West Virginia Wildlife from Eyewitness News

Dollars and Bucks

Buck season means big bucks for WV's economy.

November 21, 2007
Reporter: Patrick McMurtry
Videographer: Brad Rice

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And you can bet those folks are busy. Thousands of hunters will be bringing their bucks in for tags, processing and mounting. Many of them come in from out of state and before they leave, their wallets are a little lighter. People like michael deschaine and tony ness come make buck season a yearly tradition

Michael Deschaine/Ft. Meyers says:
"Every year, have been for 12 years now. We love to deer hunt, love to get out in the woods, get a break. I'm a business owner in Ft. Meyers and my month of stress relief is out in the woods."

Their stress relief translates into a big economic boost for the state. The 375 thousand hunters will pump nearly $300 million dollars into west virginia's economy. You don't have to tell that to tony and michael.

Tony Ness/Ft. Meyers says:
"We probably spend anywhere upwards of 2-3 thousand dollars, if not more."

Michael Deschaine/Ft. Meyers says
"We drop a lot of money and it's not so much that we have to spend a lot of money, but we get into it. We buy new stands, we buy a lot of stuff, we pay to have our deer cut up instead of doing it ourselves, food, a lot of expenses."

Buck season keeps a lot of businesses open, and like sorrell's, it makes a nice boost in the family income right before the holidays. Without buck season, places like spring hill rod and gun would have a lot less money coming in.

Kelly Kessel/Spring Hill Rod and Gun says:
"It's our biggest time of the year. We sell the majority of our guns and ammunition at that time of year. There's more people in the store and it means they're gonna buy more stuff.

"That's our Christmas, pretty much."

And with buck hunting in almost every county in the state, you can bet the early holiday cheer is spread out even in the most rural areas. For west virginia wildlife, i'm patrick mcmurtry out in the woods with my son quinn spending my paycheck on buck hunting.

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W. Va. DNR

MORE WILDLIFE NEWS

WCHS-TV8 Online brings you the current Fishing and Stream Conditions Report updated every week.

Hunting Report updated every week in season.

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