CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It’s likely a lot of kids across West Virginia may have a hard time getting to sleep Friday night. Saturday and Sunday, October 17th and 18th, are the first two days of the split youth deer and bear hunting season.
Unlike previous years, this year’s season has a new wrinkle which is expected to get kids even more excited for getting into the woods. Youth hunters will be able to kill a buck for the first time during the season. The buck will be counted toward the young hunter’s two-buck overall bag limit, but they’ll also be allowed to take an antlerless deer each day as well.
West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Deer Project Leader Brett Skelley said it’s hard to say what the young hunters will harvest.
“I think it might be a lot closer to 50/50 than what a lot of folks may be thinking, but being the first year, we’re just going to have to wait and see,” Skelley said.
The Natural Resources Commission voted to allow for youth hunters to take a buck during their season after several years of requests by hunters. DNR for many years resisted the idea for a variety of reasons. Early on the idea of the season was to encourage a doe harvest in the interest of conservation. The original aim of the youth season was to teach a youth hunter woodsmanship skills, rather than the full-on pursuit of antlers. There were concerns from others about the potential the temptation for the adult hunter would be too much and they would take advantage of the opportunity to harvest a buck themselves and credit it to the “young hunter.”
However, the biggest obstacle was getting the state code changed. When the Senior Lifetime Hunting License was created, one of the additional privileges afforded to hunters over the age of 65 with the license was hunting during the youth seasons. The Legislature modified the law to say only youth hunters could harvest a buck during these days. Senior citizens with the license can still hunt those days, but may only kill antlerless deer.
“There was a little biological concern, but not enough to stop it. There was also a change to our hunting and trapping code that allowed for a buck or antlered deer to be taken during that season,” Skelley explained.
The real fear was if every senior license holder killed a buck it could be a serious setback to buck numbers before the rut and before most does had been bred. Skelley and his team don’t believe the youth hunters will have as big an impact.
Still, the season is created as an instructional time for youngsters. There are studies which show getting youth into the woods early is the best way to create a lifelong desire to be part of outdoor pursuits like hunting and fishing.
“It’s a great season and really geared toward getting young people out there to introduce them to deer hunting,” Skelley said.
The young hunters may only kill one buck. However, they are still allowed to harvest an antlerless deer the same day and another the following day. They would also be eligible to kill an antlerless deer each day of December 26 and 27, which are the second half of the split youth season. Ultimately, youth hunters who “tag out” during youth season would be allowed to kill five deer, one buck and four does.