Photo by Mark Werner

During the 2004-2005 season, hunters across the Commonwealth of Virginia bagged a total of 126,173 bucks, of which 105,933 were antlered.

The bad news: This is a drop of approximately 15,000 bucks total from the previous year.

The good news: The harvest is in line with the 10-year average. Furthermore, the decrease is about 10 percent of the previous year's total, and biologists consider 10 percent fluctuations in harvest numbers from one year to the next to be normal -- that is, likely to have been caused by changes not related to the number of deer in the state. Several variables affect how many deer hunters take, including weather, hunter participation, and food and habitat resources.

Over the past few years, there has been some concern about hunter participation dropping. Informal observations by other writers and game officials point to hunter numbers that are dropping as more and more of the state becomes urbanized and people lose touch with nature. However, those that do continue to hunt have a strong desire to do so and hunt often.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) has taken steps to encourage hunters to enter the fold. The youth hunting license was a good start. The regulation that permits youth hunters to take their first doe any time during deer season also helps the segment of our numbers which has dropped off the most, youth hunters, to become involved and have a successful hunt.

It should also be pointed out that VDGIF has increased the number of antlerless tags on the big-game license and many counties have more liberal "doe days." As hunters focus more effort on bringing their doe harvest in line with the buck harvest, they are also passing up smaller bucks and waiting for the big buck. Certainly this trend will also impact the total bucks harvested within our boundaries.

A look at the top 20 counties in terms of bucks harvested per square mile shows that the counties that typically show up on our top 20 list each fall are once again on the list.

Thirteen of the counties from last year made it once again this year.

New counties making a showing on the list include: Warren (back again from previous years), Giles, Scott, Amelia, Surry, Cumberland and Grayson counties.

Regular readers of this annual report might also notice that our historical numbers are lower than reported in previous years. This is due to the fact that VDGIF is focusing on keeping data on antlered bucks and not total bucks as we have reported in years past. This change in the way we present the data is more helpful to those hunters wanting to find a trophy buck.

Last season, the mast crop was spotty to moderately good over much of the state. Acorn production varies significantly from region to region in the state each year. You'll have to check around the woods where you hunt to gauge the relative quality of this year's acorn crop for your hunting land.

TIDEWATER REGION
The Tidewater Region of Virginia reported 21,419 antlered bucks harvested last season.

This is the second best regional harvest in the state; only the Southern Piedmont produced more bucks. Typically the hunters in this eastern region find that the middle section of the region is the best and most consistent producer of antlered bucks year after year. This year, the top producers were Charles City (4.57), New Kent (4.13), Lancaster (3.79), Surry (3.61) and James City (3.59). Typically, King George and York are also good bets.