Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting west virginia monongahela national forest Deer hunt

The boys and I are heading down this year, going to make a week of it. Never hunted it before and wondered if any on the fire have and what there thoughts were( hunting pressure, deer numbers, bear sightings, etc..). I’ll be picking up a bear tag too.

MM

Hunted there for 33 years from 1970 till 2003 and have been down twice in the last 10 years. My favorite place to hunt deer and I have hunted in 6 eastern states and Wyoming and Montana. We camped off rt.33 at the intersection of Seneca creek and Whites run. Killed a buck most years and filled double buck tags 4 or 5 times. As far as the deer population down there now I don't know. The mountains are extremely steep with cliffs and rockslides. Saw bears on more than one occasion but never hunted them there. If you don't want to camp out Yokum's in Seneca Rocks is a place to stay. By the way the bucks we shot were not very big for the most part. If Battue notices this he may post the pictures of two very nice bucks his buddies shot in the National Forest. The place I mentioned to camp can be located easily on Google Maps.

I used to hunt that area every year (Dolly Sods and the Spruce Knob areas).....until a few years back when the DEEEEP snow in the mountains put a hurting on the deer population. A couple of bad winters in a row really hurt the deer hunting in my opinion.

Have not been back in about 5 years...........

We're not going out west this fall and I'd like my boys to get some wilderness/mountain type hunting experience. I've hunted the adirondaks and though its fun the deer numbers are the lowest I've seen anywwhere. We'll be in Webster county probably, getting a cabin down there and hunting the surrounding area. Hopefully we get some tracking snow but mostly just like to wander, and there is alot of ground to cover in those mountain.

Hunted there a few times and its a great place to go. I hunt there every November during gun season in the Tucker County portion but have been thinking about going up there earlier for a bow hunt. I have always seen deer and a lot of bear scat but never actually seen a bear in there. If the scat is any indication there are about 50 million bear that live in that area.

Hunting bear and deer at the same time in the mountains sounds good to me. My sister lives in Tucker county but her husband stays close to home when he hunts( they own close to 100 acres) so I’ll be a bit south on a big tract of public land instead of hunting with him. Are the woods pretty dense for the most part or can you see for a ways in that time of year?

MM

It’s a mixture , there are areas of dense bull pines and areas of mountain laurel .
In the bull pines you can find places that you can set on the ground and get 10-50 yd shots .
Mountain laurel , find a good trail and set up on the outskirts .
Then there is the hardwoods that might consist of big timber , white oaks are your friend . But there are hardwoods with a lot of young growth .
Clear cut areas offer good cover for you and deer and are often traveled and bedded .
If you can find these areas bordering farm land , cornfields and soybeans , they are often a honey hole .
Parkersburg to Somerville offers some good territory and lots of it .
Nice bucks killed in that range .
Bear population good too .
People are friendly .
Good luck
Kenneth

Would you say that hunting there is like most places in that once you get 1/2 mile or or so from the road you don’t see many hunters?

MM

In Webster County: no. Timber and gas line roads cut everywhere. People tend to hunt the roads or close to. You're either on a narrow ridgeline or headed straight down a STEEP slope.

I used to be on a timber company lease in Webster County, that is God's country. It's been quite some time ago, but a pilot who flew some executives into the Weyerhaeuser Mill in Braxton County left the airport and crashed in Webster County on his way back to Virginia. It took over a decade before they found his aircraft, his tie and drivers license.

ETA: http://wayoffthetrail.com/index.php/2019/10/04/n28901-wreckage-from-2006/

It's truly a mixed-bag and depends on the tract of land you're hunting. Most of Tucker county has been raped by the timber companies, so it depends on how long ago it was timbered versus how much under-brush you're dealing with. Mountain laurel is thick in that area as well.

You need to get a topographic map of where you are going to hunt, and take a look at the lines..There are places, and more than a few in the Monongahela that are close. Short and long.. Places a Deer or Bear doesn't come out with casual effort..

Haven't been down there in a while..But we did OK for a few years. Then they had bad snow and we stopped going...and some grew weary of sleeping in tents.

If you are OK with seeing few and perhaps crossing paths with something great...It can be a fun hunt...These were both taken perhaps a mile from the nearest dirt road...And the dirt road was probably 15 from the nearest asphalt..It coiled around those holes like a never ending snake. The Monongahela gives up little to the Western Mountains...and in places nothing.








If you get in the middle of a bad snow storm and are far in...Don't hesitate to leave early.

Some places in the Mon and adjoining GWNF aren't too steep if you're following an old railroad grade. I haven't been over on the Mon during hunting season much in the last few years, but on the VA side you just don't see the vehicles you used to.

Thanks for the insights boys, we’re really looking forward to it .

God Bless,

MM

I hunted in 1993/94 near the Falls of Hills creek with some really good hunters from NJ. Deer sign was everywhere and so were the bears. I went back in 2021 for deer rifle and was amazed at the lack of sign. I saw one doe and a small buck from a distance. May try again I also noticed almost no trucks parked along side the road and the National Campground had one other camper besides me.

Well, MM, how did it go?

Those are some hammer bucks.

I hunted WV a lot in the 90's. I loved it. I really considered moving there when I quit working. But the area we hunted was sold off into subdivisions. Now there is little place to hunt. What is left is leased. Sad.

Is this hunt played out or could there still be good opportunities for those willing to put in work? I’ve never thought about WV being a reasonably new Vermonter & mostly unfamiliar with Eastern venues, it would be nice to get back into the steep & gnarly.

What about the Green Mountain National Forest?

Played out. Deer numbers overall are very low per sq/mi except in the Champlain Islands. Great hiking & skiing though!