Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 25
By Paul A. Matthews artwork by mark anderson
I
T WAS LATE in the afternoon, close to 3 o’clock. My legs were aching and the cold was beginning to seep its way into my hunting coat. The 54-caliber flintlock Great Plains rifle was getting heavier, and a snow-misty sky was wrapping itself around the woods as I trudged up the sloping trail alongside the slashing toward Segar’s cabin, a small lumber shack built in the early 1920s by a group of local deer hunters. Today it stood empty, mute and tired, but with a single hunter seated at the top of the wooden steps in front of the padlocked door of rough planks. As I recall it was the first day of the flintlock season and the first time I had used a flintlock in the deer woods. The rifle handled beautifully. It was well balanced with its 32-inch barrel and accurate with a 0.535-inch diameter 225-grain round ball and a tight fitting cloth patch of striped pillow-ticking. I had practiced with the rifle during the summer and fall, shooting offhand at 75 yards, with the open barrel sights and the double-set triggers, and on this day felt confident that if I could get a shot at a standing deer, the ball would go where I wanted. As I got closer to the cabin I could see that the hunter sitting on the top step of the small porch was none other than my nephew, Jim, with his father’s 45-caliber
DECEMBER 2012
flintlock. When I got close enough to talk in a low voice, I asked if he had seen anything. Jim shook his head. “The woods are empty,” he said. “During buck season there were does all over the place.” He paused a moment and then asked, “Are you headed for home?” “Nope. I’m going to work my way out to the bench and spend the last 15 minutes there. The last Saturday of buck season I saw a big doe out there late in the afternoon. Maybe she’ll be there again today.” Jim grinned back at me and shook his head. “That’s a long hike,” he said, “and it’ll be close to dark by the time you get there. I’m going to head down the hill for home.” With that, we parted. I went past the cabin on up the hill where I took another logging trail leading off to the right toward the bench. The bench was formed by a long low ridge running roughly north and south for three-quarters of a mile through the woods, making a gentle eastward curve at the southern end toward what we called “the point.” For its full length, this ridge overlooked a flat wooded area two or three hundred yards wide sandwiched between the foot of the
25
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012
Whitetail Predation
Contents
Justice Served
The Old Man . . . “Whispers”
Friends Like Us
Scout the Small Stuff
December 15, 1983
Last Chance Buck
Field Notes
Conservation News
Off the Wire
Another View
The Naturalist’s Eye
Straight from the Bowstring
Fun Game
Lock, Stock & Barrel
Annual Index
Crossings
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Cover2
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Whitetail Predation
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Contents
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Justice Served
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 4
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 5
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 6
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 7
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 8
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 9
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 10
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 11
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - The Old Man . . . “Whispers”
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 13
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 14
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 15
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 16
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Friends Like Us
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 18
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 19
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 20
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Scout the Small Stuff
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 22
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 23
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 24
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - December 15, 1983
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 26
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 27
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Last Chance Buck
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 29
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 30
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 31
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 32
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 33
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Field Notes
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 35
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 36
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 37
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 38
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Conservation News
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 40
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 41
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 42
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 43
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 44
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Off the Wire
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Another View
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 47
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 48
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - The Naturalist’s Eye
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 50
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 51
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 52
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Straight from the Bowstring
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 54
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 55
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 56
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Fun Game
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Lock, Stock & Barrel
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 59
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 60
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Annual Index
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 62
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - 63
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Crossings
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - bb1
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - bb2
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Cover3
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2012 - Cover4
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