Also, as the district biologist informed, a unit of the Monongahela National Forest lies partially within the county. Nicholas shares the Cranberry WMA (158,147 acres) with Webster, Pocahontas and Greenbrier counties. The elevation ranges from 1,900 to 4,600 feet, but from my experience, there seems to be a lot more of the latter elevations than the former. Deer can be difficult to pattern in this public land.

DISTRICT IV
Greenbrier County is the traditional bow season leader in District IV, which encompasses southern West Virginia. In fact, Greenbrier has led the region for the past five years with the harvests as follows: 2001 (997), 2002 (1,280), 2003 (1,009), 2004 (722) and 2005 (651). District biologist Larry Berry offered an interesting choice as a pick for a county that hasn't received much press lately.

"I would pick Fayette County," Berry said. "This county did not have an antlerless deer season in 2005. The buck kill has dropped, but that decrease may be due to abundant acorn production and a drop in hunting pressure. Fayette has remote habitat along the New River and available hunting in the New River Gorge, and it should have more 2 1/2- and 3 1/2- year-old bucks available in 2006. Fayette County does not have a high deer population."

Fayette certainly is not among the leaders in the bow harvest, as its 460 animals checked in last year only resulted in a fifth place ranking out of the eight counties in the region. For the previous four years, the totals are: 2001 (884), 2002 (1,119), 2003 (911) and 2004 (616).

An intriguing public-land possibility is the Beury Mountain WMA (3,061 acres). The public land borders an obvious deer sanctuary in the form of Babcock State Park. Beury features a number of steep mountainsides as well as mountain rills, which are part of the New River drainage. The proximity of the state park also gives sportsmen a really nice place to spend the night.

DISTRICT V
The far western part of the Mountain State falls within the parameters of District V. The traditional bowhunting harvest leader has been Mason County, which has paced the region for each of the past five years with the following totals: 2001 (1,063), 2002 (842), 2003 (723), 2004 (767) and 2005 (800).

For an underrated area in this region, veteran District V biologist Tom Dotson lists Wayne County. Wayne actually finished only sixth out of nine counties last year with a harvest of 270, proving once again that total harvest figures don't necessarily mean everything concerning a particular county's potential. For the previous four years, the tallies are: 2001 (467), 2002 (422), 2003 (406) and 2004 (348).

Two of the reasons Dotson recommends this county are the presence of Beech Fork (7,531 acres) and East Lynn (22,928 acres) WMAs. Beech Fork, which Wayne shares with Cabell County, lies outside of Huntington. The majority of the topography is quite steep and heavily populated by oaks, hickories and pines. A real plus is the presence of a major campground on the site of the namesake lake.