Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

Benjamin Disraeli was a 19th century prime minister in the United Kingdom. I know I have never seen a hunting article begin with his name. I am likewise sure that this particular politician never went deer hunting in West Virginia. However, the British gentleman did offer up a very famous quote that's worth repeating. "There are three types of lies: lies, dammed lies, and statistics."

Statistics, of course, can be twisted to mean just about anything. However, I do believe that there is at least one statistic regarding deer hunting in West Virginia that means a great deal. That is the kill per square mile of habitat tool used by Division of Natural Resources (DNR) biologists and game managers.

This statement may go against the proverbial grain of what many hunters often perceive as the counties that are the best destinations. After all, the first statistic that we typically consult is the overall kill for the individual counties. Sometimes the list of the top 10 harvest counties can, of course, provide some very useful information. Other times, however, that same chart may only reflect that those counties are large in size and have large deer tallies, when, in fact, they may be only average places to hunt.

Of course, a host of other factors besides overall harvest or even kill per square mile should be considered before a West Virginia county is selected as a hunting destination. For instance, a county may contain few, if any, public land destinations. Or, a county may possess WMAs, state forest or national forest land, but may not have sizable deer populations.

Another negative might be that a county features large tracts of land under lease, thus practically eliminating hunters from having a place to go afield. Or, a county, for whatever reason, might have many landowners who prefer to hunt themselves and just don't want others on their properties.

With all this in mind, I asked West Virginia DNR biologist Gary Sharp about what is the best indicator of whether a county may be a promising place to bowhunt.

"The deer kill per square mile of habitat statistic is a very good one for West Virginia hunters to consider," he said. "It is typically a much more accurate basis for determining a county's deer-hunting potential than the overall harvest figure is. When the DNR comes up with the kill per square mile listing, we factor out such things as municipalities and roads. The acreage that is left will typically have the potential to harbor deer."

Sharp lists Kanawha County as a good example of a county that's overall harvest figures tell relatively little about the domain's status as a deer-hunting destination. The largest city in the county is obviously Charleston. This city and the area it encompasses, as well as the suburbs that surround it, cover quite a bit of real estate. Under the kill per square mile stat of the DNR, all of this acreage is factored out of the equation.

Kanawha is also a fairly large county, so it annually will typically account for more whitetails tagged than other nearby, albeit smaller, counties. However, that does not necessarily mean that Kanawha would be a better county to bowhunt in, the biologist explained.

Sharp added that Kanawha is also a county that typically even has different regulations within its boundaries. For example, the section north of the Elk River and west of Corridor G often has fairly liberal antlerless regulations, while the section south of the Elk River and east of Corridor G, often has very conservative regulations.

The counties that border those two sections of Kanawha reflect that difference, Sharp explained. To its north, Jackson and Putnam counties often sport fairly liberal antlerless regulations and have considerable deer herds. Conversely, to the south of Kanawha lie four counties (Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming) that have some of the lowest deer populations in the entire Mountain State.

"The difference in the number of deer north of Kanawha County and south of it are like the difference in night and day," Sharp said. "That's one of the reasons why we split the county in terms of antlerless deer hunting."

With all this in mind, Sharp was asked to select one county per district where the deer kill per square mile of habitat would make it a great destination for bowhunting this fall. Also, Sharp was requested to give some public land options, if possible, for that county.

DISTRICT I: OHIO COUNTY
Sharp had a ready answer when I asked him which county would be a great destination in District I.

Of course, a host of other factors besides overall harvest or even kill per square mile should be considered before a West

Virginia county is selected as a hunting destination.