You drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and gaze onto beautiful vistas of forgotten fields and forests that can appear to be endless.

You think, “Man, this parkway is huge!”

It isn’t. In many places it is little more than a giant ribbon linking the ridge tops with a winding, asphalt road. Much of the wild land that you see beyond the scenic drive in Virginia is owned by the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, a fact lost on most visitors who are content to grab a quick, visual gulp then move on.

This also is deer hunting territory, trophy hunting at that. The parkway is off-limits to hunting. The forest isn’t. But you have to be able to reach the forest with a firearm, bow or crossbow.

To accomplish that, many years ago the Blue Ridge Parkway began issuing permits that allow sportsmen to leave their vehicle in designated spots on the parkway and hike across parkway property with an unloaded, cased firearm to reach national forest areas where other access is impractical.

The rewards are big bucks. They get that way because the ruggedness of the terrain gives them an opportunity to escape detection, thus they have time to grow towering antlers. There also are turkeys, bears, grouse and squirrels.

Strike off from the parkway and you advance into a world of rocky bluffs, deep ravines and shady hollows guarded by gnarly, low-standing brush that will rake you like a steel claw. Getting a deer back up to the parkway can be hell.

Maybe that’s why the parkway only issues about 500 permits annually. And: the fact that many sportsmen are unaware of this potential hunting spot.

Even so, there was considerable concern recently when parkway officials dispatched information that the permit system, called HAP, for Hunter Access Program, was being terminated. That brought a bunch of comments to the blog of Roanoke Times outdoor editor Mark Taylor. One weekly newspaper reported “Hunting access to federal acreage may soon be a think of the past.”

It really isn’t as bad as it sounds. The parkway is ending its permit program because of a federal ruling in February that allows firearms in national parks so long as gun carriers comply with laws of the state. Thus HAP was outdated. So is the need for hunters to park in designated areas, which should distribute hunting pressure and help thin a swelling population of deer that is reaching nuisance status in some areas.

The termination of HAP has not gone smoothly, leaving hunters with questions and concerns, and parkway officials with details to work out.

Foremost is the issue of transporting game from the national forest across parkland to a hunter’s vehicle. While you now can carry a firearm on the parkway, you still can’t carry a deer or even a squirrel. Parkway officials are saying that successful hunters will have to receive authorization to transport a kill. Either that, or face fines.

Hunters see a nightmare in this. Rangers can be difficult to locate and cell phones often don’t work in remote mountain habitat. But parkway officials appear willing to work out the details. Chief Ranger Steve Stinnett is receiving input through July 31. 828-271-4779 ex. 239.

I am not 100 percent sure who started off-parkway hunting and the permit system, but I’m guessing it was Paul Shrauder. He was a Jefferson National Forest biologists who in the '60s and '70s covered his office walls with trophy bucks he had taken when the animals moved from the rich foothill farmland to what they thought was the safety of the wooded high country.

Shrauder didn’t want publicity, but you can’t hide that many bucks under a bushel for very long. When I wrote about his success, some people tried off-parkway hunting but gave up after a single try because of the harsh terrain.

It probably will be that way in the wake of recent publicity stimulated by the termination of HAP.