2004 Hunting Seasons

This year, 2004, Jerod and I had to join a new hunting club.  The old Meadow River Hunting Club, that I had been a member of for 18 years went belly up after a new land owner, Heartland Forest Fund IV, bought our property from Columbia Wood Products and raised our lease.  Our club President couldn't get enough members to rejoin since Columbia had timbered some of the 7,100 acres.  We needed 200 members at $100 a head to keep the property and only 80 members rejoined, including my son and I.  Since the club couldn't get enough members the President dissolved the club and the dues were returned to those who paid.  I took mine and Jerod's dues and joined the Run and Gun Hunting Club.  The Run and Gun is 8,000 acres and is across Route 60 from the old Meadow River Hunting Club.  The picture above is a picture taken on the new club on a gas line right of way when Jerod and I was doing some pre-season scouting. 

Here is a map of the new hunting club that Jerod and I belong to.  Alvin (my brother-in-law) also joined this club as well.  The club is called the Run and Gun Hunting Club and they have about 8,000 acres to hunt on.  This club has a limited membership and we got in before that number was reached.  Jerod's grandfather (my father-in-law) waited to long to try and join and missed out this year.  ATV use is allowed on already existing roads and all members receive a key that fits all gates on the property.  This club is located just to the southeast of our old hunting club property and pretty much has the same type of terrain.   

Here is Jerod.                                            Here is Alvin (Big Al).

Of course here is Big Al all stretched out after getting his belly full.

Here are some fellows during the first few weeks of bow season.  As you can tell it is lunch time and of course nap time for one fellow....LOL

Well the 2004 Archery Season ended without Jerod or I connecting with a deer.  It seemed that the deer were scarce this year for some reason.  I feel that the very liberal doe seasons that we have had in the past two to three years has caused us to have fewer deer this year.  I did manage to get a shot at a nice spike, but as usual for me I undershot him.  After checking the distance he was at around 35 yards from where I was standing.  Well there is always next year.

WV BUCK SEASON

The 2004 WV Buck Season runs from November 22 through December 4, 2004.  This year Jerod, Alvin and I went to our hunting camp in Greenbrier County, WV to hunt in the Monongahela National Forest.  Alvin and I did pretty good, but out of a whole week there only 4 deer were seen the whole time.  Several bears and turkeys and of course squirrels were seen.  Here are some pictures of this years buck season harvest.

This is me with my 5 point buck taken on Thursday at around 9 AM.  I got this buck using my Remington Model 700 30-06 and my reloads which were Nosler 150 gn Spitzer (ballistic tip), 50 gns of IMR-4064 powder, Remington brass and CCI primers.  I am proud of this buck since it was taken with my reloaded ammo.

Here is Big Al (Alvin) with his spike buck taken on Thursday at around 1 PM that afternoon.  He was using a Remington 742 BDL in 30-06 and180 gn RNSP Remington CoreLok ammo.  As you can see he is grinning ear to ear.  This is the first buck he has gotten in about 4 years.  Way to go Alvin.

WV DOE SEASON

The 2004 WV Doe Season was split up into 3 season with about 4 weeks of actual doe hunting.  The first one ran from November 22 through December 4, 2004 on private lands only and ran concurrent with our bucks only season.  The second one ran from December 6 through December 11 for private and public lands.  The last doe season was December 29 through December 31 on private land only.  In most counties that have a doe season you were allowed to take up to 4 does.  After taking the first one and checking it in you purchased another stamp and so on until you killed your allowed limit.    The WV DNR has allowed this type of liberal doe season for about 3 years now and the effect is starting to show.  Less deer are being seen and fewer are being taken.  You can check out the total deer harvest at the WV DNR website at http://www.wvdnr.org there you will be able to look at the harvest over the past several years.  This year 2004 was a real big decrease in both the buck harvest and the doe harvest.  In fact, I believe, it was so low that the WV DNR has proposed no doe season in several counties for 2005 and also reducing the number that can be taken in other counties.

This year Jerod was able to score on a nice doe on our hunting club property.  We had just got into the woods and this doe along with another jumped up in front of us.  Jerod connected but I didn't.  Here is Jerod with a big grin.  He was finally able to connect with a deer this year!  

Mass production was very good on the club property.  White oaks along with red oaks were very plentiful.  In some parts of the state I heard that mass was spotty, but not on our club property.

A link to the 2008 Hunt 2007 Hunt 2006 Hunt  2005 Hunt  2003 Hunt  2002 Hunt  2001 Hunt  Over the Years Hunt

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