Those of you who grew up hunting public land know how tough it is to hunt. Those of you who grew up hunting on public land in PA know how few deer there are. And even fewer deer that are 3.5+ in age.
Hunting the mountain tops of northern PA is like Elk hunting, minus the calling, and minus the rut. It is a lot of time hiking, sitting, and scouting. Hard work.
I have been hunting with my dad for over 20 years. I saw him shoot a spike in '84, and he shot at and missed a tall 6pt in '88. Other than that, he had not fired a shot.
In 2002 my brother and I had found fresh beds in the snow about 2 miles from the truck and overlooking a hollow on the first day of the season. On the second day of the season we set up a hunt designed for my dad to get a shot at this solitary deer. It was 5 degrees that morning, and colder down in the shaddows. My brother hiked in (pre-dawn) to a point that was 800' below the bedding area and took away that escape route. My dad and I hiked the two miles+ to circle the bedding area and to keep the wind to our favor. The plan was for me to still hunt the ridge the bedding area was on, but to start 500 yards away. My dad was suppose to continue circling around and get about 300 yards on the other side of the bedding area while staying on the ridge.
Just as the sun was waking up, I stopped and my dad continued on his walk. I was going to wait 45 min until I even stepped into the woods off of the old logging road. It was so cold and quiet as the world came awake that I could see ice crystals floating in the sunlight that had yet to reach me, as the sun started peeking over the mountain.
I was about 20 min into my wait, completely absorbed by the beauty of the cold woods, when BAM!!
Now shots in the public woods are common....there are over 1 million guys hunting these two days. But there was no one else on this ridge, we verified that with the fresh snow and the tracks we were breaking. That shot must have come from my dad. Wow....he remembered how to shoot!
I get on the radio....nothing. I keep it on and a few minutes later I try again.....nothing. Weird. Now bad things start passing through my mind. Did he slip in the snow, fall and discharge the gun? Is he hurt? etc.
Then I hear 2 words over the radio, quiet, yet very deliberate..."BIG DEER." After about another 5 min, I find out that he shot at a buck, but because of how thick everything was, he didn't see where it went after the shot.
I sneak out the logging road, watching for a suprised deer, and for tracks crossing the road. When I reach my dad, 45 min after the shot, he is still standing in the same spot that he shot from. He showed me which direction he shot, and I stared in disbelief. He shot through a wall of saplings. He says to this day that he found a little opening but I couldn't see it.
We went to where the deer was when he shot. Hair. No blood. We tracked his movement in the snow, and then realized that the blood was falling down through the snow, and that was the reason we couldn't see blood. It was so cold that where the buck ran into trees the blood froze into what appeared to be deep purple paint on the trees.
We tracked him to the edge of the ridge, he was obviously trying to run for the hollow (which my brother had covered). As I approached, I was blown away. NEVER have I seen a deer of this size in the hard woods of Pennsylvania. No corn, not farms....just beach nuts, sapplings, and a few acorns.
My pop scored on a PA buck of a lifetime. After the three of us dragged this deer 2.2 miles we all had icsicles on our mustaches and go-tees. We got it loaded up in the truck and headed for the cabin.
Hunting the mountain tops of northern PA is like Elk hunting, minus the calling, and minus the rut. It is a lot of time hiking, sitting, and scouting. Hard work.
I have been hunting with my dad for over 20 years. I saw him shoot a spike in '84, and he shot at and missed a tall 6pt in '88. Other than that, he had not fired a shot.
In 2002 my brother and I had found fresh beds in the snow about 2 miles from the truck and overlooking a hollow on the first day of the season. On the second day of the season we set up a hunt designed for my dad to get a shot at this solitary deer. It was 5 degrees that morning, and colder down in the shaddows. My brother hiked in (pre-dawn) to a point that was 800' below the bedding area and took away that escape route. My dad and I hiked the two miles+ to circle the bedding area and to keep the wind to our favor. The plan was for me to still hunt the ridge the bedding area was on, but to start 500 yards away. My dad was suppose to continue circling around and get about 300 yards on the other side of the bedding area while staying on the ridge.
Just as the sun was waking up, I stopped and my dad continued on his walk. I was going to wait 45 min until I even stepped into the woods off of the old logging road. It was so cold and quiet as the world came awake that I could see ice crystals floating in the sunlight that had yet to reach me, as the sun started peeking over the mountain.
I was about 20 min into my wait, completely absorbed by the beauty of the cold woods, when BAM!!
Now shots in the public woods are common....there are over 1 million guys hunting these two days. But there was no one else on this ridge, we verified that with the fresh snow and the tracks we were breaking. That shot must have come from my dad. Wow....he remembered how to shoot!
I get on the radio....nothing. I keep it on and a few minutes later I try again.....nothing. Weird. Now bad things start passing through my mind. Did he slip in the snow, fall and discharge the gun? Is he hurt? etc.
Then I hear 2 words over the radio, quiet, yet very deliberate..."BIG DEER." After about another 5 min, I find out that he shot at a buck, but because of how thick everything was, he didn't see where it went after the shot.
I sneak out the logging road, watching for a suprised deer, and for tracks crossing the road. When I reach my dad, 45 min after the shot, he is still standing in the same spot that he shot from. He showed me which direction he shot, and I stared in disbelief. He shot through a wall of saplings. He says to this day that he found a little opening but I couldn't see it.
We went to where the deer was when he shot. Hair. No blood. We tracked his movement in the snow, and then realized that the blood was falling down through the snow, and that was the reason we couldn't see blood. It was so cold that where the buck ran into trees the blood froze into what appeared to be deep purple paint on the trees.
We tracked him to the edge of the ridge, he was obviously trying to run for the hollow (which my brother had covered). As I approached, I was blown away. NEVER have I seen a deer of this size in the hard woods of Pennsylvania. No corn, not farms....just beach nuts, sapplings, and a few acorns.
My pop scored on a PA buck of a lifetime. After the three of us dragged this deer 2.2 miles we all had icsicles on our mustaches and go-tees. We got it loaded up in the truck and headed for the cabin.
Awesome deer and that's the biggest Pa deer I have seen. Where you from in Pa? I'm from Bradford and use to hunt in Ellisburg/Genesee area.
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