Records from game checking stations indicate that hunters harvested 230,008 deer in 1999, according to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. This total is the second highest harvest in state history, surpassed only by the 1997 harvest of 235,305. The harvest also represents 17-percent increase over the 1998 harvest of 195,840.

The 1999 season saw 89,900 antlered buck felled during the traditional bucks-only firearm season, 32,971 through archery, 14,809 during the six-day muzzleloader season, and 92,328 during the antlerless season.

The antlered buck harvest was the third highest on state record; only the 1997 and 1995 seasons exceeded its kill. Bowhunter harvesting increased by 14 percent over 1998 --  the second highest on record, exceeded only by 1997's. Deer harvested during the 1999 muzzleloader season increased by 28 percent over 1998 -- the third largest harvest recorded for muzzleloading on record.

For the second consecutive year the antlerless deer harvest was greater than the firearm antlered buck harvest, and the total antlerless deer harvest for 1999 represented a 16 percent increase over the previous year. The antlerless season -- comprised of concurrent days with the traditional buck season and the traditional six-day season after the buck season -- accounted for the taking of 80,999 deer. A five-day extension of antlerless season in late December saw 11,329 deer added to the harvest for a total anterless harvest of 92,328 -- a new record, exceeding the record 1997 take.

According to division director John B. Rader, the antlerless harvest successfully helped maintain habitat and healthy populations.

"I am most pleased with the success of the antlerless deer harvest," Rader said in a DNR press release..

"The liberalization of antlerless hunting in targeted counties is designed to reduce the deer herd where necessary and achieve management objectives."

A primary objective of the state's deer management program is to convince hunters and landowners that antlerless deer must be harvested in sufficient numbers to maintain quality habitat and healthy deer populations.

"Results from this year's deer harvest indicate that we are well on the way toward meeting our management objectives," Rader said.