Interesting article I found on the VA dept. site... they say it was due to an increase in doe kills in the past and the hard winter we had in '09... I'm West of the Blue Ridge also... Deer kill levels were down across all of Virginia and showed a significant declining trend from east to west. In Tidewater, the deer kill was down 3%, the Southern Piedmont and Northern Piedmont were down 14% and 19% respectively. The largest declines were seen West of the Blue Ridge where Southern Mountain and Northern Mountain deer kill totals were down 28% and 20% respectively. The combined West of the Blue Ridge deer kill total was down 24% and represents the lowest total deer kill in this area in over 20 years. Archers, not including crossbow hunters, killed 15,579 deer. The bow kill comprised 7% of the total deer kill. The 2010 archery deer kill was down 10% from 2009.
