Deer Hunting
1. Fort Eustis offers roughly 6000 acres for deer hunting. We have roughly 134 stand locations for hunters to utilize; some of these locations already have a two-man or single-man ladder stand, and some bring your own climbing stand.
2. Seasons and Bag Limits
All hunting seasons follow the season dates set by the Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources unless otherwise stated in iSportsman. Hunting days for deer season are Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, but priority is given to military training missions, maintenance, and construction projects. Please see the "Open Areas" and "Upcoming Events" tabs for information regarding open areas.
Deer Season for 2024-2025 are as follows.
Youth and Apprentice Weekend: 28- 29 Sept
Early Archery Season: 5 Oct- 1 Nov
Early Muzzleloader Season: 2 Nov- 15 Nov
General Firearms Season: 16 Nov- 4 Jan
Bag Limits are set independently North of UDL (Urban Demarcation Line) and South of UDL.
North of UDL: Unlimited Antlerless (female) harvest allowed entire season*. You may only take two bucks per hunter this season. A doe must be harvested prior to the harvest of a second buck. Please contact the biologist with any questions.
South of UDL: Unlimited Antlerless (female) harvest allowed entire season*. You may only take two bucks per hunter this season. A doe must be harvested prior to the harvest of a second buck. Please contact the biologist with any questions.
*You may not harvest deer you do not have state tags for. Bonus antlerless tags may be purchased from VA DWR.
** 733 CES reserves the right to increase/decrease harvest limits at any point during the season. Please monitor the "Homepage" and "Upcoming Events" pages throughout the season.
3. Stand and trailhead markers
All deer stands are coded with a minimum of four (4) digits, the first two (2) indicate the hunting area and second two (2) indicate the stand number in that hunting area. Some deer stands have letter coding following the four (4) digits. Letter coding signifies special characteristics for that stand, see below:
- Y = Youth only stand (adult may accompany but cannot possess a firearm).
- W = Can be hunted on Weekends only.
- H = Can be hunted on Federal Holidays only.
- A = Archery equipment only stands.
- S = Can be hunted from only the marked tree or the metal stand at location only.
Letter coding legend is also located on deer hunting maps and is the responsibility of hunters to know and obey all coding.
4. Trail Markings
All deer stands are marked at the trailhead with the 4 to 9-digit stand number. Parking areas must be in hunting areas that are open to hunting in order to park at that location. In some instances, trails may lead to multiple stands. Most often they are tandem stands and will have the same number. In some cases, they will be different stands and the trail to each will be denoted with another trailhead marker. Trail Markers for deer hunting are orange reflective material with the white edge’s vertical on the trail. "Stands" can be metal ladder stands or marked trees. The tree is marked with an orange reflective tape with the white edges being horizontal.
4. Lottery Deer hunts
There are 3 main deer hunting lotteries throughout the hunting season: cantonment lottery hunt, golf course lottery hunt, and the impact lottery hunt. Max of 1 entry per person per lottery. Typically, we will run 10-15 deer hunting lotteries per season. If picked a winner (decided by random draw) this will guarantee you 1 day of deer hunting, on the selected hunt day. Hunting spots will be picked in order of drawn, 1st winner has 1st pick of spots. If you entered the lottery and didn’t win, this will automatically put you on the standby list (decided by random placement), hunters hoping to be picked up on standby need to show up the day of the hunt for the safety brief, there is NO guarantee you will be picked on standby. Please read the lottery description when each lottery becomes available on iSportsman, this will have when the hunt is, where to meet, and what is required of you to bring. If you are late to the check-in your pick will be forfeited to another hunter. Once the safety brief is complete anyone that didn’t arrive on time for the lottery will have forfeited their hunt. There are no refunds if you cannot attend the lottery on the day of the hunt.
** 733d CES will determine the bag limits on a hunt-by-hunt basis**
5. Sunrise & Sunset Table
6. The Hunt Shack
Building 3307 (B3307) will be used as the focal point of the hunting, fishing, and boating programs. This facility is shared among three 3 entities and consideration must be given to those other entities. It is a privilege to have access to a heated building with restroom facilities and this privilege should not be abused. Users should be aware of their footgear and avoid tracking mud and other "outdoor" items into the facility. Please clean up after yourself and others. No electrical items such as coffee pots may be left in the hunting shack unless approved by the Fire Department. All requests for such items must go through CES, who will in turn arrange an inspection by the Fire Department. The community has been provided this facility and maintains its cleanliness. Any items brought into the hunting shack shall be taken out by the hunter. All items in Building 3307 shall be considered the property of the US Government unless provided by users. Wall-sized maps and dry erase board(s) are provided to view and collaborate. Any issues or concerns referencing B3307 shall be provided to the Wildlife Biologist.
7. The game processing facility
a. The game processing facility is located on Mulberry Island Rd just passed the end of the golf course near the archery range. Please see our deer hunting map. This facility can be used for processing fish and game. Please note that all extra carcass materials not being utilized must be disposed of off base. It is a privilege to have a facility to be able to process our harvest, please clean up after yourself and keep the facility organized.
b. Deer harvest: There are required forms located at the processing facility that must be filled out prior to removing your deer harvest off base. These can be found in one of the storage containers at the processing facility. A scale, hoist, loppers, measuring devices, and jawbone removal tool will also be provided to assist in filling out the required information. Each hunter must submit a jawbone for each deer harvested.