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Donna Race | profile | all galleries >> West Virginia ~ Whitetail Deer >> WV Whitetail Deer Diaries ~ Fall 2005 >> Surviving Deer Hunting Season in WV ~ A Journal tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Surviving Deer Hunting Season in WV ~ A Journal

The WV gun hunting season for deer this year is: Bucks 11/21-12/03; Antlerless 11/21-12/10 and 12/28-12/31, Muzzleloading 12/12-12/17 (both sexes), all dates exclude Sundays. We don't hunt, nor do we permit hunting on our property...but have no control over how far the deer we have been feeding roam.
~Addendum...today (11/25) I reviewed deer shots taken since 2003 and none of them were taken during hunting season. It was January before we saw any deer during our first two winters, 2001-2002. Perhaps the deer change their habits during this time, browsing only very early or very late with most of their daylight time spent in the more inaccessible parts of our hollow.~

The most recent images are uploaded to the top of the gallery, please scroll down to see the beginning...11/21.


......12/20 Queenie, Her Fawn, and Precious. She is still favoring her right leg, but I can't see anything wrong in the close-up.
......12/19 The majority of the hunting season is over now, the does (MeeMaw, Queenie, and Cleo) and the fawns are still around, but until today most have only been coming at night. Still no sign of the "boys". Most of the snow has melted, the hollow has a frozen, colorless look especially with the lighting after 4pm, but I tried anyway. :) [6 images]
......12/11 Introducing our new fawn who showed up with Cleo. We had lots of doe and fawn activity today, from morning to evening(at least 7 after dark)...6 daylight images.
......12/10 Still no sign of Spikey, but I have hope,on 12/5 a neighbor saw a 6 pt buck on the other side of the hill. Recent pics were taken 12/06, the deer have been coming late again.
......12/04 Queenie came earlier today...I was really happy to see her since she has been limping lately.
......12/02 Precious and the Fawn showed up at the feeder, then Big Mama, or MeeMaw as Frank calls her, appeared and rather urgently led them up the hill across the pond.
......11/30 The deer are coming much later and are very skittish. Today we had at least six (it was dark by the time they all arrived). At first there were three; then the others arrived.
......11/28 Introducing Cleo, first we've seen her this year. She showed up with Precious...see the resemblance? ::Click here for a shot of Cleo taken in Jan::
......11/27 Queenie (still limping, look at the picture, she seems to have a wound on her upper right front leg which was not there before yesterday) and her fawn. No sign of the others, but the feed dish is always empty in the AM.
......11/26 The only deer I saw today were Queenie (who appeared to be limping) and her Fawn...I only took one picture.
......11/25 Queenie, her Fawn, Precious...and a spikehorn (probably one of the nubbins from last year). I think my theory is correct, at least four came to feed about 9:30 PM, including MeeMaw. It was very hard to see them all, but I don't believe Spikey was here.
......11/24 Queenie and her Fawn showed up, it was 1/2 hour later than Precious showed up yesterday and getting very dark. No sign of Spikey since the 22nd. :(
......11/23 Snow! What a difference a day makes, Precious showed up alone before dark, after dark there were at least 5 deer here but it was too dark to identify or photograph them.
......11/22 Rain, sleet, and some snow, but Spikey showed up for lunch today, wet, but alive and hungry.
......11/21 Spikey showed up for breakfast this morning, we added oats to the corn, they seem to love it! He also came for dinner twice later on, at dusk and when it was dark. :) He has apparently finished the rut since he has been showing up regularly the last two days (11/20-11/21). Yesterday he was with Precious, the yearling, for the first time in about a month. Pictures of the two of them can be seen ::here::
Close-up of Queenie's Feet12-20-2005
Close-up of Queenie's Feet
12-20-2005
Queenie, her Fawn, and Precious (by the creek)12-20-2005
Queenie, her Fawn, and Precious (by the creek)
12-20-2005
Queenie, favoring her leg12-20-2005
Queenie, favoring her leg
12-20-2005
Cleo's Fawn12-19-2005
Cleo's Fawn
12-19-2005
Cleo and her Fawn12-19-2005
Cleo and her Fawn
12-19-2005
Precious12-19-2005
Precious
12-19-2005
Three Generations of CleoCleo, Fawn, Precious12-19-2005
Three Generations of Cleo
Cleo, Fawn, Precious

12-19-2005
Cleo12-19-2005
Cleo
12-19-2005
Precious12-19-2005
Precious
12-19-2005
Cleo...looking back-a**wards12-11-2005
Cleo...looking back-a**wards
12-11-2005
Cleo and the fawnSee the resemblance?12-11-2005
Cleo and the fawn
See the resemblance?

12-11-2005
The New FawnNotice how large it's tail is!12-11-2005
The New Fawn
Notice how large it's tail is!

12-11-2005
The New Fawn again12-11-2005
The New Fawn again
12-11-2005
Queenie's Fawn in the Snow12-11-2005
Queenie's Fawn in the Snow
12-11-2005
Queenie in the Snow12-11-2005
Queenie in the Snow
12-11-2005
Precious12-06-2005
Precious
12-06-2005
The Happy 3, Queenie, Fawn, Precious12-06-2005
The Happy 3, Queenie, Fawn, Precious
12-06-2005
Queenie and Fawn
Queenie and Fawn
Queenie in the Afternoon12-04-2005
Queenie in the Afternoon
12-04-2005
Queenie12-04-2005
Queenie
12-04-2005
Leaving...12-04-2005
Leaving...
12-04-2005
MeeMaw Leading the others up the hill12-02-2005
MeeMaw Leading the others up the hill
12-02-2005
Mee Maw...see her beauty mark?12-02-2005
Mee Maw...see her beauty mark?
12-02-2005
Mee Maw checking things out12-02-2005
Mee Maw checking things out
12-02-2005
Precious12-02-2005
Precious
12-02-2005
The Fawn12-02-2005
The Fawn
12-02-2005
Mee Maw, coming to collect the youngsters12-02-2005
Mee Maw, coming to collect the youngsters
12-02-2005
Watching for the Others11-30-2005
Watching for the Others
11-30-2005
Precious11-30-2005
Precious
11-30-2005
Queenie's Watching for them too!11-30-2005
Queenie's Watching for them too!
11-30-2005
Introducing Cleo11-28-2005
Introducing Cleo
11-28-2005
Precious blending in11-28-2005
Precious blending in
11-28-2005
Cleo approaching11-28-2005
Cleo approaching
11-28-2005
Queenie's Fawn11-27-2005
Queenie's Fawn
11-27-2005
Queenie navigating up the clutter11-27-2005
Queenie navigating up the clutter
11-27-2005
Leaving in step with each other...11-26-2005
Leaving in step with each other...
11-26-2005
The Spikehorn...11-25-2005
The Spikehorn...
11-25-2005
Queenie and her fawn11-25-2005
Queenie and her fawn
11-25-2005
Queenie, her Fawn, and Precious11-25-2005
Queenie, her Fawn, and Precious
11-25-2005
Queenie11-24-2005
Queenie
11-24-2005
The Fawn11-24-2005
The Fawn
11-24-2005
Queenie arriving with her fawn11-24-2005
Queenie arriving with her fawn
11-24-2005
Precious coming for food11-23-2005
Precious coming for food
11-23-2005
Such a dainty little lady11-23-2005
Such a dainty little lady
11-23-2005
Snow in my eye?11-23-2005
Snow in my eye?
11-23-2005
Posing again11-22-2005
Posing again
11-22-2005
Getting started11-22-2005
Getting started
11-22-2005
Enough for now11-22-2005
Enough for now
11-22-2005
Spikey On Watch11-21-2005
Spikey On Watch
11-21-2005
What is this stuff stuck on my nose?11-21-2005
What is this stuff stuck on my nose?
11-21-2005
Heading up the hill11-21-2005
Heading up the hill
11-21-2005