Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Any Virginia Guys in Here?

I managed a 226 lb bear 2nd saturday of muzzleloader what really pisses me off is right now its late bow season for deer and the bear hunters are walking around with rifles.

Yeah when they passed the bear tag deal there were 347 letters written against and 150ish written in favor, passed anyways. Then again most people didn't even take the time to write a letter so you deserve what you get sometimes. I killed one 325 in 2010 and that is the only one I could have legally killed. The rest have been in the off weeks and I have to let them walk. Getting kind of fed up. I think last year was the only year since 2010 I didn't see one in the woods.

From what I've gathered the bear hunting with dogs takes priority and it doesn't matter if the bear is treed on private land there going in there if no one's home who going to know.If a person hunts a bear and kills him without dogs in VA you've done something in my opinion.

I live in bear central really. I hunt in Bath and Highland and they are generally top 5 in bear kill. We have bear to spare here. I think they bring in the problem bears and dump them here.

Kinda hijacked the thread with the bear problem but I know a lot of guys who run dogs just like to hear the dogs . They only shoot certain bears , like larger males or ones that fight the dogs . Personally i've shot my share and won't shoot another unless it's over 500 lb , and close to the truck or a tractor . I have friends who have property close to Shenandoah National Park , talk about a bear problem . They need to go to a 2 bear limit in certain areas instead of charging for a single tag.

Even though it is illegal, a lot of them tree the bear, let it down, the turn the dogs back on it and never actually kill the bear. It isn't that I am just bloodthirsty to kill a bear, i just want to make sure as many fawn survive as possible. It used to be something to see a bear. I didnt see one in the woods til I was 21 and saw 2 that day. Since then I have probably seen 15-20 and only 1 in season.

I saw 7 one year on the 1st day of archery . Back when bear came in on the 2nd saturday

Wow. Most I heard was guys hunted the mountain beside my house on opening day of muzzleloader. Between 4-5 of them saw 11 different bear that day. This year they say the bear went to WV because the beech nuts hit. I live less than 15 miles from the border.

I probably do some fishing in your area then.

I live between Hidden Valley and Poor Farm if you know where I am talking about.

The Chickahominy WMA used to be a good place to deer hunt. That was 10-12 years ago. It's located in Charles City. Since moving to Texas, not so sure anymore.

Yep I know it well , beautiful area.

I get more into the lake fishing. Let me know sometime when you are coming we will go fishing or something.

OK sounds good, I'm about ready to clean the deer guns and start fishing. I do have 1 hunting trip left , friend of mine is in a hunt club near Mechanicsville. Suppose to hunt down there the week after Christmas.

I am going to start waterfowl after muzzleloader goes out.

I live in the Roanoke Valley next to the national forest and the deer population has sharply declined since 2010. I see more bear than deer now.

There are plenty of bear here in SW VA. Forget having a bird feeder. The last time I had a trail cam up I had 5 different ones on it in 2 weeks.

Between the coyotes the game Dept refuses to admit they brought here and the bear that's what happened to the deer

That and the record snowfall, low temps, and no mass in 2010. We has snow for three months on the ground. I had deer on the porch eating the bushes out front. There have been a few reports of an unexplained illness. I went from seeing deer each day to once a week while hunting. The trails are gone along with their poop.

There are still deer here. They had so much to eat they never had to venture out of the laurel patches this year.