In Virginia where i hunt it varies what county your in. The counties I hunt already have a 6 month long over all season. The gun season starts in mid november, before that we have a two week muzzleloader season that starts at the beginning of November. The gun season runs till beginning of january for either sex, and it runs through March for does only. If you want you can hunt with your rifle from mid november to the end of march(hardly anyone every does) The opening day of rifle does sound a lot like Stonewall is taking the field again at Manassas but fairly quiet after that.