When I started this adventure, my goal was to hunt the mountains that helped make up the Appalachian Mountain Range.

Little did I know that the true Appalachians ranged from Canada to the Carolinas and right through the heart of Virginia and West Virginia.

Where I was going to focus my hunt?

The individual peaks of many areas had specific names and were even a well-read orienteer would be confused when talking to people in each locale. We would focus on the Blue Ridge Mountains in George Washington National Forest and hunt west of the Blue Ridge.

Our quarry would be black bear and white-tail deer in the vast wilds of the mountain region.

Thousands of acres and miles of unbroken wilderness stretched out between paved highways and one lane forest roads.

My companions would be the Bryan family and they were excited to bring in their horses and try the mountain trails and roads for extended hunting opportunities, camping and outdoor cooking.

Many of our interactions with the local residents would be through my brother Jim who has lived in these mountains for years and has got to know the customs and culture of Appalachian people who have lived in these mountains for generations. Knowing the ways of the local population has always been a good idea and can make your visit a much better experience.

I was curious about the limits placed on sugar purchases and the number of water jugs at local springs in the area …but was told don’t be curious about that unless you want to make a deal for some “shine”, I got it and enough said!

Another area that was of interest to me was in the hounds that fellows seemed to collect.

They generally centered on bear hounds or on squirrel dogs.

The boys around the Blue Ridge liked a good hound chase and one fellow told me that he was in on over 30 bear hunts with dogs last season.

The area that we would be hunting did not have a bear -dog hunt season so we would likely not have any interactions with the dog hunters.

Unless of course they turned a few loose and told them to go home towards private lands the next county over in West Virginia.

The other odd story of this trip was that we would be in the area of a scientific study of the Virginia State Threatened Wood Turtle Study and might run into turtle cameras and small fenced in areas for research.

We hit the trails in earnest our first morning on foot and on horseback looking for a good location for deer and bear.

I did learn this fact, if it was good for bear the deer would be avoiding it most likely and if it was good for deer you might see a bear.

Using a .50 caliber muzzleloader was plenty of firepower for either…but it was only one shot and you better make it count.

The weather was chilled in the mornings but by midday it was downright warm and hard to prepare for unless you layered your clothing.

Being miles away from civilization you better have everything you need with you. I learned this the hard way…or should I say the thirsty way.

I had worked my way up the mountain paralleling an old power line that cut through the forest years ago.

It was now overgrown and would take a lot of ground work to clear off and I felt for the guys that were starting on that project.

I was looking for signs of the rut being on in these mountains and it was apparent that it was not on…and even worse for me was that the acorn crop was abundant and literally all over the forest floor.

It looked like an old fashioned stalk hunt…but a foot of dry leaves underfoot made that impossible as I soon found out as a huge buck bounded out of his bedding area well out of range up the mountain trail.

That only left ambushing one at a stream or a crossing if I found some good deer sign to concentrate on.

My water was running low so I decided to hike up a trail to a hiker’s spring and fill my water bottle. After about a mile hike I found the spring to be trickling and nearly dry, I was foiled.

Hike back to a main trail and I was saved by a lone horseman, Rob Bryan who handed over cold water from his saddlebag.

Some jerky and water later made my day; it’s funny how some things can be so delicious I thought as my day ended with a parade of squirrels and no deer.

Hunting wasn’t panning out for us so well, Luke Bryan did get a chance at a running black bear and a few of the boys saw some more deer but no wall hangers.

The highlight of the trip was the great camp stories and a superb last morning breakfast prepared by Greg Bryan.

Fresh biscuits, hash browns, eggs over easy, bacon and sausage outdoors with a pot of coffee never tasted so good.

I think it might have been worth the trip itself to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Northern Virginia.

Until we meet again remember to always have a great camp cook and a funny story handy when the hunting is lean.

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.