2007 Archery Season Wrap-Up (including videos)

I have to apologize for not writing for a while, but my work schedule around the holidays keeps me pretty busy. Being in Colorado for a week and a half didn’t help either, but as usual, the time out west was worth playing a little catch-up at the office. It was tough being away during the rut, knowing that all of my friends were experiencing some of the best hunting of the season. This year was no exception, and there was a flurry of activity during the final two weeks.

One noteworthy event that occurred during this time was AJ getting a little redemption from his botched attempt at a doe in the early season (see “Opening Week Meltdown”). I have to give him credit because, not only did he finally harvest a deer, he managed to film the shot himself without a cameraman. This feat is even more impressive when you consider that AJ had only learned how to use his new video camera a few weeks before the hunt. I’ll let the video speak for itself. Click the link below to watch AJ’s hunt.

I’m sure many of you might have noticed the somewhat small size of AJ’s deer. You can bet this fact wasn’t overlooked by any of our hunting buddies either. Even AJ finally conceded that the doe might have actually been “a mature fawn”. At any rate, the steaks should be excellent and he was happy to regain some confidence after the events of the opening evening.

The arrow was a little bit low, but still got the job done; AJ was relieved to have some meat for the freezer.

As you might expect, some nice bucks were also harvested during the season’s final weeks. Here are a few photos of some successful hunters from northwest PA:

Dana Kellogg with a nice Clarion County 8-point; Gary Henry with a very unique 12-point, also from Clarion County

Al and Andy Hogue with two dandy bucks they harvested near their homes in Clarion County

Vince Hoover with a huge Venango County 6-point; Tom Varner with a suburban 8-point from Butler County.

Finally, no archery season would be complete without a story about the one that got away. I’ve been sworn to secrecy regarding the details of this buck sighting, so I can only say that a close friend of mine pursued this whitetail for the entire season and only managed to see him once. Unfortunately, a shot never presented itself, but he was able to capture some brief footage of this elusive buck. Although it’s pretty shaky, you can see that this is a once-in-a-lifetime Pennsylvania buck. Click the link below to watch the video.

Some still shots of the heavy-beamed buck that obviously knows of a few good hiding places.

To the best of my knowledge, no one has seen this buck since early archery season. Let’s hope he survives until next year. We might even try some late-season tactics once the woodlots calm down after Christmas. I’ll keep you posted if we have anymore close encounters. Good luck to everyone during rifle season!