PA Deer Season
PA's season started off with strange weather and seemed like harvest was low.
11/29 & 11/30 - 4" of snow on the ridge that slowly melted over the weekend. This was a good thing and allowed some last minute scouting and I shifted my stand 40 yards over to watch some heavy traffic along a gully.
12/1 - All of the snow was gone. High temp was 57 by 10:00am with rain showers and a 5-10mph wind from the SE. Temps dropped to 35 after lunch and then we had sleet off and on for the last 3 hours of the hunt. Everything was so wet all hunting was visual only.
I saw a decent buck in the twilight hours but I couldn't count points or get a clear shot into the laurels if I wanted too. 6 doe seem to have been bedded in the middle of the laurels and left around 7:30am. 2 more doe came through the laurels at 7:40am and a spike buck around 8:15am. I didn't see anything for the rest of the day. Total count for the day- 8 doe and 2 buck. Most of the deer headed to the SE to bed down. I don't think I heard 30 shots all day.
I talked to some of the other people hunting in the area and the first day was pretty bad. 2 people saw nothing, 1 saw 1 deer, 1 saw 3 deer and one saw 8 deer. No buck we taken between 7 people hunting 100 acres
12/2 - 29F in the morning. High temp was 32F. Sporadic 5-10mph wind from the NW. Snow started around 9am and had 2" by noon when it tapered off. Then sleet moved in around 3:30-5:30pm and then changed to freezing drizzle.
Things dried out a bit overnight and you could hear things walking again. I heard a bunch of crashing around and sticks breaking during twilight. But all I saw was a pair of fox squirrels being a PITA and wrote it off as that. But around 7:15 I heard deer walking in the leaves and brush. 5 doe came out of the thicket and moved 90 yards to my right and disappeared into the gully and into the other flat. 7:20 I could hear more deer walking in the thicket and caught a glimpse of a decent rack on the first deer and I couldn't see the seconds head. The buck was following the trail the 5 doe took with his nose to the ground tracking them. I dropped the buck in a small clearing 90 yards away with the 270. Total count for the day - 6 doe and a 8pt buck. All deer movement was towards the NW to bed down on the top of the ridge. I don't think I heard 12 shots all day and most of them were by 10am.
I talked to the other people hunting in the area and the second day wasn't much better. 1 person saw 2 deer, 1 saw 3 and 1 saw 5. We harvested 2 8pt buck and both were shot before 8am. No deer movement after the snow started around 9am.
12/3 - Showers, dense fog on the ridges and 33F this morning. We headed home. I only saw 2 harvested deer on the way home. One was a nice 8pt and the other was a 3pt. I assume the 3 point was a junior hunters since it was a 1x2 and you need 3 on a side to be legal.
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