Hey Neighbor in Shenandoah County....

[kabrevcus]

Any of you own or lease property in Shenandoah County, VA? I'm in 22654 - the Valley....I hear enough shots all season long, figure some of you might be pulling those triggers ....
I'd enjoy hearing how your hunts have been going, and the quality of deer.....talk soon
Kabrevcus

[whitetailtime]

Im not too far from you. I hunt property in Culpeper County

[VA Hunter]

Not too far from both of you.  I hunt in Frederick county and Loudoun county.  Good to hear from some ole' Ginny boys.

[mb915]

I do all my hunting in the National Forest in Shenandoah and Frederick County.  How did everyones seasons go last year?  Anyone shoot any monsters?

[kabrevcus]

Good year for me, but seems I got to keep things in perspective.
From my point of few we have so much pressure in our area.....so rare to see a 3.5 year old deer. I shot a small 8 point this year, I'd have to bet it was 2.5 years....but seeing that type of deer is practically a trophy in our part.
My club is at the point where we only take 8 pointers now unless you are a youth hunter.
What kind of success do you have/expect in the national forest? I question the amount of food in our area...any thoughts?

[mb915]

The NF is tough hunting as you can imagine.  I hunt in there with my father and a buddy.  Started hunting in there three years ago when i lost access to private property.  The first year i shot a 2.5 year old 10 pointer, and a doe, all with my rifle, on back to back days.  Saw three other nice bucks as well.  Thought that it was going to be easy.  Second year got nothing, could have shot a little spike but opted not to.  Going into the third year i committed to doing a lot more scouting, and i saw more deer last season that ever before.  I have started hiking upwards of 1.5 - 2 miles in.  Dragged my father that far in with me one day last year and he shot a nice 14 pointer that we estimated to be 4.5 years old.  His feet were so worn down from the rocks that there was nothig left of them.  Did some additional scouting in the area he shot it, and saw more buck rubs in this 1/4 mile area than anywhere else.  So i think i am onto something for next year. 
 
I will agree that there is not much food in the area, no agriculture fields in the valleys, and no mast the last two years.  So makes it tough to pin point feeding areas.

[kabrevcus]

Mb915,
We have access to the NF on (Little) North Mountain, but as you say its so rocky and steep I always wondered if it was worth spending anytime up there. Little vegetation also....
I'm not averse to hiking, its just finding the time as you say to scout, etc....
How is the terrain in NF where you are focusing? Do you think the game avoids the steeps...or just something you have to scout?
btw, Nice work on the 14pt, thats something to be real proud of.  In 2003 my brother in law shot big 9 point on our property. We scored it around 120'...its by far the biggest racked deer we've taken on our property...kind of humbling....

[mb915]

Where is little north mtn, its sounds familiar but just cant picture where it is.
 
The terrain in the NF where I have been doing a majority of my hunting is steep and thick with mountain laurel.  I used to think deer would not travel such steep terrain, but I was proven wrong on many occasions this year.  The higher up the mountain you can get, the better.  Look for saddles and benches when you get towards the top.  When the gun season starts all the people who hunt down below within a 1/4 mile of the access roads will just help push the deer up the mtn.  Also with all the rocks, some of the rock gardens as I refer to them help to funnel the deer since they cant cross some of them.  I would get out and scount during the spring turkey season once they open the gates again.
 
In an D&DH article about 8 years ago, there was an article about hunting the GW NF, the author talked about the guy who took him up with him, and how he would regulary see monster bucks and harvest one each year.  Just had to get deep in, and towards the top of the mtn, which also normaly includes a 2+ hours hike in, in the dark, and a much longer drag out, but the drag will be well worth it.

[whitetailtime]

Check out this nt I got on my trail camera. 

[kabrevcus]

Probably 3.5...but if its a Culpeper Deer, it could be older. Is this from you land in Culpeper? Did you lay scent down in front of the camera line to attract, or is that a lick, or a natural scrape? Just curious....