- Remington 7600 30-06
- 180gr. Nosler Partition Bullets
- Thompson Center .50 Hawken
- 230 gr. Powerbelt Bullets
- Leupold Katmai 8x32 Binoculars
- Moultrie Game Spy I40 Trail Camera
- Moultrie Game Spy D40 Trail Camera
- Loggy Bayou Transformer Safety System
- Big Dog Treestands
- Summit Viper SS Treestand
- Medalist Silvermax Silkweight Base Layers
- Medalist Silvermax Cheyenne Pants
- Medalist Silvermax Stalker Jacket
- Medalist Silvermax Watchman’s Cap
- Lacrosse Alpha Burly Boots
After a long and somewhat grueling deer season, I’ve been licking my wounds and taking stock of the situation. In a lot of ways, I took a pretty good beating from the local herd. I had a serious case of the flu and couldn’t hunt during most of rifle season, and the sprinting herds during muzzleloader season were too fast for my Hawken. But, as I’ve come to accept after many tough seasons, that’s deer hunting in PA. I took a doe with my bow, so my freezer isn’t completely empty, but I was never able to catch up with any of the big bucks I’d patterned in September.
Dale Sherman took this nice 8-point on the opening day of rifle season.
The famous droptine 10-point was killed by Jon Weaver during the second week of rifle season.
Jess Stewart dropped the heavy-bodied “Great 8” as he was chasing does on the opening day of rifle season.
Kickers seemed to be starving in the photo from the second week of rifle season, but thankfully, was harvested by a youth hunter on my neighbor’s property before the season’s close.
Unlike me, a lot of local hunters scored on some really nice bucks this year. I hate to admit it, but several of them were deer that I’d been trying to keep tabs on myself. I’m sure you’ll all recognize most of the photos from my archery season scouting. I’d like to offer up congratulations to these folks on some great bucks!
Despite all of the nice bucks that were harvested, I believe several of the big boys made it through the hunting seasons and are still safely tucked away in their winter hideouts. The lack of harvest reports from the local hunters in a few key areas gives me confidence that a few of these studs will be around to pursue next year. And I’m guessing they’ll be absolute giants!
A couple of bucks that survived the hunting seasons.
One nice buck turned up on our trail cameras, but the majority of the post-season photos have been little guys and large groups of does. With the heavy snow cover and lack of acorns, most of the deer I’ve seen recently have been feeding in corn fields. They’re very skittish this time of year and rarely stand long enough to catch them on camera.
These bucks were on trails heading toward a large corn field.
Even though tag soup can be hard to swallow, I can’t really complain about my season. I was able to spend quite a bit of time in the field and I gained a lot of knowledge that I didn’t have last year. I passed on several legal bucks in archery and rifle season that I felt needed more time to grow, and I’m excited to see what they’ll be sporting for antlers next year.
It won’t be long before I’ll be able to start shed hunting and slip into some of the thickets I wouldn’t dare set foot in during the season. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a few sets of antlers that prove some of the big boys are still on their feet. I think I will. I believe. The way I look at it, tough seasons only make future success that much sweeter.
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