During the last weekend of September, Jeff Phillips received hundreds of pictures to post on Star City Whitetails, a popular Facebook page he administers for Virginia hunters to share photos of successful hunts. It was an annual two-day youth hunting weekend, and beaming youngsters, often with a proud parent, posed for bragging rights.
Yet in large swaths of the commonwealth, white-tailed deer hunting season had already been open for three weeks. How many pictures did Phillips receive during that lengthy stretch? Only a few. It seemed as though Virginia hunters weren’t eager to take to the woods too early in the season — especially because they were only allowed to take antlerless deer.
That reluctance to participate in hunting opportunities highlights the challenges facing the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and local municipal governments as they grapple with the reality of booming deer populations and not enough hunters.
Over the past two decades, the department has been expanding hunting seasons in many parts of the commonwealth to help manage populations of deer. Hunting seasons that typically used to span a few weeks in autumn now, in some cases, stretch seven months or more, from late summer through early spring. But allowing more deer hunting and getting hunters to participate are two different things.
While many people enjoy seeing deer on the landscape, they cause significant damage. And with few natural predators and a decline in hunting, costs are mounting.
Twenty-four jurisdictions around Virginia now have early and late antlerless-only firearms seasons, allowing hunters into the woods as early as Labor Day weekend and as late as the end of April, although specific dates vary by county. Since 2023, Bedford, Roanoke, Montgomery, Floyd, Pulaski and Carroll counties have been among those jurisdictions with expansive antlerless seasons.
The way to meaningfully bring down the size of a deer herd is by eliminating does, who typically have one or two fawns each year. That’s why the early and late firearms seasons are antlerless-only. (Some so-called “button bucks,” or males that have not yet grown antlers, along with mature bucks that have shed their antlers, are also taken.)
Justin Folks, deer project leader for the Department of Wildlife Resources, said that reaching population objectives in a specific area is a matter of increasing the number of does that hunters harvest.
According to Folks, when a deer population grows locally, the department implements increasingly permissive hunting regulations, first expanding the number of days that does can be taken, then requiring “earn a buck,” which demands hunters harvest a female before killing another male. If those efforts fail to curtail growth, the commonwealth expands archery seasons and, finally, early and late firearms seasons. The ultimate aim is to reduce the number of female deer.
“I think that any female kill is a win,” Folks said.
Are these early and late seasons working? Figures from the department paint a complicated picture.
Last hunting season, which spanned September 2025 to April 2026, Virginia hunters killed just over 4,100 deer during early and late seasons throughout the commonwealth, a figure that seems large as raw data but represents less than 2% of the approximately 227,400 deer harvested. That was a roughly equivalent percentage compared to the previous season, although it has been increasing from previous years. But the doe harvest did increase last hunting season by 14% over the previous year.
Phillips, the Star City Whitetails administrator, is an agent with Whitetail Properties Real Estate and a lifelong deer hunter. He said that the early and late seasons around Roanoke, where he lives, are not well utilized. He prefers not to hunt deer during September because the temperatures are a little too warm.
There’s also no great urgency among hunters, according to Phillips, as few people are relying on the venison to provide food for their family.
“There are so many deer today, and I believe that hunters are able to cherry-pick the deer they want,” he said.
Bedford County hunters typically harvest a significant number of deer — upward of 750 — during the early and late season, which has been in place since 2023. Nevertheless, Jared Key said that Bedford hunters could take better advantage of the extra opportunities.
Key owns the Skinning Shack in Bedford, one of only three deer processors in the county. Hunters brought very few deer to him in the early season this year. He said that hunters hold out for a big buck and have predictable excuses for not taking does as the season progresses.
“First, it’s too hot,” Key said. “Then they’ve got a really good buck on their cameras. In November, they don’t want to shoot does in case there’s a buck behind them. Then it’s that the does have babies in them.”
Folks agrees that there’s an aversion among many hunters to harvest does.
“We have noticed anecdotally that we get to the late season and deer hunters seem hunted out,” Folks said. “They’ve already had 4 or 5 months, and many say, ‘I don’t feel like going out anymore,’ or ‘The freezer is full.’ There were some counties that went into the late season and people weren’t even aware of it.”
Folks said that recruiting more hunters — and allowing them more opportunity to hunt in certain areas — is important. But statistics indicate that goal is an uphill battle.
The Department of Wildlife Resources’ 2026 Deer Report estimated the white-tailed population at approximately 1.38 million — an increase of nearly 40% from 20 years ago. But the number of hunters is declining. Last year there were roughly 177,000 deer hunting licenses sold, a drop of 19% since 2015 and 34% since 2000.
Meanwhile, growing deer populations are causing damage. Last year, there were 6,526 deer-related vehicle crashes in Virginia, causing 1,280 injuries and one fatality, according to data compiled by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
More northerly counties of Augusta, Loudoun and Fauquier had the highest number of deer-related crashes in the state, and Montgomery County tied for fourth, with 223. Botetourt County had the eighth-highest number of deer-involved crashes in Virginia at 196.
Deer are also vectors for tick-borne infections such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and alpha-gal syndrome. Higher densities also lead to the spread of chronic wasting disease among deer, a condition that has been detected in Floyd, Pulaski, Montgomery and Roanoke counties.
Especially bothersome for urbanites is that deer numbers within city limits continue to rise. Phillips lives in Roanoke’s Greater Deyerle neighborhood and encounters deer almost daily.
“You see them hourly, if not every 20 minutes,” he said.
Because of concerns about deer destroying inventory of a local business and the spread of tick-borne diseases, city officials increased the annual budget of $40,000 for professional deer culling services by more than 60% this year.
City officials also confirmed that they are coordinating with the commonwealth on the implementation of an urban archery program, which would begin in 2027.
Bedford County is once again this year sponsoring its Deer Management Project Raffle to encourage the hunting of does. Bedford farmers encounter significant losses from deer. Hunters in Bedford who harvest an antlerless deer through Jan. 31 and donate it to Hunters for the Hungry at a local processor will be entered into a drawing for one of nine prizes, worth a combined $6,750, that local businesses have donated.
The Department of Wildlife Resources changes hunting regulations every two years based on community feedback and deer densities. The public comment period for ideas for upcoming seasons is open through Nov. 18. Next year, the agency will adjust hunting regulations accordingly, and Folks said he has a suspicion that permissive seasons will continue to expand.
“With fewer hunters on the landscape and deer populations increasing, I only see us using this more and more,” he said.
Folks is quick to point out that this is not just a Virginia problem. Other states are encountering similar scenarios.
“We don’t know what that silver bullet is going to be to help us hit our deer management objectives,” he said. “There’s a reluctance of hunters to shoot does, and we’re brainstorming ideas to turn that around.”
