Virginia public land.

DLane94

FNG
Joined
Jul 12, 2024
Messages
3
Looking for anyone with any experience hunting the George Washington Thomas Jefferson National Forest or state lands near Augusta or Highland Counties. My buddy and I are planning a hike, camp, and hunt during muzzleloader season in that area and we interested if anyone had an my advice to which areas to hunt for bear and/or nice bucks. Any help would be appreciated
 

fatlander

WKR
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
2,105
Looking for anyone with any experience hunting the George Washington Thomas Jefferson National Forest or state lands near Augusta or Highland Counties. My buddy and I are planning a hike, camp, and hunt during muzzleloader season in that area and we interested if anyone had an my advice to which areas to hunt for bear and/or nice bucks. Any help would be appreciated

Dude, just look at some maps at places that look like deer would exist without much human disturbance and go hunting. If you want a guided hunt, book one.


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Glendon Mullins

Hillbilly Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
2,347
Location
Highland County Virginia
Looking for anyone with any experience hunting the George Washington Thomas Jefferson National Forest or state lands near Augusta or Highland Counties. My buddy and I are planning a hike, camp, and hunt during muzzleloader season in that area and we interested if anyone had an my advice to which areas to hunt for bear and/or nice bucks. Any help would be appreciated
I am curious as to why you chose augusta or highland county?
 

DLane94

FNG
Joined
Jul 12, 2024
Messages
3
I am curious as to why you chose augusta or highland county?
We have been hunting private land in that area for years with decent luck but looking to venture out and get into more remote areas of the public lands that have the potential to produce a better class of game
 

Swamp Fox

WKR
Joined
Oct 20, 2022
Messages
820
Spot burning is spot burning. Doesn’t matter it’s for elk in the Rockies or woods goats on the east coast. You already know where you want to go. Just go and keep it off the internet. This stuff lives forever. Good luck to you and your buddy.


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I'm surprised this thread went on this long before this comment, which is true.

As someone with more than just a lil experience in the area, 'I FELT LIKE I WAS RIGHT THERE WITH THEM' as book reviewers like to say.

And I KNEW BlllyGoat kneW a few things about a rOAdHoUsE ...
 

thme24

FNG
Joined
Sep 9, 2024
Messages
15
I can corroborate the national forests being low density. Very little sign in the areas I was in the last two years. Meanwhile in suburbia, my neighbors were feeding them corn and I couldn't get them out of my yard
 

AlleghenyMountain

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 14, 2019
Messages
115
I hunt National Forest in Highland County. Find the food and look for sign. I had access to private land I hunted over there for years and go now for a variety of reasons. But I've got friends with a farm here in the Valley where I go to fill my freezer.
 
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
45
With all the mapping software and aerial photos, you should easily be able to find areas far from a road that will hold some deer. Locate them on a map and burn some boot leather. That's how you find good spots. And don't forget to let all of us know what you find and where.
 

Wildone

FNG
Joined
Jan 21, 2023
Messages
50
How are all you guys in VA making out from Helene? Everyone ok? I see F&G has warnings on some of the WMA's about things being closed because of damage.
 
Joined
Feb 19, 2024
Messages
76
Seems most deer in my area have left the mountains and migrated to the farms.
Im finding this to generally be the case everywhere. I hunt in Arkansas and numbers in the NF and WMAs are down, but yet there were 3 deer standing in my front yard feeding last night in the middle of my neighborhood. Deer have, for a myriad of reasons, migrated into more urban and civilized areas.

I think part of that is just due to the fact that over time deer numbers are hunted down out in the national forests and WMAs but theres really no population control in the urban areas, so they just continue to populate and thrive.
 
OP
Shupe88

Shupe88

WKR
Joined
Jun 21, 2019
Messages
320
Yesterday they closed the west end of Jefferson National forest. This will affect hundreds of hunters. I've hunted it my whole life and have never seen it shut down like this!


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Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
9,514
Location
Shenandoah Valley
Im finding this to generally be the case everywhere. I hunt in Arkansas and numbers in the NF and WMAs are down, but yet there were 3 deer standing in my front yard feeding last night in the middle of my neighborhood. Deer have, for a myriad of reasons, migrated into more urban and civilized areas.

I think part of that is just due to the fact that over time deer numbers are hunted down out in the national forests and WMAs but theres really no population control in the urban areas, so they just continue to populate and thrive.

Management of NF's.

In the 30's we still had cattle grazing our NF's in western VA, that ended I think in '37, maybe 36, maybe even 10 years later, point being, payday for deer in western VA NF's was late 70's and early 80's, forest was still young to some extent, plenty of browse. Now it's mostly over mature, limited food for most of the year.


My area in the 70's hardly had deer, agricultural areas, guys still tell stories of the first time they saw a deer on their farm.

Now they are like rabbits.
 
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
9,514
Location
Shenandoah Valley
Yesterday they closed the west end of Jefferson National forest. This will affect hundreds of hunters. I've hunted it my whole life and have never seen it shut down like this!


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Our area had either rifle or muzzleloader season canceled because of drought one year, I think it was early 80's.


SNP got closed, I assume it's to send manpower to the lower regions for recovery.
 
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