I was just wondering how the Thomson WMA is for turkey hunting. I am looking for some campgrounds where i can pitch a tent for 3 nights and do some turkey hunting. I am going to be headed down from Binghamton Ny. I am a teacher there and have spring break in the middle of April and thought it would be a great time to try my luck in Virginia before our season opens in May. I was also wondering if there were any good trout streams around the area for the afternoon time? If anyone could give me any information it would be greatly appreciated.

Nice place you live in. My aunt and her family used to live there.

A couple public areas that hold both turkeys and trout; One is Potts Mountain in Craig County. The mountain has national forest on both sides of it. On the south side is Craigs Creek and on the north side is Potts Creek. Pott's creek has a good many areas cleared for camping.
By the way, Craig County is right up the road from Thompson on 311. Potts is about a 30 minute drive.

Another is over in Botetourt county at Arcadia. You have Jennings creek running through the National Forest with trout and it runs into the Upper James right below the Forest. The forest runs all the way up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and there are several camping areas along the National Forest road.

I think he is talking about the Thompson WMA in Faquier County.. up here where I am..

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/wma/thompson.html

BuckHunter.. I know there are birds there.. I've never hunted it myself, but I heard it can be pretty crowded sometimes.. especially on the weekends.. so during the week is your best bet.. Also look into National Forest around Winchester, that is only about 20 miles from Thompson.. plenty of space and birds as well..

Good Luck

Hey Tscott and WVBoy Thanks alot for your input, i think i am going to check out Thompson WMA. If you two ever want to hunt northeast pa or central ny let me know, it awesome, the season runs the entire month of may

oops, for some reason I read Thompson but thought Havens LOL

If you want turkeys, trout, and camping on one trip...you should looking into staying at White Rocks camp ground, in the Big Stoney Creek area of Giles Co.....which is in the Pearisburg/Blacksburg vicinity.......all the public land, turkeys, trout(both stock and native brooks), and sight seeing and hiking....furthermore, I'm pretty familiar with the area and I could get up with you and maybe give you a headstart on finding some gobbling birds.

Coincidentally, Myself and a buddy of mine has been hunting in NY for the past 2 seasons, and plan on making the trip back up there again this year.

Hope this helps you out.

I used to hunt Thompson WMA when I lived in NVA back in the early 90s. Back then the hunting pressure on weekends was unbelievable and it was impossible to enjoy the hunt; keep in mind I am from PA and I hunt public land all the time so that should give you a reference point regarding what I mean by heavy pressure. As a result I mostly deer hunted (archery) Thompson and in all the time I spent there I only saw turkeys once.

C.F.Phelps was a much better turkey oriented WMA in my opinion. It is near Remington VA southwest of Manassas about 1 hr...I can't remember the county anymore? There were always birds there. Again, pressure is high on weekends but during the week I saw very few people. If you hunt Phelps take a mountain bike with you. The terrain is rolling so biking is feasible and there are a lot of gated well maintained dirt roads...with a bike you could cover a lot of ground quickly. I don't know if there are any trout streams nearby?

Good luck.

-Eric

Hey, you guys are great, I sincerely appreciate all the great input. My email address is buckhunter338@hotmail.com If anyone of you would like to try your luck up here i could def. point you in the right direction for turkey, deer and fish. I recently purchased 9 acres in Ny that borders some state land. I hope to build on it this spring if at all possible. I also have some good spots in northeast pa. Send me an email, and stay in contact. Another question, how do you become a member of this site, and is it possible to buy your hunting liscense ahead of time. Talk to you soon.

You should see a register button at the top of this page.. if not it's on the main Forum index page.. just fill it out and register..

And yes you can buy your license on line..

http://www.dgif.state.va.us/buy_license.asp

I may take you up on the New York invite some time.. not this year, but maybe soon .. I would be nice to have a place to go late in the year .. maybe we could swap out a hunt

Hey WVBOY thanks for the help, if you are interested in coming up just let me know anytime, I have tons of spots. Thanks again

Last w/e I spooked what must have been at least a 20 lber in thompson, just sayin'.

U could think about Edinburgh/Woodstock in Shenandoah Co. It is probably 40 minutes from Thompson. Im trying to think if there is camping. U could also think about 33 west out of Harrisonburg toward WV. There is a lot of public land down. I wish I could tell u where to actually go, but I could never seem to find birds when I used to live in nova and hunt that area. There are def turkeys in the public land down through there, it was just be nice if someone locally around that area could help you out.

This has got to be a record. If I'm reading this correctly its about 6 years between posts. PS. I was in Augusta/Rockingham Co hunting grouse a few weekends ago in the snow. Lots a walking and saw zero turkey tracks. However, a good many bear tracks. Course I saw lots of bear hounds/hunters as well. Hell, I think there are more Bears then Grouse these days in that neck of the woods.

oops sorry about that

TUT: " I think there are more Bears then Grouse these days in that neck of the woods."

and everywhere else in appalachia as well unfortunately for the grouse and the grousehunters