Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Pa. flint lock season

Crazy how a little pressure changes everything. My first season since moving to PA that I hunted archery season pretty hard. Almost every sit I saw 1-2 bucks and were it not for a “hand fed” Bear I’d have tagged out. I was close to the house on public and had hikers around me constantly. Business trip over the rut and came back to rifle season. I saw a herd with 18-20 doe but had to put miles into the Gorge where others won’t go. Out of 5-6 hunts only saw does a few times. Fast forward to Late Season and I’ve put many miles in and even where I saw does during rifle I’ve only caught doe skirting the edge of light 2 times. If I wouldn’t see them all over my neighborhood and didn’t hunt archery I’d say the population is low. Late season I’ve seen 3 deer in the neighborhood the entire time. Just before hunting opened in general it would be nothing to see 4-5 nice bucks in my yard at 10 am and 20+ does in the one field up on the mountain here. I eve have pics of a neighbor hand feeding them apples. The day before archery it was like someone hit a switch and when not hunting I saw almost none in the neighborhood. The monster I had pics of from my yard disappeared. I thought he was long dead by rifle season but I happened to hike down the gorge a few miles and on my hike out around 3 heard a shot at the top of the cliff. My neighbor’s nephew had a female hunter in his group and she got him coming up the cliff. Even with everyone feeding them they have so much mast and browse on the rhododendron buds so little need to come into the neighborhood.

I’m getting over a cold and during my last trip to CT my back and leg started giving me fits. Getting hit by a car leaves a mark and 5 years later I’m reminded of it. I got up to get out but hobbled a bit. I’ll wait for the sun then hike down the gorge and grab one of my stands. If that loosens me up I’ll hunt the evening. There are some monsters here but they aren’t accessible without a lot of sweat. I’ve found rubs that look like an elk did it but it’s 3 hours in and the 1st hour is nearly vertical. I’m the limiting factor in my own success.

I’ve only hunted/lived here 3 years and my experience ranges from premier private land in Target rich NC, a Colleagues GA plantation, and hard hunting private land in the Adirondack/Berkshire area of NY. I hear things where better here in the past. Judging from the number of bucks I see around the house and the 2 I’ve seen that scored over 140” when killed it seems pretty good but where I hunt you’d mostly need a helicopter to safely access from any public parking. You mostly have to live up here to access the public land and across the gorge there’s a pull off with instant access so I suspect that’s where folks hunt. They’d have to walk many miles to even reach the far side of the gorge I can see from our side. I’m in Carbon County.

I headed out about 3:30 this afternoon planning to sit in woods between our farm fields and the posted ground on the other side of the railroad tracks. Plenty of tracks in the fields and it was all tore up under the hemlock I was leaning against so I was hoping something might move early to start feeding. Lo and behold, about a half hour before sunset, I see a doe moving through the woods but she got into some brush and I had no shot. I was busy glassing the woods for her and spotted another deer but it had an antler. Then a 3rd deer but it had both antlers. Both racks were small forkhorns, I couldn't tell if they had brow tines or not. Didn't matter, I had tagged a buck in rifle season so it was does only for me.

Last minute, last day, and 2 of the 3 deer I see are bucks. Go figure.

Dale

PS, I did kill the log I shot to empty the gun but the first try only got a flash in the pan, the gun went off the second try so I may or may not have gotten a deer even if the doe had cooperated.

Been noticing here, now that the snow is on..........deer concentrations are DIRECTLY affected by where the local coyote pack is hanging out.

Coyotes into an area........deer OUT. Coyotes move their action two valleys over.......deer back in.

Same deal here. Didn't have them here when I was young, and in Pa. They are real stinkers.

They started polluting us about 25 years ago. Lousy bastiges !!!!