Pennsylvania Game News - August 2009 - 5

THE AUTHOR completed his Keystone buck countdown with a bow, flintlock, centerfire rifle and shotgun. Where’s the handgun? also killed two regular spikes, classic 2points, the best in 1982 while hunting with my wife, Patti, and friend, Ralph Haney. Back in those days spike bucks were typically taken by many hunters content to shoot the first buck that crossed their path, and I was no different. By the 1980s my favored firearm had evolved to a bolt action scoped Remington .243. It remains my preferred whitetail rifle to this day. Number Three My sole 3-point was actually a 4-point wanna’ be, but one would-be brow tine grew flat and palmated and fell far short of the official 1-inch minimum required for it to count as a legitimate point; thus it’s my 3-point by default. I shot that deer in 1984 on the opening morning while hunting with Patti in what had become my Fulton County hotspot. I should also mention that Patti eventually killed her first and only buck, a Fulton County 5-point in 1986 while pregnant with our first daughter, Alex. Child rearing obligations weaned Patti away from hunting, but she still remains a loyal fishing companion. Number Four In addition to my first ever buck, the forkhorn described at the beginning of this piece, I shot just one other 4-point, this one taken with a shotgun near my home in Chester County on the last day of the 2001 firearms season. When I saw a deer ranging across the face of the hillside AUGUST 2009 shortly after daybreak, I raised my shotgun and found it in the scope. Despite the fact that the deer was moving through the brush 50 yards away, one glimpse of its impressive antlers made it easy to identify as a buck. I found an opening ahead of it, and when the deer appeared in the crosshairs, a perfectly placed shotgun slug grounded it. I was both surprised and disappointed to discover that the buck was a half-rack that sported 4points on its left antler and had somehow completely lost its right one. What should have been a nice 8-point, or better, ended up as a half-rack 4point. Other than my one-antlered spike, it’s the only half-rack buck on my “resume.” Number Five I tagged a ragged 5-point while rifle hunting in Fulton County on the 1977 opener, but years later I collected a more representative 5-point closer to home. By the late 1980s I had begun to take my bowhunting more seriously, invested in some decent archery tackle, and started having significant success in the Chester County woodlots near my home. One frosty October morning in 1994, I climbed into my treestand to hunt the first hour of daylight before heading out to teach my high school English classes. A few minutes before I was set to quit, a little buck came sneaking through the woods and passed within 10 yards of my stand. It was a temptation I couldn’t resist. My arrow angled cleanly through the vi5

Pennsylvania Game News - August 2009

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