Pennsylvania Game News - December 2008 - 19

ready enjoyable pastime. We had several acres of second season clover (this field was planted in super rich, fertile soil along a small creek that traverses our land). It sure looked pretty, but still no deer. The hours we spent during all the hunting seasons produced limited deer sightings that year. The 2004 regular firearms opener was another disappointment. We were really beginning to question our efforts. On the second day, around noon, I found the answer, though, as the largest buck I had ever seen walked along a hedgerow on a steady gait right toward me. The 8-point scored 130 Boone & Crocket Club points, with a 19 5/8 inside spread. Over the next three days two others in our group shot nearly identical 8-points. Maybe quality deer management isn’t such a bad idea after all. The 2005 and 2006 seasons were okay, but not great. We certainly had made our ground a lot more like home for the deer. We started seeing multiple fawns with mature does in the fall. We started seeing more and better bucks regularly on the property, and the cover, food and water is the key to keeping deer on the property. In just six years we have developed the property into much better habitat. Wild turkeys regularly frequent our fields, bears have been seen for the past several seasons, and deer, although wary, are seemingly in numbers like they were in the 1980s. The 2007 season started out odd, with the warm weather in archery and the early muzzleloader seasons having us secondguessing the sign in the woods. In the last two weeks of archery season, the bucks were back. We all saw deer, not just deer, but bucks that make you shake like the day you got your first deer. Massive antlers, huge bodies, but they all eluded us except for Glenn. His patience and perseverance paid off, tagging a nice 9-point from a treestand near where we destroyed a rototiller while working the land. Jim passed on a pretty good 8-point, because he knew there were bigger ones around. Everyone was excited when they got to DECEMBER 2008 camp for the firearms season opener. On Sunday evening the talk centered on which stands would be the most productive for the opener. No one could agree, and finally it was time to go to bed. Sleep didn’t come easy, as I listened to the rain pounding off the metal roof of the cabin. The next morning it stopped raining just as light began to show on the horizon. I was in my stand near the cornfield when, suddenly, through the fog, I spotted a buck. He had a nice rack, at least eight points, but not the widest. Just after that, the rain started again and soon turned into a deluge. The opener didn’t live up to the stories, or the stories were made for another day. A couple of guys scored on the opener, though. James got a 7point and Horty took a doe. For a day that only Noah could appreciate, that wasn’t bad. That opening day weather was the worse we could remember. On Tuesday we decided to drive the horse farm and that’s when the fun began. Andre had spent the morning napping in a skybox, so we put him on the “maple tree” stand, which has produced many deer in the past during the famed horse farm drive. Near the end of the drive Andre heard breaking branches, but he wasn’t sure if it was deer or the drivers coming through. Andre spotted a deer and then antlers materialized. He quickly counted one, two, three, four on one side and then found the buck’s shoulder in the crosshairs and pulled the trigger. The buck dropped in its tracks, and after years of not killing a buck, Andre had a heavy 8-point with a 17inch spread. At the end of the day he added a doe. Lori shot a doe as well, in her afternoon stand, and Matt got a real “horse” of a doe. On Thursday afternoon Horty and I went up to “Pop’s Place.” Horty stayed down low and I went up on top 19

Pennsylvania Game News - December 2008

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