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West Virginia DNR releases deer harvest numbers

(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

CHARLESTON — West Virginia’s most recent white-tailed deer harvest was down 17% from 2024, the state’s Division of Natural Resources said this week.

Hunters harvested 92,553 white-tailed deer during the 2025-26 seasons, down from the 2024 total of 111,646 and 14% below the five-year average of 107,434.

This year’s decreased harvest was caused by an increase in hard mast production, which often results in decreased harvests due to the difficulty of tracking and targeting game species spread out over a landscape. Hard mast refers to nuts and seeds produced by trees, while soft mass includes fruits and berries.

Several counties also experienced an outbreak of hemorrhagic disease, which likely impacted hunter success, especially in the western part of the state.

Testing in August confirmed dead deer in Wood, Jackson, Pleasants and Ritchie counties were infected with epizootic hemorrhagic disease, the DNR previously reported.

According to preliminary numbers collected through the West Virginia DNR’s electronic game checking system, hunters statewide harvested 33,823 bucks during the traditional buck firearm season, 25,453 antlerless deer during all antlerless firearm hunting opportunities, 29,654 deer during the urban and regular archery/crossbow seasons, 3,102 deer during the muzzleloader season and 501 deer during the Mountaineer Heritage season.

* In Wood County, there were 218 harvested in buck gun season, 198 antlerless, 21 for muzzleloader, 178 archery/crossbow and four for Mountaineer Heritage.

* In Doddridge County, there were 550 for buck gun, 414 antlerless, 39 for muzzleloader, 284 archery/crossbow and four for Mountaineer Heritage.

* In Jackson County, there were 569 for buck gun, 606 antlerless, 49 for muzzleloader, 405 archery/crossbow and four for Mountaineer Heritage.

* In Pleasants County, there were 99 for buck gun, 53 antlerless, one for muzzleloader, 32 archery/crossbow and one for Mountaineer Heritage.

* In Ritchie County, there were 555 for buck gun, 462 antlerless, 36 for muzzleloader, 414 archery/crossbow and eight for Mountaineer Heritage.

* In Roane County, there were 650 for buck gun, 652 antlerless, 36 for muzzleloader, 414 archery/crossbow and eight for Mountaineer Heritage.

* In Wirt County, there were 267 for buck gun, 246 antlerless, 20 for muzzleloader, 145 archery/crossbow and two for Mountaineer Heritage.

* Hunters harvested 25,453 deer during the 2025 antlerless deer season, which includes the youth, class Q and Class XS deer season. The harvest was a 23% decrease compared to the 2024 harvest of 33,057 and 13% below the five-year average of 29,303. The top 10 counties for antlerless deer harvests were Preston (1,442), Upshur (907), Greenbrier (877), Monroe (876), Mason (841), Lewis (836), Hardy (775), Randolph (774), Barbour (695) and Braxton (680).

* Hunters harvested 29,654 deer during the 2025 archery and crossbow season. That was an 8% decrease over the 2024 harvest of 32,240 and 5% below the five-year average of 31,139. The proportion of the archery harvest taken using a crossbow has stabilized and was greater than deer reportedly taken by a bow.

The archery and crossbow harvest does not include the 29 deer taken with recurve or longbows during the Mountaineer Heritage season. The top 10 counties for archery and crossbow deer harvests were Preston (1,573), Raleigh (1,378), Wyoming (1,224), Kanawha (1,045), Fayette (1,032), Mercer (892), Nicholas (889), McDowell (876), Randolph (860) and Monongalia (842).

* Hunters harvested 3,102 deer during the 2025 muzzleloader season, which was 26% less than the 2024 harvest of 4,173 and 22% below the five-year average of 3,979. The muzzleloader deer season harvest does not include the 472 deer taken with side lock and flintlock muzzleloaders during the Mountaineer Heritage season. The top 10 counties for muzzleloader deer harvests were Nicholas (186), Preston (179), Randolph (158), Greenbrier (131), Upshur (115), Fayette (111), Raleigh (95), Mason (93), Barbour (90) and Kanawha (88).

In-person public meetings on proposed hunting regulations will be held at six locations around the state. Specific proposals will be made available to the public following the quarterly meeting.

The local meeting for District 6 will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 12, at 76 Conservation Way, Parkersburg.

The meeting will be livestreamed on the West Virginia Department of Commerce’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/@WVcommerce/streams. The livestream is view-only. To provide public comments, people must attend in person.

Starting at $2.99/week.

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