Pennsylvania Game News - June 2011 - 59

was all over.” As for the advice he offers to his own bowshop customers, Whitmoyer believes in being observant and becoming a student of deer behavior. “You learn more about deer when you have them close enough to kill but don’t take the shot, than you do when you kill them. This is because you watch them longer and study their behavior rather than taking the first good shot opportunity.” Whitmoyer’s final words of wisdom: “Be patient.” Another pro shop pro, Catherine Bliss, can provide a woman’s perspective. Bliss, 52, has run the T-Town Archery Shop for 21 years, ever since she and her husband started their business in 1991. Over the years, the Bliss family business has grown significantly and now boasts a 40-target outdoor 3-D course, show room, 30-yard indoor shooting lanes, 12 popup indoor targets, and a full pro shop. But archery and bowhunting are not just Bliss’s business, they’re also her pleasure. Her preferred archery tackle is an Alpine Bow (Eclipse), with a drop-away rest, shooting ICS arrows with 100-grain points. Bliss primarily hunts in Susquehanna County, where she grew up, on 200 acres where she hunts along with her sister and brothers. You’ll also find her prowling the woods in Wyoming County near her home in Lemon Township. “My most effective way of hunting is finding the scrapes and rubs where deer travel most of the time, and then setting my stand up nearby.” She also advises using some scents and calling to lure the deer in closer, but in the end she notes that “Stand placement would be my biggest strategy.” Bliss didn’t have to travel far when it came to bagging her most memorable buck, because it was on her own property, down by the 3-D course. “It was a morning that I just wanted to sit in a tree and relax,” she says. “I had put my children on the bus that morning and decided to go hunting for about two hours before I had to open my archery shop. I got into the tree about 8
june 2011

o’clock and heard only squirrels for most of the time. It was a noisy morning, though.” Bliss had no high expectations that day, but then she saw horns. “Watching this deer walk off the path, I expected him to walk on, and that made me think I wouldn’t get a shot. But by the time he walked under a pine tree right near me, I was already at full draw, waiting. He finally stepped out from under the branches, and he was only 10 yards from me. I took my shot and he went only 30 yards before he fell over. He was only a four point, but he was my very first buck with a bow.” As for the pointers she offers her customers, Bliss emphasizes, “Patience and placement of the shot matter most. You don’t have to pull a large amount of poundage to make your kill shot. Try to get a quartering away shot if possible. Getting scent free is a big factor in looking for the big buck.” Her final words of wisdom: “Know your bow” (and what you can do with it). “David Marchio and his father Terry have also run their own shop, Marchio’s Sport Hut in Hanover, for the past 18 years. Dave, 32, has been around archery for as long as he can remember.” “My father started teaching me how to shoot a bow when I was eight. I got my first deer, an 8-point buck, with a bow, when I was 13. Since that auspicious bowhunting beginning, Marchio has gone on to take more than 60 whitetails and two antelope. Marchio favors a Hoyt bow launching Carbon Express arrows, and hunts mostly private ground in Adams County (WMU 5A). “I have found that the best strategies have been being as scent free as possible and also scouting your hunting area for the best trails and signs of deer movement,” he notes. While he’s killed his share of whitetails right here in Penn’s Woods, Marchio’s greatest buck to date was taken in Iowa. “It was November 4, 2008, and I was in the woods an hour before daylight, to let things settle down after we snuck into our stands.” Around 7:15 Marchio spotted a few small
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Pennsylvania Game News - June 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - June 2011