2024 Deer Season

[WV Sawmiller]

  WV Archery season opens a week from tomorrow. Crossbows are legal for our archery season. I already have 2 feeders out encouraging the deer to visit my shooting houses at dawn and dusk. There appears to be plenty of mast in the woods this year so the deer don't need the corn but it is kind of like going to get an ice cream cone after dinner.

  I dug out my Killer Instinct 415 crossbow and took it out to sight it in. It is not an expensive crossbow but it works well for my needs. I dug my target and a couple of practice bolts out of the stall in the barn. I set it up and grabbed my tape measure and remeasured and marked the adjacent fence with pieces of hay strings at 5 yard increments.

  I dragged out and patched up a nearby sawhorse I've used for sighting in purposes before and tightened and added a few nails and an end brace and pulled out an old 5 gallon bucket for a seat.

  I waxed the rails and string and pulled back the string only to find the locking pin did not engage. I went back in the house and returned with my hand crank and cranked the string back and fiddled with the locking pin till it engaged. I guess the wax build up on it had it stuck in the up position. After that I was able to pull the string with my rope cocker.

  I set up at the 30 yard mark and shot a couple of test bolts which hit a little low and to the right so I started playing with the windage and elevation setting on the 4 power scope. Pretty soon I had it on target. When done I tried a couple of shots from the 40 yard mark and they also hit directly on the mark. I tried a couple from 20 yard mark and found they hit about an inch high so I'm fine for that for the areas I hunt.

  I bought about 50 bags for 1 lb rolls for ground meat last week from a local Rural King and got the hog rings and pliers to install them so I am ready to butcher anything I kill.

  Now its just a matter of waiting and watching the weather and such.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I took a broken fuel tank holder from my mill to be welded yesterday and picked it up a couple hours ago. About  half a mile before I got home I spotted a nice little 4-6 point buck in a neighbor's yard by their trailer. The lady was standing about 20' away with something in her hand. I don't know if it was a phone or camera or food she was feeding it. If its a pet I hope she puts an ear tag on it or a n orange collar so nobody shoots it. I'd sure shoot one like that and it is easily close enough to my home hunting area to come up but I would not shoot a pet if I knew it.

[beenthere]

They are all wild in WI, no pets. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Around here by law they are wild too but it is common for people to start feeding them or adopt a fawn. DNR will not give out permits for them. We had one years ago and I had an orange collar on her. She ran up and played with the other deer from day one but would come to us for her bottle or treats. We did not pen her up. Her mom got killed by a car when she was about the size of a cat and we had goats so milked the goats and fed her from a bottle. I went up in antlerless season and a yearling jumped up and a shot it then Spot jumped up about 30' away from where she had been playing with it. I felt bad and would not have shot it if I'd see her with it but when I gave her an apple or fortune cookie she forgave me.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I finally made time to go hunting this morning. I took my crossbow and went to my original shooting house. It is built into a bank overlooking a wide bench several hundred yards long and nearly 100 yards wide. I parked my ATV in the pasture and fought my way up the muddy slope to the bench. By my walking light I spotted at least 4 does/yearlings/fawns on the bench less than 1100 yards from the shooting house. They drifted away but were not alarmed. I climbed the last slope to the shooting house and unzipped my crossbow case and set up to hunt. Legal shooting light was 6:49 with daylight at 7:19 am. Just after 7:00 and old doe started sounding the alarm. I could see her flag 60-100 yards away as she she and her brood moved in in the dim light. She finally calmed down and the corn stealing doves started flying in about 3 minutes before my feeder went off at 7:30. Sever looked like they were about to light on my windows and I was hoping to grab a couple and wring some necks but they shied away before they got in reach.

    I got my book out when it was light enough and started reading. At 8:30 I looked down and 2 spikes had ghosted in from somewhere, They fed on the corn and often were directly under me. They had decent spikes but were real small. Since I am a meat hunter the antlers did not matter to me but they were not big enough to excite me although I did figure Id harvest one. Before I did they started acting skittish then drifted off before I could shoot the larger one. About 9:20 I looked down and a doe had appeared. She looked nearly as big as the spike and I just let her feed then leave in peace.

   I stayed on and finished my book about noon and came on home. I'll go back later this week after the Paul Bunyan show and maybe collect one of the spikes or their daddy.

[ron barnes]

Here in Aiken County SC, the deer processors are without power so they are closed.  I can't process my own so I will wait until later to get some venison.

[WV Sawmiller]

Ron,

   My son used a family friend for 2 of his last year. I think he paid about $100 each. I still do mine but it is more tempting every year. I may shoot one this weekend or early next week if the situation permits.

   IIRC the deer season along the coast in SC when I was there started August 15. Way too early for me to go fight the skeeters, deer flies and assort poisonous vipers in the area.

   Take care and have a very enjoyable season

[WV Sawmiller]

    We got back from the PBS last night and got unpacked and set the clock to get up and go chase our local deer this morning. I got set up in my blind/shooting house. The doves started coming in and stealing my corn when the feeder went off at 7:30. About 8:00 the doves all flushed and flew off. I looked and a hawk had lit on a limb 50-60 yards away. The doves and a squirrel that had also been below had disappeared. The hawk flew away before I could get my camera ready.

    A little after 8:30 I saw two spikes headed my way. They were the same 2 I saw the last time I went there last week and about the same time of day. They came to my feeder and started enjoying the corn. They were not big deer but one looked a little bigger and kept pushing the other one around. About the time they got settled a doe came up from the same direction and she started feeding. The spikes seemed to ignore her.

    Here is the larger spike feeding. I let them feed about 10 minutes watching behind and around and especially watching them to see if they spotted anything else coming but they did not so I decided to go ahead and harvest this one. The biggest problem was most of the time he was about 5 yards in front of and directly underneath me. He finally drifted to the side 10-15 yards away. I got my crosshairs on my crossbow scope behind his R leg and aimed a little low because he was so close. I shot and he ran right and the other two ran left. All of them stopped after 30-40 yards and kept looking around.

  Mine seemed confused and I began to wonder if he was even hit then he just crumpled beside the ATV trail. The other 2 moseyed over and seemed confused that would not get up. They went back to feeding and drifted off. None of them ever seemed very alarmed.

    I wrote out a field tag, packed up and walked over to look for my arrow/bolt. I found it sticking in a punky log about 6" in diameter. I tried pulling it out but no joy. I tried twisting and was able to unscrew the point and left it in the log. It's  no doubt ruined anyway and was not an expensive point.
  I walked  over to the deer and here is how he fell. The entrance and exit holes look the same. I used the winch and a handy maple fork to load him in the ATV basket. It is amazing how much harder it is to load a loose floppy deer, even a small one like this, than it used to be a few years ago.
  I took him home, called the WV DNR Game check number and checked him in then went down and hung him on my game skinning rack, weighed him then skinned and quartered and partially butchered him. He weighed 108 lbs on my spring scales and is about the same size as a typical grown doe around here. BTW - that's live weight as I never field dress my deer because I am so close and they are much easier to skin and process intact and fresh.

    It was so warm and the yellow jackets are so bad I pulled the loins, tenderloin, and brisket and put them in a corning solution where they will stay in the fridge downstairs for 5-7 days. There was about 8lbs of them after I trimmed them up. The hams, shoulder, neck and the trimmings I salvaged so far are in the fridge in my log barn. I'll do some more de-boning tonight and get some pork Boston butt and grind them together and make 1 lb rolls out of the rest.

[WV Sawmiller]

  I ain't gonna win no speed records for cutting up meat. I finished deboning the shoulders and neck Saturday night and finished the hams and a 10 lb pork roast last night. I do try to trim them a lot closer out of fat and silverskin than is probably necessary and more than what most people do.

  Now I just need to cube it and put the met in shallow trays in the freezer for an hour or so then grind it. I understand meat grinds much better if about half frozen. I'll packager the burger in 1 lb rolls.

EDIT: Well the grinder worked good and we used the stuffer to fill the bags. I think it was 37 lbs of meat but we overstuffed the bags I guess and ended up with 29 bags. Net time I'm going to dig out my bigger stuffer tunnel and see if that makes the process go faster.

[ron barnes]

I have been a few mornings but all I have seen is a doe with a pair of this years fawns.  The fawns are too young for me to shoot the momma so they get a lot of corn.  Monday I spotted a buck with the binoculars, looked pretty good but he was gone before I could get the scope on him.  Another day.

[WV Sawmiller]

  Yesterday was the start of our 2 week long Rifle Buck season. We also have a concurrent antlerless season on-going. I bet I heard 50 shots go off within hearing of my place throughout the day with 15 or so during the half hour before daylight. I did not see any bucks and only one big doe and her fawn/yearling that busted me and informed the whole world at 4:00 pm.

  Sunday I had gone up there with my crossbow and saw one nice buck in the distance who looked to be cruising his scrapes and one healthy 3 point at my feeder who would never give me a decent broadside or quartering away shot.

  This morning I did not see any deer but I went back up and the 3 point came back out when my feeder went off at 4:00. He must have smelled me as I had added more corn to the feeder and left my field expedient walking staff leaning on a tree under the feeder. Anyway the deer was on alert and looked to be leaving the area when I made an amazing shot to his right side vital from about 20 yards.  He bucked and ran about 30 yards and dropped dead.

  I dragged him about 400 yards to my 4 wheeler then dragged him behind it to my barn and loaded him on my little cart and took him to my skinning rack behind my boatshed. When I got to my pasture gate I saw at least 5 big does in my next door neighbors pasture about 40 yards away. I thought about harvesting one of them too but decided they could wait till another day.



  He weighed 145 lbs live weight on my spring scales I keep at the skinning rack. I got him skinned, quartered and partially butchered by 10:00 pm. I'll debone the shoulders and hams tomorrow and start the backstrap, brisket and tenderloins corning. I'll can a couple of cookers for BBQ and such and give the corned parts and at least one of the hams to my cleaning lady who wanted some deer meat.

  I'm tagged out on bucks for the year but can still kill between 3-5 does/antlerless if I manage the opportunities and want to do so.

[ron barnes]

Here in SC our deer season starts August 15.  We get 3 buck and 2 doe tags with our license.  We can also buy extra doe tags if we desire.  I have shot 2 small 6 point bucks so far and am going back out in a few minutes hoping to harvest a good doe.  Really enjoy the time spent in the stand watching for wildlife.

[Magicman]

Our long range weather forecast shows a Northerly wind for the next week so I will not make that 92 mile hunting round trip until the weather pattern changes.

I'll just burn some firewood plus I have a sawing job scheduled for the 4th & 5th of next week.  Gonna be chilly with the morning temps in the 40's.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I forgot to mention but it was funny to see the 5 -6 does at the pasture when I came in. I was dragging the 3 point behind the 4 wheeler because it would not have been safe to come down the steep slope with him in the ATV basket plus he was to hard to load.

   Anyway when I pulled up to the gate the does were 30-40 yards away and every single one of them were ignoring me and looking at the buck as if to say "What is Melvin doing now? I've seen him do some dumb things over the last 2 years since I've known him but I never saw him chasing a hunter on a 4wheeler while on his belly."

[SwampDonkey]

Our deer season ended on Sunday the 24th here. I don't think there were any taken in my area. I think there was only one buck around. Buck only hunt here.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I guess we have a reasonably liberal season and limits. Our archery (which includes crossbows in all but 4 counties) starts near the end of September and ends on 31 December and we even have a special Heritage hunt a week after that for recurve bow and primitive muzzleloaders, 

   We dropped to a 2 buck total limit this year and 3 does state wide. You have to buy extra stamps for a 2nd or 3rd deer in any category but landowners don't have to buy licenses or stamps when hunting their own land which is what I do even  though I bought a lifetime senior hunting/fishing/trapping license when I turned 65.

   We also have 4 youth/senior hunting days (2 in October and the 2 days after Christmas) where underage hunters (8-17) or seniors can kill an antlerless deer on each of those days which does not count against your season limit. Youths have to be accompanied by a licensed adult hunter who has to be close enough for supervision and cannot carry a weapon. So that potentially adds 4 more antlerless (Both antlers less 3" or no antlers) to their bag if you need them and follow different seasons.

   We now do electronic check-in where we call a number or go on line and report our kill and get registration number. Its pretty simple and straight-forward to do and stay legal.

   Our rifle season for bucks is 2 weeks (Thanksgiving week and the one after) which is our peak rut time for the most part and is often concurrent with antlerless plus there are 10-12 other antlerless days. After rifle season we skip a few days then have a week of muzzleloader season but you can't use a bow or crossbow on those days. They want to force people to buy muzzleloaders, black powder equipment and stamps. We can substitute a bow, crossbow or muzzleloader for a rifle if we want to do so. We could hunt with a bow/crossbow during muzzleloader season but would have to tag any kill as an archery kill and not an ML kill/bag limit.

   Its not perfect but it is reasonable for the most part and we are blessed with a very large deer population so the limits/regs are mostly working well.