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A long read about a guys first Pennsylvania whitetail hunt...Sorry - Sorta...Grins 😎

I flew from my home State of Oregon the morning after Thanksgiving to join up with my buddy Kingston, to hunt deer in Warren County, PA.

The history and traditions of Pennsylvania hunting camps is still very much alive with the crew of hunters I met at a place simply called “Jack’s Camp” or “Camp”...

Kingston makes this pilgrimage every year to see friends and family and share a few days of hunting, with good food, and laughter while catching up with life stories each one has acquired since last years hunt...Being from out of State and the Noob, it was hilarious just listening to the epic adventures and life long memories they have made together at Camp.

For me, this was another opportunity to see a different type of hunting environment and culture different from my Western hunting background. I tried to adapt quickly, by listening the night before the Saturday opener on how these hunts typically go...Stand hunting, maybe some stalk hunting after first light, pay attention to your scent - Kingston used a lot of scent killer spray on me and my gear. The rest of the PA hunting style mimicked to a degree the same things I deal with hunting the coastal areas of Oregon. I was ready!

Opening day I found myself at the bottom looking up a 26’ft extension ladder that was our staircase into the elevated deer blind. Hmmm-It’s dark, I’ve never seen the stand before, with a loaded pack and rifle slung over my shoulder, I was supposed to quietly scamper up this aluminum bitch??? I definitely don’t hunt out these things back home...

Here I would like to take a moment to give Hank - Godogs57 a quick shout out for introducing me to getting into and out of an elevated blind while hunting with him in Georgia the week & half prior to me coming to Pennsylvania...Thanks Hank, you probably saved me a broken bone or three with your tutorial on all things deer blind. 😬

I watched closely as Kingston clambered up the ladder, opening a small window at the top, then opening the entrance door. He then did a slight side dismount from the ladder into and through the doorway while his hands held a firm grip on the inside wall studs through the window...No problem! I’m a house painter... I can repeat that circus trick, I hoped.

I spent most of my 4 days hunting inside this blind...We saw enough deer come through, that I was sure a legal buck would eventually give me a chance at filling my tag.

3 of the 6 days Kingston hunted a different blind so that we could cover more area than both of us sitting in the same blind.

Day 2 I got my first opportunity at a legal buck...Around 7:50AM i glassed up several deer feeding approximately 160 yards from me. There was a lot of cover between me and the deer...Beech trees, Hemlock and probably another 5 species of flora & fauna making a shot difficult...A 450 Bushmaster seemed very appealing at that moment.

I stayed on the glass until I finally caught sight of horns several inches above the ears of a buck. I couldn’t get a good look at the points, between the thick cover, still early morning light and the slow feeding movement the deer were doing, made calling the buck legal difficult in my bins.

I decided to take another laze for yardage on the buck and got 157, 160, 146...Screw it, my rangefinder was hitting limbs or the cover, giving me back inconsistent numbers. I picked up my rifle, dialed up the farthest number of 160 yards on my NF and started watching the buck through my scope, hoping he would find his way into an opening, so I could count his points...

What must have been close to 15 minutes, I watched and waited, cussing in my head this thick cover until the buck hit a spot where his head, neck and shoulder was free of tree clutter. 3 up on one side...4 on the other. Legal!

Rifle on the buck...I pulled on the top of his exposed shoulder and sent one after him...Slight recoil took my sight picture, but I was back into the scope in a fraction of a second to see the buck hunch up...I didn’t hear the telltale sound of a solid hit like I often get in West Country, but that would be expected shooting in a blind and my muzzle break adding to the level of noise coming back at me.

I don’t see a downed deer....My cell phone vibrates, it’s Kingston calling from another blind. Yep, told him I had shot, I need to check for a dead deer...Txt you later with details...Beaver out.

Out the blind I go, but, down the ladder this time...Same deal as going up the ladder, but in reverse, and it’s light now, so I can at least see this little nightmare.. JFC Kingston! build some stairs. Grins.

I had a marker in my head where I thought the deer would be dead...I went to it, searched, nothing. Joe, one of our hunters came over and helped me look...Still Nothing! No blood. No whiff of dead animal in the air. 45 minutes later, I’m heading back to the blind to look again at my reference marker, thinking I’m way off. I take another yardage laze at the spot the buck was standing and I got 172 yards.

I had dialed range of 160 yards, even if the buck was at 170 yards, pulling on the top shoulder, I should have still hit him good....I’m getting ready to climb back out and increase my search area based on the new 170 yards data when I hear a shot coming from the top of the ridge where I was going to go look again for the buck.

I climb out to meet John who is another of our camp hunters standing at the bottom of the ladder. John asks me “who shot”? I have no idea, but it was close, so it had to be one of our boys...John and I start to make our way up to the ridge when we see Nick, yet again, another camp hunter coming over the top and down towards us, and he’s dragging a buck!

Nick walks up to us and says to me...”Thanks for blowing his leg off”. The bucks front leg was just barely attached, only held on by hide and ligaments. Nick told us that after I had shot a short while later the buck walked up within 30 yards of his blind and he killed him. Thank God!

The rest of my hunt was full days of seeing doe’s, small bucks, and skippers, until the last day for me hunting, Kingston and I team up in the same blind after some good snow finally hit...The entire day we didn’t see a deer. Just before 5PM, Kingston says he see’s a deer coming towards us on my right side....

I can’t see anything deer like from my position. Kingston has a good line of sight on it and tells me it’s a buck, then he says it’s a legal buck, then it’s a shooter buck..I still can’t see the buck...I’m totally buckless at this moment. I whispered to Kingston, you see it, just kill him!...My buddy said no, he’s yours, just watch down below about 75 yards, you should see him coming through the trees.

I put my rifle up, resting it on the window sill when my eyes finally see movement...The buck is gonna walk right in front of me.

My scope was back at its 100 yard zero...Now, I could easily pick the buck up in the scope, it’s a 3x4 or 7 pointer, or 8 pointer if you boys in the East count brow tines, I don’t remember what you all count for points.... I let him walk into an ambush shot I placed in front of him where I had a good opening to hit him....On the shot, I actually lost my sight picture for a couple seconds...

When I got back into the scope, I could see the buck hitting the ground with all fours and lighting up his afterburners running off...I’m saying to Kingston, I fùck’n missed him! How the hell could I do that? I’m watching the ass end of the buck disappearing into the trees below us in mere seconds...I’m doing a mental inventory check of all the things I could have done wrong at the break of the shot when...

Kingston asked me where I shot him at? I said “heart shot”....King said, “You got a dead deer then”!....

Kingston told me that when I shot, the buck hunched and went straight up in the air, did an all four legs splayed out sideways maneuver, then came down and tore off... He said it looked like a typical heart shot...

I unfortunately, couldn’t confirm anything because my eyes went off the scope on the recoil....Hashtag# When shooting from a window sill in an awkward shooting position - hold your rifle a smidge more firmly...Hint.

My pard, being more skilled at climbing HIS ladder, he said for me to stay put while he went to find the spot where the buck was when I shot...

Moments later King is yelling up that he found blood. I only feel relief. It’s getting close to dark, so I pack up the gear in the blind and slowly, baby crawl my way out of the blind and down the ladder to help search...By the time I get down, Kingston is coming out from the bottom headed towards me....”You find it”? I ask....”Yeah”, “It’s at the bottom on a 2 track path”...”Just follow the blood trail, you can’t miss him”......I start to walk in for the deer, while Kingston grabbed our gear and headed to camp and his ATV to haul the buck out.

It’s a short walk, around, over, and occasionally under the plentiful amounts of snow covered slash and debris that covers the hunting grounds here...I went slow, I’m used to this sort of leg traps back home where snags and downed trees and limbs are lurking underfoot to twist your ankle, knee or worse, break a hunters bones...

I find the buck in a really good spot for him to die, at least for me to drop his guts and get him out. I finger bang a blood spot on his hide, confirmation from the hole position - Heart should be thrashed. I got to work, found the heart and the entire top of it was wrecked - cool!

I finished up the buck. Washed my hands and blade with clean snow then Kingston arrived with the transport...We loaded the buck and headed back to camp...My hunt was now over.



The Buck!


To all the Pennsylvania hunters. For me it was an experience I was fortunate to take part in being on hollowed ground during your rifle deer season. It reminded me of being a young boy in the 70’s, not yet old enough to hunt, but wishing I was, while my dad, his hunting buds and my two older brothers would talk for weeks about where they would be hunting that season and who would be bringing what supplies...Damn, they all seemed to kill big Mule Deer bucks.

Hunting back then was traditional and symbolic with dad’s hunting with mostly their sons, extended family members and close friends. Hunt camps were in huge military tents for 10 days, where the same faces each year would be present with new editions to the camp being a son who finally was of age to hunt. All those days of my past came back to me as I sat and listened to each member at this long established hunting camp. One brought his son who was now able to hunt. Another member brought his boy who is a year away from taking part with a rifle...It was a great time seeing hunting very much alive in Pennsylvania. Thank you...Beaver




Me...Fat Head Westie Hunter

Couple of things of note...I’m not sure if this is an isolated thing or widespread throughout the South and Midwest. I was planning on putting my skinning blade into service when we got back to camp with my buck. Kingston said they have a local guy who’s just up the road from camp that processes game animals for cheap. All you have to do it gut the critter. The processor skins, cuts, debones, makes burger and packages everything up within 2-3 days....Cost $60 bucks!

I found this same service offered in Georgia while hunting...The processor in Georgia would even gut, skin, and cape your animal for a very small fee. This is definitely a service I don’t have out West, at least where I’m from. I imagine Oregon must have a State Law that requires all animals must be gutted, skinned and off the bone before taken in for processing. Guessing here, on that. Wow!


Kingston, Thanks for inviting me out to hunt with you and your group. Meeting the Jack was very cool. Love that guy. Joe, Tommy and Nick were hilarious. John boy is a douche bag! Sorry about that fact.

Our hunts worked out, at least for me. I appreciate the effort you made putting this together and holding off on the trigger, so I could kill a Pennsylvania Whitetail.

Your pick-up/drop off at the airport service was exceptional, too - especially with the luxurious new Ford diesel you provided just for me.

It was a good hunt!

Mark
😎


PS

Destiny and me in the end just weren’t compatible...I’m sorry! 🖕🏾



Destiny my Emo Support Unicorn

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My Thank You To Kingston for Destiny 🙄