Virginia biologists have finished tabulating the hunting results from the 2024/25 season and the results are – well – consistent. The harvest of bears, deer and fall turkeys were all amazingly close to the previous year’s totals. Hunters took 2,702 bears last fall which was a bit lower (6.5%) than the previous year. Reduced access to lands used for bear hunting in the aftermath of Hurricane … [Read more...]

They say there are no big bucks on public land. Too much pressure, they say. Hunters on public land kill all the young bucks and they don’t have a chance to grow bug. Mark Faulk, age 22, would disagree. A few weeks back, the young man dropped an 11-point, nontypical deer while hunting public land in Caroline County. Faulk had seen the big deer the year before. He captured three trail camera … [Read more...]

Finally, it’s happening. Wild turkey numbers are growing in Virginia. So much so that we just enjoyed one of the highest spring turkey harvests in Virginia history. harvest of 21,988 turkeys during the 2024 spring turkey season, only slightly less than the record harvest of 2023. Ryan Brown, DWR Executive Director, stated “The continued high harvests over the last several years is a great sign … [Read more...]

By Molly Kirk/DWR   John Bralley of Draper, Virginia, has hunted off and on his whole life, but hadn’t hunted seriously for more than 20 years until this fall a friend convinced him to go out again. “We went on a couple of hunts together and really didn’t see anything,” Bralley said. “I kind of was having my doubts about seeing anything and was getting discouraged.” The … [Read more...]

(This 8x8 bull weighed 755 pounds)   By Jackie Rosenberger/DWR   It’s hard to believe another year has passed and Virginia’s second managed elk hunt, held the third week of October, has ended. This hunt was another huge success thanks to an army of landowners, volunteers, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) staff, and an awesome cohort of hunters. Each hunter … [Read more...]

  DWR Press Release The Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) announced a harvest of 19,711 turkeys during the 2022 spring turkey season. This is the fourth highest spring turkey harvest on record, with the three highest harvests having occurred in 2015, 2021, and 2020. Ryan Brown, DWR Executive Director, stated “Virginia’s spring turkey season continues to provide exciting … [Read more...]

By Bruce Ingram   Virginia’s spring gobbler enthusiasts have two weekends in their sights right now with the Youth and Apprentice Weekend on April 2 and 3 and the season opener kicking off on Saturday, April 9. Katie Martin, the deer, bear, and turkey biologist for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR), gives insight on what kind of action we can expect. “The best news … [Read more...]