bassfisherman711

I am a senior this year at Virginia Tech and this will be the first year I am able to hunt this surrounding area while I am in school. I was hoping this thread could help me out in two ways.
1 - if you or anyone you know has land available to hunt near Virginia Tech, and they would be willing to allow a responsible bow hunter to hunt their land, would you please let me know! (I know anyone could say they are responsible, here is my one resume builder that hopefully brings some credibility, I am an Eagle Scout).

2 - if you have ever hunted the national forest in these parts, any tips would be mighty helpful as this will be my first attempt at ever hunting deer with a bow on public lands.

Thanks for the help!
Jon

flips2

Jon,

I went to Radford back in the ninties and used to hunt the NF out rt 460. If you go out rt 460 west, go past the road for the rifle range on the right and Pandoras Pond(???) on the left at the bottom of the mountain. Follow 460 till the top of the mountain on the Giles County line and there will be a forest service road on the left right at the top(gravel road). Turn left onto it and you can hunt either side of it since it is NF on both sides. I had good success going in about 1/2 mile off the paved road, there was a couple of pull offs there on the left side, and walking back down the mountain back to the Pond area park. You have to walk for awhile but always saw deer back in there. It is one heck of a drag out of there too. You can park at the same spot and head to the top of the mountain too. I saw more bucks up there and a bear too. Really nice spot too. If you continue down the forest service road about a mile there will be a fire road on the left with a gate. Walk that road for awhile and you will pass what us to be a "wildlife strip" running the whole length of the mountain on the left side of the fire road. It starts at the top of the gravel road where the first pull off spots are. If you keep following the fire road you should cross a creek and to the left there is a beaver pond. Stay to the right of the beaver pond for about 300-400 yds and it opens up real nicely with two ridges coming down to the pond. You can also continue up the fire road (will be walking uphill now) and at the next little plateau just go in on either side.

You can also continue down the forest service road for a mile? or so and you will see two grass fields on the right at a left bend in the road. Park around there but head up the mountain to the left side of the forest road. There are several walking trails on that side. They lead up to some really good ridges with lots of oaks. A buddy of mine shot a really nice buck up there, about 130" class.

I personally liked it closer to rt 460 because I saw more deer action even though it was close to the road. Just as you turn on the service road it is real steep so no one ever went there. If you are able to find the top of the wildlife strip you can park there walk it down about 100 yds then cut back over to right back towards 460 and get back up in there.

The good thing was I would only see a hunter or two during the archery and muzzleloader seasons, but did have some mountain bikers and hikers come by me. I hunted there once on opening day of rifle season and vowed to never do it again. More orange than to shake a stick at.

You can also try Brush Mountain and if you continue out rt 460 into Giles there is some NF out there. I hunted a couple of times out there. The only directions I could tell you to get there is we took the road that goes to Mountain Lake and the Cascade Falls I believe, went past that and parked the truck and walked in.

You may want to try to get in the Urban season too. I believe Blacksburg has that season also.

Hope this helps.

Jim

bgcorn

VA Tech has land available to hunt on you have to get an application to hunt from either campus police or Blacksburg PD I forget which one it is. Im sure some one there can give you the information and location. Also the Radford Ammuniton Plant has land to hunt on you have to apply to hunt on their land you can get this info from VDGIF.

bassfisherman711

Unfortunately they have stopped letting people apply for hunting permission on the VT farm. You have to be an employee of the farm to hunt there...

Thanks for the help, I will def be trying some of the NF out.
Still keeping my fingers crossed for some private land.

fishinsoap

Go over to Craig County and knock on some doors. Introduce yourself and assure them how responsible you are. I have heard of a few farmers out that way wanting more hunters because the overpopulation is getting bad. In this area, few people hunt over that way. I would imagine you could find permission pretty easily. I dont know if you are familer with Criag, but just go out 460, and turn right at the Newport store. Keep going through Newport, and soon you will be in Criag.

RBGregory174

Hello, my name is Ryan and I too am looking for places to hunt/hunting partner in the Blacksburg area. I am currently a veterinary student at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. I like to hunt deer, turkey, and waterfowl. If anyone is interested in hunting the last bit of the season I have a great lab that I would like to work. Thank you

ADVWannabee

Good to see some fellow Hokies here. I went there in the 80's and didn't deer hunt then so I am afraid I cannot help you. But GO HOKIES!

cvillehunter703

I'm also currently at Tech! Let me know if anyone ever wants to do some hunting/fishing together. I am a freshman and could use some help with somebody showing me the ropes around this area. Plan on hunting the NF next fall and during turkey season

vapahunter

For all of you currently at VT go by Sharkies and try the buffalo burger. Great sandwich and cold drinks. Good luck hunting over that way.