Webster County Deer Hunters Predicted to Do Well

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) recently released its Fall game harvest predictions for Webster County and the news looks promising.

For whitetail deer hunting, the DNR predicts that the harvest of whitetail bucks during the two week November gun season will be slightly higher in 2012 than it was in 2011.  The harvest for all other deer seasons, including archery, anterless, and muzzleloader, are predicted to be similar in 2012 to that of 2011.

The DNR also predicts that the black bear harvest this year will be higher than 2011.  This year's Fall turkey harvest is predicted to be similar to last year.

The DNR, with cooperation from the Division of Forestry, makes its harvest predictions based on a number of factors, but primarily on its "mast" survey.  "Mast" includes all species of acorns (such as white, black, and red oak), nuts (such as walnuts, beech, and hickory), and fruits (such as wild cherry, grapes, and apples).

Webster is part of Region 2, known as the Mountains Region, which also includes Pocahontas, Greenbrier, Randolph, and Tucker counties.  The mast survey for Region 2 provides the basis for the DNR's predictions.

According to the mast survey, "weather conditions during last winter (2011-12) were mild by comparison to the winter of 2010–2011 regarding snowfall and freezing temperatures.  Last year’s mast crop provided wildlife with enough energy reserves to survive the mild winter.  As a result, winter kills of deer and turkey were expected to be minimal."

As to the predicted deer harvest for Region 2, the survey says that "the increased reproduction  of 2011 and the mild winter of 2011–2012 should mean that there are plenty of 1.5 year-old animals for hunters in the woods.  The overall mast conditions should be favorable to a variety of deer hunters."

Time will tell if the DNR's predictions are accurate.  In 2011, Webster County hunters bagged 1,068 bucks during the two week gun season.  That was a substantial increase over the 807 bucks killed in 2010.  In 2011, the total deer harvest for Webster County was 2,044.