Rappahannock National Wildlife Refuge has been adding tracts of land and many are now open for hunters to use. Its seasons are liberal and officials would like to see hunters take a doe when legal if at all possible. Hunts are held at the refuge for deer management purposes. Little pressure is put on the deer at Rappahannock NWR, so the hunting should be very good relative to many public lands. The refuge should be contacted for further details as to when their seasons will run, the costs of a permit and additional regulations. Information on the refuge can be gleaned from the VDGIF hunting digest or online at www.dgif.virginia.gov or www.fws.gov.

Cavalier WMA opened last year to the public for hunting. This season, hunters will be selected by a drawing to hunt at the 3,800-acre WMA. The reason for the drawing is to provide for a quality day afield. Because of the dense population of people nearby, VDGIF officials use the drawing as a way to manage the influx of hunters.

Last season, the mast crop was excellent in the region, and overall, the winter was mild, leaving deer in great shape going into this season. Barring a bad outbreak of hemorrhagic disease, the herd will be in fine shape. Hunters venturing into the field for the first time in the region should pay close attention to the edges of habitat. Don't be afraid to muscle your way into the nastiest cover to put up a stand if you want to bag a deer.

SOUTHERN PIEDMONT
The Southern Piedmont has a legacy of healthy deer harvests and this year was no exception. With a whopping 55,344 whitetails bagged, the region boosted its harvest by 11 percent. The number of antlered bucks that rode home in trucks was 28,244; the button bucks numbered 4,587. Hunters took 22,513 does, which constituted 40 percent of the harvest. Bedford was the best county once again with a figure of 11.09 deer taken per square mile.

Dan Lovelace is in charge of the management on the western edge of the region. Lovelace noted that he would like to see more hunters take does on doe days. The doe harvest was stable the last few years but is not really trimming the herd to the extent biologists had hoped.

Public-land opportunities exist in the region, but much of it is national forest, which just does not have the highest quality habitat for whitetail deer. But it's also the case that the national forest receives very little pressure from hunters. This may be good for hunters who are willing to hike to remote areas or walk a bit to get off the road.

Marc Puckett is in charge of the Southside portion of the region and commented on his district.

"There is a lot of public land scattered throughout my work area, actually over 95,000 acres within a 1.5-hour drive of Farmville, but most of my district is private land and generally deer densities are highest in the northern and western portions of my work area, which includes Brunswick, Charlotte, Halifax, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg and Pittsylvania. Pittsylvania has the highest harvest indicators, and the southern parts of Halifax and Mecklenburg probably the lowest densities.

"I think deer densities in my work area range from a high of 40 to 45 per square mile to places where they work hard to exceed 20 to 25 per square mile. I feel all of the areas are good, particularly during the archery and muzzleloader seasons. While Briery Creek Lake WMA is known for bass and panfishing, there are over 2,000 acres of uplands around the lake that have good deer hunting opportunities. The main difference is fewer doe days during the early muzzleloader season, with only one doe day (the second Saturday), compared with full season either sex on private lands."

A hard freeze in April may have killed oak blooms and negated a portion of the acorn crop this year. Hunters are encouraged to scout before the season to find out what effect the freeze had on oaks in their area. If the mast crop turns out to be spotty, the upside is that the deer will be traveling more to find food making them more susceptible to hunters.

SOUTHERN MOUNTAIN
The Southern Mountain Region had a 6 percent increase in harvest, climbing from 34,826 deer during the 2005-2006 season to 36,939 whitetails checked this past season. Antlered bucks consisted of 19,613 of the total harvest; button bucks accounted for 2,616 of the total. The number of does dragged to the skinning shed was 14,710 and made up 39.8 percent of the harvest.