By Bruce Ingram
Photos by Meghan Marchetti/DWR
Last year, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) initiated some major deer season changes with September firearms antlerless seasons in certain counties and also increased deer hunting opportunities in Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Disease Management Areas (DMA). Justin Folks, DWR deer project leader, gave an update.
“I would say that the new seasons were successful,” Folks said. “Basically, any additional antlerless deer harvested is a good thing when the DWR’s objective is to help manage the herd in places like Bedford County and Northern Virginia and slow the spread of CWD in the DMAs.
“Also, the new seasons are good for the hunters when it comes to Earn-A-Buck. They can tag their antlerless deer early and get that out of way, plus put venison in the freezer. And it’s also good for hunters in that fewer does can make the rut more intense come November,” Folks continued. “It’s positive for the bucks because there will be less competition for food while also improving the overall health of a local herd.”
Folks added that hunters who want to hunt this September in the DMAs should plan now on how their deer will be processed. Hunters should reach out to local processers in September to see if they will be open. If individuals cannot locate a processor, they should be prepared to butcher their own deer. Videos on doing so are available on YouTube, for example, and the DWR offers deer processing workshops.
Hunters should also be aware that if they need to transport their harvest out of a DMA, they will have to quarter their animal or debone the meat and properly dispose of the head and spinal cord within the DMA before returning home. Individuals can also consider donating their antlerless deer to organizations such as Virginia’s Hunters for the Hungry.
Folks is regularly in touch with agency deer biologists in other states, some of whom are dealing with far worse situations when it comes to CWD, providing a reality check with what we want to avoid.
“In West Virginia’s Hampshire County, for example, the CWD prevalence rate in their core area is about 40 percent,” he said. “Current research utilizing GPS-collared deer is showing the primary cause of deer deaths there is CWD. More deer there are dying from CWD than by hunters, vehicle collisions, or predation. In Arkansas, research is suggesting that deer herds in their worst CWD area are declining with only a 15 percent hunter harvest rate.
“I had a West Virginia biologist tell me that one mature doe that was collared in their study died from CWD and weighed only about 60 pounds, fully intact. The animal’s vertebrae had worn holes in the hide,” Folks relayed. “CWD is not just some fake disease. It’s real, it’s here, and we need to do everything we can to slow the spread.”
Folks concluded by stating that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is still recommending that humans not consume venison from whitetails that are CWD positive. Keep hunting and get your deer tested if you are in a DMA. DWR offers free replacement doe tags if you harvest a CWD-positive deer.
County Harvests
From September 2 to October 6, 2023 (excluding youth weekend), here are the totals of deer taken in the counties with the September antlerless-only firearms season (includes all legal weapons used, not just rifles).
Bedford County 83
Carroll County 47
Clarke County 19
Culpeper County 22
Fairfax County 65
Fauquier County 30
Floyd County 37
Frederick County 37
Loudoun County 83
Madison County 22
Montgomery County 38
Orange County 20
Page County 25
Prince William County 27
Pulaski County 23
Rappahannock County 9
Shenandoah County 46
Warren County 26
York County 7
