Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Lugnut]
#7065577
11/28/20 06:30 AM
11/28/20 06:30 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,106 SEPA
Lugnut
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Heading out, good luck everyone!
Eh...wot?
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: elkaholic]
#7065682
11/28/20 09:24 AM
11/28/20 09:24 AM
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Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 8,299 Louisiana
Aix sponsa
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Louisiana
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danvee, It's our rifle opener.
We'll never get back to the glory days of the 60's 70's and early 80's. I remember going to camp with my dad in the 70's and the roads being lined with cars the 2 days before the Monday opener. By the time I started hunting in '82 the roads were no longer full. The camps still were. By the early 90's most of the camps in our area were pretty vacant for the first day. They're starting to be full again, but not in the numbers like before.
The camp I hunt out of now has 8 of us most years. This year there are 15 hunting out of it. The main reason being the first Sunday being allowed to hunt. What Made it the glory days then? Just curious... I’ve been to Pa, and there were deer everywhere. Seeing numbers like I did reminded me of Texas in a way. I remember having to come to a complete stop on the road to avoid hitting a couple does crossing that backroad on the way to the airport. I saw deer feeding next to the hotel. Deer everywhere. Don’t see deer numbers like that in this part of Louisiana, that much is certain.
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Aix sponsa]
#7065826
11/28/20 12:02 PM
11/28/20 12:02 PM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 4,948 Idaho Falls, ID
Grandpa Trapper
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danvee, It's our rifle opener.
We'll never get back to the glory days of the 60's 70's and early 80's. I remember going to camp with my dad in the 70's and the roads being lined with cars the 2 days before the Monday opener. By the time I started hunting in '82 the roads were no longer full. The camps still were. By the early 90's most of the camps in our area were pretty vacant for the first day. They're starting to be full again, but not in the numbers like before.
The camp I hunt out of now has 8 of us most years. This year there are 15 hunting out of it. The main reason being the first Sunday being allowed to hunt. What Made it the glory days then? Just curious... I’ve been to Pa, and there were deer everywhere. Seeing numbers like I did reminded me of Texas in a way. I remember having to come to a complete stop on the road to avoid hitting a couple does crossing that backroad on the way to the airport. I saw deer feeding next to the hotel. Deer everywhere. Don’t see deer numbers like that in this part of Louisiana, that much is certain. Not in the the northern part of the state in what is called the big woods or Black Forest. The deer population has shifted since the 1980’s from the northern part of the state to the southern part of the state. Many of the thousands of camps in the north once full of hunters are now empty in deer season. People can stay in their backyard and hunt now. The glory days of going to hunt deer in the northern big woods camps are over. Some still do it for the tradition but nowhere near like it used to be. The location of the Minktoberfest cabin and deer population is much different than the area above route 80 in PA. Two different worlds.
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Lugnut]
#7065836
11/28/20 12:16 PM
11/28/20 12:16 PM
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Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 5,214 Crivitz WI
Sprung & Rusty
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Crivitz WI
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No one says you have to hunt Saturday. You can always keep the tradition and have camp on the weekend and start hunting on Monday. We've always had out seaon start the Saturday before thanksgiving and go till the following Sunday. Michigan is always Nov 15th for their opener. People don't like change. Give it time and it will become normal.
No Jab.
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Lugnut]
#7065878
11/28/20 01:23 PM
11/28/20 01:23 PM
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 1,742 In the south central Pa Mounta...
grayfox54
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Posts: 1,742
In the south central Pa Mounta...
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Sat in my ladder stand until 11am had to get out the wind kicked up a good bit. Heard some in a thicket below me but they wouldn’t come out, that was right after daybreak. Might get out after bit until dark. I think I’m going to hunt tomorrow, Sunday, it will seem weird but what the hay!
I don’t trap because I want to I trap because I have to
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Lugnut]
#7065892
11/28/20 01:49 PM
11/28/20 01:49 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,106 SEPA
Lugnut
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I just came in for lunch. I heard 17 shots the first thirty minutes (before sunrise). that's a bit below average but they made up for it the second thirty minutes; 37 fired that period for a total of 54 the first hour.
I spent most of the morning watching a big-racked four-point. I saw him off and on four about four hours. I had the scope cranked up to 9X and was trying like crazy to grow a brow tine on him but it was no good, he remains a protected deer.
I watched him freshen up one of his scrapes, that was pretty neat.
There was a young doe hanging around but the two times I had a clear shot at her I was still thinking the buck was maybe a five-point and he was he much bigger deer so i was holding out for him.
They were both bedded in the thick stuff within 120 yards of my stand when I came in for lunch. I'm thinking I'll see them again this evening. The doe probably won't get a pass then. I need some meat in the freezer.
Eh...wot?
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Sprung & Rusty]
#7065897
11/28/20 01:56 PM
11/28/20 01:56 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,106 SEPA
Lugnut
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No one says you have to hunt Saturday. You can always keep the tradition and have camp on the weekend and start hunting on Monday. If I had a nickel for every time someone proposed that dumb solution...well... i'd have a lot of nickels! LOL Nobody that still goes to camp is going to sit around while the season is open and the majority of the harvest is happening only to start three days late after most hunters have gone home and the remaining deer have gone nocturnal. But hey, thanks for the suggestion.
Eh...wot?
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Lugnut]
#7065902
11/28/20 02:01 PM
11/28/20 02:01 PM
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Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 5,214 Crivitz WI
Sprung & Rusty
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No one says you have to hunt Saturday. You can always keep the tradition and have camp on the weekend and start hunting on Monday. If I had a nickel for every time someone proposed that dumb solution...well... i'd have a lot of nickels! LOL Nobody that still goes to camp is going to sit around while the season is open and the majority of the harvest is happening only to start three days late after most hunters have gone home and the remaining deer have gone nocturnal. But hey, thanks for the suggestion. I know it was a dumb solution. Sarcastic even. I just don't get the big deal of hunting starting on Saturday. It's always been that way for us and no hunting on Sundays was completely stupid. Now get off your computer and get out hunting you whiner. Lol.
Last edited by Sprung & Rusty; 11/28/20 02:02 PM.
No Jab.
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Lugnut]
#7065904
11/28/20 02:03 PM
11/28/20 02:03 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
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Lugnut
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Like I said above Rusty, I miss the the camp camaraderie. It's never going to be the same again.
Eh...wot?
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Lugnut]
#7065913
11/28/20 02:13 PM
11/28/20 02:13 PM
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Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 5,214 Crivitz WI
Sprung & Rusty
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Like I said above Rusty, I miss the the camp camaraderie. It's never going to be the same again. So people came for the weekend and then went home? Don't you guys stay at camp together regardless what day hunting starts?
No Jab.
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Lugnut]
#7065918
11/28/20 02:28 PM
11/28/20 02:28 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,106 SEPA
Lugnut
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Quoted from my post above. One of my favorite times of the year was the weekend before Rifle Deer Season. Folks started rolling into camp late Friday or early Saturday morning. Most of them were good friends who I only got to see a handful of times throughout the year.
I absolutely loved having that leisurely weekend to hunt some small game on Saturday, sight in rifles at the local gun club, check stands, plan strategies and, most of all, hang out with old friends.
The camaraderie of Deer Camp was at least as important to me as the hunting was. Nobody came just for the weekend then went home. Yes, we all stayed at camp. Some stayed all week, others only until mid-week. The point you seem to be missing is the fun we had doing the activities I mentioned and more. When hunting all day and butchering some evenings, making meals and doing dishes there isn't much time left for those other activities. Yeah, we still had great bullcrap sessions and solved the problems of the world. But it's not the same not having those two days the weekend before the hunt. I guess if you've never experienced it, it would be difficult to understand.
Eh...wot?
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Lugnut]
#7066143
11/28/20 06:21 PM
11/28/20 06:21 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,106 SEPA
Lugnut
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Just got back, didn't see anymore deer this afternoon but heard a decent amount of shooting.
Eh...wot?
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Re: Good Luck Pennsylvania Rifle Hunters
[Re: Lugnut]
#7066172
11/28/20 06:54 PM
11/28/20 06:54 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,106 SEPA
Lugnut
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The view from my stand near the middle of a 40 acre swamp. If you were a deer wouldn’t you hang out here? LOL There’s a heavily used deer trail crossing left/right about 75 yards out just in front of the first downed tree/log. The shooting lane to the right. It’s about 150 yards long. This is where the big four-point and little doe were hanging out this morning.
Eh...wot?
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