Across West Virginia today, an estimated 250 to 300 thousand hunters are clad in orange and heading toward the woods. It’s the opening day of the bucks only gun season in the Mountain State.
The popularity of the season has made it nearly an unofficial state holiday. Many industries will close, including schools where absenteeism is so high, educators have given up and made it a week long vacation for Thanksgiving.
"Probably one of the few states that has a very large proportion of our residents that live out of state, and it seems like everybody comes home to hunt,” said Jim Crum, biologist for the DNR.
Crum predicts hunters will have high success in West Virginia this year, if the weather is agreeable.
"The population is up, I look for it to be a pretty good (season). If we get the hunters in the woods and the weather’s not blowing straight out we should have a good harvest and a good opening day,” Crum said.
Crum says the deer population has increased and hunters will be pleased to find more abundant and larger sized racks on bucks this fall. He credits that to last year’s abundant mast crop, the first in several years. Hunters in a large number of counties will also be able to kill a doe during the buck season if they have the proper permits and are hunting on private land.
Another factor that should play into the hands of hunters will be the timing of the season. The season always opens the Monday before Thanksgiving, meaning this year’s opening is earlier than usual. This places the opening day closer to the peak of rutting activity when bucks are generally more vulnerable.
"We’re going to be the closest to the peak of rut of a firearms season that we have for the next five years," said Crum. "Next year it starts dropping back the other way."
Hunters are reminded that 400 square inches of blaze orange is required while hunting during the firearms season. Hunters are also encouraged to use a safety harness when hunting from a tree stand or other elevated position. Already several incidents of tree stand accidents have occurred, a couple of those were fatal.