Northampton considers allowing rifles for deer hunting

Should Northampton County allow deer hunters to use rifles?

The Northampton Supervisors are considering allowing rifles during the general firearms deer season, which prompted a debate over crop damage, hunting safety and enforcement at Tuesday’s meeting.

Rifles are permitted for deer hunting in Accomack County but have been prohibited for use during Northampton’s regular deer season since 2002. Supervisor Jon Dempster raised the issue after hearing from several constituents who asked the county to reconsider its regulations.

No formal action was taken. Supervisors discussed inviting representatives of the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources to a work session before deciding whether to draft an ordinance amendment and schedule a public hearing.

Kyle Sturgis, chairman of the Northampton County Agricultural Committee, said the committee supports beginning the discussion. He described deer-related crop damage as a major concern for the county’s row-crop farmers.

Sturgis said he has personally observed losses of 30 to 40 bushels per acre from heavy deer grazing. At current soybean prices, he estimated the damage at approximately $494 per acre.

Northampton ranks fourth in Virginia in the market value of agricultural crops sold, he said.

“We would like something to be able to control deer and give hunters the opportunity to harvest more deer in the county,” Sturgis said.

Rifles already may be used by farmers and landowners operating under deer-kill permits intended to reduce crop damage. They also are permitted for certain predator and varmint hunting.

Sturgis said wildlife officials reported that only about 16 Virginia counties do not allow some form of rifle hunting. DWR leaves the decision to individual counties but requires rifles used for deer hunting to be .243 caliber or larger, he said.

One option would be to allow only straight-wall rifle cartridges. Those rounds generally have a shorter effective range than traditional high-velocity rifle ammunition but are more accurate than muzzleloaders or shotguns. Sturgis said they are typically effective at distances of about 200 to 300 yards.

Supporters also argued that advances in muzzleloader technology have narrowed the difference between those firearms and rifles. Modern muzzleloaders can reach 100 to 200 yards, while rifles provide greater accuracy and a faster follow-up shot.

Preston Lane supported the change, saying Northampton hunters harvested approximately 1,200 deer in 2025 while the number of hunters continues to decline. He argued that allowing rifles would make hunting more efficient and could reduce crop damage, deer-vehicle collisions and reliance on crop-damage permits.

“Northampton has an opportunity to increase hunting safety by allowing deer rifle hunting,” Lane said. “Northampton has big fields just like Accomack, and you need a rifle for that.”

John Evans offered a personal account to support the argument that rifles can be safer than buckshot. Evans said a hunter once fired at a deer near him during a deer drive. Six pellets from the shotgun shell struck a truck, flattened a tire and spread across about 11 feet of the vehicle.

“That is a very unsafe thing to me,” Evans said.

Northampton County Sheriff David Doughty said his primary concern is public safety because Northampton lacks the large, uninterrupted tracts of woodland found in some other parts of Virginia.

He said any ordinance permitting rifles should require hunters to shoot from an elevated position. While heights of four to eight feet were discussed, the sheriff suggested a standard closer to the 15- to 20-foot height of many commercially available ladder stands.

“When somebody is shooting from that elevated position, the round should not go any farther than the target they’re shooting at,” the Sheriff said.

He also cautioned that rifle hunting could increase complaints and add to the Sheriff’s Office’s workload. The county could consider restrictions such as prohibiting rifles during organized deer drives.

Several residents urged the board to proceed carefully. David Kabler said a neighbor fired rifles, pistols and shotguns about 300 feet from his home at various hours for approximately 15 years.

Kabler said the Sheriff was sympathetic but had limited ability to act because it was difficult to identify a shooter after hearing gunfire.

“Please be very careful if you want to loosen our restrictions,” Kabler said. “There may be some more that you can do to prevent this kind of abuse.”

Holly Stewart also questioned whether the change would create another safety and enforcement burden. She asked the county to consult DWR about alternative ways to reduce the deer population and how violations of any rifle regulations would be enforced.

Other residents noted that an excessive deer population creates its own hazards, including serious vehicle crashes, crop losses and growing dependence on kill permits.

Several supervisors said they needed more information before taking a position. The board may ask DWR officials to present accident statistics, technical information and safeguards used by other Virginia counties before deciding whether to pursue an ordinance amendment.