I'll be down for the opener Monday. Hoping to get some venison for my sister down there. She likes it,but doesn't hunt. Nuttin like combining a visit with some deer hunting. I'll only be there a couple days,so maybe luck will smile on me. Any other fire members headed out for the rifle opener?

Me, at least. I ground up the next-to-last pack of venison yesterday and had a couple of burgers. Got to fill that freezer up again.

It's going to be about 25 or so Monday morning; just about perfect.

Good luck.

Yeah,the weather looks pretty good for the first couple days. I'm looking forward to some different scenery.

My sons have been hunting in nearby Warren County, VA and not much has been moving. Yesterday, however, the older one rattled in a nice 8-point and broke the ice. He came stomping in with fire in his eyes, looking for a fight, so I guess the rut is finally/still on.

I hunted Adams County, PA for many years up until 1994. It used to be Pheasant Heaven in the '60s and up until the early '80s when the farming practices changed. Pretty much put and take now, I think. We had a good run though. Did real well on deer on a friend's farm just outside of Gettysburg too.

I'm driving up tomorrow to Monroe County. Weather's looking great for the opener. Good luck fellas.

Sis lives up Volga way. Due to her limited space,I'll be camped in town (Buckhannon). Planning on hunting south of there about 30 miles.

I'll be in Hampshire County setting up "camp" Sunday. Hunting two weeks straight. First week we hunt as a club and put on large scale organized deer drives. Second week we have only 4-6 hunters so we work smaller tracks that hadn't been pushed the week before. Watching fields in the evenings.

As a club we generally lay em down pretty good.

Sounds like a hoot. I miss the old school drives. Since the family has aged and gotten smaller,we don't do drives anymore. Pretty cool woodson.

Hunting Randolph County again. I had to scout a new area this year. I lost my private land arrangement and had 2 or 3 weeks to find a new area. The old place was getting cramped so.... Last I looked the forecast was for 16* Monday morning with clear weather. Looking forward to being out again. Have a great day out there guys.
Just checked, now they're saying 13* - a bit nippy.

Best of luck to you guys in WV... I used to do a lot of hunting there in the 90' and early years of this century..
Had some great times there and killed a pile of deer.. The areas we hunted are mostly subdivided now.. Some of my old friends are gone and others too old to chase any more..

13? That's getting pretty close to cold for us Eastern types. The deer ought to be on the move looking for sunshine though.

My late brother and I once endured a really windy 10* day in PA in hopes of hanging a doe. Easily the most miserable day I've ever spent afield. Never saw a hair.

Pappy, year before last it was 8* up here opening day. Thankfully there was no wind. The rut has been spotty so far so maybe colder temps will help kick things in.

We hunted nearby in Mineral County from '94 to 2011. Lots of deer, if a bit small, and plenty of bucks too. Both my sons killed their first deer there. My friend sold his land, and while he still lives on the property as part of the sales contract, the new owner decided to restrict the hunting to his family. Now I'm hunting public land close to home, which is okay, but I do miss the camp-like atmosphere we had staying at my friend's place.

Then again, after hunting all day, taking a hot shower and crawling into your own bed with your own woman after a good meal ain't so bad.

Heading to Jackson county (Staats Mills) after church and Sunday school. Good luck to all and safe hunting. I've hunted in Lewis, Ritchie, and counties.

I'm in Central WV and will be hunting here all week. Here, the rut and season opener are about as good as it gets. The bucks just started chasing within the last week.

It's been a good morning here so far, I've seen my first snow flurries of the year and a 120 class buck was bedded in the meadow behind the house this morning; for those that will laugh, it only takes a 130 class buck to make the WV Hall of Fame, lol.

Good luck to all you West By God Virginny ridge runners. The guys in the camp next to us up in Pennsylvania were from West Virginia. Good hunters and great guys, every one. They took their deer up on top of the mountain on a gas line, all at long range. They missed a few, but man, did they take some deer on some impressive shots. The two guys that went up there carried sporterized Springfields that they handloaded for. They made a couple kills up there at well over 300 yards. Sadly, they're all gone now, and the camp has changed hands. All our original guys are gone too.

Good luck boys. May the wind be in your face, the sun at your back, and a big buck coming down the trail.

I don't see that sort of sophisticated weaponry around here; mostly Marlins, 742s and the like. Couple years back one young feller was packing a scoped SKS complete with bayonet.

Off to finish up my last-minute prep for the morning. Good luck to all and stay safe.

I just got the truck loaded up, getting read your on head Tom edit and wake up early! I'll be in Marshall County tomorrow morning, I saw some real nice bucks down there during archery season, I'm hoping one of them shows themselves in the morning- although I won't pass up a shot at a doe tomorrow, either...it was a long archery season for me!

Ready to turn in. Have a great day guys.
BTW no antlerless in Randolph this year unless you won in a small lottery. Oh well

Well? How'd everyone do? It was coolllldd when I got out of the truck this morning, but the deer were moving- I think I saw a total of 10 does, and 3 bucks- the last one I killed, I'll try to post a picture below. Seemed like there were a lot of guys in the woods today, but not too many deer got killed, though. I actually killed this one a little after 8, had it gutted and a drag on it by 8:30...got it back to the truck at 3:10! It was one death drag, but well worth it!

Darn file was too big to add the picture! I'll work on getting that up later.

348, My best hunting pal in W Va. was a real gun man.. He had everything from .22's to a .458.. He killed deer qwith most of them!!!

Not sure where Justin was hunting but our corner of Heaven was spooky quiet. It was cold, the stars were beautiful and we didn't even see a dink. We heard only four shots within miles all day. Very unusual for the area we hunt.

Hey old Rooster. I was out for a look see tues afternoon. Tired of staring at the same holler for 2 days,lol. Went over into Randolph county a little ways. It's amazing how different it is compared to Upshur where I was hunting. Things really open up down there. Pretty cool actually. Up where I was it's quite a bit like up home here. Deep steep hollers with laurel and such. Lots of cover.

Talk about frustrating! It was just me and my daughter hunting. Drives were out of the question. A deer here,a deer there. I passed one small buck in hopes Meg would get a crack at it. She had a couple close calls with a couple does,but no venison. 15 mins after dark they came out of the wood work. Just like here. There were deer there,just not standing around looking to get killed,lol. If I ever take a road trip that I don't have a full moon to deal with I'd be a happy camper. Every time I head out elk hunting we have a full moon that week. Head down to W.Va for deer hunting,full moon again. I think if it had been dark of the moon it would have been a hoot. Quality time together with a young one is never a bad thing.

Talked to a couple fellers at the motel that were similarly blessed. One saw no bucks,the other saw a dink. I still say that big moon was to blame. The small buck I passed was working a scrape. I do believe there were remnants of the rut in play. A few fellas in our area did score on nice bucks.

Oscar6 - I'll be the first to confess that I don't have a clue as to what's going on. Randolph is always productive but not this year. The scrape lines I've seen haven't been touched in days, no rubs, etc, and it's still quiet today.

I shot this 10 pt Monday at my farm in Jackson Co.

Beautiful!

Hell yes! That'll do. Nice buck DeerJohn2.

DeereJohn, what year is your Savage 99? Maybe I need to change to my 1950-something JC Higgins for tomorrow. I bought it here on the Fire last month. Heavy trigger (monster) but wickedly accurate. Maybe my mojo will get workin'.

It's a 51 eg in 250-3000..I don't know when Dad got it but it was always around..It's got a real lite trigger..I shoot 87 gr Hot-cors...Im sure it was already drilled,and tapped,and padded before Dad got it,and that kills the collector value,but it has sentimental value to me,and what it lacks in size it makes up for in accuracy

Here's the one I got on Monday- I was very pleased when he stepped out in front of me! Public land mountain bucks don't normally look like this one!

I saw a buck chasing a doe today, right beside the road. He seemed pretty sure the rut is still on.

I've hunted two half days, popped a doe on Tuesday that showed up while I was removing a layer for my walk out. 30 foot offhand shot. While packing her out, I ran into a young man that was tracking a 6-point he had hit high from above. I tried to help him out a bit, but as usual with that shot placement, the trail was petering out.

Congrats, Justin and John. You can relax a bit now, I believe.

Great buck Justin. Nice!

8 point I took opening day.

Group shot of the club on opening day.

Black Bear one of our members took on one of our mountain drives.

Nice buck and pictures!

Thanks, guys- I was a lot more excited than I look in that picture, it was the best smile I could muster after dragging that deer for 7 (yes, seven!!!) hours! It was wayyyy back from the roads and all uphill. I earned that one, and looks like I'll be heading for the same deal on Saturday!

Good luck to you. Hope to see more big buck pics.

As it turns out,a big buck we saw at the gas station in Buckhannon may topple the record for W.Va. Had to be the same deer. I've never seen tine length like that. I guess I should have tried a little harder to get over to the truck and get a better look. Not every day you get to see a record buck up close. Damn! Smoker of a whitetail no matter where you hunt.

http://wvmetronews.com/2015/11/27/upshur-buck-will-rival-record/

Sheesh! That is one monster buck!