Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting ATTN VA DEER HUNTERS!

Any time someone from PA starts whining about deer management, I laugh.

The VA deer herd numbers are down from historic high numbers due to blue tongue and EHD. They'll rebound, and well. Bear numbers are up, a lot.

This whole "fight back" thing is just stupid. There's nothing to "fight back" over.

Was it in 85? That was biggest mast year I remember.

No, I hunted there in 85 and killed my best whitetail but the year I was talking about was (I think) 94-95. Could have been 96.

I made the "fight back" remark over the new fee being charged for the bear tag, based on the premise that the hound men had gotten that implemented to reduce the incidental bear kill by deer hunters. Hound hunters of bear (and deer) seem to be well organized in VA and wield considerable clout. I have no evidence that bears are responsible for any reduction in the deer herd.

We had a localized outbreak of EHD a few years back in this area. I found about a dozen carcasses in the 150 acre park I walk my dog in. It looks scary, but there was no lasting impact on the deer numbers that I can see. I think the dry weather had concentrated the deer around the available water so the gnats were able to spread the infection. We have plenty of deer, but not many places to hunt.

The mid-90s had some crazy mast crops, depending upon where you were in the state. There was another similar mast crop in central VA about 4-5 years ago, too. It's all cyclical, to a degree.

The hound hunters are vocal because they are a dying breed.

If you think the tag fee for bear is an issue, take a peek at the turkey season dates that have been pushed through by turkey hunters pissed about deer hunters shooting "their" turkeys. You need to take a damned calendar into the field with you to remember when you can and can't shoot the damned things.

I agree that the EHD and blue tongue outbreaks seem to be worse or more widespread during drought years. Overall, I'm not concerned about the deer herd numbers in VA, nor am I (overly) pissed about $20 for a bear tag.

I've got no patience with "sportsman" that want to limit others' activities so they can practice their "pure" version of the game. When I hunted in Virginia years ago, one of the attractions was the opportunity to take deer, bear, or turkey, whichever showed up. Made it seem like the good old days. I did shoot a jake one fall. I also passed on a monster gobbler because he was too far for me to make a head shot. I did enjoy watching him work his way across the slope above me.

Within reason, I just think folks should be able to fill their tags in whatever way floats their boat and leave it up to the game people to keep the harvest in line with good management.
But then, I'm a pretty bad person; I even eat bass.

Agreed, on all counts.

a petition is already going to get rid of the bear tag. this year should be a great mass crop,with deer herd numbers way down it will make finding deer even harder.

Well, good luck on the petition. It probably won't go anywhere, but why not try if you feel that aggrieved by it?

As for the herd numbers and hunting this year, yeah, it's going to be a tough year with the bumper mast crop and numbers down. So what? The herd numbers are still WAY above where they were even twenty years ago. I don't recall folks bitching back then about too few deer. In fact, it was the opposite - that we had deer freakin' everywhere, especially as compared to the numbers in the late '80s or back even further.

The kill numbers prove it, too. Take a look here: http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/deer/harvest/index.asp

Last year's kill numbers are almost exactly the same as the total from 1999. 2013, of course, with the total mast crop failure, was a huge take year (hmmm... can't possibly be that we shot too many that year, combined with EHD, could it?), so the numbers were going to be down in 2014 regardless.

Here are the kill numbers from last year, showing a greater drop in the take East of the Blue Ridge than West of it: http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/deer/harvestsummary.asp

This, too, is significant:



The deer herd is fine. This year's take will be between 180k and 200k, depending upon how many does VA hunters decide to take. If we want the herd to rebound faster, we'll VOLUNTARILY take less does this fall. If we don't control ourselves, then it will take a few seasons longer before we're back up into the 220-230k average again. FWIW, myself and the guys I hunt with have already self-imposed a limit on ourselves this year of no more than 2 does each, and those have to be those big ol' grey faced mule-eared bitches.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/news/...bc031d6-8141-11e4-ae06-dfbc409bec94.html







Simply put, we've got way more deer now than during most any time in the past. As VA deer hunters, we've gotten greedy, lazy, and complacent and think that we ought to be able to shoot a deer every time we go into the woods. This season, we might actually have to hunt again and work for it.

Back in January 2011 I took the dog squirrel hunting around Paddy's Run. The acorns were like a carpet. I've never seen so many, and this was in January.

Hopefully this wet summer helps the squirrels bounce back too. They got wacked by the acorn failure two years ago.

We had a good local crop in Jefferson County, WV last year; not so good that you couldn't walk, but decent. I haven't been in the woods yet, but based on the good rainfall and the performance of my fruit trees (which reflects the frost damage), it should be good as well. Lots of acorns makes it tougher, I suppose, for stand hunters, but I think it might lead to more natural game movements that benefits still-hunters. Once the Orange Army thins out, I like to poke around a bit on foot. Now that I've rejoined the archers, I hope to cash in around the paw paw patches too.

4ager,where i hunt we haven't seen any of those old does for 2 years now. i believe some of those older deer didn't survive the lack of mass 2 years ago.our club members talked about this last year and know one was seeing those herd does.everyone i know has complained about the lack of deer for atleast3-4 years now. a club that i hunt on some near richmond was down 50-60 deer last year. my club in nelson county was way down also.

I know those areas very well (better than you might believe in fact).

Yes, numbers are down. EHD, blue tongue, and all of us shooting the schit out of what we saw in 2013 with the mast crop failure will do that.

The "herd does" are still there; seen several already this year. Shoot them, as they don't reproduce as well or as often and leave the breeder does be. The rate of the herd recovery will depend upon how well we do that and not much else.

Filling all your tags in Virginia is almost to easy if you like killing a bunch of does. During the two week season i never see less than 50 or 60 does.

With bonus tags, "filling all your tags" means well over 100 deer per season.

If you're talking the six on the initial license, then yeah, I agree. You also hunt far SW VA, IIRC, and there are less deer there than in the areas that I and srwshooter hunt.

I was checking out the new WV hunting regs last night and discovered that they've established a "No Feeding" buffer zone around the CWD area. A good idea that should go statewide.

If the CWD prions are present in saliva, then bait piles, salt licks, and all those sweet deer treats are potential vectors.

Has anyone seen any response from the hunting industry to the VA ban or other similar restrictions?

"Industry" is essentially ignoring it; anything for a buck (pun there).

there are way less deer everywhere i hunt,we have a camp in highland near headwaters that we stopped hunting 6-7 years ago because you can hunt high or low and you are lucky to see any deer on that part of shenandoah mtn.i hunt southeast of richmond,numbers are falling in those areas to.i have 2500 acres in nelson county everyone in that area has complained for the last 3-4 years about not seeing many deer.

last year was a great mass crop,the year before you were lucky to find a acorn. this year is good against the blue ridge and should be good in most of the state.i have a few small tracts that i hunt that are close to home. they are surrounded by farm land .plenty of corn and beans so they eat good every year. i usually manage to get a descent buck on one of them.i have a huge bear coming thru my yard this year. maybe he'll stick around.

[quote=Pappy348]I was checking out the new WV hunting regs last night and discovered that they've established a "No Feeding" buffer zone around the CWD area. A good idea that should go statewide.

If the CWD prions are present in saliva, then bait piles, salt licks, and all those sweet deer treats are potential vectors.


Prions have been found in soil samples in Hampshire County.

So two questions. How will the no feeding(article actually says "baiting")ban be enforced and will it apply to food plots. After all the main objective is to keep deer from congregating. Which they do anyways.