The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has announced preliminary harvest numbers for the state’s buck firearms season.
According to preliminary data, collected through the WVDNR’s electronic game check system, hunters in West Virginia harvested 41,090 antlered deer during the state’s two-week buck firearms season, which ran from Nov. 25 to Dec. 8. The 2024 total harvest is slightly below the five-year average of 43,143.
The top 10 counties for the 2024 buck harvest were Greenbrier (1,742), Randolph (1,564), Preston (1,557), Pendleton (1,317), Jackson (1,277), Pocahontas (1,259), Ritchie (1,219), Hampshire (1,218), Hardy (1,178) and Grant (1,169).
Counties where buck firearms season harvests increased compared to 2023 include Barbour, Cabell, Doddridge, Hancock, Hampshire, Jackson, Mason, Mineral, Morgan, Pocahontas, Preston, Putnam, Ritchie, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur, Webster, Wetzel and Wood counties.