UFunny2

My son loves to bow hunt but has been deployed on a carrier since May. His ship is due to return a couple days before Christmas, which leaves him about one week to hunt. All during this 7 month deployment he's been talking about how he can't wait to get into the woods, but his mood changes when he realizes the amount of time he would have to hunt. If someone reading this or knows someone who has urban archery land he could hunt, please pm me. The nearest urban archery area to hunt is West Point, I sure he would gladly travel to NORVA to hunt. Also, when he pulls in, it will be the first time he meets his daughter who was born in August.

DROX

Ufunny2,
That one week time constraint may make your son's wish to hunt materialize difficult. But, he could be looking out for any future "shore calls" by joining the Suburban Whitetail folks. There website is http://www.deerdamage.org/ . Keep in mind these members are allowed to hunt (archery only) outside the normal seasons, will contact the landowners for you, and generally will be very close to the major cities. I have a buddy (he lives in Chantilly) who joined and he hunts whenever he wants to and only about 15 minutes from home. I also believe there are Suburban Archery "club" throughout the state!

Good luck!

UFunny2

Drox, thanks for the information. Not sure if you are a Virginia hunter, but Virginia has a specific season that begins in September and ends in late March. It's the Urban Archery Season and only antlerless deer may be harvested (unless it's during the regular season). Finding landowners who will allow access is the difficult part. I appreciate the lead on the website, I'll check it out.

If anyone else has any leads to help this deployed sailor on an area to hunt, pass it on.

DROX

UFunny2,
My apologies for not doing a better job of explaining!

I do live and hunt (rifle, muzzleloader and archery) right here in Loudoun County Virginia; I am aware of the hunting seasons. This Suburban Whitetails is a program designed to "thin out" the female deer herd in the most populated areas of Loudoun and Fairfax Counties. This program, with the blessing of the Virginia Fish and Game Department, is meant to take deer that are either a nuisance, causing damage, or generally need to be culled to prevent automobile accidents.

The members of this organization get privileges that "regular season" folks to not, like doing organized hunts in parks! It really is a great program and I'm surprised more folks do not participate. To be a member, one needs to pass a general background check, able to shoot three broadhead tipped arrow into a 8 inch pie plate at 30 yards and pass a bow proficiency test. There might be more restrictions, I don't know for certain.

However, my buddy was shooting does what seems like all year long. Whenever he wants to hunt he makes a phone call to what I think is their central office, they give him some addresses and off he goes.

I don't know where you live so I don't know if there is one of these chapters near you, however, for your son's (and maybe your) sake you really should look into this program. Hope this clarified what I was trying to say in my earlier post.

Good luck!

popeye3

I think but I'm not 100% sure, that urban archery is open in some of the smaller cities in southern Virginia like Emporia, Franklin and Danville. Since those are more rural areas you might have any easier time getting access to land in those areas.

Having extended seasons to thin out the herd is sure nice but not if you can't find property to hunt. I wish there was a central list of properties but I don't think there is one.

DROX

Popeye3,
That's just the beauty of this program/group, they do all the work; find the landowners, get their permission, talk to them, get them on-board, make all the arrangement with Fish and Game. All you do is show up and shoot!!!!! There is no interface with the landowner, unless you and they care to have such.
drox

VA5326

There's ALOT of hoops to jump through with Northern Virginia Suburban Whitetail Club. You're better off driving around and knocking on doors and finding two or three good places to hunt urban archery. That's how I did it four years ago. Lots of driving around, knocking on doors and asking for permision during the Spring or Summer. Getting permission is the hard part but they're out there. For every 10 land owners you ask you might get one. So it's alot of foot work but doable.

Alex G.

Ufunny2,

I believe the hunting on Ft. Pickett goes thru the end of January/beginning of Feb.
Ft. Pickett Game Check Station at 434-292-2618 for seasons and bag limits.

Good Luck
Alex