SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The 2024 buck season saw another drop in the overall number of bucks killed in the two week season. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources released its preliminary harvest figures for the 2024 season. The total number of bucks killed was 41,090 antlered deer. That was down more than 4,000 deer from the 2023 season.
The harvest was also down slightly from the five-year average of 43,143 bucks taken.
The top 10 counties for the 2024 buck harvest were Greenbrier (1,742), Randolph (1,564), Preston (1,557), Pendleton (1,317), Jackson (1,277), Pocahontas (1,259), Ritchie (1,219), Hampshire (1,218), Hardy (1,178) and Grant (1,169). Counties where buck firearms season harvests increased compared to 2023 include Barbour, Cabell, Doddridge, Hancock, Hampshire, Jackson, Mason, Mineral, Morgan, Pocahontas, Preston, Putnam, Ritchie, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur, Webster, Wetzel and Wood counties.