Pennsylvania Game News - November 2009 - 22

moved up the road and out of sight another small buck came up the same trail. Shortly after sunrise two small bucks emerged into the road, trailing close behind a doe. As mid-morning arrived I decided I would make my way up the road a short distance near a newer clearcut and try a few rattling sequences. As I neared the spot I noticed movement on the road in front of me. It was two does browsing on a few remaining acorns. When the does disappeared I carried out my original plan of calling, but, after 15 minutes and no luck, I gathered my gear and headed farther up the ridge, finally making it to the top. At 11:15 the sun started to peek through the clouds. As I walked up the road and across the top of the hardwood ridge, I noticed four very fresh scrapes and decided to stand there a few moments and give a few calls, thinking maybe the buck that made those scrapes was close by. I had a steep bank to my right with a lot of open timber. To my left was an old clearcut, and directly in front of me was a relatively new clearcut. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my trusty estrous bleat can call and my Primos buck roar grunt tube. After only 30 seconds of estrous bleats and a couple of tending grunts the woods came to life with movement. I could hear a deer grunting just over the crest of the hill toward the older clearcut. To my amazement a nice buck emerged from the beech brush and came walking up the ridge directly toward me. Then two more deer emerged behind him, and they were both bucks as well. I reached to my quiver and grabbed an arrow, nocked it slowly, and waited as the three bucks methodically made their way up the ridge, looking for the deer they had heard. After what seemed like forever, they all stopped and starred intently into the clearcut. Just then I heard more deer in the brush, moving in my direction, and fast. A doe appeared and I knew that a buck was following her; as she cleared my shooting lane, he stepped into it. A short time after they moved up the road and out of sight another small buck came up the same trail. I brought my Parker bow to full draw and grunted with my mouth in an attempt to stop him, but he didn’t stop. After a few attempts I had to resort to whistling. He finally stopped in an opening at 34 yards and I released the arrow. I watched in disbelief as the arrow clipped a branch and fell helplessly to the ground. The buck continued as if nothing had happened and I stood there in disgust. I then noticed that the three 8-points that had come first were still standing there, so I reached into my quiver and pulled another arrow. Was I really going to get another shot? Just then a noise came from the thicket where the doe and buck had come from. I was shocked that I hadn’t already scared everything in the county away when a small racked buck came into view and was followed shortly by two spike bucks, two small 6-pointers and two more small bucks. Could this really be happening, I thought, as a heavy beamed, large bodied 8-pointer followed behind them all. I brought my bow to full draw again. This time I was ready, and as the big deer stepped into GAME NEWS

Pennsylvania Game News - November 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - November 2009