lrh in virginia/west virginia/maryland?

[30-06 boy]

i'm looking for some info from some fellow lr guys for suggestions on where to look in these states for lrh oppertunities.i live in pa and have finally had enough of pa game commission deer herd reduction plan.its deer herd exterminiation plan as far as i'm concerned.my brother and i lr hunted public state forest land in tioga,clinton and lycoming counties this past week for 3 days could see many acres of land on far mountain.SAW 1 DEER.any suggestions guys?thanks jason

 

[Buffalobob]

OK, I guess I can say a few words being as nobody else is.

I hunted four or five days in Allegheny County Maryland Green Ridge Forest. This is not a place to hunt for trophy deer. The deer herd went way down in total number when MD DNR opened it up to anterless hunting for the full two week season. I have hunted the area for 25 years and it has never been forage limited. The move by MD DNR was to control the deer populaitons which were out of control in the more populated areas where there is a lot of private land. About four years ago MD DNR restricted doe killing during the rifle season to the last day of the season in the two western most counties and the doe and buck populations have gone back up to just about really good levels. Because of the hunting pressure bucks do not get very old where I hunt but I am not a trophy hunter anyway. I just hunt to have some fun. I passed up maybe 30 legal deer last weekend because there was no fun in the shot (one of the problems of having a 7AM is it is too easy to kill deer), just a lot of work draggin a deer out of the woods. The last four were only 200 yards from my truck and I was too lazy to pull the trigger (also past shooting hours). Because of the shape of the terrain it is very hard to find a long range ( say 800 yards or so) shooting spot that has deer.

I am going to explore Garret County in January and February to see if the Savage River Forest might have some shooting spots. I found one by using Google Earth but it involves shooting over a road which is illegal ( I guess Md DNR doesn't want you to kill very many of the Road Hunters). Look just downstream of the Savage Reservoir Dam. You could get on the southern hillside and shoot a lot of deer on the North hillside. One of the great unknowns when using Google Earth is what is the hunter pressure in the area. I did pretty well in Idaho by having maybe 30 spots picked out on Google Earth and topo maps and going early enough to scout them all out. The far western part of Maryland may be less hunted and have a better deer population than where I am currently hunting.

That is all of the advice that I can give you.

Maryland and West Virginia have Blue laws just like Pennsylvania.

 

[davewilson]

i also hunted for 8 days on Pa st forest in cameron county and could see 1/2 to 3/4 mile of mountain. i guess i had my chance on mon when i saw a nice 8 pt going sidehill at 850.didn't shoot as i wasn't comfortable with the limbs. i had the whole second week, figured i see him again. figured wrong. didn't see another deer.

i'm also thinkin about Va. or W. Va. there are some steep mountains in the george washington nat'l forest. can remember some cliffs but it's been a long time since i've been down there.may be doin a little scouting down there this winter.

 

[Dan B]

[ QUOTE ]
i'm looking for some info from some fellow lr guys for suggestions on where to look in these states for lrh oppertunities.i live in pa and have finally had enough of pa game commission deer herd reduction plan.its deer herd exterminiation plan as far as i'm concerned.my brother and i lr hunted public state forest land in tioga,clinton and lycoming counties this past week for 3 days could see many acres of land on far mountain.SAW 1 DEER.any suggestions guys?thanks jason

[/ QUOTE ]

I know what you mean brother!! Let me know what you find out and I'll drive!!

Dan B. from southern Indiana County, PA

 

[30-06 boy]

update: looking at george washington national forest in va or monongahela national forest in wva.also looking at ohio,shotgun and slugs though.lots of steep mountains in wva,va.

 

[Oliveralan]

If anyone knows of a good lrh spot in northern va, please send me a pm/ lemme know. Got a 300yard shooting spot on my own property, but that'd hardly what I'm looking for, atleast 600 before it gets interesting.

 

[liltank]

I live in central pa. Every where I use to hunt I can't get on now. Everything is posted.

Tank

 

[Oliveralan]

Found this thread through google again and I think it's worth reviving.

Any updates about any experiences hunting in said area?