PA Whitetail Dream Come True

Deer Season in Pennsylvania isn’t just another opening day; it’s a tradition, for many. Families gather, hunting groups go to camp, school’s even out for the opening day. I myself drove back to Pennsylvania from Colorado to be around family for Thanksgiving, and to join in on the long standing Deer-opener tradition.

I have been living in Colorado for the last 6 years and have not been able to make it back to hunt buck with my dad and brother, until this year. Coming back to hunt after 6 years, I did notice some definite changes to the mindset and hunting landscape from what I had remembered. Where I grew up hunting deer, I used to be able to walk out my backdoor and walk all day on public or private, unposted land. Now, every little parcel and spot of land has been bought and posted. The majority of “hunters” have now become farmers. Growing buck on their property and trying very hard to not bump the deer off their property on to an opposing neighbor’s land. To say the least, I spent the opening day of buck incredibly frustrated. No deer moving and no people willing to walk. Opening day for my family and the neighboring properties yielded zero buck shot. I saw 2 doe all day, and apparently that was good.

That night, my dad, brother and I talked about plans for the next day. Obviously, spending the next day on our property was going to yield the same results. We were completely surrounded by other private property and dozens of hunters. Any deer that might come on to our property would have been short stopped by one of these dozen hunters. We decided to change it up and head north, to the “Big Woods”. The area of north central Pennsylvania referred to as the “Big Woods” has been good for trophy deer, but there just isn’t the numbers of deer up there. On top of low population density, the area is thick with acres of young slashings and saplings that make large areas nearly impenetrable to humans.