Buck Season

I was reminded by multiple shots at sunrise that deer season opens today in West Virginia. According to the Associated Press, 320,000 hunters are expected to look for the elusive bucks between now and December 1. Last year 65,000+ bucks where harvested here in WV.

Buck season is a cultural phenomena here in the Appalachians. Both West Virginia and Pennsylvania have a school holiday (or 2) the beginning of buck season. Hunters in blaze orange and camo are cruising country roads in pickups, often with a 4 wheeler (ATV to you city folks) in the back. Some people have been hunting for months as they start scouting in the fall. Then they hunt bucks and does during bow season, then comes buck gun season, followed by doe gun season, followed by muzzleloader season. All this hunting pushes the deer around constantly. Often they run aimlessly out into the middle of the road-- and boom "grilled venison".

For me, hunting is a chance to mindfully listen and observe. I have harvested deer, but my luck has been poor lately. It is just as enjoyable for me to walk quietly through the woods. I see so much when I get off the trail. For the best venison, harvest a young doe. Not as "manly", but much tastier.