....wish I was there! Don't forget some Thanksgiving rabbits, before the season closes, and get those muskrat and mink traps set!

Jeff

Wishing I could, but double knee surgery in October will keep me out of the woods. Good luck to the rest of you!

Dale

I'm up for it, even if the weather on Monday looks crappy again this year: Rain and temps in the 40s up north. Wouldn't miss it for anything.

I'm heading out on Friday to the camp that is north-east of Johnstown, PA. The weather can't be any worse than it was last year. I've had a couple of lean years as far as Buck's are concerned but I have a good feeling about this season. Good luck to all.

cur dog

Weather made for my NULA .270 and Bushnell 4200 w/Rainguard...

Good luck everyone...

I'll be down in Washington county near Waynesburg...worst weather ever for a opener was 2 years ago remember the same day as the Monday night football game between Dolphins and Steelers ..pouring rain mud bowl Steelers 3 Dolphins 0

Heading N. to the Kane area, if I get my legs back from the up and down of W.V.

Good luck and a safe hunt to all.


As they say in W.V. "How bout them deers!"

I won't be making it home this year, unfortunately, and as usual it's just killing me. I'm sure my brother and the guys are forming up down outside of Youngstown for the Turkey Day birds and bunnies hunt. 'Hope to be back on the hill next fall. It's been way too many years since my last hunt. Good luck to all the guys heading up. Dube-good to see you posting here. I don't run across your replies too much any more. 'Hope you're doing well. Let me know how the hunting is this fall, guys.

Good luck again, and I wish I was back in Penn's woods for the best deer hunt in America, bar none.

I'll be out and about in NW Bedford County, first opening day I'll have been able to hunt in a few years. Weather sucked big time for bear season, hoping deer season is a little better.

Where at NE of Johnstown? I'm about 15 min south of Altoona and 35-40 east of Johnstown.

my old friends are there in camp, now, just outside clarion.

i missed another year (bummed)

well, maybe next year...

good luck to you all.

Good Luck All!
I'm heading out to 3A land Thursday to get a jump on 2nd week festivities.

Spent many years tromping around the woods in Forest County, not far from Tionesta. Family members still own a camp within sight of the Flying W Ranch in the Kelletville area....., some of my best all-time memories come from that place and all the deer hunts. It's a shame now that I haven't been back there in probably close to 20 years. Good luck to all you PA hunters!

That says it all.

I'll be toting my slug gun in Allegheny County - looking for "THE BIG ONE".

Good luck to all!!!

I'll miss this year..........but next year I'll be there having decided to move back to Pittsburgh.............Harry call me!!!

Used to hunt state game lands around clarion...mill creek I beleive

You're right about the bear season weather, but getting wet at 50 degrees is better than at 35, I guess. Didn't see bear but saw a couple nice bucks and had a good time for 3 days. Now it's back to camp on the Potter/Tioga county line with my daughter, father, 3 brothers and their boys. It's always better with family. Too bad my son can't get away from classes - but I'll work his magic stand this year for him.

Good luck all....

Its nice to see that the first day rifle season in Pa. is still a big deal to you guys. I will be spending my time in 4c and 3d.

Big deal is an understatement. Around here, all the schools, and most of the businesses are closed. I'm in zone 1A near Linesville.

Guys around here would quit their jobs before they would miss opening day for work.

I'll be in 3C up near lenox. But i stepped on a nail today so my foots not too happy. Hopefully it won't slow me down to much.

Good luck tomorrow folks......I won't sleep worth a $[bleep] tonight, and I'm not even there!

Jeff

I haven't had the opportunity to hunt PA in the past 13 years. The camp will be empty this year. My best friend had neck surgery so no shooting for a while, so he's out, his one brother moved to FL so he's out and his other brother was never really interested in hunting that much, and his dad is on the mend from recent surgery, so he's out. It's a sad state of affairs. In the late 80's and 90's it was nothing for all 5 of us to tag out, now nobody seems to want to even go! With all of that I still miss it terribly!

Well, the fam got skunked today; lot's of does and sub legal bucks. How'd the rest of you guys do?

Jeff

Quietest opening day I've heard in 28 years of hunting South Central PA!

Saw five doe yesterday. Had one within 50 yards for probably 45 minutes. I was getting tired of being on pins and needles, wanted to move my legs a bit, and was just hoping she'd go away eventually!

Had another doe right at dusk stand up and start feeding 60 yards away. It's so thick around my stand that she couldn't even walk through some of it. The property was timbered about five years ago, and between the tops laying around and the new thick brushfilling in, it's a nasty little place, that holds deer, especially after the shooting starts. She'd reach out for a bite, then have to literally back up to move a different way. I was watching her with binos till I finally lost her in the dark. Waited till plenty dark before climbing down and sneaking away.

Probably the highlight of the day though was about 8 in the morning. The rain had just quit, and the woods were coming alive with everything that had been holed up in the wet weather. Birds starting flitting through the trees all around me. A wren started hopping branch to branch in a nearby tree. it flew over to my tree, then landed on the step two steps down from where I was standing. It sat there cocking it's head back and forth, checking out that orange thing standing in the tree above it, wondering what I was I guess. After a minute or two, it moved on. Sure was cool to watch him that close up!

FWIW, there was a fair it of shooting in Mercer County where I was. However, my dad and two friends elected to go to the property my wife & I own over in Clarion County. They heard three shots all day.....

I personally had no luck, and didn't see a deer. I could only hunt til 10am, then had to leave. Jumped something on the way out. Heard a lot of shooting, over 30 shots by 9:30am. Was amazed with the amount of people. We've been hunting this area since archery started and never saw a vehicle. Yesterday morning there were close 20 vehicles.

Guy in the hollow a few hundred yards from me shot a nice 9 point.
Here's the buck, with my pard's cousin 'Tater' pictured.

Me and the post-op knees didn't go out, went to PT instead. I talked with my Dad, he said it was raining so hard that he didn't even go out until 9 AM. He saw 4 does but didn't shoot at them. A buddy of mine was hunting the farm too, he saw 6 deer and 3 of them were bucks but no shots. Dad said he thought the shooting was light, I wonder if everybody had gone home to dry off by the time he went out.

Good luck to all,

Dale

Dad was a carpenter by trade. Any carpenters that were still working this late in the fall were doing pretty good. Deer opener was coming up, and the foreman on his job told him not to plan on going hunting. Dad told him not to plan on seeing him. A man's got to have priorities.......

I well remember the trips up to camp in Clearfield County before Interstate 80 went through. The little towns were all either on the tops of the mountains or in the bottom of the valleys. Every town would be a beehive of activity as the hunters headed for their camps. Unfortunately the days of yore have changed, but there's still something uniquely special about the Pa. deer opener. Those of us who are lucky enough to partake know there's nothing like it anywhere else. We truly are the lucky ones.

Slow day for me...ended up hunting near McDonald ....didn't see a deer till right at dark and busted the 8pt I was waiting for as I exited he remained low on the hill I was hunting just below a roll in the contour of the hill....kind of thought that might happen but the wind was bad for me to sit where I wanted to at the bottom,jumped him 50yds from where I was sitting till the wind got wonky on me and forced a move up....buddy sat across the road from me saw 32 deer,all doe and a 4pt

I had the worst first day I have ever had in 25 yrs - shoulda stood in bed!!!

Going to give it hell on Saturday.

after 55 years hunting the first week of deer season, my hunting buddy and I are going to snowshoe for the second week. don't know why, just decided to do something different.

took my boy who was 11. It rained, was cold and the wind blew hard. I was proud, he stayed all day. Saw a good buck at 2pm and he couldn't get it in the scope. Only deer we saw and it seems about the same as the others in the area saw.

Hunted all day Monday and till 12:00 on Tuesday in Tioga. Killed a doe at 7:30am, the first doe I ever killed on an opening day. Glad I did. No other action to speak of. My partner killed a half racked 8pt and a doe. I guess we did ok compared to many others. Some VERY discouraged hunters from what I have heard.

I don't like AR and the doe tag "free for all" but I understand the states position. I enjoy seeing lots of deer and shooting a spiker more than seeing a couple deer and getting a crack at a bigger buck. I NEED ACTION!

After many years of hunting Armstrong Co. made a return trip to the Kane area for the first time in a few years. Things have changed.

The doe reduction which hunters have willingly participated in many years was in actuality a massacre. No doubt the herd needed reduced, but a war on whitetails is a little extreme. Talked to somewhere between 10 to 15 hunters who saw no deer in the 2 days I was there. I was one of them and I was in the woods the entire day for those two days and probably covered close to 15mi in those two days roaming. The second day most people had gone or stayed home in frustration.

Lots of good cover these days with the clear cutting that has been going on under the previous administration. Ruffed Grouse numbers are definitely on the rise because of it. From some of the rubs I saw, there are some great Bucks running those mountains, but you better be willing to get into the nastiest cover to get a chance at them after they have been pressured some. If you know your stuff you can get a true trophy, if not you best abide by the two rules of Pa. Whitetail hunting. 1: Get lucky. 2: DFU.

My Bud saw two Bucks. Missed one, and left the other go because it was small, even though it was legal.

Talked to a couple Kane locals who were intelligent and seemed to know what was going on in the Allegheny National Forest re: clear cutting and natural gas. The new people in Washington are essentially putting an end to both. According to them the ANF is the only NF in which the government doesn't own the mineral rights. However, the current administration is essentially putting and end to drilling for natural gas by not allowing any trees to be cut in the forest. Drilling a gas well does no harm to the forest, creates edge cover for wildlife and benefits our energy production, yet it is being shut down. You can own the mineral rights, but still are not allowed to drill.

For those who cast their vote for politicians who have absolutely no concern for those of us who hunt, something to think about.

If any of this is fact some conservation reporter needs to do a report on what is going on.

The second war is the States war on beech trees which are a Whitetail food source. They are being cut down in great quantities-you still can't drill for gas-because they have no economic value other than wildlife food. The State wants cherry trees which do have a dollar value, but benefit wildlife little in the long run.

Even though the cover is excellent in many areas and capable of carrying many more deer, the Game Commission with their war on Whitetails-along with the cooperation of many hunters willing to shoot a doe, just to say they got a deer-is ruining the Pa. deer hunting tradition in many parts of our Northern tier. It has essentially devastated a local economy that has a considerable part of its foundation based on hunting dollars.

The Game Commission is also in bed with the insurance companies to reduce the number of deer/auto incidents.

Back at you later, going hunting.

Addition: One of the joys of those who have the hunters heart is roaming the big woods of Pa. for Whitetails. I've missed it, by hunting our smaller private woods for the last 15 or so years. I didn't realize how much. I will go back.

gotta send the pics my buddy sent from clarion county to my email, then do the thing and post some bad pics, but they are 6 for 6 right now.
2 8 points, one a 150 class, a 7 point, and the 12 y/o daughter shot a spike.

they're seeing lots of deer, some bucks, but having a great time as usual.

damn, i miss hunting at home in pa.

next year i'm going for sure.

Here are a couple nice PA bucks that I pulled from another site. Thinking I wouldn't mind seeing any of them in the woods...

Does, does, does, little bucks then more does, does, does. Turning into an interesting and fun season.

Harry,

Hope the action picks up! Mom finally saw a small 8-point tonight, but it was too dark for her to be comfortable to shoot. It went into the thicket near her stand, and she's hoping he'll come out tomorrow morning....I sure hope so!

Good luck tomorrow!

Jeff

Jeff,

Thanks. On my way out. I need to stay off of here and get some sleep after a days hunting.

Harry

Scorpion:

Just got back from the camp earlier today. Our camp is near Puritan, off of route 164. Hunted there for three days but did not see much. Went down to another camp in Dunlo and things got a lot better. Finally started to see some deer and on Friday afternoon and I got a 5 point around 1:30pm, finally reached the truck two hours later after the drag. Did not hear may shots in the woods. After a not getting a deer for the past few years I was thankfull to have the chance at a shot at one. Talking to the locals it seems like a lot of guys were concentrating on Turkey hunting this year more so than deer. If anyone is hunting PA during the second week, be safe and wack a big one!

Nuff said,

curdog

After missing a nine point at about 75 yards on Monday, I shot this buck on Friday at 192 yards.

I saw more shooter bucks this year than in the past three years.
I hunted the exact same spot all three years.It was an eerily quiet first day and I saw relatively few doe. I know that the pressure was down because the patch of ground that I hunt is a well used escape route and I normally see at least 50 different deer on the first day .

Doug

I could only get friday and today off. I got a little six point in Potter on friday. No luck today filling the doe tag.

Same here.

Started out Monday with a 25-06, had a four pointer close by and lots of baldies, got a brief glimpse of a rack buck, but no shot. Switched to an antique M92 I've been wanting to take a deer with and dropped a big doe around noon. Earliest I've ever taken a doe, since concurrent seasons started in 2001.

Normally don't "doe hunt" until late in the first week, or in the second week. No regrets. Now have about 70 pounds of venison in the freezer and finally got to take something with that old Winchester. ;O)

Still no tag filled out. Saw ll today. Just about got blown out of the woods today with wind. Had to be pushing 40 to 50mph. Some trees snapping. Decided in the woods was not a good place to be.

Still blowing like crazy. Hope it calms down some tomorrow.

Jeff: Your Mother do any good yet?

Today would've been a wild one for sure, it was blowing like crazy here in Pittsburgh. Wish I was at home, as we got two or three inches at the house, and over 6" up on the mountain. I'm hoping it hangs around til this weekend!

Harry,

Nope, nada. It was blowing like crazy at her place, and she chose to stay home. At 72, I cut her some slack about being a fair weather hunter!
Sure hope it eases up, for the last couple of days......good luck!

Jeff

I got this deer Monday morning.

Nice buck, country52. Congrats.

I've been looking for him, now I know way I can't find him. Wish you would have told me earlier.

Congrats, nice buck.

Thanks

battue, I see your right outside Harrisburg. I'm about 1/2 hour north myself.

Nah, it would be taother burg.

spent 4 days in state game lands 100--route144--ain't seen a hair yey, nor have i seen any sign. too many gas wells.

Furnace controller went on the blink sometime last night. No hunting today. ONE day left. Need to pull out some mojo....

Gotta do some work at our farm in Clarion County tomorrow. Figured since I'll be there anyway, I might as well take a rifle along and leave a little earlier...

Hunt for a couple hours, then do the work, and maybe hunt the rest of the day. We'll see....

Well the fat lady has walked off stage. It's over and the deer beat me. Saw 14 today, one buck following 5 does and grunting his throat out. Couldn't get a good look at the horns, so I hope he is having some fun tonight with a late bloomer.

Been a great year. Hunted every day but one. Saw 70 some deer. A few small bucks that should be ok for next year. One nice buck that didn't offer a shot. Wild turkeys on three or four days. A Black Bear with Cubs. Grouse that gave me a start when I was sneaking. Canada Geese flying overhead.

More than a couple Deer gave me the snort and beat me to the punch. And a few I gave them the snort before they had a clue.

Blessed to live in a country I can hunt and have the right to have firearms.

Hunted with some old rifles and new. Hunted with some old friends. Visited more than a few places that hold cherished memories of past hunts.

Lord willing, I can do it again next year.

And that about says it all.

Dale

The one thing left out was the trip back to the world. The phones, traffic and putting up with people you really don't care for. Used to spend time in an isolated Pa. North woods camp for a week or so a couple times a year with at most one friend or a girl who liked the same. At one time it was heated only by the fireplace and the lights were all coleman lantern. You had time to get into the rhythm of day/night and being in what the shrinks rightly call the present. When going home, the first time I would turn on the truck radio it was like being shocked it was that abrasive. Tomorrow will be much the same.

Well said Harry! My BIL and cousin each put a doe in the freezer today, and that was it for this season! Pretty lean year, buck wise. Here's to next year!

Jeff

Seen deer every day but one this season. Passed on a borderline legal buck yesterday. The big bucks didn't leave the gorge this year. They had plenty of food water and warm weather, so they didn't have to come out of those steep slopes.