SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s 2016 archery hunting season opens Saturday morning at daylight statewide. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources estimates approximately 125,000 sportsmen participate in the archery season which essentially runs until the end of the year. There are a few days which are closed in most counties for the gun season for deer, but for the most part it’s a three month hunting season.
The popularity of bow hunting in the state is soaring. Scott Warner, Biologist with the West Virginia DNR, says increased hunting opportunities are attracting more and more sportsmen into give it a try.
“It’s probably the second largest day in terms of participation for hunting that we have in West Virginia,” he said. “Nationally as a trend the number has maintained or decreased some, but in West Virginia we’ve seen it increase and a lot of that I think has to do with last year’s new legislation which allowed hunters to start using a crossbow.”
As for what sportsmen will find during the next three months of bow hunting, Warner had an optimistic outlook.
“The numbers look pretty good, we have a pretty healthy deer population within our management objectives and you’re going to see some older age class bucks which is of an interest to a lot of bow hunters,” Warner explained. “I’ve also conducted several mast surveys, and I can’t speak for statewide, but the mast conditions were fair to spotty in places I was into, so if you find a place with plenty of mast chances are there will be a lot of feeding activity.”
The long season, which was moved back into September a few years ago, allows hunters to adapt to changing conditions with the deer. The early season hunters will focus on feeding and mast, but toward late October everything changes as the rut begins to take hold.
“The first part of the season I would focus on food availability,” said Warner. “Then toward the end of October when that pre-rut condition happens you may want to relocate your tree stand.”
The season includes not only the opportunity for hunters to kill deer, but the chances of taking a bear continue to grow every year as well.
“We have a statewide archery season for black bear and we’re starting to see more and more counties having an archery harvest of black bear,” he said. “Especially in those areas that have a lot of bear, there’s no better opportunity to kill one.”
Hunters are reminded if they plan to kill a bear, they’ll need to purchase a bear damage stamp and if they plan to kill more than one deer during the archery season they’re required to have the extra archery tag. However, the extra archery tags need to be purchased prior to Saturday’s opening day.
“You can take up to three deer, but you need to get those RB stamps purchased by Friday night. Saturday it’s too late,” he said. “I would hate to see somebody kill one on opening day, and that would be the end of the season for them. This is a season that just gets better, and better, and better as the season moves along.”