By Cory Boothe
Coryboothe@hotmail.com
The structure of Calhoun County's deer season could be changing, as proposed by the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. Last year, the WV DNR made changes to deer regulations in certain parts of the state deemed to have too many does.
That regulation stated that hunters are required to take an antlerless deer during the archery and gun season prior to harvesting a second antlered deer during the archery and gun deer season. If you want to kill two bucks in bow season, you must kill a doe with a bow before your second buck.
If you want to kill a second buck in gun season, you must kill a doe with a gun first. This is designed to harvest more does. Calhoun was not one of these counties during the 2013 season but is proposed to be one during the 2014 season.
Personally, I am in favor of the regulation. This puts more pressure on does while relieving some pressure on buck deer. I believe the days of not shooting does are way behind us. To effectively manage deer, we need to shoot does and we need to shoot more of them.
This regulation is suggested because liberal doe harvests were not enough to reduce doe populations. Bluntly, hunters didn't kill enough does. Too many people still believe that if you kill a doe you are killing next year's buck. This philosophy is why we see 20 does in a field with only two bucks.
The WV DNR wants to hear your comments about proposed regulations. The proposals can be seen at wvdnr.gov
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