would take.

“I said I didn’t agree to this trip and she said I did and it would be fine, I said I would have never agreed to this,” he laughed.

He couldn’t help but think if he weren’t in Kentucky, he would have been in the stand at 9:13 a.m. on December 20th, the exact moment his cell camera on the stand captured the buck only yards away from what would have been his shooting position.

“Oh man, I was some kind of upset. I was thinking, what have you done to me?,” he laughed.

When he returned from the Kentucky trip, he tried to surmise how many days he could get off work without getting fired to dedicated what time was left in the 2025 archery season to the big buck He found himself in the stand a day later in terrible weather with rainfall and everything in the woods wet and muted when the action started.

“Out of nowhere I can hear what sounds like some deer trotting toward me, but I couldn’t see anything,” he explained.

Eventually through the early morning light B.T. was able to discern two does making their way toward his stand. Then a third appeared as the first two disappeared over the hill and in the distant mist there seemed to be another deer.

“I’m like, ‘Holy Smokes that can’t be him.’ But the closer he got the bigger he got and I said, ‘That’s him.'” explained Roberts.

Suddenly Roberts found himself in a tough spot. He had deer right on top of him, but he was sitting down and didn’t even have his bow in his hand. He was afraid to move to get his bow, let alone standup. But fate smiled on him as the doe feeding 15 yards away, started to move toward the big buck who had parked himself behind a giant red oak tree 25 yards away.

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘Lord please, let this buck stay here long enough for me to get a shot opportunity,” he explained.

Listen to “B.T. Roberts — Boone County buck” on Spreaker.

The Lord obliged. With bow finally in hand, the buck left the oak tree and came straight toward Roberts.

“He did a little j-hook and gave me a quartering away shot at 12 yards on the buck of a lifetime,” he said.

B.T let the arrow fly and it hit the mark. The giant beast took off, but didn’t go all that far and Roberts heard him crash less than 100 yards away. Still shaking Roberts got on the phone and made calls to everybody he knew, starting with his dad who was well aware of the buck Roberts was after.

Roberts eventually left the tree after a period of time passed. Instead of going to where he heard the deer, he started from the point of the shot, found his arrow, and tracked the blood trail over the hill near a laurel thicket. When Roberts spotted the deer, he was speechless.

“When I got to him, the deer grew. There was no ‘ground shrinkage’ and the trail camera didn’t do it justice. It the kind of deer every hunter dreams of,” he added.

Since killing the deer Roberts checked through his pictures an found he had a picture of the buck in 2021. Hunters on a neighboring lease had pictures of the buck every years cine 2020. He even had some guys who had pictures of him several miles away.

Remember that trip to Lexington and Louisville with his wife and her parents? Roberts was convinced taking that trip made a difference.

“After it was all said and done, I think the Lord blessed me with that deer because I did put my family first that day,” he said.

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Delegate John Hott of Grant County sponsored the bill, hoping to create a system which would insure the average size of West Virginia bucks grew larger. Delegate David Foggin of Wood County supported the idea and believed it was the right move because of what he’s seen on his own land.

“In the late 90’s you were happy if you shot a 13-inch eight-point, that was a huge buck. Now in the past few years we’ve shot 150, 164, and 153 inch deer, which if you don’t know is a pretty big deer for West Virginia, just by having a one buck limit,” he said during the committee meeting.

Raleigh County Delegate Eric Brooks agreed and said he also favored the bill.

“I can appreciate, I’ve been told and we know this to be true in every state that it’s in, if you let some of these smaller bucks walk, you’ll get bigger bucks,” Brooks offered.

Hott’s bill would have allowed hunters to kill whatever size buck they wanted for their first buck. But it would have required a hunter’s second buck to have at least three scoreable points on one side of its rack. Supporters said to allow bucks to make it to an older age would produce more trophy size deer in the Mountain State.

Delegate Wayne Clark from Jefferson County opposed the measure for several reasons, but one of them was the the fear it would price West Virginia hunters out of land access if they don’t own their own hunting property.

“By putting these regulations on, we could start to see scenarios where we get into a pay-to-play process. Taditionally in the state of West Virginia, the right to hunt on land is bid at $3 or $4 dollars an acre. You could see potentially that going up to $20 an acre,” said Clark.

Foggin acknowledged Clark’s point, but didn’t see the problem.

“This isn’t a bill for me, this is a bill for other people. This is a bill of other hunters that don’t have the luxury I have. Maybe people would want to start hunting West Virginia more, lease values might go up, and tourism might go up if we have bigger bucks in the state,” Foggin said.

For Monongalia County Delegate David McCormick the bill’s intent wasn’t as big an issue as the precedent it would set by enabling game management to be handled by the Legislature instead of DNR biologists and independently appointed members of the Natural Resources Commission.

“I understand what the bill is trying to do. I’m a deer hunter. However in general, I just feel like we shouldn’t legislate essentially a rule. I think this should be up to the DNR and the biologists to make policy like this, ” said McCormick.

Foggin brislted at the notion.

“The biggest arguement against this before was that the Commission should be making the rules. I’m going to tell you right now, I was elected to come here and represent the people in my area and that’s what I’m going to do,” Foggin said. “Experience is the best teacher. I don’t care if you’re a farmer or a hunter or a biologist. I’ve watched deer for 40 years very closely. I know how to manage deer just as well as a biologist.”

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House Bill 4504 would require a second buck taken by a hunter in West Virginia to have at least three scoreable points on one side before it would be legal. The legislation was introduced by Delegate John Hott of Grant County.
“Many other states have put forth horn restrictions with one intention and one intention only, to increase the size of the antlered deer,” said Hott when he presented the bill to members of the committee on Friday.

“There has been a lot of success. Pennsylvania could certainly show success. I’m not so I’d ever want to be quite as strict as Ohio, but if you absolutely want the best opportunity for the money you spend you to go Ohio because you can harvest one antlered deer and you’re done, so people aren’t so quick to harvest an antlered deer,” Hott added.

Currently West Virginia’s only restriction on antlers is they must be at least three inches above the hairline to be considered a legal buck during the buck hunting season. The Natural Resources Commission in recent years adopted new regulations which reduced the bag limit for antlered deer in the state from three to two per year.

Members of the committee offered no questions to Hott about the bill and it advanced to the markup and passage stage.

The committee also took up House Bill 4424 which would enable a landowner to pay hunters of their choice to kill deer on their property with crop damage permits. The bill however limited the hunt to archery only. DNR Law Enforcement Lt. Colonel Dave Trader fielded questions of the committee about the measure.

Trader stated there are two ways to handle crop damage hunting presently. First a landowner can name the people they want to hunt on the permit once it is approved and they can hunt with a bow or firearm. Those people however cannot be paid or be compelled in any way to kill deer.

Secondly a landowner could hire a licensed professional hunter to eradicate the animals. Those individuals can be paid. Trader told lawmakers there are 31 such individuals across the state of West Virginia.

The law blocking payment for shooting deer was created many years ago as part of the North American Wildlife Model when commercial hunting nearly eradicated many natural resources in West Virginia and elsewhere.

The bill failed to advance.

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) today announced that hunters harvested 2,469 black bears during the combined 2025 archery and firearms seasons.

The preliminary harvest for the combined 2025 seasons mirrors that of the 2024 seasons, coming in 10 bears short of last year’s total of 2,479 harvests. As predicted in the 2025 Mast Survey and Hunting Outlook, hunters harvest fewer bears during the archery and crossbow season and more bears during the firearms season.

Click here to download 2025 black bear harvest numbers.

During the first segment of the 2025 archery and crossbow seasons (Sept. 27 to Nov. 23), hunters harvested 543 bears. Of these harvests, 252 were taken with vertical bows, and 291 were taken with crossbows. The top five counties for archery/crossbow harvests were Fayette (47), Raleigh (35), Greenbrier (29), Logan (28) and Boone (27).

During the firearms season, hunters harvested 1,925 bears, a 22 percent increase over last year’s harvest of 1,580 bears. This included 506 bears taken during the September and October seasons, 152 bears during the September youth, Class Q, XS season, five bears during the October youth, Class Q, XS season, 33 bears during the concurrent antlerless deer/bear season and 316 during the three early firearms seasons.

Additionally, hunters harvested 290 bears during the concurrent buck-gun bear season and 1,129 bears during the traditional December season. One bear was harvested with a muzzleloader during the Mountaineer Heritage Season. The top five counties for firearms harvests were Boone (169), Kanawha (136), Randolph (124), Webster (122), and Pocahontas (102).

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“I laid eyes on him a couple of times during bow season. I had him at 25 yards on my food plot, but there were a bunch of turkeys and he wouldn’t come in. That’s as close as he got. He always skirted me the other times he came in. He just always knew something was up,” said George.

Listen to “Jimmy George — Kanawha County buck” on Spreaker.

The 2024 season came to an end and the big buck survived. George found one side of his sheds and in 2024 he was a nine point. So when the 2025 season arrived, he became Jimmy’s obsession.

“I finally figured out this year where he was bedding. I had an idea last year, but I figured it out and that’s how I got him. He always showed up in October for the last two years on my food plot. Then by November he’d be back near a stand on top of a ridge and I’d never get another picture of him on the food plot,” he explained.

Figuring out the buck’s pattern was puzzling. Even the rut didn’t seem to change the deer’s set trends. In every picture, he was solitary with no other deer around. He eluded Jimmy and every other hunter for a third season, or so it seemed.

On the final weekend of rifle season, Jimmy was on call at work and was able to get the Sunday to rifle hunt from his shooting house and was going to bow hunt on Monday. He drove to his camp to put fuel for his heater in the shooing house in anticipation of a long sit. Understanding where the buck was bedding, he took an alternative route into the food plot on an old gas road.

“I started walking and got to the first gas well and there were two does standing there. I got within probably 60 yards and I never saw him and he was standing right between them. The does trotted up the hill a little bit and he turned his head and I said, ‘That’s him!!!’ and I started panicking,” Jimmy explained.

The buck slowly rolled over the point, not spooked or panicked, but definitely out of sight. Jimmy started to slowly slip through the woods around the point. He was soon face to face with the buck he’d been watching for two years with no luck. It was the same buck for which he had passed up another 140-inch buck on his food plot several times during the season. The snow and wet leaves made the sneak much easier and although it only took a couple of minutes, to Jimmy laughed it seemed like forever. The shot was lethal, but almost anti-climatic given the circumstances.

“He was probably 50 or 60 yards and he was just eyeballing those does. He would not take his eyes off them. The does saw me, but he never really looked at me, he just knew something was up with those does,” said George.

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“I’ve been getting calls and people have asked what are we going to do about the snow. Hey, the doors will be open,” said Trophy Hunters spokesman Glen Jarrell.

All exhibit booths for the event are sold out. The show features an array of different offerings for outdoor enthusiasts. There will be chances to shop for gear or apparel. There will be taxidermists, knife makers, gun smiths, archery equipment, baits, tied flies, and rod builders. As usual there will be hunting and fishing outfitters from around the world where you can book a hunting or fishing adventure.

“We have over 150 exhibitors there. We have outfitters from all over the United States if you wanted to book an elk hunt out in Colorado or up in Canada if you wanted to book a moose hunt, they’ll be there,” said Jarrell. “We have seven outfitters from South Africa if you want to do a safari. Come down and talk to those guys and book a trip or at least get the information.”

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources will have a large presence at the show with biologists and law enforcement officers on hand to speak to the public about any issue you may want to discuss. There will also be a Youth Challenge in which children can shoot a bow, participate in the DNR’s shoot-don’t shoot video game, cast for prizes, and other activities. The DNR will have certified staff members to score antlers for anybody wanting to learn how your buck’s rack sizes up against others. Some of the biggest bucks ever killed in West Virginia are on display in the West Virginia Whitetail Hall of Fame.

Jarrell noted there will be one very special rack there for hunters to check out this year.

“We’re very blessed to have at the show this year the largest whitetail antlers ever found and ever scored. It was found in 1959 in Nebraska and we’re fortunate enough to have it at the show this year. It scored 218 points,” he said.

As usual, a number of the trips, services, and firearms will be for sale at the charity auction Saturday night. The state will be busy with a variety of seminars and presentations. West Virginia Outdoors will originate from the DNR Stage in the center of the show floor with one show on Friday and another on Saturday.

Hours are noon to 9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $12 and those age 12 and under get in free. All proceeds from the event, once expenses are paid, are given in grants to programs which advance conservation or youth outdoor education. Over the 38-years of the event, the Trophy Hunters Association has donated more than a Million dollars to various outdoor related and conservation minded organizations.

“We will be there rain, snow, sleet, whatever. The doors are going to be open, come on down, get out of the weather, and enjoy the show,” Jarrell said.

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However, the makeup of the current commission is well past due for some administrative maintenance.

As of today, four of the sitting commissioners’ terms have expired and a fifth position is vacant. Commissioner Greg Burnette’s term expired in June of 2024. Commissioners Tennis Cook, Jerod Harman, and Dave Milne saw their terms expire in June of last year. Former Commissioner Tom Dotson resigned his seat in 2025 leaving the vacancy. Only two commissioners, Jeff Bowers and Janet Hamric Hodge are still in their set terms.

West Virginia state code allows for any commissioner whose term has expired to continue serving until the Governor appoints a replacement or reappoints them to the position for a new term.

The law regarding the Commission was revamped during the 2021 Regular Legislative session and changed many of the longtime rules for the body. Under the present law there must be a Commissioner who lives within one of the DNR’s six districts. A seventh commissioner is the “at large” member. A commissioner’s term is now only four years and they can only serve two consecutive terms. The law also calls for the DNR Director to make the recommendation to the Governor on potential appointees.

When contacted by MetroNews, the Governor’s office issued this statement.

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The common thread of those sites was all had outdoor content and pictures of outdoor pursuits like hunting or fishing.

“Your recommendations are suspended. Your page is not eligible to be be suggested to new people right now,” read the alert at the page of Longspur Tracking and Outfitting.

Owner Shon Butler said it was out of nowhere and a lot of people he knew were affected.

Walt Allen’s site for BBD Recovery was hit as well with the notification.

“They sent me a notification that said they were no longer recommending my page to any new followers or people. I follow Hunter Nation, a Ted Nugent Page. He posted about skinning deer in school. I shared that post and it showed a deer being skinned. That’s the reason they suspended my page,” said Allen.

“They said that it was gory content, I guess, but it didn’t show guts or blood. It showed kids skinning a deer in a classroom. I thought it was an excellent post, that’s what we need to be posting. It said all I had to do is delete the post and they would start recommending me. I deleted it yesterday and they started recommending it again,” Allen added.

Chad See of Mountain Critters Taxidermy got the same kind of notification, but he hasn’t posted anything of late.

“I haven’t even posted any taxidermy pics in forever because I’ve been sick. The last taxidermy I posted was replica fish,” he explained.

See said he didn’t remove anything, but when he logged into his business account Monday, the notification was gone.

Although there has been no word from Meta about any change in their policy or a restriction regarding the posting of hunting and fishing related content, some national organizations suspect Facebook has installed a new A-I bot to police content and it triggered numerous warnings and temporary halts on sharing.

“A lot of Outdoor pages like ours has gotten flagged, suspended, or not being recommended to anybody for NO REASON! Yall we are still here! I’ve seen my page TANK in the last 3 days!! All we can do it help one another! Share, comment, and follow these kind of pages! We need to help each other right now!!” was a post on Michigan Boneheads Outdoors Facebook page.

Another, post from Tails on Trails Deer Tracking seemed to also blame it on A-I from Meta.

“Folks, Facebook AI review bots are out in force. They have decided me sharing posts by Brian Johnson, The Anatomy Hunter, somehow does not follow their rules and they are restricting recommending my page to others. I have deleted the posts hoping they will remove their restrictions, but I strongly encourage everyone to follow Brian and the Anatomy Hunter. Brian’s work is the best in the industry and my only trusted source for anatomy. Please give him a follow!” read the post.

There has been nothing noted publicly by Facebook personnel or anyone from Meta.

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Jamie Suckow and her husband moved into their new home in Braxton County in October 2024. Both enjoy deer hunting and decided to put out cameras see that the new land would hold.

“We put up a camera late last year just because we saw some does and were were curious. We had a couple of smaller bucks coming in and we only had him on camera in a blizzard like once or twice, I said, ‘He’s cool I hope he sticks around.'” said Jamie in an interview for West Virginia Outdoors in October 2025.

They left the cameras up all year and were able to see the big buck reappear with a new rack and literally watched his development for a full year.

“This year he started to show up more and more and we got to watch him grow into himself,” she said.

The interesting thing was, Jamie and her husband only own two acres of ground and that includes the plot their house sits on. But every buck needs somewhere to live and Jamie figured this beast had picked their back lot to call home.

“My husband’s family is all from Braxton County and they literally live the next road over. They all live here and they have a lot of property they can hunt, but this year was the first year we decided to hunt our property,” she said.

Jamie said because it was limited space, she wanted to be selective.

Listen to “Jamie Suckow — Braxton County buck” on Spreaker.

“We had a younger buck that was pretty good, but I thought since we live here I don’t want to just shoot whatever comes in. I’d like to see them get bigger if we can. Then this big guy rolled in and it all worked out for the better,” she said.

When the hunting season opened in October, Jamie made up her mind this would be her target buck. A year earlier, she was pregnant, but continued to hunt. This year she and her husband had a baby girl and would have to split up the childcare duties while the other was hunting. The day the big buck showed up, happened to be Jamie’s evening in the stand.

“He hung out for a minute and he was being a little sketchy, like he may have known I was there,” she said.

Jamie worried with a buck that size and such a small plot of ground, the chances of a neighbor taking him were better than average. So she was thrilled to get him within bow range during the daylight hours from her stand.

“I’m sure he was on a lot of people’s trail cams,” she laughed.

But, as luck would have it the big buck presented himself during the second week of the archery season. Jamie let fly the arrow true.

“He kept turning and his head was toward me the entire time. He would turn and I would get ready and he would turn again. He walked away for a minute and I thought I lost my chance. He came back around and angled just a little bit away from me and I took the shot because I didn’t think I would get another one. It was a dead-on shot,” she explained.

The buck didn’t last long. He went down only a few yard from where she had killed him and he stopped running at the base of a ridge, unable to run up the hill. She and her husband were able to recover the big buck within a half hour.

Jamie was able to accomplish a remarkable feat. She had been able to harvest and recover a trophy buck without leaving a two acre plot of ground in Braxton County. Proving you don’t necessarily need a giant spread to be in the right spot at the right time.

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The season allows hunters to use only primitive implements. Sidelock or flintlock muzzleloading rifles or pistols are the only firearms allowed. In-line muzzleloaders are not legal for the Heritage Season nor are scopes. Archery enthusiasts are allowed only long bows or recurve bows. You’re compound bow will have to hang on its hook for this time.

“It’s a special season and it’s kind of an all encompassing big game season,” said Vinnie Johnson, Biologist with the West Virginia DNR.

The season enables hunters to kill a deer, bear, or turkey provided they hunt with one of those primitive firearms or bows. The season started several years ago and has become a big hit with sportsmen for a variety of reasons. For some it cuts the monotony of cabin fever and gives them a chance to get back into the woods well after hunting season. The season also enables hunters to go after big game with snow on the ground which doesn’t always happen during the regular fall seasons.

The snowfall could potentially make killing a bear less likely, but not always.

“It really depends on where you’re at,” Johnson explained in a recent edition of West Virginia Outdoors. “Some of our areas that are heavy bear country, there’s still a good opportunity you’re going to see a bear.”

The bumper crops of mast across the West Virginia landscape this year will also keep bears out of hibernation longer. The sunshine and warm weather forecasted into the weekend may also be a plus for keeping bears active and moving in the upcoming season.

“If there’s food on the landscape, they’re gong to be out moving around. They go into their dens when there’s no food left and they need to reserve for the remainder of the winter season,” he added.

Killing a big buck may be tricky. Some have already started to drop antlers. The season allows for either sex, but for those who have already killed two bucks from this past fall’s hunting seasons, you cannot kill another buck. If a hunter shoots an antlerless buck, which turns out to be a buck that already dropped antlers, hunters can check that as an antlerless deer.

Turkeys are also legal. Unlike deer, turkeys and bears, do not count against the bag limit from last year. However, hunters to need to have their 2026 hunting license. Although a lot of the purists like to not only hunt with an old time rifle, they also like to dress the part and will go into the woods wearing buckskins. Primitive garb or not, modern safety is still the rule and since it’s a firearms season for deer, you’ll need to wear blaze orange.

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“It was kind of out of the blue and I said, ‘Well heck I’ll throw up a cell camera on anything.’ Then low and behold the first four pictures I got were the buck I ended up killing,” said Reymond in an episode of West Virginia Outdoors.

The discovery was made early in the archery season just as bucks were starting to chase does. The situation intrigued Reymond who made plans to hunt the area after those pictures and some brief scouting. But, it would be a hunt which started out with a mistake, which turned out to be no mistake at all.

“I had an idea of the tree I wanted to be in with my climber, so I got in there before daylight, but I got confused. I set my climber up in a tree, but it turned out I was way closer to a set of rubs than I wanted to be down wind of. The tree I wound up getting in, I could only get about 13 or 14 feet up before limbs were overhanging and you wouldn’t have shooting lanes,” he said.

Listen to “Brady Reymond — Mason County buck” on Spreaker.

But it turned out not to matter at all. Not long into the first sit, along came the buck Reymond had spotted on camera. But he wasn’t alone.

“He was actually with a larger buck and they were pushing a doe. They were ping-ponging her back and forth in this bottom. I couldn’t get a shot at him when I first saw him. SoI waited until they were out of sight for about five minutes and I gave three grunt call and he came back in full speed. I was really surprised,” he explained.

Reymond said the buck didn’t want to stop and he practically had to yell at the animal to halt his advance and stand for the shot. He let the arrow fly and had some trepidation about the mark he hit. An inspection of the area where the buck stood revealed a considerable loss of blood and likely a lethal and quick wound. The buck went 80 yards before falling over dead. Reymond recovered him in just a few hours.

But what about the bigger buck? Did Reymond have any desire to change his target mid-stream after the discovery?

“I’m more of a bird in-the-hand kind of guy,” he laughed. “Either buck would have been my best buck to date. The other buck being down in there I actually never got a picture. So the first buck that came running up through there was going to be the one I shot since they were both in the Pope and Young class,” he explained.

With his big buck down, now the tougher task, trying to lock down a price on that lease with his buddy.

“I’m sure the price just went way up,” Reymond laughed.

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According to information released Tuesday by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Greenbrier County was the top county in the state for bucks in 2025 with 1,730 killed during the gun season. Second was Preston County with 1,349, Randolph County 1,198, Hardy County 1,165 and Pendleton at 1,135. The rest of the top ten counties in order were Pocahontas, Monroe, Grant, Fayette, and Hampshire Counties.’

Click here to see county-by-county buck firearms season harvests for the last five seasons.

As predicted by the DNR prior to the season, the total harvest was 18.5 percent below 2024. All of the DNR’s districts registered a decrease in harvest, with the exception of District 4 which experienced a 7.5 percent increase compared to last year. The DNR predicted the lower harvest because of a major abundance of mast in the state. The conditions were such that deer didn’t have to travel far to find adequate food and therefore were not as exposed to hunters.

The agency acknowledged several counties along the Ohio River and central West Virginia experienced an outbreak of hemorrhagic disease in the early fall which also impacted hunter success especially in western counties of the state.

Several deer hunting opportunities remain for 2025. The state’s archery and crossbow season runs through Dec. 31, the traditional Class N/NN antlerless deer season will be open in select areas on public and private land Dec. 11-14 and Dec. 28-31, the muzzleloader deer season will be open Dec. 15-21 and the youth, Class Q and Class XS season for antlerless deer will be open Dec. 26-27 in any county with a firearms deer season.

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) today announced that hunters harvested 537 wild turkeys during the 2025 fall season.

The fall harvest is 52.5 percent below last year’s harvest of 1,130 birds, 38.1 percent below the five-year average (868) and 49.9 percent below the ten-year average (1,072). All counties were below their five-year average with the exception of Pendleton, Logan and Wayne.

Click here to see county-by-county fall turkey harvests for the last five seasons.

The fall turkey harvest is influenced by hunter participation but also depends on the current year’s brood production and mast conditions. This year’s decreased harvest was likely caused by rainy conditions in the spring and early summer, which contributed to a decrease in the poult survival rate and an increase in hard mast production.

During this year’s brood survey, WVDNR staff observed an increase in the number of broods (189), which is 12.5 percent above the five-year average. However, the poult-per-hen ratio, an index for tracking reproductive success, was the lowest it has been in the five years (1.78 pph). Additionally, this year’s mast survey revealed that hard mast production was abundant across the state, which often results in decreased harvests due to the difficulty of tracking and targeting game species spread out over a landscape.

According to preliminary hunting data from the WVDNR’s electronic licensing and game checking system, hunters in District 3 harvested the most birds (111) followed by District 4 (105), District 2 (100), District 5 (95), District 1 (76) and District 6 (50). Counties with the most harvests include Mason (27), Monroe (26), Nicholas and Pendleton (23 each) and Pocahontas and Upshur (22 each). All of these counties, with the exception of Mason and Upshur, had a four-week season.

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“He was one of the few deer I had pictures of over the summer. He wasn’t my number one deer, but due to some other circumstances I wound up chasing him on that evening. Through some scouting during the wintertime and running trail cameras through the summer I was able figure out some bedding on that deer. It just so happened he and his buddy came out of those beds on the night I was there,” explained Grove in a recent interview for West Virginia Outdoors.

Listen to “Chad Grove — Berkeley County Buck” on Spreaker.

The bedding areas were in a rather remote location. Grove entered the area from the top of the ridge and on this particular night dropped off the top of the mountain a couple hundred yards and positioned his stand to where he could overlook the bedding area. Around 6 p.m. the action began as the massive buck he was after appeared and started to make his way up the mountain in his direction.

“I can honestly say it’s one of the most textbook things I’ve ever had happen in the mountains was seeing those deer some up out of those beds and come straight toward me. All those days of scouting in the winter and running cameras in the summer paid off for sure,” he explained.

It may have been textbook, but there is always a twist or two. This hunt was no different. The “buddy” Grove referenced was a six point buck who was with the big one and the smaller buck was the lead deer coming up the hill.

“He got behind me where my wind was blowing and kind of busted me. This deer was in front of me about 10 yards but he stopped behind this giant oak tree. I’m at full draw at 10 yards and can’t get a shot,” Grove laughed.

Grove explained he knew the lead deer was going to bolt and very likely alert the big one behind him. That’s how it happened, but as luck would have it, the bigger buck came from out of cover and was stationery just long enough for the arrow to fly.

“I did rush the shot a little bit and didn’t make the best shot, but I did end up putting him down rather quickly and I was happy of that,” he said.

The buck didn’t go far and was quickly done and the recovery wasn’t an issue.

According to Grove, the biggest issue on public land is being conscious of the wind.

“A lot of times you try to get your shot to where if something like that happens, you’ll still get the shot. These public land deer aren’t dumb, they know what’s up when they smell you and once they bust you, they’re gone,” said Grove

Scouting is the key and timing makes all the difference. Grove always tries to get his hunting done ahead of rifle season. When gun season opens, things change dramatically.

“Pressure definitely comes during rifle season so over the last few years I killed a big one in 2020 and killed a big one last year up there. Hunting them early in the season when the pressure is low they’re not expecting certain things to happen. If you can get in there and find where they’re at, it makes it a lot easier to get on them for sure,” Grove added.

The post Martinsburg hunter finds the combination for big bucks at Sleepy Creek WMA appeared first on WV MetroNews.

“I don’t have any trail cameras, no tree stand, no blind. I just like hunting on the ground. I find it to be a little more fun to move around and find a good spot. That’s just the way I’ve always done it,” he explained in a recent conversation for West Virginia Outdoors.

Listen to “Hunter Ooten — Mingo County buck” on Spreaker.

Ooten hunts the steep, rugged hills of Mingo County with his dad. As much as he enjoys hunting, he admitted it’s getting to be in the woods with his dad that is the real draw.

“I like going with Dad and it gives me something to do with him. We rabbit hunt together a lot. When we’re deer hunting, he likes to rattle and carry on too,” laughed Ooten.

His dad Roger Ooten should get an assist for the massive buck Hunter killed during the peak of rutting activity in 2025. Since he doesn’t have trail cameras or feeders, Hunter uses scouting as the one technique of knowing where to be. On this day, he and his dad felt confident they has scoped out the right spot.

“I went to a place where I knew there was deer. There were a lot of does and during the rut where there are does, the bucks will be there too. I also had found some monster rubs there and I knew I needed to go back there the next day,” he explained. “They were fresh and that’s how I knew he had been in there recently. I’ve seen rubs before, but I had never seen anything that ferocious. That really got me excited.”

As Hunter and Roger ascended the ridge to get to the rubs, it was Roger who insisted they needed to keep climbing.

“He kept saying, let’s go up one more flat, one more flat, one more flat,” said Hunter. “All of a sudden I heard a little grunt behind us and next thing you know he (the buck)was slowly coming up at us flat by flat.”

Hunter explained he and his dad had scent trailers attached to their boots and the buck had evidently crossed their path and keyed in on the smell. He was coming straight toward them. Once they were set up and ready, Roger fired up his antler rattles and the buck came in with a vengeance.

“He came a lot quicker when he heard that sound and he got to about 35 yards on the bench below me and lined up for a pretty good shot,” said Hunter.

Recovery was the next order of business and it wasn’t a slam dunk.

“He took off and it started to rain and I thought man, we’ve got to get on this blood. I found where he bedded down twice, but the rain kept washing away the blood. I finally pulled out and left and came back the next day to about where I thought he had died. My dad and uncle found him a little further down the hollow,” he said.

Although it’s a record book buck, for Hunter, it’s a record book hunt because it’s one more memory shared with dear ole Dad.

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“Last year I had probably five or six run-in’s with him and multiple trail cam pics. He came through trailing a doe last year and I couldn’t get a shot. There were probably four or five times he came in right at daylight when I was getting into my blind and I couldn’t get him,” said Blankenship in an interview for West Virginia Outdoors.

Listen to “Hayden Blankenship — Wyoming County buck” on Spreaker.

As disappointing as it was to see the big buck elude him last year, Hayden remarked he’s glad it did because this year’s version of the buck’s antlers were something to behold.

“He absolutely blew up and probably put on another 15 to 20 inches of horn,” he explained.

Once situated in his blind for the first sit of the year Hayden had no idea it would be the last one for his archery hunting in Wyoming County and things would happen quickly. By 8:30 a.m. a group of does had moved in and were feeding all around him. According to Hayden, the does were slowly filtering down the mountain when he heard something in the distance and the big buck he was after appeared on the ridgetop.

“He had daylighted about four times that week and there he was coming straight at me,” said Hayden.

Like most of West Virginia this fall, the acorns were thick in the hollow where Hayden had selected his setup. Although he had a feeder near his blind, the big buck ignored the hand-out offering and went straight into the acorns only feet away from the blind.

“He was so close I could hear him sniffing,” laughed Hayden.

His buck was about five yards away and while that was certainly a thrill, it also presented a difficult challenge. No matter how quiet he was, it was going to be hard to come to full draw without making the slightest creak of the bow limb or a slip of hunting clothing rubbing together. A wily deer with that kind of a rack isn’t likely to stick around to investigate the sudden, odd noises.

“I knew the feeder was going to go off at 8:30, so I just waited for it. When it went off he went straight to it,” he said.

The move put the deer at 22-yards and gave Hayden the perfect opportunity to draw and make a perfect shot on the buck’s vitals.

“He went 75 yards straight downhill and most of that he was stumbling. I honestly was afraid I had gotten more of his shoulder so I gave him some time, but I think now he probably died pretty quickly,” he explained.

So the season lasted all fo about two to three hours for him in Wyoming County.

“I got an extra tag so maybe I’ll try to get a doe, or maybe I’ll try and go get a second buck in another county,” he laughed.

Although he had killed bucks before in the 120-inch range, Hayden said it was by far the biggest one he had ever killed and would be his first entry into the Pope and Young record books once officially scored.

The post Big buck down on opening day appeared first on WV MetroNews.

Coal mines shut down, factories idle, schools are closed, and for those businesses which choose to remain open may be short handed when workers take vacation, call in sick, or just play hooky for at least the first few days of this week. Those individuals will be clad in orange, steam coming from their breath, and making their way into a stand they have hunted for years. Many started hunting that spot with their dad or grandad. Other hunters will spend hours scouting woodlands and months trying to pattern the movement of a certain buck with the use of trail cameras to know exactly where they should be to start the week in hopes of taking a big buck.

This year there are a couple of factors hunters will be considering. The first consideration is mast. The 2025 Mast Survey published by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources found the production of hard mast, acorns in particular, was at a near all-time high. Production was well above the season averages in the past decade. White oak acorns are the most sought by whitetail deer. They’ll walk past all other food sources to munch on white oak. This year, they won’t have to walk far and because of that Steve Rauch, Assistant Chief for Game at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources believes the harvest will be lower for 2025.

“We are anticipating lower harvest this year compared to last year and the biggest impact on that is the acorn production. The deer are more spread out this year because of all the acorns. That will impact harvest numbers,” said Rauch in a recent edition of West Virginia Outdoors.

The other factor some folks will consider is a sizeable outbreak of Epizootic hemorrhagic disease, commonly called EHD. The virus, which is spread by a small biting midge, started in the early days of September and late August and began to take down deer throughout West Virginia’s mid-Ohio valley and central counties. Hundreds of deer died from the disease which finally ended with a killing frost. Rauch said the mortality will likely have a negative impact on the harvest.

“Where we did have the EHD in the heavier counties, that will have some impact. A lot of that probably is due to hunters saying I’m not going to hunt there,” said Rauch.

Rauch anticipated a lot of hunters who have been tuned into the non-stop internet and social media discussions about HD, not all of which were completely accurate, will made the conscious decision to not hunt fearing there is less of an opportunity in those counties. He expected however, the population would rebound quickly. Across the river in Ohio, the ODNR went through the cumbersome process of actually lowering their bag limits for the hunting season in the middle of the fall. West Virginia’s DNR leadership did not believe that was necessary.

“Deer numbers are healthy and they’ll bounce back very quickly as deer populations do. So there really isn’t a reason to change season bag limits because of other circumstances,” Rauch said.

Brett Skelley is the Deer Project Leader for the West Virginia DNR. He agreed EHD certainly looked bad and presented a setback, but also did not think it reached calamity status.

“We had a pretty good HD outbreak this year. That doesn’t mean all the deer are dead in those areas, but certainly local areas are going to have fewer deer on the landscape than people have traditionally seen.” said Skelley.

He also expected across the state, hunters would probably find better success in hunting wood lots instead of an over watch on an open field.

“It’s going to be a little tough this year. As long as they’ve gotten some scouting done and have an idea where some food is, if they sit there long enough they ought to have something come cruising through, especially hunting those pinch points, low gaps, or other terrain features that might funnel deer. Hunting the food and hunting those areas will probably pay off,” Skelley said.

The season runs through December 7th. As always a number of West Virginia counties also feature a concurrent antlerless hunting season in which hunters who have the proper Class N stamp can kill either a buck or a doe. Traditionally, 80 percent of the bucks killed in the two week season are taken in the first three days.

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“It was exactly what I wanted and we went through the process and once I paid for it, I put up a couple of cameras,” he explained.

Listen to “Donny Baisden — Lincoln County buck” on Spreaker.

Although Baisden had walked most of the property with the landowner to evaluate it, he hadn’t truly scouted the land. When he got his first pictures, he was floored. He captured a picture of a massive buck passing through. Baisden added more cameras to see if he could narrow down his lair and his pattern. The former landowner was unaware, and Baisden was keeping his newfound discovery close to the vest.

“He hadn’t walked on the property in years. In fact, it was so grown up it was hard to walk on the property at all,” he explained.

He put up cameras in three areas and found the buck on all three, but he needed to narrow down where he believed this mature and cagy creature was spending most of his time.

“I found 15 to 20 white oaks and deer sign everywhere, so I thought he’s probably in here. I put up a camera and sure enough he showed up. That’s where I said if I was going to harvest him, I was probably going to do it down here. He stared frequenting at night, but then I noticed every time it would rain, he’d show up in the daylight,” Baisden explained.

Baisden had another problem, Lincoln County is a rifle county and chances are pretty good when rifle season opened, somebody would tag him.

“I said I’m going to hunt him as much as I can before rifle season. Then I saw where the forecast called for rain and I said I’ve got to be in there,” he explained.

Baisden was in his stand in the pouring rain, but was starting to second guess his strategy. He checked cameras in two other places, but because of the weather wasn’t getting any signal. So he made a daring move that later he decided was a tactical error. He got out of his stand to walk up the hill to get enough signal to determine if the buck had been at one of the other two locations. It turned out he had not, now Donny had another problem.

“There was four does there and I couldn’t get back into my stand, so I just sat down in the weeds on the ground,” he said.

Donny waited out the last doe, and around 6:00 p.m. rose to climb back into his stand, but his leg had fallen asleep from sitting in one position for so long. He leaned against an oak tree to try and work feeling back into his leg to make the climb when the unthinkable happened.

“I hadn’t stood there but maybe two or three minutes and I looked out and here he came walking toward me,” he explained. “He looked like an elk and I had nothing in between us. I was leaning to that tree and had my bow in front of me trying to stay hidden.”

The buck just kept coming and never had a clue Donny was around. He walked right to the spot where Donny needed him for a shot. He came to full draw, released the arrow and watched it sail under the deer’s belly.

“I missed him. The buck jumped probably 15 yards, but because it’s raining he didn’t know what had happened, so he started coming back. If it had been quiet I would have never got him. He put his head down and there’s an opening where his vitals are and I knew I could put an arrow in there,” said Donny.

He released the second arrow and shot under the buck for a second time.

“Now I knew something was wrong with my bow,” he said.

The buck was starting to catch on that he was in a precarious spot and started to nervously walk up the hill.

“I said I’ve got to compensate, I drew back again and put my site pin on top of his back because I knew I was shooting six to eight inches low. So when I released the third arrow, I heard it thump him. I was relieved,” laughed Donny.

He said buddies told him he should have omitted the two missed shots from his story, but they happened. However, Baisden’s story wasn’t over yet. He headed back to his side-by-side in hopes there would be a light because daylight was fading and he didn’t have one with him. Fortunately he found one in the glove box of this machine because a return trip to camp and back would have taken over an hour. Light rainfall could potentially wash away all evidence if he waited for very long. Turns out it wasn’t a concern at all.

“There was so much blood in a four-by-four area, I said there’s no way he was going far. He went up the hill about 10 yards and stopped, then went up another 15 yards to a road and walked about 25 yards out that road and expired. From the time I found where I shot him to the time I found him was about two minutes,” he said.

Baisden was feeling fortunate, not only to have managed to kill the buck amid a series of bad decisions and worse luck, but buying that piece of property was also not a bad investment. Oh, and to complete the story, the rest for his arrow, often called the “whisker biscuit” was loose on his bow.

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“I had to outdo the men. They were all after him, so I had to show them up,” laughed Reva.

Listen to “Reva Davis — Raleigh County buck” on Spreaker.

Reva had been watching the buck, which she had been nicknamed “Crabs”, since 2020.

“I’ve been scouting him for five years. The first time I saw him, I was hunting and he had some messed up horns. He was like a four point with a couple of crab pinchers. It’s been amazing to see him grow and how big he has got,” she explained in a recent edition of West Virginia Outdoors.

“Crabs” had faithfully been showing up every year on the trail camera and Reva felt certain if she didn’t get him this year, there may not be a sixth year since so many other people had started to notice him.

“I had my son drop me off at 15 minutes until 5 in the morning and it was raining,” she explained. “I had to be patient. I even had to let a 10 pointer go just to get him.”

She admitted the 10 pointer may have been a tad larger, but she was more interested in the buck she had been watching for the past five years.

“It stopped raining and I saw him come in, but I had to wait on him,”

Eventually the buck moved into the zone she was looking for and she touched the release. The buck took off, but knowing she had put a good hit on him, Reva was elated.

“Oh I was happy!” she laughed.

The buck ran about 30 yards and folded up. Reva said it was an outstanding buck for the area where she hunts.

“Oh yeah, he’s a nice one.” she said.

The post Raleigh County woman completes a five year quest for her buck appeared first on WV MetroNews.

Food banks across West Virginia are bracing for what they anticipate will be a huge influx of new customers in need of food to feed their families. Each year, the donated venison of West Virginia hunters becomes the largest red meat contribution of the year for the food banks and is a highly sought after product among those in need. Hunters can drop off their deer after it is checked-in at a participating meat processor where it’s butchered and the entire deer is ground and parsed in two-pound packages. The meat is picked up by the Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway or the Facing Hunger Food Bank in Huntington and distributed to multiple food pantries and soup kitchens all across West Virginia.

“They are the only certified members of Feeding America in West Virginia,” said Kim Linger who helps administer the program for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources in the French Creek offices.

The program fits a number of needs in West Virginia. Hunters may have tags left to fill, but may not want to kill another deer since they have enough for themselves and their family. The HHH program enables them to keep hunting with a proper place for the meat to do some good. The program also helps lower the number of deer on the landscape and work toward game management objectives, especially when a hunter donates a doe for the program.

According to West Virginia DNR data, since the program started in 1992, hunters in West Virginia have donated 29,850 deer to Hunters Helping the Hungry. Those deer have yielded 1,133,225 pounds of meat for food pantries and soup kitchens in West Virginia. They have also put 1,523,016 meals on the plates of the less fortunate in the Mountain State. As good as that sounds, this year the need will probably be exponentially greater with so many facing food insecurity with the federal government shutdown and SNAP benefits frozen.

The program doesn’t come free. The deer are donated, but the processors who cut them up must be reimbursed. The rate is $3 a pound. The DNR reports from 1992 to 2024, the cost of the processing was $1,737,737. By law hunting and fishing license dollars cannot be used for the processing costs and it must be funded through private donations. Through the years some strong annual fundraisers have come through.

The West Virginia Council of Churches designates the first Sunday in November, this Sunday, as Share the Harvest Sunday.

“This year, that’s November 2nd. Church congregations are asked to donate money to help fund the program because it relies on these donations to run it because state law prohibits us from using license fees for processing and distribution costs,” Linger explained.

The program seeks to get every person in a West Virginia church on Sunday morning to donate $1 to HHH in a special collection.

Another annual fundraiser which has had great success is the Governor’s One Shot. Glenn Adrian of Morgantown oversees the program which is held in conjunction with the first antlerless deer hunting season each fall.

“It’s a really cool event and we’ve been doing it for 19 years. It was started in 2006 with then Governor Joe Manchin and then DNR Director Frank Jezioro who got the idea after being invited to an antelope hunt in Wyoming which was also designed to help food banks and they decided to bring it back here,” Adrian explained.

The event creates two-member teams who are hosted by a generous landowner to serve as their guide and allow the team to hunt antlerless deer on their property. The deer which are killed are immediately donated to the Hunters Helping the Hungry program. Each team has a donor or sponsor backing them for the hunting trip and their monetary donation goes to Hunters Helping the Hungry.

“The event raises money to support the Hunters Helping the Hungry program through the Mountaineer Food bank and I’m very proud to announce we have now raised in excess of a Million dollars that has been given to the food bank in support of the processing of the Hunters Helping the Hungry program. We’re really proud of that,” said Adrian in a recent edition of West Virginia Outdoors.

This year there are 17 processors in West Virginia who will accept donated venison for the program. Under emergency restrictions, deer killed in a CWD county are now allowed to be donated to the program.

Although not a part of the Hunters Helping the Hungry program, the Morgantown Urban Hunt organization has made a significant contribution to fighting food insecurity in their part of the state. Hunters in the Morgantown Uban Hunt are required to pass an archery proficiency test and are assigned hunting areas. During only the first few weeks of the Morgantown Urban hunt in 2025, hunters have donated 776 pounds of ground venison which was delivered to food pantries in the Morgantown area for distribution. Over the course of the urban hunt’s 15-year existence, participants have donated more than 15,313 pounds of venison to those same pantries.

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“The way that I work all the time, it’s hard for me to pursue one specific deer. I just take what God sends my way,” laughed Cantrell during a conversation for West Virginia Outdoors.

The 52-year old Cantrell works on a surface mine and on opening day of the 2025 season got an opportunity to spend a few hours in the stand. He took advantage of it not knowing when he might get to be there again. He was hopeful because he, his wife, and son had been tracking two bucks on the trail camera near the stand. One of them was bigger than the other, but both would be what Cantrell considered a “target buck.”

“He’s been coming in morning and evening for the past two weeks. My son went up there early Saturday morning and had deer coming in and licking the salt off of the tree stand, but the big guy didn’t show up,” Cantrell explained.

“I came home from work and went up there about 6:30 and he decided he was going to show up. I just thank God I was there,” he laughed.

Cantrell was eyeing up a spike and a doe which had come in and were feeding within a few yards of his position. During his entire life, he’d never killed a deer on opening day of bow season. He reasoned first of all it’s still a little hot and second, a buck on opening day means the chase is over as quickly as it started.

“I wouldn’t have shot anything on the first day expect a big buck,” he said.

As he looked on, both deer he was watching whipped their heads in the direction of some thick cover and telegraphed to Cantrell something was about to happen.

“It all happened so quick. They both turned and looked and the area he came through was really brushy. I saw the glisten of a horn and that doe started thrashing around and he turned like he was going to run out. I didn’t see which target buck it was, but it was one of them,” he explained.

Cantrell said the big buck stepped into a shooting lane and he didn’t hesitate.

“I just put the pin where it needed to be and let it fly. I don’t think I could have taken my hat off and it hit the ground I was so excited,” Cantrell laughed.

Tracking the beast was going to be a challenge for Cantrell. He’s color blind and unless there is snow on the ground, he needs help. He called his wife and son who soon showed up along with his granddaughter and made the track a family affair. While he and his granddaughter strolled, his wife and son were hot on the track and within minutes found the buck about 75 yards from the stand. He had stayed on the same bench and never went up or down the mountain.

“I was so happy. I get excited every time I kill a deer, but this was the first time I’ve ever killed a deer that would get everybody excited,” he said.

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“We had been watching him for a while. He would come and go. He would disappear for a couple of days and then come back. But he had been consistent for the past three or four days before I sat in the stand,” said Kahl in an interview for West Virginia Outdoors.

Kahl had no particular game plan for being in her stand at any particular time. She was at the mercy of her work since she has two jobs and typically can only hunt when she gets time. September 30th she left work early because she wasn’t feeling well. After a couple of hours of rest she felt a lot better and decided to spend the rest of the day in her stand. It proved to be the right call.

“There had been three bucks coming in and one was a little lighter,” she explained.

As she sat in her stand, the first two bucks appeared. She wasn’t sure if the bigger buck she had hoped to kill was there, but she heard movement in the brush and had a feeling.

“I was looking and I didn’t know if that was the bigger one or if the bigger one was in the brush. I figure he was in the brush, since the bigger one always comes out last.,” she laughed.

But in this case, the other buck wouldn’t present himself. Kari eyed the massive buck which exposed and within shooting range and made up her mind.

“I waited and then I thought, whatever I’m going to shoot, I’ll be happy with it,” she added.

Kari needed the buck to take a step from behind a small tree and until he did she continued to watch the brush waiting on what she thought might be the bigger buck. But the present buck finally took the step she needed and was in the clear. She sent it.

“I didn’t think I hit him. They both just jumped to the side like ‘What was that?” My nock was lit-up and it had hit the tree behind him,” she said. “I thought ‘Dang it how did I miss?'”

Being new to the crossbow, she wasn’t sure what to expect. She stayed in the tree with another bolt ready to go and waiting hopefully on the deer to return. They never did. Later her husband showed up and found her bolt which had blood evidence of a good shot.

“He said, ‘You got good blood.’ I thought I had missed,” she said.

A short track located the buck only a few feet away from where she had shot him. He had fallen within earshot and Kari had no idea. She was also in for another surprise.

“It ended up being the bigger one,” she laughed.

The buck is an eight pointer and the rack is massive. Kari, who is small in stature, couldn’t fit her hand around the main beam of the old buck’s antlers. She could barely muster the strength to hold up his giant head for a picture.

“He’s a mature deer and he’s old with a HUGE body. Several years ago, my husband shot a huge buck and I killed a doe that was almost as big. That’s the first deer since then I’ve seen that big. It’s just hard to describe how big his body is. The rack, at this point, is just a bonus.” she said.

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) today announced that turkey hunting will return to West Virginia when the fall season’s first segment opens in all 55 counties on Oct. 11.

The first segment of the fall turkey season is open Oct. 11-19 in all 55 counties. The second segment will be open Oct. 27 to Nov. 2 and provides an additional week of hunting opportunities in 13 counties. A third and final segment will be open Oct. 27 to Nov. 16 and provides three additional weeks of hunting in 14 counties.

“Fall turkey season is a great opportunity to reconnect with the outdoors and take on the rewarding challenge of pursuing one of West Virginia’s most elusive game birds,” said WVDNR Director Brett McMillion. “We encourage hunters to get into the woods this season and bag their own wild turkey for the Thanksgiving table.”

During the fall turkey season, only one bird of either sex can be harvested using a bow, crossbow or gun, including air rifles that are .22 caliber or larger. Hunting hours range from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. The use of electronic calls and bait is prohibited. For more information about the fall turkey season, check page 44 in the West Virginia Hunting Regulations Summary, available online at WVdnr.gov/hunting-regulations.

All hunters 15 and older are required to have a valid West Virginia hunting license and valid form of identification while hunting, which can be purchased at license agents across the state or online at WVhunt.com.

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GLENVILLE, W.Va. — Trapping enthusiasts from all across the southeastern United States will be in West Virginia this weekend for a special rendezvous. The West Virginia Trappers Association is will host the National Trappers

Association Southeastern Regional Convention Friday and Saturday at the Gilmer County 4-H Camp in Glenville.

“It’s a pretty big deal,” said Jeremiah Whitlatch, President of the West Virginia Trappers Association. “Brian Nelson, myself, and the Board of Directors have been working on the planning for this for the past year and getting ready.”

Whitlatch became President of the WVTA last year and made attracting one of the National Trappers Association events to West Virginia a goal.

“There’s a bidding process you have to go through to host one of these. There’s a lot that goes into the bidding process because you have to have a place with the space to host and the logistics to handle the people and the vendors. You also have to get the word out to the national vendors. Some of these vendors follow NTA events all over the country,” said Whitlatch.

There are four national events annually, three regional conventions for the Southeastern, Northeastern, and Western Regional plus the overall NTA National Convention which is the largest of the events. The last time West Virginia hosted a national trapping event was in 1970 and it was the NTA National Convention. It was held that year in Davis, W.Va.

“That’s a whole generational span between any kind of NTA event in West Virginia,” said Whitlatch. “It was just a matter of getting the manpower and volunteers to do it is why we haven’t had one in such a long time,”

The WVTA hosts its annual convention in the fall and fur sale in the spring at the same site in  Glenville. This weekend’s event is open to the public.

“We’re open to anybody who wants to come. Especially anybody interested in trapping or maybe they don’t understand what it’s all about. We welcome them to come and learn. Both days are jammed full of demonstrations from people who are knowledgeable about trapping techniques,” explained Whitlatch.

There will also be a strong effort to provide education and fun for children attending the event. According to Whitlatch at the national convention there is always a “Kids Cave” with multiple activities for children. This weekend’s event will feature a “Mini Kid’s Cave”. Children will be able to build a conibear box trap, the West Virginia DNR will have an archery range set up along with the law enforcement laser trailer, and the National Wild Turkey Federation will have a b-b gun range.

“At our state convention we had 520 people through the gate. We’re hoping to get that and then add to it with a lot of the national people who will be in attendance. We’d love to have a big turnout,” Whitlatch said.

The event starts Friday with the gates opening at 8 a.m. and the vendor buildings close at 5 p.m. Friday evening after the vendors close, there will be a benefit auction, barbecue dinner, and social event with music. Saturday’s hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. West Virginia Outdoors will originate live from the event Saturday morning on MetroNews Radio Stations across the state.

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Legendary archer Byron Ferguson has died. The news spread Friday night and Saturday morning among archery enthusiasts on social media.

Ferguson travelled the world performing his instinctive shooting shows and demonstrating his command of the long bow to crowds large and small. He was also a regular on shooting and outdoor television shows and videos.

He’s a familiar figure in West Virginia because he appeared regularly at the state’s National Hunting and Fishing Days events for many years. He also appeared on West Virginia Outdoors on several occasions during those visits to West Virginia to talk about bowhunting and bow shooting.

The Alabama native cut his teeth on instinctive shooting by shooting out candles in a dark room. The candle shot was one of his favorites through the years in exhibition shooting. He was also noted for a shot made before crowd on live TV in Japan in which he put an arrow through a $17,000 diamond ring.

Ferguson was inducted into the Archery Hall of Fame in 2023

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cutting was held Wednesday for the new Elk Education Center and viewing tower on the area where West Virginia’s elk herd was reestablished back in 2016.

“Here we stand with approximately 130 elk in the herd, I believe 60 calves have been born right here in West Virginia. I can’t wait to get the visitors center open to tell the story of the whole process,” said DNR Director Brett McMillion.

Although construction is complete, the signage and displays for the education center are yet to arrive to give a full documentation of West Virginia’s elk reintroduction program. The project began with legislation introduced in 2014 to clear the way for the reintroduction of elk in the Mountain State. Senator Rupie Phillips of Logan County was the lead sponsor of the enabling legislation.

“I’m proud to be the lead sponsor. I’m proud of what the DNR has done and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. I’m also thankful to former Governor Justice for signing off on the AML money for this project right here,” said Phillips.

The facility was built with a combination of funding from several sources which totaled more than $6 Million. A large share of the funding was from the federal Abandoned Mine Lands program.

The viewing tower features a couple of levels. One is a tree top level look the other requires a climb up three sets of stairs to scan the entire area. Visitors will need to bring their own binoculars or a spotting scope to find the elk in distant openings. Some may be several miles away. McMillion noted the area’s management team will be doing additional work to push back the wood line and possibly clear up some of the distant fields to allow more openings and sighting opportunities. He said the entire view scape will also soon change when the leaves are off the trees. Phillips noted that might be as big of an attraction as the elk.

“Not only do you get a chance to see and hear the elk, you also get to see this beautiful mountain range. In just a few weeks these green leaves are going to change and it’s going to be a festival of color,” the Senator said.

Other states where elk have been reintroduced have enjoyed an economic boost from people just wanting to come and see an elk or hear one bugle. From the new observation deck, it won’t be a difficult proposition during the right times of year. The West Virginia State Parks already provide elk tours during the bugling season. McMillion expected the tower would only grow those opportunities.

Since hunting and fishing dollars have been invested in the reintroduction project, hunters often ask when the first hunting season for elk will be opened up in West Virginia. Biologists say the population will need to be at least three times its current size before even a very limited hunt could be allowed without negatively impacting the population. DNR officials could not project a year on when those numbers would have grown to the 350 plus range.

Along with the education center and viewing tower, the DNR’s managers on the Tomblin WMA now have a functional operations building for storing equipment and supplies. There is also a residential unit on the property. Those amenities are expected to be critical to the expansion and monitoring of the elk herd in future years.

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