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DNR posts 2025 harvest figures and unveils 2026–27 hunting and 2027 fishing proposals for public comment
Summary
The Division presented 2025 harvest data and proposals for 2026–27 hunting and 2027–28 trapping/fishing rules (bear seasons, antlerless seasons, muskets in select seasons, river otter bag limits, smallmouth bass protections). House Bill 4176 (youth/handicap buck language) was discussed; the Division will seek public comment through early April.
At its March 12 meeting the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources presented final 2025 big-game harvest figures and a slate of draft regulatory recommendations that the division will send to sectional public meetings and open for comment.
Deputy Director Wendy Green summarized recent legislative activity affecting the agency, including Senate Bills 84, 200 and 374 and three recent bills and resolutions related to upland stamps and fee indexing. On pending legislation she highlighted House Bill 4176, a bill intended to clarify language so the commission can consider allowing youth and handicapped hunters to harvest an antlered buck during a special youth/Class Q hunt without unintentionally extending privileges to tens of thousands of other lifetime license holders.
Dr. Chris Ryan presented harvest highlights for 2025 and repeatedly emphasized the role of mast crops in hunter success: “When you have that big acorn production, it has a big impact on all the harvest,” he said. Key 2025 figures presented by DNR included 33,823 bucks harvested, 25,453 antlerless deer, 12,225 traditional bow harvests and 17,429 crossbow harvests, yielding a statewide average of roughly 4.03 deer per square mile. Spring turkey harvest was about 10,694 and fall turkey about 5,539, near averages.
Steve Ralph outlined the Division’s recommendations that will be presented for public comment (deadline April 3) and discussed at sectional meetings March 17–18. Major items include:
• Proposed 2026 black bear seasons and county-level recommendations (tabbed materials). • Proposed 2026 antlerless deer seasons for private and public lands (separate tables for each). • A targeted allowance for percussion/side‑lock or flintlock rifles and pistols to hunt bear and wild turkey (but not deer) during the Mountaineer Heritage (January) season in four southern counties — Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming — while maintaining deer-only restrictions to long- and recurve bows for those southern bow-only counties. • Proposed increases in the river otter bag and possession limit to two for the 2027–28 seasons, based on recent otter research. • Proposed changes to black bass slot limits on the Greenbrier and New rivers to apply only to smallmouth bass, excluding largemouth and spotted bass, as a preemptive measure against Alabama bass spread.
Ralph emphasized these are proposals, not final actions, and will be refined after public comment. He also presented a clerical correction: porcupine status listed as "no open season".
On the legislative side, Deputy Director Green explained the effect of HB4176: current code language would have required extending some privileges to a large class of lifetime license holders; HB4176 seeks to fix that so the commission can consider a narrowly tailored youth buck privilege without unintended expansion to 70,000 lifetime licensees. Ralph asked commissioners their opinion on whether they favor allowing youth/Class Q hunters to take one antlered buck during the special youth split season with stated conditions; the request was advisory and dependent on legislative action.
Next steps: draft proposals will be presented at the sectional public meetings on March 17–18 and will remain open for written comment through April 3. The commission has tentatively scheduled a second-quarter meeting for April 30, 2026 to consider final action.
