Legacy357

Hey guys,
I moved to Virginia last year and had some success taking a 9 point and a doe with my bow. The butcher said that the buck was one of the biggest he ever cut up and I guessed it around 150-165 field dressed. The doe was prob around 75-80lbs field dressed. My question is: are these typical body size deer for VA? Back in PA, the doe would have been on the med-small range and the buck would be more than above average. Please let me know as in Fairfax county we have urban archery hunting now and I had a doe in a 20 yards last night but thought that it was too small. It was prob around 55-65 lbs live weight and I passed. Let me know if I need to lower my standards for body size. THANKS!

Allen Denton

You do probibly need to lower them a bit. I hunt in Southeast Virginia and now a days a big buck is 170 live weight. We do jaw bones and weigh each deer and have not been above 175 in years. We do try and stay above 70 lbs on does, so that doe was a little doe. We kill far less buck fawns because we have a fine for does less then 70 lbs. Good luck and welcome to Virginia.

NEW61375

Welcome to VA. The deer here seem to get fair to middle in size for the most part with some actually getting quite big, like the buck you got last season. I see a lot of small does/yearling bucks that are around the size you mention (45-60lbs). Those deer I will usually give a pass for a year or so, they'll bulk up a little. Alot of first year does (if they are born early)wil breed their first year but usually late in the seasonwhich in turn will cause their offspring to be born later and they will still bevery small when hunting season comes in. Even though they have dropped their spotsmost are very smalll and lean. Buta lot of that has to do with our climate and the way the deer are breeding in certain areas. I hunt all over VA and we have some great hunting and Fairfax is an awesome area. I hunt a lot on the Eastern Shore and we have some giants over there, I missed a nice bucklast season over there but I did manage to knock down a couple of does one of which tipped the scale right at 150lbs. Welcome again and good luck this season.

02bhntn

I hunt in Fauquier County andI'm in a club that's in the DMAP program. We are required to do all fied measurments prior to checking in the deer . Our does average about 100 lbs dressed weight and our bucks (6pts or bigger or outside the ears) have been averaging about 135 dressed.

hoyt3

biggest doe I've shot in va (and I've been here only three seasons, killed 27 deer) was buck-150 dressed, doe, 110. and that was the biggest buck I'd killed. I had one doe in se pa go 116 dressed.

coolbrze0

That doe you passed on was a good call. Its def. below average, prolly a young one. Does around northern va avg. 100 lbs. and mature bucks about 140 from what ive seen. of course, i've seen smaller does and bigger bucks too, but this is just an average...

Legacy357

Thanks guys. I am gladded I passed then. Only problem with this early archery is that you can't shoot bucks. I have seen 5 bucks now but not the deer I will be looking for in a few weeks. Prob going to head out weds if it cools down a little bit and then back to PA for the opener on sat. I'll let you know if get one