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Virginia Afield
By Robert M. Gooch Virginia—A Top Deer State
The success of Old Dominion deer herds is a game management rags to riches story. With th^ annual harvest topping 30,000, many experts believe there are more, deer in Virginia today than there were when Captain John Smith wooed Pocahontas at Jamestown. The Game Commission management program has no doubt received a boost to a certain extent from timber harvesting practices by which mature forests have been replaced by cut. over woodlands and scrub timber, a combination that affords good year round browse. In the East, Virginia ranks right behind Pennsylvania, long a good deer state.
The White-tailed, or Virginia deer, is the only member of the deer family native to and living in the state. Other major species are.the western Mule deer and the Black-tailed deer. Virginia sportsmen have no reason to feel sorry for themselves, however, for veteran hunters who have bagged all species state the white-tail is the craftiest and most difficult to hunt. The hunter who can consistently hang a white-tail on the dressing pole should have no difficulty with other big game if he is fortunate enough to take one of those dream big game trips. The wily old buck is smarter than the doe member of the family and has a bag of tricks no magician can hope to duplicate.
Of the several methods of hunting deer, the most popular East of the Blue Ridge is the deer drive with trail hounds. Such an operation requires a sizeable amount of territory and in the privately owned farmlands of central Virginia the future of such hunting is dependent upon the continued goodwill of the landowners. A well organized drive in which hunters are placed on stands with instructions to stay there, is a pleasure to participate in. On the other hand loosely organized drives, in which hunters instead of taking stands, use the public roads in attempts to get shots, are fast gaining disfavor with the non-hunting public.
While the Virginia big game licenses permits 2 deer, it will be noticed that deer tag number 2 is valid only in counties having a limit of 2. Most counties East of the Blue Ridge permit 2 deer, but in the counties of Orange, Greene, Madison, Culpeper, Rappahannock, Fauquier, Prince William, Fairfax and Loudounr the limit is 1.
Stewart North and family of Harmony Hollow spent Thursday with Mr. and Mrs. Louie Melbourne at Round Hill.
Mr. and Mrs. Galen Reil and family of Farmville spent Thanksgiving with Mr. and Mrs. Buster Mills. Fred Harris, Jr. was a week-end guest in the Reil heme.
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