Oh yes!

But the social aspect does make this sort of hunting fun. I do miss hearing the hounds sing their song.

Well, job options are rolling in still. So how is the hunting in old Virginia? I know you have whitetails, what is the quantity and quality? What other game opportunities might I find there? Looks like the position is in the Fairfax area.

How's the cost of living there?

I know it's horse and hound country and that is a good deal for me too.

Ann,

I'm stationed in the Norfolk area and have been here a couple years. I'll share what I know.

Deer hunting in Virginia is pretty good, but you will find them much smaller than what you have in Michigan. I'm from Colorado originally and when I saw my first Virginia whitetail, I kind of thought it was someone's dog. I'd guess the average buck, at least where I've hunted, will weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 125 pounds live weight. I'm sure there are some bigger ones around, but I don't know anyone that has taken one. But, you can take 4 deer a season on the regular license. I've been doing most of my hunting on a military installation and I can basically take unlimited does on the base. There are lots of military bases in Virginia and I believe all of them allow hunting in an attempt to keep the herds down. Lots of hunting clubs here as well.

There is pretty good bear hunting in the extreme western part of the state and the elk are moving up from Kentucky and Tennessee. Elk can be taken on sight during the deer season and tagged with a deer tag. But I don't think I'd bet any money on shooting many elk. There are a few wild hogs in the Dismal Swamp along the North Carolina state line.

Lots of small game, rabbits, squirrel, grouse in the state as well as huge flocks of turkeys. The waterfowl hunting along the Chesapeake Bay has been world famous for a couple hundred years, so I cant say much more than that.

PM me if you would like more info.

Mac

I've lived in northern Virginia for 13+ years. Cost of living is atrocious, and traffic is godawful.

Hunting ... depends. There are indeed deer, but it seems most of those who shoot them, do so on private land. As anywhere, this means either "family or friends" connections, ponying up for a club lease, or spending a lot of time chatting up landowners.

As I recall, you're an archer -- that will be nice for you since Fairfax participates in the Urban Archery Program that goes from September to March, I believe. Make friends with gardening aficionados who live on big elephantine tracts of land, and you'll be set.

There's also national forest and state WMAs -- both crowded during weekends of firearm seasons. I don't go there then unless desperate. Going to try the military bases for the first time this year, I think.

Upland birds -- other than sporadic grouse (always on steep hillsides), it's a preserve game. Other than dove season, of course.

Waterfowling can be excellent but the blind laws are mind-boggling. Go to the thread on "stupidest hunting laws" for my rant on those, and on the patchwork of county-by-county gun restrictions and road-hunting rules.

John

Used to live in Maryland suburbs and went to school at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

Your not going to like the cost of living and the traffic in DC. Some of the worst in the world.

Closest public range used to be Clark Brothers in Culpepper, Virginia. There may be private clubs that you might join. I believe the NRA has a range in Virginia south of the DC area.

Best hunting areas are only sort of local ... the Columbia Furnace area of the George Washington National Forest. Go to Front Royal then a little south on I-81 ... turn right and find an entrance to the National Forest.

Many deer. If there is now a doe season you'd be in good shape. For many years there was not.

Twenty (no ... thirty) years ago, we used to go visit the overseers of the large farms in the Front Royal area. We'd make treks every spring and introduce ourselves ... offering to help with fencing and the like. Eventually we had a full spring and permission to hunt about 3,000 acres of beautiful farm land. Much was owned by the wealthy families like the DuPonts. We had to avoid the weekends they held fox hunts (and I'm not kidding)!

It takes some real stick-to-it to get permissions and keep them up. But the land is beautiful.

You can always visit us ... we have a guest house, a very long season, lots of doe available, and a fair amount of land to hunt in West Virginia. Unfortunately, it's about an 8 hour drive.

Wishing you best of luck in the new job!

After living in SD, UT and IL, let me just say that hunting in VA is not in the same league. I am now living outside of Richmond, and much of the deer, turkey and waterfowl hunting is within 1-1.5 hours from here. I am not much of a turkey hunter, however many of my friends speak volumes about the opportunities.

Depending on where you live, you may or may not be able to use rifle. Shotguns are primary weapon, and many of the clubs use dogs in pursuit of deer. I personally enjoy archery season because there are less people and the dogs haven't got the deer all skidish. Hunt club fees are ~$500 for me each year.

Deer season runs long and into the following year. The 1st week of January is doe harvest and fill freezer time should you not have had a shot at the "big" one. As mentioned earlier, deer here are not as big bodied as those from the midwest, but are bigger than those I hunted in SC. However, you can shoot several deer, so what you lose in genetic quality, you can can make up for with quantity.

Cost of living was considerably less than the suburbs of Chicago. Here is a cost of living calculator for you to compare. http://www.homefair.com/homefair/servlet/ActionServlet?pid=116&previousPage=199&cid=homefair&fromState=MI&toState=VA Gas today was $1.59/gal when I filled up.

There is no Sunday hunting here, so for a M-F worker, it makes for less weekend opportunity to get out. However, there is good fishing around as well so you could always fish on Sunday.

Brad

Thanks for the input, guys! I think the salary offered on this job probably fits the cost of living. I had already assumed it would be expensive. Michigan is not cheap by any means, this morning gas was $1.78. I already drive an hour so I can live "in the country" on my puny 5 acres (hey, at least I can crank a window open any time I want and shoot varmints!). This area is quite developed thanks to the auto industry.

I would definitly fit in with the fox hunters as I did that for 8 years here. That's a bonus to me and certainly some of the larger land owners might extend an invitation to deer hunt to a hunt member. And yes, I prefer to bow hunt my deer as my area of Michigan is shotgun only. Will be interesting to see what happens, I suspect I will have some more opportunities in some other states. I have a lot of resumes out right now.

Ann, when I lived in Virginia, I got the impression that fox hunting in northern Virginia was a sport for the ultra-wealthy who belonged to exclusive hunting country clubs, and had all the high-society connections.

Maybe somone in that area can confirm or deny that impression, since I used to live in Roanoke, which is quite a ways from Fairfax.

Rick.

I left Virginia in 1970 when I graduated High School and went to college in New England. It has grown up way too much for me, and I just steadily headed west. Another 80 miles and I would be in the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately Virginia is not the Virgina I grew up in, although my ancestors have been there since 1607, and most of my family is still there. When I was in High School at Friday night football games, the band played the national anthem and then without missing a note they broke into Dixie. The crowds then jumped up and cheered when they broke into Dixie. IN our politically correct world that is probably outlawed now, fearing we might offend the NAACP and Jesse Jacksons crowd along with the Leftest Yuppie Liberal Democrat Crowd ( are you there Hillary Clinton? Diane Feinstein, Nancy Pelozzi??)



I do have a lot of family in the Northern VA area (Fairfax and Prince William, Loudon Counties)and then west of Roanoke, and then in the Luray, New Market, Columbia Furnace area ( Page County).



When visiting relatives, I can tell you that the Bucks in Monroe County WVa have nothing to do with small size when I have been back there. After spending 15 yrs in Minnesota and hunting Minn and Wisconsin, those WVa bucks give no back seat to size to the Upper Midwest Whitetails. Some of the most unbelievable racks on live deer I have personally seen in the wild were in WVa. Giles County VA also has the same deer running those ridges and hollers.



I'd take Whitetail hunting any day back in WVa or Western Va over Blacktail hunting in Oregon. Mule deer hunting in Oregon is also pretty thin anymore. The locals in Eastern Oregon make jokes that the license to deer ratio each year is about 4 licenses to every Mule Deer in a zone, and the harvest is still poor. And most of the monsters of past decades are long gone.



I make jokes at times about seeing a deer ( usually at night off of the highway or crossing it) that had a rack as big as the ones that you usually see hanging over a bar from back in the 1950s and 60s.



Not being biased by the fact that I am 18th generation Virginian, I think Virginia is a great place to hunt deer.



Cheers and good shooting

Seafire

Seafire said it all when he said the Virginia of today is not the Virginia of our childhood. (I'm even older than he is) Folks there don't even talk like Virginians any longer.
Fox Hunting in Virginia even when I was a kid was mostly for those that talk that talk but seldom walk that walk.
Kinda like the plantation dove hunts in Mississippi. They really have nothing to do with fox nor dove hunting.

Beeman, that's why I rode a staff position for most of my years working hounds. But yes, it is a big social occasion for many. Entertainment for a lot of us, watching all the spills.....

You, of course, have heard the joke where the newcomer is admonished: "The correct term is TalleyHo! Not, there goes the little son of a bitch."

Aspen,
I moved to Va. from PA. in 1978 because of my job. I now live about 65 miles south west of DC. You haven't seen traffic problems any where in Mich. compared to N. Va. If it rains, sun shines, or vechile wrecks, just add another 45 minutes to your commute. I have a friend who drives to Springfield, leaves at 5am, so he can get to work at 7am. We live in the Amissville/Culpeper area. Housing for a new 1800 to 2400 sq. ft., one acre or less, starts at $300K to $350K, yea! that $350,000 big ones. This is with in 10 miles of Warrenton, Va. I thought I was making decent $ when I lived in Pa. When I moved here, I got a REAL finacial, & culture shock. I now have grand daughters here, & my wife told me she doesn't want to move as the grand kids are here-I am retired. Weather wise- it's one of the nicest places to live, & I lived or worked in all the 13 North Eastern States.

Fox hunting is -Riding to the hounds-not fox hunting with a fire arm, etc. Fauquier County where I hunt, & a few of the other counties-YOU CAN NOT SHOOT FOX, because they are chased with the dogs, & the horse people "ride to the hunt" with thier horses, & would report you in a minute, if you shot a fox. These are the people who "rule the land". It makes dam good hunting, as the days they ride, we get in tree stands, & pretty soon 3 deer come by-about 50 yds. behind them comes 5 dogs-the dogs would rather chase deer, but you can't tell the "horse" people that, as they say the dogs only chase fox. All morning long it deer & dogs running by. See a lot of deer. In Fauquier County last yr. , deer season started on Nov. 18 & went to Jan 4. You could legally take a deer a day, some days 2. they give you 4 tags to start-& you can buy "bonus tags" for $6 each, so I start the season with 6 tags, & go from there. If you use up your tags, go pay another $6 or $12, & get another couple tags.

A farmer had 435 acres of land 1/2 miles from me-his son & my sons grew up & went to school together. For the 1st 5 yrs., I could fish on his farm, but not hunt as 3 other people had the "rights". Then 1 day out of the blue, he told me I could hunt any time I wanted- I do a lot of bush hog -with his tractor- for him. Now only 3 of us are allowed to hunt. He sold 165 acres of the farm for $1.7 million two years ago, so we lost the best part of our hunting. I know people who belong to hunt clubs-pay any where from $400 to $1800 a yr. to hunt. If you pay say $400 , you can only hunt on maybe-tues. & wed. , if you pay $1000 , you can hunt on Mon. to Thurs, If you pay the top $1800, you can hunt any day. Those are examples, but that's the way the system works. some of my friends have permission to hunt on certain pieces of land. Usually on 40 acres or less. It's really small, but they are happy since it's the only place to have. The above does not include shooting target, etc. I am lucky as I can go to the farm when I want & shoot, I usually go twice a week, but you never know how long that can go on. I was used to & still like to hunt-"see what's over the next hill". but that's not possible here unless you go to one of the national forest. From the D.C. area you are talking 1 to 4 hrs. drive.
Non of the above is meant to change your mind, only to let you know what the real world is like in the N. Va. area. I realize I will never get back to Pa. to live, & walk out the door to hunt as I use to, but people adjust, & you will too. Good luck on your new job, & house location.

I think one would be borderline insane to choose to reside in northern Va if other choices are in the wind.

Never choose to live your life where what you do is primarly considered around traffic timing. Being poor is one thing. Being miserable is another.

I can deal with heavy traffic when traveling,etc. If I have to deal with heavy traffic every day, it quickly becomes misery.

I have never regretted sacrificing a little moola for some retreat.

All of this area that is being talked about is MY home turf. It is where I grew up and I am 18th generation Virginian.

All the Ancestors wore grey between 1861 and 1865. It may be hard for many people in that area now, who are not natives, to believe that at the Centennial of the Battles of Bull Run in 1961 and 1962, Manassas had the same population that it had during the battles. IN 100 yrs there had been virtually no growth. By 1980 the population was 450,000 people in Manassas.

Hearing all of this makes me cry. Virginia sure was a beautiful place to be from in those days.

I see why I live in Southern Oregon now. I doubt if I will ever leave here now. I could go to Montana, or Idaho or Wyoming, but since my wife hates the cold weather after spending her entire life in Minnesota until I brought her out here.

After watching the Movie Gods and Generals this morning on TV, bringing back the history and the way it was taught in the early 1960s in my mind., the Virginia of my youth is long gone. It is more like New York State now than Virginia. As a hunter and shooter, and as a person who honors history, our heritage.... progress and development are more a curse than anything positive to me.

Makes me love Oregon. The mountains, and I can go up into forest service land and just go. To get to the coast is 80 miles as the crow flies. Take the forest service road up and over thru Bear Camp, there is a one lane paved road over that takes 3 to 4 hours to make that 80 miles.

NO towns, no filling stations, you stand a 1000 times greater chance to see ELK or Bear, than seeing another person on the trip over. You are pretty much running ridge tops for 70 of those 80 miles. YOU can see about 50 miles in most directions, or more. You won't pick up many radio stations, if any at all. A landslide can mean a 15 to 20 mile detour on dirt roads, with even less civilization.

Yeah Virginia is a great place to be from and Oregon is a great place to be now that the out of state transplants have destroyed Virginia.

Seafire

When visiting historical parts of Virginia a couple of years ago I was amazed at the number of deer I saw while taking the two-lanes from Yorktown to Richmond. In Yorktown particularly, the deer were wandering around in people's yards like family pets! They were everywhere and I had a good time taking pictures of them in such public places.

Leaving Yorktown and riding through the countryside again we found huge numbers of deer throughout the farmlands. It all appeared to me that in some spots the deer were being overly protected by restrictive game laws and were seeing their populations growing out of control, particularly in Yorktown.

This abundance of deer was countered by the massive congestion that has gripped the areas surrounding Washington DC. I have some relatives there and to see how they live as they let the horrendous traffic dictate their lives is something I just could not imagine enduring. When they want to go to the store or to go out to eat it must first be coordinated with a discussion of when and how to deal with the traffic at that point of the day. And from what I could tell, the massive traffic jam almost never subsides.

All that said, I thought the state was truly beautiful and the foresight to have banned billboards from the interstates appears to have been a stroke of genius coming from the ad-friendly state of Georgia.

Clearly there are parts of Virginia that appear to have good hunting, parts that need more hunting, and parts that can only dream of when they had hunting.

Sad to say, I have to agree with NCBOMAN. I have 2 bro-in-laws that fights that shit all year long just to get to go on a real hunt for ONE WEEK in the fall. Oh, they make some one day trips but mostly its a matter of spending their time figuring how to live cheap (while keeping up a big front) and making their house notes.
Over the years, I would imagine they made more bucks than I did but I feel I had more "real" income.

Ann,



I don't think I disagree with anything that others have already posted but of course I'd like to add my 2 cents worth!



My oldest daughter lives in NOVA, currently McLean. She has lived in Alexandria and Arlington. She loves it up there but acknowledges the problems of traffic and living expense already noted. E.g. gas will run $.25 a gal more there than here. However, you are only 2.5 hours from us good folks in the Shenandoah Valley and in hunt country.



Hunting has changed a LOT from when I was a boy but very much more so in NOVA where development has taken a LOT of former farmland.



However, gun rights are pretty strong in the state and the Virginia Citizen's Defense League has taken the lead from the NRA in defending ALL gun rights. You can visit the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for a complete look at rules and regs. You are also very close to PA and MD hunting opportunities. I know there are several AR members who might invite you to join them once they find out your a neighbor.



On the professional side, I understand that Georgetown University has an excellent forensics program. Might be a good thing to be so close.

seafire,

I know what you mean and how you feel. But I have to let you know, the Stonewall Brigade Band starts EVERY concert with Dixie. They give a free concert every Monday night from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Ann, Pretty much everybody has told you all the bad sides of NOVA living. It's pretty much the same way in the Norfolk, Newport News, tidewater areas......horrendous traffic, high costs of living and etc. HOWEVER, There is still a lot of the state, southwestern area, that's still relatively undeveloped but it is changing also. As far as deer hunting goes, they need to reclassify them as varmints because there are so many of them! There are usually some "significant" bucks harvested each year and a lot of them will come from the western counties. Blacksburg(home of VA TECH) is in Montgomery Co and there are a few good job opportunities around there also. Hunting would be easier in that area. As far as fox hunting goes in that area, it's usually done with a predator call! And you can shoot them! Then I guess you can say "Tally went"!! GHD

Well I am one of these N. VA commuters, but it is not as bad as it sounds. I live in Stafford VA, (Stafford is just north of Fredericksburg) been there (all of my) 33 years. When I got out of high School in 1989 there were about 33,000 people in Stafford and now there are 109,000 (most of wich I dont like, lol) But it is not all bad. I work in DC and my commute is just under an hour, using the HOV lanes. I have been hunting since I was 12 and I can tell you for a FACT the hunting is better than it has ever been. It's sad but the kids in this area don't hunt, so the # of hunters is about the same (due to transients) or even smaller, but it is definetly in decline. Most people don't either have the time to hunt, or dont make it. The Deer herds are in great shape. I hunt a lot in Fauquier county wich in right next to Stafford and boast one of the best buck/per sq mile ratio's in the State. If you are a bow hunter, check out Quantico Marine base. They alow shotguns/w slugs, and BP during the general firearm season, but the "bow only" areas are sweet.

Drop me a PM if you need any more info, glad to help.



Ps. here is me with one of those Northern VA deer from Fauquier, in Nov of 03







Here is a Stafford County Buck from 1993, they must get better the farther north you go, lol

I'll have to try the White House Lawn!!

Wow, Mark, that's a dandy buck!

One question, does the area have a well developed public transit option? AS far as getting into the city, this job is in Fairfax, is that as tied up as the whole DC area?

Yeah, there are Buses, Metro, Car Pools, "Slugs" for Slugging. As far as Fairfax goes, it depends. It's a big county, some of it looks like DC, some of it looks like where I live in Stafford. So location is going to be key. I don't know to much about that area even though I drive through it everyday. I go from Stafford, hit the HOV lanes and don't get off until I am at DC. Not really part of my stomping grounds, LOL. I guess it depends where you are going to live. If you live down my way and work in Fairfax, the commute could be ruff. If you live up that way then ????? who knows?? But it's expensive!

Mark,

For this country girl, what's a HOV lane? Just so you know, in the land of the auto, where I live, there is horrid public trans.

Don't laugh, but what are the "cheap" areas in a 35 mile perimeter from Fairfax (at least away from DC)? Cheap, meaning any affordable older farms of 5 to 20 acres? Is there any such thing?

Ann, lol
HOV stands for High Occupancy Vehicle. In the HOV lanes you need at least 3 people in the car. Some places there are HOV2. Slugs by the way are people who wait at commuter lots for a free ride. The rider gets a free ride and the driver gets to use the HOV lanes. My wife and I pick up a "slug" everyday.

Now as for the "cheap" part. I don't know your income bracket but with'n 35 miles of DC you aren't getting into 5 acres for what I would call cheap!!! I am 38 miles from DC in Stafford and and acre goes for 40-60K. So 10 acres could run you a cool 500,000 or more. A new house on a 1/4 acre in Stafford will put you over 300,000.
Thats not what they are worth, thats just what they cost.

I have a 2 acre lot now that I am building on, my house will come in around 150-160K and appraise at 350+, the day I move in. You are going to have to get about 1hr &45 minuets outside DC before you get into "relativly cheap" land. But the money is here, the area is basicly resession proof.

Hmm, I don't suppose there is any farmland "ghetto" areas? You know my choice of area is Middleburg, The Plains or even Warrenton but they are probably out of my league too.

Thanks for the splanation on HOV. I could easily be a slug.

They also have an opening in Richmond for this type of job. I just realized they have openings at two of their four laboratories. Too bad one isn't out Roanoke way.

Hobie,

Give a cheer for me the next time you are there.

Glad to see some of old Virginia is still left.

cheers and good shooting
seafire

Ann,

I don't think Fairfax is all that bad for traffic as long as you don't have to drive from one end of the county to the other, and especially if you can engineer a "reverse commute".

When I worked at NRA HQ (just west of Fairfax City) I lived just north of the city and drove westward to work in less than 10 minutes each morning.

On the other hand, when I transferred to the DC office, I think my speed record was 45 minutes (I think it was the Friday morning of Memorial Day weekend, during a congressional recess). 1:15 was more typical for the 20-mile trip, bad enough that I moved to Alexandria.

Anyone can choose his tradeoffs -- when I did construction work we had carpenters who drove in from Winchester or The Plains to Falls Church or Arlington, every day. They had to leave home by 5:30 to be at work by 7:00 -- and that was 12 years ago. With the population of Loudoun having more than doubled since then, I can't even guess at the Winchester commute any more.

John

Thanks John, valuable information. I can see if I do happen to get the job I will have a lot of help in the area. I really appreciate all the input here from everyone!

You might want to check the Thornburg area, off I95 between DC and Richmond. My buddy bought 5 acres out there for 40k about 4 years ago.

John,

I've got friends that commute from Weyers Cave to Arlington, daily. They say it is 2.5 hours. Fortunately, they are married and work at the same location. They take 81 North to 66 and 66 very nearly straight to work (I guess you know where they're going ). Friends and I have made some awful commutes, for family. I would not do it for myself.

Another good option is using the train to commute into the Fairfax area. With that you can get farther out past Leesburg VA towards Purceville and get into more of a farming community. The rule in this area as well as most metro areas is the father away the cheaper the price. I have lived off and on in the VA and MD area for the last thirty years and havbe never had any problems finding areas to hunt. I acutally relocated back the area last year and bought a home in the Southern MD area (commute to DC). I live in a subdivison and have three arces but border 800 acres of farm and swamp. In SEP I can make it home from DC and be in the deer stand for the last 1 1/2 hours of daylight. Plus I am two miles for a launch ramp to the Chesapeake Bay. All areas have there +&- but all in all this is a great area. Hunting and fishing opportunities are endless.

This thread continues to amaze me.

I graduated High School in 1970 from West Springfield High School.

All of these towns that are being mentioned to be able to get a decent piece of property for a decent price to Anne, were not even considered to be a place to live to commute to Wash DC metro area in those days.

We knew people that commuted from Culpepper in those days, and we thought they were virtually nuts. Now I wonder what % of the population there commutes to the metro area each day.

Where in God's green earth did all of these people come from?? IN those days, DC metro area was considered 4 counties, Prince Georges and Montgomery Co MD and Arlington and Fairfax in VA.

Now it sounds like Fauquare ( never could spell that) Prince William, Loudon County are all part of it too on the Virginia side.

When I was in High School we were forever skipping out of school and going up thru Leesburg on Rt 7 thru Purcellville to Harpers Ferry for the day to goof off. There was no I 66 and to get to Winchester or Front Royal, you went out old Rte 50.
Which was pretty much two lanes and there were sure a lot of tractors chugging up and down the road in those days, so you should have watched your speed. However being High School kids, I have been up and down Rt 50, 29/211, Rt 7 at 80-85 mph in my VW when they were two lane roads. Now it does not sound like with the traffic congestions I could do that even on I 66.

Now I understand that song, that use to say, "You should have been here, before it was ruined by people like you."

Cheers and good shooting.
Seafire

Now, now Seafire, be nice. I lived in Northern Virginia when Woodbridge was indeed a wooden bridge. I have guided on Ocoquan Res and trapped foxes and coons and shoot deer in the woods around the lake.

Beeman,

Back in the good old days!

Roads I learned to drive on, single lane and twisty as hell are now all 4 lane parkways.

Sort of like Rumpelstiltskin, felt like I went to sleep for 40 yrs, and woke up. Hard to believe it was 24 yrs ago, but I decided in 1980 that I would never again go home to Virginia.
I love the state, but hate the growth that has happened.

I think that I learned to hate growth when I was in High School.
We came back home to Virginia in June 1968 when the Air Force shipped my dad overseas to an isolated assignment.

We moved to Springfield as my mom did not want to commute that far to the Pentagon where she worked. We sold our home that had been rented out in Manassas.

In June 1968 the population of Springfield was 5,000 people.
I remember the area was called Springfield because their was a dairy at the corners of Backlick Rd and Old Keene Mill Rd in the 1950s with the name of Spring Field Dairy. We had family friends that lived there at the time. Learned to drive a VW up and down HOOS Rd between West Springfield and Lorton.

When I left to go to Boston to go to college in Jan 1971 ( after an uneventful semester at NOVA CC) the population of Springfield had gone to 80,000 people in 2 and a half years.

West Springfield High School was built in 1966 to take the overload off of Lee High School in Springfield. It was built to handle 3,000 students, and take the projected growth of that area of the county until 1980 ( 1966s estimates). In 1970 we had 3,500 kids at West Springfield HS, and they had planned and broken ground on 5 more high schools bigger than ours to take the overload off of West Springfield. IN 1971 they did double shifts at my HS and in 1972 they were doing triple shifts, and had kicked the freshmen out of the school not having room to put them anywhere.

I have been running from population booms the rest of my life.

cheers and good shooting
seafire

Anne, one thing to remember is Virginia is a "Right to work state" there for there are no Unions tha can bargin for you here, yes we have the FOP, and there are a few unions doing buss with the locals, but their a watse of money,, as long as you stay in No.VA. the salary will be compareable to where you are more than likely,, but once you drop below the Richmond line, the salarys go do fast