Do you have to buy deer tags when you hunt on your own property?

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/regulations/d...

How about you read all about it, and come back and tell us?

I live in Ohio and was in the same boat as you. The apple trees went crazy ths year, and we've had a small herd of deer regularly crossing and bedding down on our property. I was interested in doing some hunting this season.

In Ohio, the Division of Wildlife (our version of Virginia's Department of Game and Inland Fisheries) publishes a yearly boklet called the "Ohio Division of Wildlife Hunting and Trapping Regulations". They are available free at any store where you can get a hunting license (Walmart usually has a couple of stacks at the gun/ammo desk), I assume there is a similar publication in VA. In ours there is a section called "License Exemptions" in the part about "Licenses and Permits". In OH, when hunting on property they own, property owners and their children are exempt from purchasing a State of Ohio Hunting License, Fur Takers Permit, Wetland Stamp, etc. (basically any of the stuff you have to buy from the state).

I still wasn't sure about other rules though (like did I need to get my deer checked, etc). I called our local Division of Wildlife office and just asked (but I did it from soemone else's phone...paranoid much...lol). They told me yes, I did not need to purchase any of the State of Ohio licenses or permits but ALL other rules and regulations still applied. For instance, I still needed a Federal Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp to shoot ducks, geese, etc.

The officer made special effort to tell me that bag limits, seasons, game tagging/checking requirements, and acceptable hunting equipment regulations still applied.

As for tagging, in the front of our booklet there is a game tag which you can copy as much as you want for free, but you can use anything to tag game so long as it has the hunter's name, date, time, and county of kill. I've seen people make tags out of cut open pop cans. They're super durable (which is important since a kill needs to stay tagged forever or...in the case of meat...until it's completely used up). You can "write" on them with an empty ball point pen if you push hard on a smooth-ish/soft-ish surface like a smooth tree trunk or a log.

Not sure what county you're in, but you can find your local wildlife office on the page at http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/about/offices/

Happy hunting and good luck!

~Daniel

You DO need the license and tags. Even if the land is yours, the animals are considered state- or commonwealth, in VA- property.

Yes, even on private property u need a proper license and big game tags

agreeably you need both a hunting license and tags

not you can show they have been doing damage to crop or food staple. otherwise yes you need tag.