Anyone hunt any of the WMA's in the eastern part of the state? Are they packed with people? Are they worth a drive out with a week before my seasons come back in?

Not sure what part of the state you're in . Used to do some hunting in Madison and Greene management areas . Haven't been in there for quite a while though. Used to be decent at times, plus it borders SNP.

Bath County. You must be talkng about Rapidan.

Mostly packed.

Yep

I do know one of my uncles killed a nice 8 and 11 point there in the past several weeks.

I was really intested in the Powhatan one, but figured it would be packed being so close to Richmond.

Is Powhatan in dog country?
is dog hunting allowed on WMA's?

b I know they're allowed to run dogs on rapidan.

I really don't know but each of the WMA's has their own set of regulations. I just hate to get down there and have 250 people trying to hunt 4000 acres.

I would guess Powhatan would get hunted fairly hard but maybe not as bad this late in season?

It's really dependent on time of season. The first couple of days, doe days, and some Saturdays, along with the last part of the season can be lively.

If you hunt during those times, think along the lines of getting in early, go deep, and ambush escape routes.

That was kind of my plan, go deeper than most people would. Figure climbing mountains would translate well to the flat land.

Being from the western part of the state I cant speak for the eastern part, but will say our public land deer herd is on the decline. We hunt clinch mountain WMA where the deer numbers are far from what they once were. The other side of that is that the bear population has exploded in the last few years. Hope you guys in the eastern part of the state aren't seeing the same declining deer populations on public land

Coyotes and Bear have done the deer population no good.

Had a bear come within 10 yds of the cabin and take a day or two old fawn back in the spring. The old man ran for his 12ga in the bedroom but wasn't quick enough.

Hunted the Highland WMA and saw few deer but a lot of bear sign. Damn near every trail I took I found piles of scat.
Black bastards.

Yeah a lot of Va its easier to find a bear than it is a deer .

Same thing in the GWNF around Wolfe's Gap. This yr saw the fewest amount of hunters I've seen since going there.

Since they make us buy a bear tag now, they should have open season during early muzzleloader and rifle on thru. Ridiculous to have to spend money on something and unless you dog hunt don't have a full opprtunity to kill them. I would have killed bear the last three years but each one i have seen the season was out.

My SIL(Va.resident)had to pass up a shot at one on Thanksgiving. In WV the dog hunters,and I was for yrs,set the rules anymore.

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.

Same here, it was a tough rifle season.

If today is any indication of how the weather is going to be for the next few weeks, I am thinking late muzzleloading is going to be real good. 16 here this morning.

You don't have the 40mph winds? I was going to ML hunt Saturday but will pass on the ice and freezing rain this weekend.

I am off MOnday so i will miss that. Yeah the wind is ripping pretty bad. -6 wind chill they said last night. Probably colder than that.

BP - I can't see that you'd be doing any better over on this side of the state, at least up in NOVA. Our deer herd has declined, but we still have deer.

I'm getting more and more coyotes on my cameras, in the public parks, where they do not live...according to the biology types.

The only reason I was going to go was because I have a tag I can only use in the east and our season goes out for 2 weeks and then comes back in.

Turn off the wind!!

It is laying here right now.

5-10 MPH here

Only thing laying here right now are the deer.

I am hoping the cold gets them moving a little bit. Won't get to find out til monday.

We've got 3 days of rifle now and 4 at the end of the yr. I plan on muzzleloading Va. in between and after the first of the yr.

Just had a 22mph gust. -8 windchill

Huh,one dumb turkey in the yard.

They should be feeding , it was 15 deer in the field at work yesterday evening. They came out early yesterday.

Had the regular 7 come through before daylight headed for a thick stand of pine they use in bad weather.

I did see more turkeys this year than i have ever seen before.

bperdue21,you are right about the problem bear being dump your way. for the last 10 years they hauled them from areas along the shenandoah national park to mostly highland county to relocate them.in the last few years they slacked off a bit and are now putting most problem bears down. its cheaper then hauling and they now have to many in highland and bath.you guys need to thin the herd. i used to hunt over there all the time but the decline in deer has ran me to the east side of the blue ridge. we have a camp near headwaters that hardly gets used.

you can't thin the herd with the seasons they have. then half the time you have to think about whether season is in or not. most of the dog hunters are more interested in chasing than shooting them. and i don't blame them, how fun is it to shoot something stuck in a tree?

problem in headwaters is the guy in doe hill has the massive feeding operation going. every deer in that part of the county is there lol. he doesnt shoot them he just likes to feed them, texas style lol.

I hunt the west side of amherst county on private land and 10-15 years ago would see herds of does 8-10 each day now I see more bucks than does the whole hunting season I saw one yearling on my trail cam I can count the does I've seen since bow season on 1 hand.

We need to meet up at some point.

I hunted over at peddlar when I worked in buena vista.

. If you know where long mtn wayside is come towards the bottom going east and your getting warm

I fish Peddlar does that count ?

Nice way to start late season. 1/8" plus of ice and still coming down.

Got my Realtree iceskates on so I'm good to go.

Freezing rain near Harrisonburg too.

I hit my spot in Clarke County yesterday afternoon, expecting action ahead of the storm, but only saw a couple of squirrels and a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. This is the third trip where I've seen not a hair. I suspect they've moved to another property where there's some beans or corn left in the fields, or winter wheat growing. Gonna be tough getting that third one, I'm thinking.

Expected the same here in Mineral Co. WV yesterday but like you not a hair seen except for the 7 locals that hang around home. Still 4 days at yrs end though.

A good day to be at work, but not a good day to drive to work. May try to sneak out when I get off at 330.

I hunted Mineral County from 1994-2011, so you need to be more specific. Are the hairy locals deer, or hominids?

I hunted private land up Rineharts Run. Got something most years, but they do run a little small there.

I said hell with it and went fishing. Caught dinner anyway.

Probably a smart idea. It never warmed up like they said it was suposed to here. Might be 40.

STILL below 33 here. Fish dinner will do fine!




I'd settle for a hairless deer. Hominids? Does bigfoot count?
I'm just east of Keyser.

Pretty country around Keyser , friend of mine used to live in Maysville. Used to do a lot of hunting around Mt Storm. Btw the beer battered Trout and fried taters and onions were good.

Know any of the Berg's from Maysville? Don't know how long it's been since you've been up to Mt.Storm(around the power plant?)but it sure has changed since the early 80's. I belong to Mt.Top hunt club but don't hunt it much.

Dinner sounded GOOD!

No I didn't know any Berg's . My buddy lived there from 05 until last year . Our club was on the backside of MT Top and Dominion property ( old Stoney River Dam ) . Used to hunt the federal refuge as well. Beautiful country but man it got nasty up there in buck season.

I hunt a park on the west side of Fairfax county and hear lots of coyotes.

I use to belong to that club also but well before 05. Lots of territory from Rt93 clear to Rt33 at Mouth of Seneca and most is open to the public.

Yeah it's a lot of mountain in there .I've seen a couple monster bucks up at Dolly Sods , but never hunted it. Kinda like Spruce Knob area , I bet it's deer up in there that have never seen a person.

One of the hunts we use to do was from Spruce Run in Harman over Alleghany Mt. to Long Run at Onego. This was before ATVs. To easy access has ruined it now.

"I bet it's deer up in there that have never seen a person."
If you took one you made sure it was worth getting out.

Yep we used to hunt from Spruce knob into the head of Brushy Run at Onego or down into Seneca Creek off Whites run road. We let a lot of bucks go we would have shot anywhere else. Almost need horses to hunt that country.

Been in those areas to. Horses or eat'em on the spot.

I passed up a decent 8pt in Va. this yr. First morning of the hunt(Tuesday of the 1st wk). Probably 19" w/palmated main beams but really short tine length. Oh,and a 2mi drag to the vehicle(walk in only area in GWNF). So my SIL gets a nice 7pt Thanksgiving Day another 3/4mi further back in. A cart for next yr. Had two freighter packs back in WV.

Yeah a lot of our deer end up getting packed out . Lot easier to pack 60 or so lbs of boneless meat than drag a 160 or so lb deer. Sounds like you and I have walked a lot of the same ridges .

Yes it does. And here's to hoping we can keep going for a long time.

Yes sir , you and yours have a Merry Christmas.

You can cut them up and pack them out in VA.

And the same to you and yours.

Here in WV also. It was a long time coming to.

I saw more than one around Herndon when I was working the night shift for Mama Bell.

My older son hunted Great Falls Park before he moved farther away. Too many restrictions for my taste, but there are some monsters in that area. Saw probably the biggest antlers I've ever seen on the hoof, about a mile from Great Falls Village, at night of course.

This is where I met Vic!

Yes, you was hunting with a popgun!

Are there good looking girls there? My son is moving there. He is afraid it's all dogs.

Plenty.

Where is he moving to?

I hunt in Maryland right across the river from Leesburg. I've got a problem with yotes too. Ever since they showed up, the does have vacated the area. I shot this one 2 years ago. It was the first one I've ever seen. Shot one last year and missed one too. Haven't seen any this year, but I've heard them twice.

Local news just confirmed HD in Roanoke County. Many people have been reporting this in surrounding counties for a year.

http://www.wdbj7.com/search/?searchKeywords=Deer&searchKeywords=Deer

Another outbreak of EHD is NOT something we need right now.

Yeah thats just what we need.

The herd hasn't fully recovered from the EHD and Blue Tongue outbreaks in 2012, 2013, and 2014.

We had the blue tongue in 2012. Our herd has been down since the blizzards in 2010 and 2011.

Add in that total mast crop failure of 2013/14 and it's damned amazing we have as many deer as we do.

We have had a pretty good rebound though people will whine they havent seen any deer this year. When there is this much food it requires some work. Where are you out of 4ager?

Unless he's in Dallas or Houston he won't have a problem finding better looking women than in Texas. Hunted Crockett, Carthage and nacogdoches and outside of Dallas and Houston we saw less good looking women than wild pigs.....And we saw VERY few pigs.

Never been to Texas, but Virginia has lots of pretty women. The ones in NORVA might be kinda leftish, if that's a problem.

Originally, the Lynchburg area. Still hunt down that way, as well as over the ridge in NF, and up near Warrenton as well.

Supposed to hunt with my buddy in Nelson County Tuesday. I took the week off. If you get this way let me know.

I'll be hunting near Mechanicsville with a buddy on his hunt club. Shotguns and buckshot while running dogs. Breaking out the BPS 10 gauge.