SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Thousands of West Virginia hunters will knock their first arrows of the season across the Mountain State this weekend. Saturday marks the opening day of archery hunting season in West Virginia for deer and bear.
“I’m always an optimist, but this year I think I’m going to be right on,” said Scott Warner, biologist with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. “Numbers seem to be pretty healthy so the overall harvest should be about what we had last year. Mast conditions look to be very abundant.”
The 2014 Mast Survey published by the DNR reported an increased amount of acorns in all areas of the state. All species of oaks are up from last year and are above the 43 year average. Typically an abundance of mast would slow deer movement at least in the early part of the season.
It’s the second year for the earlier opening day. Traditionally bow season started in mid-October. The DNR retooled its deer management plant two years ago and rescheduled the season. Part of the strategy in moving the season was to hopefully encourage hunters to harvest more antlerless deer. Typically larger bucks don’t start changing their behavior until the rut, which generally happens in late October or early to mid November.
“Hunters probably won’t be interested in really going after that bigger buck until the rut,” said Warner. “The first part of the season, we encourage people to follow the food source. During the pre-rut concentrate on where the does are going to be. Then in the full rut, you can rely on scrapes and rub lines to determine where to place your treestand.”