WEST VIRGINIA — A few hundred thousand hunters across West Virginia are heading into the woods this week to take part in one of the state’s most cherished traditions: the opening of buck firearm season during Thanksgiving week.

While overall hunter participation has declined over the past 30 years, the excitement and cultural importance of this annual ritual remain strong. Throughout the Mountain State, coal mines shut down, factories pause operations, and schools close as hunters don their orange gear and slip into familiar stands — many of them passed down through generations.

Some hunters rely on decades of family tradition, returning to the same ridge lines and hollows with memories of fathers and grandfathers. Others spend months patterning deer movements with trail cameras, carefully planning for a chance at a trophy buck on opening morning.

Mast Abundance Expected to Lower Harvest

One major factor shaping the 2025 hunting season is the state’s exceptional acorn crop. The 2025 Mast Survey, published by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR), found hard mast production — especially acorns — was near an all-time high and well above the decade’s average.

White oak acorns are the preferred food source for whitetail deer, and with such abundant mast available, deer have little need to move far in search of food. That can make them more difficult for hunters to pattern.

“We are anticipating lower harvest this year compared to last year and the biggest impact on that is the acorn production,” said Steve Rauch, Assistant Chief for Game at the DNR, in a recent edition of West Virginia Outdoors. “The deer are more spread out this year because of all the acorns. That will impact harvest numbers.”

EHD Outbreak Adds Another Challenge

Hunters in the Mid-Ohio Valley and several central counties are also contending with the aftermath of a sizeable Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) outbreak. The virus, spread by a biting midge, hit in late August and early September and killed hundreds of deer before cooler weather ended the spread.

Rauch said the outbreak will likely have a negative effect on harvest numbers in some areas — largely because many hunters may simply choose not to hunt in counties where EHD sightings circulated widely on social media.

“Where we did have the EHD in the heavier counties, that will have some impact,” Rauch said. “A lot of that probably is due to hunters saying I’m not going to hunt there.”

Despite the losses, DNR officials expect populations to rebound quickly. Unlike Ohio, which reduced bag limits mid-season in response to EHD, West Virginia opted not to alter its regulations.

“Deer numbers are healthy and they’ll bounce back very quickly as deer populations do,” Rauch said. “So there really isn’t a reason to change season bag limits.”

Hunters Urged to Focus on Woodlots

Brett Skelley, the DNR’s Deer Project Leader, echoed that EHD created localized reductions but stopped short of calling the outbreak catastrophic.

“We had a pretty good HD outbreak this year,” Skelley said. “That doesn’t mean all the deer are dead in those areas, but certainly local areas are going to have fewer deer on the landscape than people have traditionally seen.”

He suggested hunters may find better success by shifting away from open fields.

“It’s going to be a little tough this year,” Skelley said. “If they’ve gotten some scouting done and have an idea where some food is, hunting those pinch points, low gaps, or terrain features that funnel deer will probably pay off.”

Buck Season Runs Through December 7

West Virginia’s buck firearm season continues through December 7, with many counties also offering a concurrent antlerless season for hunters holding a Class N stamp. Historically, about 80 percent of bucks harvested during the two-week season are taken in the first three days.