By Virginia Department of Game and inland Fisheries   The Youth & Apprentice Spring Turkey Hunting Weekend 2018 will take place on April 7 (statewide) and April 8 (private land only with the written permission of the landowner), making a perfect opportunity to take a young person or apprentice hunter afield for a chance of taking a gobbler. Resident and nonresident youth hunters … [Read more...]

The results from the 2017/18 big game harvest are now in. Bear hunters had a record year, deer hunters shot about as many as the previous year and the fall turkey kill was off considerably. Bear hunters tagged a total of 2,861 animals, 17% more animals than the previous year’s record total. This number is indicative of the rapidly increasing bear population in Virginia. The animals are … [Read more...]

  When it’s a high in the twenties – in the daytime - it takes a little of the edge off going fishing, unless you have a death wish. Striper season in the bay has ended. Deer season is over. So what’s an outdoorsman to do during the awful weeks lying ahead? Well, you can hunt ducks until January 28, you can pretend there are actually grouse somewhere in the mountains and try that, or – … [Read more...]

  The word on the hunting streets is that while the deer kill may be down a little in numbers, the quality of deer has been excellent. There are have been some really nice animals harvested to date. Last year’s mild weather and solid mast crop, no doubt, has helped in raising healthy animals. But because of the recent efforts of the Game Department to control populations by a generous … [Read more...]

Some say to watch out for deer in the headlights, but I say just watch out! I have seen literally hundreds of deer on the roadsides in recent weeks – dead and alive - and they don’t wait until dark to come out. The deer are in rut, bucks are chasing does and they run across roads after the enticing females and worry about cars and trucks later. Recent studies say that Virginia is now the 11th … [Read more...]