Hunters ready for general deer season

Saturday morning will mark an annual ritual for thousands of area hunters, who will hit the woods for the opening morning of deer season.

Of course, it’s been legal to hunt deer using muzzleloaders or bows for weeks now, but the general firearm season, the season people mean when they just say “deer season,“ will kick off for all but a tiny corner of the state one half hour before sunrise Saturday morning.

James Riddle, 42, of Charlottesville, will be up in a tree Saturday morning. As an arborist, that’s not unusual, but he will be in a tree stand instead of pruning.

In the run-up to the season sales of deer-hunting gear have been all right, said Vicki Hale, co-owner of Woodbrook Sports and Pro Shop in Charlottesville.

“It’s been OK, but it’s not anything real screaming, said Hale.

Of course, certain types of guns have been selling well since the fall election season - handguns and so-called “black” rifles, which are often civilianized versions of the M-16. But those weapons aren’t generally used for deer hunting.

And mediocre sales don’t mean people aren’t excited for the season, Hale said.

“I go to the beach [with my time off work],“ she said. “They schedule their vacation for hunting.“

Statewide, between 250,000 and 300,000 hunters take to the woods each year, bagging just under a quarter of a million deer, said Julia Dixon, spokeswoman with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Ammunition has gotten easier to find since a shortage last winter, but hunters may have difficulty finding the exact round they’re used to using, Hale said.

No. 1 buckshot has been tough to find. The number associated with buckshot describes the pellet size: the smaller the number, the larger the shot. Hunters have been after No. 1, Hale said, but haven’t been able to find it.

Thursday, George Cason, 78, of Fluvanna County, had come to Charlottesville looking for No. 1 buckshot but hadn’t found it yet. Every year he goes out with his grandson, who is now 37.

He said he’s had a couple of chances to kill middling bucks during the muzzleloader season, but held his fire.

“I’m looking for the big boys,“ he said.

Riddle said he takes great care in picking his hunting buddies.

“I hunt with the same group, because we all [believe] safety’s number one,“ he said.

The big new thing this year, Dixon said, was the state’s youth deer day, which gave youngsters a chance to get out ahead of the season.

In spite of the pouring rain on Sept. 26, 951 deer were taken this year, including 11 killed in Albemarle County.

And Dixon continued to push safety as key.

“Deer can’t see orange,“ she said. “They can’t see that color. They’re more spooked by movement, so by all means, wear a ton.“

She also urged hunters to be conscious of gun safety and wear harnesses while in tree stands.

Tree-stand falls account for about a third of the roughly 50 hunting-related injuries reported each year, Dixon said.

And hunters should tell someone where they’re going and when they’ll return, just in case they don’t make it back.