By Cory Boothe
Coryboothe@hotmail.com
Many people ask what it would take to see bigger deer in our state. Others are happy to kill a spike. In my mind, the best of both world's is a one buck limit. Currently, licensed hunters in West Virginia can kill three bucks per year. This allows many hunters to kill a small buck the first morning of gun season just to be able to say they got their buck for the year. Those hunters kill the first legal buck they see and then attempt to hunt for a larger buck.
Often, you hear them say something like, "You can't eat the horns!" In that case, shoot a doe! If you are really a meat hunter, then you have no problems with killing an adult doe instead of a spike. Usually adult does produce as much table-fare as a yearling spike.
If those same hunters were forced to be more selective by not killing the first buck they see, many more deer would live to an older age. At the same time, a one buck limit allows those who want to kill any buck to do so. They just can't kill three small bucks every year.
Other states such as Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio have adopted a one buck limit and watched the age of bucks increase. A deer can't wear exceptional headgear without age. Usually, a one and a half year old in West Virginia will be a spike or four point. It takes three and a half years for most deer to attain an exceptional rack.
Some say it won't work in West Virginia and to those I give the example of the four bow hunting only counties in the southern part of the state. The majority of big bucks in West Virginia come from the Logan, McDowell, Mingo, and Wyoming County area of the state. this area has a one buck limit and is composed of mainly woods not agriculture.
In conclusion, a one buck limit lets hunters kill the ONE buck they want, while protecting other bucks. A meat hunter is still happy and so is the trophy hunter. This is a win-win situation for the sportsmen of West Virginia. Now getting the state to adopt the practice is an entirely different story.
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