Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting PA Saturday Opener

Erie and Crawford are two of the best Deer counties in the State. They seemed to be down Saturday all over, I look for them to be out and moving around late Monday or Tuesday.

Hopefully. The public land I hunt is not great, but the woman can navigate it. My family used to own about half of pa sgl 269, in Crossingville, and I know it very well. Great spot, but she can't navigate it. I'm thinking Tuesday will probably be the best day. Good luck out there!

I didn't see a deer. Probably the weirdest first day in PA that I have experienced in the roughly 38 years I have been hunting there. Deer just weren't moving and there certainly didn't seem to be the hunters that there usually are where we hunt. My dad shot a buck that he was tickled with so it was a good day overall. I am not a fan of how they executed the first day change this year. I think it will be better when they get hunting allowed on the first Sunday, they should have had all that lined up before changing anything this year. I am thinking with the blanket of snow coming tonight and all the kids still having the day off, tomorrow will be a big day.

I chose to spend my money on a Ohio tag rather than a PA because of the Saturday opener but no Sunday hunting. It just seemed like a waste of a day. Hopefully next year it will make sense to hunt the Weekend opener. It's been a long time since I hunted PA.

Got a 6 point about 7:30 Saturday morning. Saw 3 does a few minutes before the buck showed up. My Dad saw a big ass bear but no deer. Not much shooting but I did hear of 3 others being taken in the area. Mostly locals hunting around here.

Sucked leaving my daughters a day earlier than usual after Thanksgiving but I survived and so did the Grandkids. Will get a picture up later.

Dale

Dale,


Nice and congrats!!!!

I got a one antlered 5 pt on Saturday morning at 7:30 in Potter County Gamelands. I had not sooner gotten into my tree stand when two does came out of the laurel behind me. About 2 mins later, I heard a bunch of grunting and the buck came out of the laurel in hot pursuit. I shot him at about 30 yards and he ran about 25 yards and piled up. The missing antler was broken off close t the skull so I guess he broke it off fighting. There was very little shooting Saturday morning but I was out of the woods by 11 am.

https://imgur.com/o1CvEzk

Rain and half rain/half snow all day. Phone says 7.8miles. Saw 15 for the effort. 2 Bucks, but bounced them out and they didn't wait around. Bud saw 11.

Snow/rain mix here today too. Made it miserable in the woods. I was out trying to stir up some deer for my buddy Brad and my Dad but no luck. I have a DMAP tag for this area, so I could have shot a doe but didn't see any.

I would have needed a dumb and slow one that got up close, I decided to take the 94 Win out, haven't hunted with it in years.

Dale

PS, what do I need to do to get photos to show here? I put them in the image gallery but can't figure out how to get them into this thread.

Here you go Dale, nice Buck!

Thanks Tom. And for those that want the details, I used a Ruger 77 in 6mm Rem and 80 gr TTSX bullets. He pretty much dropped right on the spot. I was up on the ridge line in the background, about a 75 yd shot.

Well done! Dark face on that buck...

Looks like there is more than enough for a Deer to browse there. Congrats!!!!

I shot this 8 point at 7 am Saturday in Sullivan county with my 30-30 Win model 94.

Well anyway I posted it in the Image Gallery but my phone cant seem to transfer the picture here for some reason.

Very well done. Few anymore can say the same.

Nice buck Mike, one of the toughest counties to hunt in nonetheless...Congrats

Mike’s buck

Thanks for posting that Tom.

Congrats man ! The old .30-30 can still git er done. I need to get mine back out and hunt with it. Been futzing around with bolt guns the last couple seasons. Shot a couple with my 6.5 Creedmoor last season just because it was new and I wanted to try it out. This year I used my .30-06 because I was hunting a new area with some fields with the possibilty of a long range shot for the first time in many years. Ended up killing a 7 point opening day at 65-70 yards in the woods anyways. Should have just took the .30-30.

I have a 30-06 myself and have killed a bunch of deer with the cartridge but I just feel myself drawn to the 30-30 even though with Bear open I'd be better off with the 30-06. There's something about a 94 Winchester but the open sights nearly cost me this buck. It wasn't fully light when he came by and even though I had him 50 yards broadside I couldn't tell there was a branch in my way and it deflected my shot. I hit him running with a follow up shot but that landed too far back . I didn't find him for hours and what should've been a hundred yard drag turned into nearly a mile. I'm strongly considering giving up on my iron sights after this rodeo and just using the 30-06.