ButchA

Hey Darrell...

I have never hunted the GW Forest, but have driven through it a few times. It is MASSIVE as far as terrain goes. Not only that, it gets wicked steep in too. Goonto a topographical webiste (topozone, terraserver, etc...) and look at the terrain from Staunton west,all the way down beyond Roanoke and further south. I've heard that some of the terrain is real rugged andstrenuous to hike up in. But it is worth it for the quality of the deer.

All you need for the GW Forest and/or Jefferson Forest is the federal stamp (available anywhere or on the VDGIF website in their license section. I think it's $12 bucks or something like that).

You and me both!!! This season I am going to try to will myself NOTto hunt the public land WMA's! [:'(] I may come across as a whining little crybaby or something, but, hey - the public WMA's that I have been to are a total joke! 9000 hunters all over the place! I remember reading a quote one time from a guy who wrote in something about "Sure thing, I got there before sun up. I gotup in my tree stand and got all situated. But once the sun came up, there was so much blaze orange around, it looked like a darn pumpkin patch!" To me, that quote says it all about shrinking hunting lands, and overcrowded, overhunted public land. [:'(]

Observer

does anyone know any in southwest va

whitewolf393

I went to the CF Phelps WMA area last Saturday. Ran into several crossbow hunters, but I was out there for squirrel, of which I heard or saw none. All of the acorns were dried and dropped. I could see the place getting crowded fast, though. I'm going to hit the dove fields there this Saturday and after that I think I'll focus on the GW Forest.

ButchA

Phelps WMA on a Saturday? Oh wait, it's not general firearms season (yet).

Yeah, more and more people are migrating westward to the nat'l forests and state forests to get away from the crowds. I lookedat the huge Goshen/Little Mountain WMA that is way out towards Staunton and saw that it is the biggest, longest, most square mile acreage of any WMA around! It's a bit of a drive, but it might be worth it in the long run.

Regarding the Washington/Jefferson Nat'l Forests... I was wrong in my previous post above. The Nat'l Forest hunting stamp is only $3.50 (not $12). Oops, sorry.... [:-]

whitewolf393

Yeah, I purchased a national forest stamp, along with some extra deer tags, too :] I'm on the night shift this month, and I work until 0500 SAT morning, so I won't be going out until the first weekend of November again, and for pheasant, and maybe whitetail, too,if rifle season starts then. But, I don't plan to go back to the Phelps, but to the GW Forest down near Winchester somewhere. If you're into it, drop me a B-mail and we can combine forces!

pungoman

I have hunted GW National forest a couple of years ago and It is a huge area ,me and a hunting buddy packed our stuff in on a deer cart and stayed for a week, we both saw deer everyday and only a couple of other hunters the whole week, We are going back again the second week of Nov. We have been planning this trip for months and always look forward to the challenge.Do your homework before you go and you can find public land with good deer populations and few hunters.

Eastern va

yea pungo you can do all the homework you want. But your not going to find public land w/ little hunters and deer east of richmond.

whitewolf393

If that's truly the case, I'm going back to WY :]

love2bowhunt2

hey i live about 45 mintues from richmond i member of a club butt u can bow hunt blackpowder hunt and genral firearm season we rent and have permission to hunt on about 15,000 acors of hardwoods and pines cut overs and fields and its cost me 225 a year butt it really worth it we have lots of deer this way...

PhoenixMA

Well rub it in why dont ya![8D]