What are Ballard's chances of scoring another wallhanger? Not as good as they should be, biologist Thorne said.

"Biologically speaking, the deer population in these four counties shouldn't be declining. According to all the accepted biological models, deer populations managed for bowhunting only should continue to expand not decline. Yet the numbers show that our population is declining."

According to three sources -- the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources' (DNR) periodic spotlight survey, its annual bowhunter survey and its yearly deer-harvest figures -- the overall deer population in Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming counties has decreased each of the last two seasons.

Thorn believes coyotes, illegal poaching, free-roaming dogs, hunting regulations changes and mast shortages are some of the factors contributing to the problem.

"All those factors are additive," he explained. "Individually, they probably don't make a difference. Together, they result in enough deer mortality to reduce the population."

Hunters throughout the state have long believed that coyotes are wreaking havoc on whitetail numbers. While Thorn admits that coyotes are a problem, he said they're not the bogeymen they're considered to be.

"They're opportunists," he explained. "They'll take fawns when they can, and they'll take adults when they can. At the time of year when does are bearing fawns, the coyotes will be running the does. They'll get some of them, too. But I don't think coyotes are doing the damage that's being attributed to them."

A recent Pennsylvania study revealed that black bears kill as many deer as coyotes do. Southern West Virginia has a burgeoning bear population, but neither Thorn nor Ballard believes bears have been a major factor in recent whitetail losses.

"I don't think there are enough bears in the area to have that kind of impact," Ballard said. "If there were, you wouldn't see the number of does and smaller bucks that you do."

Instead, Ballard blames the decline on poaching.

"That's our big problem," he said. "When poachers take bucks, they take the big ones. Over the years of working in Logan and Mingo counties, we've easily confiscated 100 Pope and Young-class bucks. You know that's not one-tenth of what's been killed. The population just can't sustain that type of kill and continue to produce trophies at the rate it once did."

Though Thorn agrees that poaching -- a practice that dates back to the days when the area's coal miners routinely fed their families by taking deer out of season -- continues to be a region-wide problem, he dismisses the idea that it's the main culprit. "I don't know that the problem is any worse nowadays than it has been historically, but with the other factors added on, it's problem enough," he said.