By: Frank Dickman
The last day of Pennsylvania’s rifle season finally arrived. We were blessed with a fresh snowfall the day before and the deer had already constructed an extensive trail network through it. Truth be told I was surprised to see so much deer sign considering the lack of deer sightings and sheer lack of shooting over the last two weeks. Yet, there they were, dozens upon dozens of trails scouring the area.
I elected to hunt a fencerow at the end of a cut cornfield initially but after the first half hour of hunting decided to move over to a small triangle of woods about 100 yards distant. As usual I was not alone. There were approximately 10 other hunters within sight across the valley or on the neighboring farm. This gameland in particular receives an excessive amount of pressure during most of the hunting seasons and rifle is probably the worst.
Shots had been ringing out since just after daybreak. I began seeing deer shortly after moving to the new stand even though they were at great distances. Most of these deer were moving quite quickly as clouds of snow exploded around them. One has to understand that the last day of rifle season in Pennsylvania is often considered the last ditch effort to bring home some venison. Hunters who patiently sat on stand for the last two weeks are now aggressively pursuing their game by covering more ground individually and by putting on deer drives in organized groups.
My position in the triangle of timber was geared more towards observing these activities rather than actually harvesting an animal. However, the chance always existed and mine played itself out much sooner than I had expected. Around 7:30 am I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Here were three doe meandering around the one side of the triangle down towards the wooded valley below. After checking my shooting “lanes” for any potential hazards I opted to take the lead doe. She was the largest of the bunch and was offering me a perfect broadside shot at about 40 yards.
I gently squeezed the trigger and watched as the other two went flying by me down into the valley below. A short walk revealed that I had indeed dropped her in her tracks. She gave a few final kicks before finally succumbing. I gave my buddies a quick call on the radio and they joined me to help dress the deer out. I was to later learn that one of my buddies had shot at and missed one deer and had wounded another. In the process of trailing it another hunter put the deer down. My doe was the only deer taken by our group that day.
After dressing the deer we talked for a bit and then took it back to the car. Upon reaching the parking area we were checked by the local game warden and his deputies for proper tagging of the animal and then spoke with them for a bit on the hunting in the area. Apparently a nice, large ten pointer had been taken out of the same general area that I bowhunt. Afterwards we opted to put a small deer drive on for the remaining hunters in our party. We managed to push out two deer but none of the standers were able to get a clear shot on the animals. After the drive was finished we all decided to call it a day.
Back in the parking area we relived the day’s events. All but one of the members in our party had seen multiple deer that day. One gentleman in particular was saddened though as it would be his last day hunting of the year and he had yet to bring any venison home for his family. Being the big softie that I am I offered him the doe and he gratefully took it. I still have two tags left and hope to get out again in our late archery/muzzleloader season following the Christmas Holiday. It seemed like a more than appropriate ending to another successful day out in the Pennsylvania deer woods.
The last day of Pennsylvania’s rifle season finally arrived. We were blessed with a fresh snowfall the day before and the deer had already constructed an extensive trail network through it. Truth be told I was surprised to see so much deer sign considering the lack of deer sightings and sheer lack of shooting over the last two weeks. Yet, there they were, dozens upon dozens of trails scouring the area.
I elected to hunt a fencerow at the end of a cut cornfield initially but after the first half hour of hunting decided to move over to a small triangle of woods about 100 yards distant. As usual I was not alone. There were approximately 10 other hunters within sight across the valley or on the neighboring farm. This gameland in particular receives an excessive amount of pressure during most of the hunting seasons and rifle is probably the worst.
Shots had been ringing out since just after daybreak. I began seeing deer shortly after moving to the new stand even though they were at great distances. Most of these deer were moving quite quickly as clouds of snow exploded around them. One has to understand that the last day of rifle season in Pennsylvania is often considered the last ditch effort to bring home some venison. Hunters who patiently sat on stand for the last two weeks are now aggressively pursuing their game by covering more ground individually and by putting on deer drives in organized groups.
My position in the triangle of timber was geared more towards observing these activities rather than actually harvesting an animal. However, the chance always existed and mine played itself out much sooner than I had expected. Around 7:30 am I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Here were three doe meandering around the one side of the triangle down towards the wooded valley below. After checking my shooting “lanes” for any potential hazards I opted to take the lead doe. She was the largest of the bunch and was offering me a perfect broadside shot at about 40 yards.
I gently squeezed the trigger and watched as the other two went flying by me down into the valley below. A short walk revealed that I had indeed dropped her in her tracks. She gave a few final kicks before finally succumbing. I gave my buddies a quick call on the radio and they joined me to help dress the deer out. I was to later learn that one of my buddies had shot at and missed one deer and had wounded another. In the process of trailing it another hunter put the deer down. My doe was the only deer taken by our group that day.
After dressing the deer we talked for a bit and then took it back to the car. Upon reaching the parking area we were checked by the local game warden and his deputies for proper tagging of the animal and then spoke with them for a bit on the hunting in the area. Apparently a nice, large ten pointer had been taken out of the same general area that I bowhunt. Afterwards we opted to put a small deer drive on for the remaining hunters in our party. We managed to push out two deer but none of the standers were able to get a clear shot on the animals. After the drive was finished we all decided to call it a day.
Back in the parking area we relived the day’s events. All but one of the members in our party had seen multiple deer that day. One gentleman in particular was saddened though as it would be his last day hunting of the year and he had yet to bring any venison home for his family. Being the big softie that I am I offered him the doe and he gratefully took it. I still have two tags left and hope to get out again in our late archery/muzzleloader season following the Christmas Holiday. It seemed like a more than appropriate ending to another successful day out in the Pennsylvania deer woods.