I never thought I'd say this, but the sun sets on Pennsylvania gun season this Saturday, and I couldn't be happier. I, for one, am ready to put 2011 to bed forever. This year has been taxing on me. Really, it has. Things started off as usual, running myself to the ends of the earth every weekend from January through October, trying to find a big buck to shoot. It was your standard cat & mouse game of locating big bucks that weren't huntable, and the constant ebb and flow of blips emerging on the radar, then vanishing as quickly as they'd appeared. I started off the season passing on what would've been one of the best bucks I'd ever taken. I wasn't ready to end it yet. I questioned my sanity as he waddled away. My decision forced my hand to continue grinding away at it. 14 hour days at work, just to earn an extra day off every week. In my line of work, vacation time is a fantasy. Two weeks later, already feeling the vice tightening, I took a marginal shot a buck that I knew pretty well. For the next 18 hours, my heart pounded and my mind raced, as I sat at home wondering if I'd made a horrible mistake. For the first two hours of the track, my worst fears were being fully realized, until... Every season, there's always at least one dead indian in my cowboy movie. This year, he was the unlucky guy. The back story behind this buck was that he was taken from a piece of private land where I hunt with maybe a half-dozen or so other guys. I shot my buck in there last year, too. Things started off great, everybody was cordial and we'd always exchange pleasantries. I'd even kept in contact with some of the guys. They were always dying to know what was cropping up on the cameras. Y'all know that I'm a big buck hunter. I don't generally go around divulging my hunting secrets. But with those guys, I did. Always. If they wanted to know what deer were around, I told them. They were the landowners' friends, so I treated them as he would've. I know a lot of you guys guard your hunting info. We all do it. It was hard for me to break down and divulge things that I'd normally take to the grave, but I did it without reservation. The deal is that when the other guys come in to hunt (they all live in other states), we clear out. They take over the entire farm for essentially the entire front half of November. They always call me and I practically give them a treasure map of the property, detailing every shooter buck on the farm, where he beds, how he travels, where he's likely to show himself... True to form, they called multiple times again this season, and I spilled all the beans, yet again. Well, archery season came and went, and they had a slow season. They hit two good bucks, and saw a few more. They didn't fill any tags, so their season was slightly below average. The day after the last guy pulled out, my buddy goes in there on a whim and kills one of the bucks that I'd told one of the guys about. You can see where this is going... Now, the drama begins. I'm hearing complaints from the landowner that one of the guys is singing the blues that my trailcams are interfering with the deer travel patterns. He's indirectly accused me of bringing uninvited guests onto the property, trespassing into the neighbors' land, tampering with stand sites, and otherwise being an obstruction to his achievement of his archery dreams. At least, that's what I gather. Seriously. This isn't cropland. The food sources are nil. Knowing that I only get to hunt this property in October is already stacking nearly insurmountable odds against me. I don't need to be undermined any more, for cryin' out loud. I get the distinct feeling that my hunting days on that tract are numbered. It's a shame, too, because it's a nice place to hunt, and there are some really awesome fellas that hunt it. Landowner is a super guy, too. We'll see how it shakes out. If my hunting is that much of a burden, and is causing that much heartburn, I'll just move on with my life. This is stress and drama that I don't need. Meanwhile, I have another good bud who wanted to hunt some Ohio public land. I put him in my best rut stand site. Man, I knew there was a big buck through there, because the sign was there, but I just hadn't had the opportunity to hang a cam in there. He took a Thursday off work and hunted it blind. I was really feeling the pressure on this one, too, b/c this guy is a good bud with limited hunting time. He'd blown $150 on a non-resident tag, and burned one of his limited off-days, just to hunt it. If he'd have gotten skunked, I'd have felt like a total d-bag. I virtually guaranteed him a buck from this stand. My reputation was going to be on the line, so I was actually stressing about it. I don't know why, but I definitely was feeling pressure to make sure he filled his tag. My fears of him eating tag soup were eliminated . . . about 3 hours into his first hunt. 152" gross. So now, it's PA archery time. I decide that since I've got a big buck down, I'll be a good egg and take my cousin out. He's 15. He's got cystic fibrosis. It's a mild case, but still, I worry about him. So when we hunt, I like to keep him nearby. His dad used to take me hunting when I was a kid, so I enjoy taking the time to help his son out. Nice kid. I wasn't going to take him, but I saw that he'd genuinely been trying to bowhunt on his own. When I see a guy who is trying, I'll bend over backwards to help him. We'd planned to hunt the last two days of PA archery together. The plan was the he would sit nearby, and shoot any antlered deer. I was only hunting a big buck. Well... That was the plan. 2 hours into the first sit, I hear his xbow go off. A fork buck trots down past me, and my cell immediately blows up. He says he's got one down, and he needs a hand. Honest to god, the second he gives me the news, I see a little double-throat patch two-year-old 4x4 coming up through the woods. I'd passed this deer 2x already the week before. Well, seeing how it's the second-to-last day, and we're going to be gutting/dragging anyway, I'll just go ahead and shoot this guy and we'll each tag out. So I did. Not the big PA buck I had in mind. So, I scramble up there to recover his buck, and there is no buck. No arrow. No blood. No buck. Sad story. A whiff. Now, here I am, heading home with a buck that I didn't even want to shoot, and the boy is still buckless. I guess that's just life in the struggle. PA Archery - Last Day: I take the boy back into my best PA rut stand. He climbs up the tree, and I head down the creek, just to spend the day waiting for the "buck down" phonecall. At 8:30, it comes. He's killed a monster. So he says. I dropped everything and scrambled up there, only to run into a scene from Groundhog Day. Yet again, no buck, no blood. Just a muddy arrow and another sad story. This time, it stung even more, because it wasn't just a little forkie. This was a big boy. He knew it, too. He was devastated, questioning every detail of the shot. Reliving it over and over again, like a bad nightmare on eight-track. I couldn't take anymore. We canned it for the season. I promised him one more hunt - opening day of gun season. He apologized the whole way home. Nobody misses deer on purpose. He didn't need to apologize. Just make the next shot count. I'll admit it, I'm emotional about this stuff. I care about those deer, and damnit, I wanted him to get one so incredibly bad that it just ripped my heart out each time he missed. Hunting with this young man isn't easy, either. You're lugging stands, carrying his equipment, making sure he's okay, worrying about his safety, trying to make sure he stays healthy and keep his confidence high. He coughs a lot with the condition, so that increases the difficulty. We're talking fully-guided hunts. And he tries so hard, too. I know he wanted it worse than I did . . . and that's saying something. So fast forward to last Monday. Pennsylvania's opening day. We were hung long before first light, like two kids on Christmas Eve, waiting for the action to begin. The doe parade started around 8:00, and at 8:43, we had a great 4x5 buck come trotting around the hill, well into bow range. This was for all the marbles. Wham. A clean miss. Wham. Another clean miss. With every passing second, I could feel this buck getting away from us. The previews were showing, and Groundhog Day was the Feature Presentation. With two whiffs already in the bank, the buck was already out to 50 yards and making ground fast. I'll never forget the sound of that second round of hot, empty brass, ringing like a tuning fork as it passed my ear. Time slowed to a crawl. As soon as I heard round #3 slam into the chamber, I took a gamble and let out a loud holler. Right on cue, the buck locked up the brakes and posed like a McKenzie target. This was it. Wham. He buckled. Wham. He buckled again. Wham. It was over. 600" of antler later, I am absolutely burned out. Oddly, I'm not burned-out on hunting at all, but moreso on all the drama that goes with it. I could hunt everyday. Emotionally, I'm just tapped-out.
Wow, kudos to you for sticking it out and finally getting him a buck. Sounds like he needs to spend a little time at the range though. Sounds like you pretty well have the woods figured out though
I've been there many times. Its not the hunting, its the drama. I have 3 brothers and a bunch of nephews that I hunt with. Dealing with family gets old.....dealing with family while hunting gets really old. Congrats to your nephew though man. Good to see you taking him under your wing and getting him that buck.
Good stuff Fran, congrats to your little buddy. The smile on his face HAD to make it all worth it! As far as the drama, unfortunately, multiple people hunting the same land usually has a bad ending. I can relate, most def!
Honest to god, the drama wears me down and sours me on hunting faster than anything. If I lived on an island, alone, I could hunt happily everyday for the rest of my life. ..and yeah, I have to say - I was more pumped to see the kid take down that buck than I was for anything else that happened all season long. It truly made my year. He's so proud of that deer. I just love it. There aren't many times in life where you get to legitimately be a part of one of the biggest moments of another person's life. This was one of those moments that neither of us will ever forget. I'd hate to be his taxidermist, because he's gonna be calling every 15 minutes, wondering when he can come and pick up his deer head. LOL
Great thread !! You got it done not only for yourself, but your friends and cousin. That speaks volumes !! Great job !! Tim
Good on ya Fran Congrats on sticking it out with your nephew,life can be a beech sometimes and what we do to surpass these difficult times that we call wastefull time can be a blessing to another. My hat's of to you brother! Rocky PS: Fran you should have had one of those bunnies with you while you were killing time waiting for that phone call saying I got one down
Good season, Fran (although stressful at times it sounds). I'm burnt out for other reasons, but I'll keep plugging away as I know you will, too in preparation for next season.
Great stuff Fran. Drama is exactly what wears me out. The week leading up to opening day of rifle season just kills me and I was a spectator this year. "How's my stand?" "What's for dinner Sunday night?" "What grain bullet do I use?" "WE should really fix this cabin up." "WE should do a better job at maintaining the built stands." "When are WE getting dropped off in the morning in your truck?" Archery hunt with a few select guys that "get" it, 250 hours is a breeze. I'd hunt everyday. Give me one overnight and 4 hours with the rifle gang till they're all circled up around 85 inches wondering why they didn't see that buck and I'm out.
Great read Fran You had an awesome season ! I think we all have to fight with the drama of jealous other hunters
Perhaps your best post ever. Antlers make people do stupid things. Many of us have seen it first hand. I hope it works out for you. Congrats on a heck of a season. I went through similar drama in the fly fishing world this past year. Success = bitterness. Drama can quickly ruin your passion. It forced me to fish for different species on different waters, and I found a renewed passion I have not felt in years. So, you never know.
I congratulated you on your buck from earlier this year but I believe I owe you a much bigger congratulation's for what you did for everyone else that you put on bucks. Well done Fran, well done! Specially the later.
As far as the drama you speak of, Holy **** can I relate to you on that. Mine Involved bear hunting Instead. I'm to the point of almost going to a brand new area of northern Minnesota and starting all over again with the very hard work bear hunting/baiting brings. 20 years of hunting one spot Is so hard to leave, specially when you've busted your ass so hard. It's PRIME big bear ground too. We'll see what happens.
Fran, best read I have had in awhile You sir are high on my people I want to meet list! As you always say but this time its geared toward you,,,your a good egg my friend
Great post Fran, you are a good guy. I too can relate with the issues you are having with the property owners friends. I have posted quite a few times about issues I have ran into. It is part of the reason I hunt public as much as I do. I know I can out walk them, all of them. The deeper I go, the more my problems disappear. The age old saying of the deeper you go the more deer you will find is 100% false... I usually end up walking right on past the areas with the best deer sign, but I rarely find anyone else on the "deep" side of the sign.
