MORGANTOWN – 15 years. 15,000 pounds of donated meat. 0 safety incidents.
For organizer Rick Bebout, those numbers tell the tale of the Morgantown Urban Archery Deer Hunt, and support his claim that it’s “the best volunteer-based program the city has.”
This year’s hunt, which ran from Sept. 6 – Dec.31 before opening back up from Jan. 12-31, saw a total of 125 deer harvested, 25 of which were antlered bucks.
While that’s down a touch from the 142 deer taken in 2023-’24 and the 143 harvested in 2024-’25 – both record highs – it still marks the fourth highest total in the hunt’s 15-year history.
The 90 or so hunters who participated donated exactly 1,300 pounds of ground venison to food banks and feeding programs throughout the community.
All told, the program has seen 1,539 deer taken off property within Morgantown’s footprint since it was initiated by the city as an effort to reduce the deer population in the urban area. In that time, more than 15,800 pounds of venison has been donated.
“I think it’s most important in those 15 years, if I look back at it, that the two things that I’m really proud of, number one, we’ve really built an incredible base of supporters and partners through this program,’ Bebout said. “The other thing is, if you go back to when we first started, safety was a big concern. In 15 years, we’ve maintained a perfect safety record. That’s something I’m really pleased with … We’ve built a really nice trust with the citizens of Morgantown by being safe and doing things the right way, but also through the food donation, which is super impactful within our community.”
The most recent hunt saw deer taken off 28 properties, with the largest totals coming from the WVU Agronomy Farm (14) and WVU Dairy Farm (13). WVU’s Core Arboretum and BOPARC’s White Park were next on the list with nine each.
All told, 18 deer were harvested on BOPARC property, including three each at Krepps Park, Marilla Park and White Park.
A total of 55 deer were removed from WVU property.
Other hot spots included the Deckers Creek site in Sabraton (8), Braddock Street (6), Southpoint Circle (6), Norwood (5) and the city’s airport property (4).
Bebout said hunters assisted the WV Department of Natural Resources in tracking down individuals involved in two deer poaching cases.
He also said hunters are dealing with an increasing amount of theft in recent years, including one incident this season that saw a hunting blind and other gear taken off a site in Sabraton.
“That goes hand in hand with some of the problems that Morgantown has been dealing with. It’s really not a surprise. We’re in a lot of the same areas where those problems occur – these little woodlots and parks and things like that,” Bebout said. “I say this all the time. We’re the eyes and ears when our folks are out there. We have almost 100 hunters, so that’s a lot of extra eyes and ears.”
Running concurrently with the Morgantown hunt, the city of Westover recently concluded its second urban archery program.
Mayor Bob Lucci said there were a total of 17 deer taken, including two bucks. Of those, nine were donated to Hunters Help the Hungry or given directly to families in need.
In its first two years, the Westover hunt has resulted in 30 deer harvested, 14 of which were donated.
