Mammals of Southwest Virginia

White Tailed Deer I have seen many white tailed deer in my time spent hunting, while I was also gathering information for this project. The most significant deer that we have recorded this hunting season were a ten point buck, and a ten year old doe. Average age for a deer is about two and a half years, so that’s pretty amazing.

Elk Elk are native to Virginia but disappeared about a hundred and fifty years ago. In Wise County, some have migrated from Kentucky, and my grandpa captured pictures of a few bulls and some cows with his trail camera.

Squirrel I have observed many, many squirrels this fall. Every time I have hunted I have seen at least one. Both gray squirrels and fox squirrels have an abundant population in Atkins, Virginia.

Bobcat While I hunted this fall, I saw one bobcat in October. That does not mean that the population is decreasing, it means that I don’t hunt at the same time and place they do.

Rabbit I’ve seen many rabbits running around in the tall grasses and brush piles. They are certainly not endangered, and most likely never will be.

Coyote We have heard coyotes almost every time we have gone into the woods to hunt in the evening.

Black Bear There are many bears in Southwest Virginia. If you want to set up a trail camera in Virginia, you have to make a metal box to put it in so the bears don’t destroy them out of curiosity. I have seen one in the past two years, and my dad and friend saw one in October. A bear climbed up one of our tree stand’s ladder and shredded our seat cushion, leaving a claw mark in the part it didn’t destroy.