Hunting prospects for the 2016 West Virginia spring turkey season

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Hunting prospects look promising for the 2016 spring turkey season in West Virginia, which runs April 18 through May 24, with a special one-day youth season April 16.

Since the typical gobbler harvested is usually a 2-year-old bird, the Division of Natural Resources routinely uses the brood reports from the previous two years to estimate harvest trends. On a statewide level, the brood reports from 2014 were 30 percent higher than 2013 and mimicked the 5-year average, indicating that relative number of birds should be higher than last year.

Additionally, the brood reports from 2015 were 22 percent above the year before and 14 percent above the 5-year average on a statewide basis, indicating that more turkeys should be available this spring gobbler season than last. Despite this improved abundance, surviving hens at this time of year are absolutely critical for future population growth. Hunters are strongly urged to protect their hens. Killing a hen in the spring ensures fewer birds both in the fall and following year.

As spring progresses, many hunters quit hunting for a variety of reasons, including a perception that the birds have finished gobbling. Highly vocal turkeys that are more prone to calling are taken during the first week of the season, generating 58 percent of the season's harvest.

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Deer hunters in West Virginia harvest 66,374 bucks during the buck firearms season

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Preliminary data collected from the new electronic game checking system indicate deer hunters in West Virginia harvested 66,374 bucks during the two-week buck firearms season, which ran from Nov. 23 through Dec. 5, 2015, according to Paul Johansen, chief of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) Wildlife Resources Section. 

The 2015 buck harvest is up 77 percent from the 2014 harvest of 37,450. The top 10 counties for buck harvest were:  Ritchie (2,273), Preston (2,242), Lewis (2,157), Hampshire (2,107), Jackson (2,094), Roane (2,087), Hardy (1,885), Greenbrier (1,884), Upshur (1,864) and Wood (1,802).

The buck harvest increased in all DNR districts. The largest percentage increases occurred in the western counties of the state where the harvest was double that of last year. Excellent weather conditions and the lack of acorns were the primary reasons for the increase in 2015.

"We are very pleased with how hunters adapted to the new electronic game checking system," added Johansen. "We have received many positive comments about the ease of being able to check deer and other game using the telephone, Internet or by stopping at a license agent."

Johansen reminds hunters that several days of deer hunting opportunity still remain for 2015, including the remainder of the muzzleloader season, which runs through Saturday, Dec. 12,. The traditional antlerless deer season in selected counties on both public and private land opens Thursday, Dec. 17, and runs through Saturday, Dec. 19. The Youth, Class Q/QQ and Class XS deer season for antlerless deer will be open Saturday, Dec. 26, and Monday, Dec. 28, in any county with a firearms deer season. This will be followed by the reopening of Class N/NN antlerless deer season Dec. 29-31 in specified counties or portions of counties (see 2015 - 2016 Hunting and Trapping Regulations Summary or visit the DNR website at www.wvdnr.gov for county and area listings).

**DNR**