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Sunday, November 23, 2014
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Sunday, November 23, 2014
Hunting Guide
The Sentinel • E3
What’s Inside • Page E3 — Heritage of hunting • Page E4 — Taxidermy tips • Page E6 — Deer harvest predictions in Pa. • Page E6 — Deer facts • Page E8 — Inline muzzleloaders
Submitted photo
Dave Houser, left, younger brother, Mike, center, and father, John, are dressed for deer hunting in 1994. Dave has hunted bucks out of Mike’s tree stand since Mike stopped hunting four or five years ago. Mike died in a vehicle accident in the fall of 2013.
Heritage of hunting While the number of Pennsylvania hunters drops, the tradition of pursuing the white-tailed deer remains strong By B.J. Small For The Sentinel Every season since Mike Houser quit deer hunting about five years ago, his brother Dave has killed bucks from Mike’s tree stand on game lands in Perry County. “It was weird, because we all used to hunt and drive
separately because I like to get in early,” Dave says. “So I just started going to the top and got mad because I’d hear shooting at the bottom of the mountain. I’ve been killing deer after deer down there. That’s kind of special.” Mike Houser died in a vehicle accident in October 2013. It was thought there
were deer running across the road at that spot at the time. “The following month, I shot a 9-point, the biggest deer I ever killed,” Dave says. He and his 67-year-old father, John, will carry the tradition when the next twoweek deer season opens Dec. 1. Count on Dave to again be in Mike’s old stand. The Sebastian gang will gather again at Fort Schmidt’s for deer season See Hunting, E7
Dave Wolf/For The Sentinel
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E4 • The Sentinel
Hunting Guide
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Mounting deer concerns Tips from a pro that help break down the art of taxidermy By B.J. Small For The Sentinel The antler restrictions hunters face in Pennsylvania helps develop older bucks among the herd. For many of the white-tailed deer, older means more points and heavier antlers. Depending on the section of Pennsylvania you hunt in, a legal buck must have at least three or four points on one side of its rack. Of the deer considered to be trophies among the 100,000 or more bucks that will be harvested in the regular rifle season, which opens Dec. 1, many will never reach that trophy status, instead being measured for something other than antler mass or rack width. A trophy deer is indeed in the eye, and on the wall, of the beholder.
“I mounted a one-sided 5-point. It was the kid’s first deer,” Perry County taxidermist Dave Houser says. “Would I have gotten it mounted? Probably not. But it was the kid’s first deer and they took good care of it. I did a good mount and they were happy.” For Houser, his true trophy would be a 16inch spike buck. But he said that won’t ever happen. Houser has never seen a spike buck in the woods, plus it’s illegal for adults to take a spike buck — deer with a single point on each side. Houser owns Truetolife Taxidermy in Marysville where he works on close to 30 deer heads a year. Houser grew up in Perry County and first ventured into taxidermy as a teenager. He got his permit and went fulltime in 1996. He appeared as one of four “Immortalizers” on the AMC TV show “Immortalized” last season. See Taxidermy, E10
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Hunting Guide
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E6 • The Sentinel
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Deer harvest predictions looking good By B.J. Small For The Sentinel Deer hunters in the Midstate should have the same opportunity as they did last year to harvest a whitetailed deer when the twoweek season Dec. 1. That should be encouraging news, considering that in the 2013-14 seasons the regional harvest increased about 2 percent from the previous seasons. The Pennsylvania Game Commission reported an estimated harvest of 11,100 deer in Wildlife Management Unit 4B, and a kill of 6,900 deer in WMU 5A in the last seasons. WMU 4B includes the northern portion of Cumberland County, most of Perry County and parts of Juniata, Mifflin, Huntingdon, Franklin, and Fulton counties. WMU 5A entails the lower majority of Cumberland County, part of Franklin County and a great majority of Adams County. Last year’s statewide harvest was estimated at 352,920 deer, an increase of
Jason Malmont/The Sentinel
Greg Shank, of Carlisle, center, fires his rifle Nov. 4 at the State Game Lands No. 230 located off Enola Road. 3 percent from 2012-13. Parameters for the twoweek season in WMU 4B call for Dec. 1-5 to be designated for the harvest of antlered deer only. Dec. 6-13 is for either antlered or antlerless deer with the appropriate licenses. In WMU 5A deer of both sexes may be
taken, with the appropriate licenses through the Dec. 113 period. In both WMUs, a legal buck is one that has at least three points on one side of its rack. From harvest estimates, the Pennsylvania Game Commission considers the
deer population to be stable in WMU 4B. “There have been spikes in the numbers, but it’s more important to recognize the trend than to know the specific annual kill numbers,” said Game Commission spokesman Travis Lau. According to the commis-
sion, the deer population in WMU 4B was estimated at 50,517 after last hunting season. That number was 52,903 after the 2012-13 seasons, and 60,340 after the 2011-12 campaigns. The deer population in WMU 5A is increasing. A total of 29,715 deer were estimated to have survived the last hunting seasons; 28,014 in 2012-13; and 35,598 after 2011-12. Lau said statewide, the goal is to kill fewer antlerless deer this season. “Antlerless permits were cut in almost all WMUs this year and statewide there are 59,500 fewer this year,” he said. “It still takes about four antlerless licenses to take one antlerless deer.” In WMU 4B, the antlerless license allocation actually increased to 26,000 (up 2,000 licenses) for the upcoming seasons. The allocation of 19,000 for WMU 5A stayed the same. Reports indicate that deer, antlered and antlerless, may be there for the taking in ample numbers. “In Michaux State Forest
and Tuscarora Mountain, muzzleloader and archery hunters have been telling me they’ve been seeing a good amount of deer,” Cumberland County Wildlife Conservation Officer John Fetchkan said. The warden pointed to state game lands 169 between Newville and Newburg as possible honey holes. “There is bottomland and nice wood lots. We’ve seen some nice bucks on game lands and pheasant hunters have been telling me they’ve been jumping a lot of deer laying the high grass,” Fetchkan says. Hunters know deer that stay in one place today may be long gone tomorrow. They are dealing with a mobile quarry that is influenced by its stomach, shifting from farm crops to mast crops to browse. Kevin Anderson, wildlife conservation officer in Perry County, said hunters should have success again in the new seasons. See Harvest, E11
deer facts By B.J. Small For The Sentinel Even the most experienced hunters know that whether they are chasing or researching the wonderful white-tailed deer, there are always more facts to discover about the amazing big-game prize.
1
Since antler restrictions were enacted in Pennsylvania in 2002, yearling buck survival has increased from 15 to 52 percent, while harvest of adult bucks has increased from 20 to 50 percent.
2
Deer can reach top speeds of more than 35 mph. They can jump
an 8-foot fence.
5
who claims the deer. Their big, side-mounted eyeDrivers in Pennsylvania have Between 6 months and 16-18 balls allow deer to see ahead and months of age, about 70 percent of behind without moving their head. a one in 71 chance of having a collision with a white-tailed deer. young bucks will disperse an avAccording to Pennsylvania Those odds increase during the rut erage of 3 to 6 miles regardless of whether their mother is with them Game Commission data, 89 per- period, which runs mid-October cent of all females are bred between to mid-December. Pennsylvania is or not. Oct. 16 and Dec. 16, with a median the No. 2 state with those odds. In conception date of Nov. 11-17. West Virginia, the odds are 1 in 39. Deer pellet shape is not deThe Insurance Institute for Hightermined by the sex of the animal. A Pennsylvania resident way Safety estimates there are Deer relying mostly on browse or must call within 24 hours of taking 1.5 million vehicle/deer collisions other fibrous material will produce possession of a road-killed deer. each year. More than 200 people pellet piles consisting of loose, in- A passing Pennsylvania motorist die in those collisions annually. In dividual pellets. When deer are may claim the deer. Antlers from 2009, the average cost of hitting a eating less browse and more green bucks killed in vehicle collisions deer was $6,600. and succulent vegetation, the in- either must be turned over to the dividual pellets may form into a Game Commission, or purchased Most bucks only sire one single clump. for $10 per point by the person litter. As most females go into es-
3
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4
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trous at the same time, it is impossible for one buck to dominate all breeding activity.
10
Antler tissue is the fastest growing tissue known to man, having the capacity to grow an inch or more per day. They grow from the tip and are full of thousands of blood vessels. Summer’s lengthening days and increased testosterone production triggers mineralization or hardening of the antlers. After the breeding season, testosterone levels drop off and antlers are shed in late winter/early spring. Sources: www.pgc.state.pa.us and www.whitetailbuzz.com.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Hunting Guide
The Sentinel • E7
Hunting Continued from E3 on Tuscarora Mountain between Ickesburg and Millerstown. Eighty-year-old Richard Sebastian will be there. “He doesn’t hunt anymore, but he wants to go to be with the guys,” his son Todd says. “It gets to be that time of the year; you get ready to go.” As the number of hunters in Pennsylvania and across the country continues a downward trend, the sense of tradition and heritage of pursuing the magnificent white-tailed deer burns as strong as ever for those who venture out. For the more than 950,000 licensed hunters in Pennsylvania, the two-week campaign that runs Dec. 1-13 will be as much about preserving and making memories as it will be about making venison jerky. “It is a family thing, and we’d love it to stay that way,” Cumberland County Wildlife Conservation Officer John Fetchkan says. “We are constantly trying to recruit new hunters. In today’s day and age, with so many different activities with kids, hunting is for some, maybe not as important as it used to be. But in this area, it is really popular and strong.”
Trending downward While the last four years show a modest increase in the number of hunting license sold in Pennsylvania (sales are up three-quarters of a percent so far this year), the 30-year trend isn’t as positive. “The larger trend has been a steady decline since peak license sales of 1.3 million in 1982,” Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesman Travis Lau says. Sales for the 2013-14 season were 952,989. Reasons for the license
decline are hard to pinpoint, Lau says. “There may be fewer people hunting because there are fewer deer. There is competition for time and social changes,” Lau says. “There are a lot more organized activities for kids — soccer and school activities. “All of that pulls away from free time, which you could spend hunting. For some, the decision to buy a hunting license is their ability to hunt on opening day and if they can, they will. If they can’t, they won’t.” Lau says Pennsylvania’s drop in sales follows a national trend. The Game Commission has launched a marketing campaign with the new website gohuntpa.org. The goal is to increase license sales by 1.5 percent a year. “If it realizes that goal and is kept in place because it seems to be working, we would achieve 1 million licenses sold by 2019,” Lau says. The focus is on those in Pennsylvania who don’t buy a hunting license every year. “There are a lot of them out there,” Lau said. Dave Houser, a taxidermist in Marysville whose livelihood depends on successful hunters, and plenty of them, recognizes depressed numbers. “At o n e p o i n t i n t h e 1990s, you could go into a restaurant the first day of deer season and there was a gaggle of hunters everywhere,” he says. “Now you don’t see the kids. I don’t know what it is. It has gotten to the point that the adults don’t want to hunt. They want to go out a couple of hours, don’t see anything, and that’s it.” The number of female hunters continues to increase. “It’s a relatively small group compared to the total
put on a drive toward the two other hunters. “He was walking toward us and pushed a doe toward us, and when it got into range, I was able to harvest it,” Kevin says. “The place we hunted had a lot of mountain laurel and was a pretty thick area.” Anderson remembers it as a proud moment with not a lot of fanfare. “It was not jumping up and down or high-fives,” Anderson says. “It was an overall respect for what had Submitted photo just happened. In rural areas where you have hunting, Don Gaffney stands with the antlerless deer he killing your first deer is a rite shot using a blackpowder rifle during a gentleof passage and a big moman’s hunt from Fort Schmidt’s in Perry County ment.” on New Year’s Day in 2001. number of hunters, but still noticeable,” Lau says. For the 2009-10 season, females bought 65,340 hunting licenses of some sort. In 2013-14, that figure increased by more than 25 percent, to 84,142.
Creating memories For hunters who will be going out for the new season, which starts the first Monday after Thanksgiving, thoughts may turn to hunts from years past, while waiting on the next deer to show up. Greg Shank, of North Middletown Township, is active as a Pennsylvania Game Commission volunteer and known for leading snipe hunts in the area. He remembers three particular shots while hunting with his dad, Murray Dean Shank, in the 1960s on the South Mountain behind Huntsdale. “He came down to the car and had a deer,” Greg remembers. “He said, ‘Well, I have a little problem here’.” Those were the days, Greg says, when there were as many as 12 hunters next to each other on the face of a single ridge.
“He had been in a tree stand, hunting with a Japanese rifle with an open peep sight on it. This doe appeared on the crest of the hill 100 yards away and he shot, and the deer went out of sight,” Greg says of his dad’s encounter. “He looked again and there was a deer still standing there, so he shot and it disappeared. Well, a deer was still there and he shot again. He approached and had three deer within 50 feet of each other.” Murray kept one deer, gave one to a friend, and by the time he got back to the area someone else had picked up the third deer. Kevin Anderson grew up in Perry County hunting with his dad and grandfather. “It was time we got together and spent time,” Anderson says. “Certainly there could be some family bonding.” His grandfather Ken was sitting next to him when Anderson, at age 12, shot his first deer. Anderson is now a wildlife conservation officer in Perry County. His father had been hunting a different part of Tuscarora Mountain near Millerstown that sunny day and
Hunting motivations Working on the Game Commission book “Pennsylvania Deer Hunting Through the Page of Game News,” left an impression on Lau. “ W h e n we l o o ke d a t those hunters in the book, their motivations for going hunting were split into thirds. One-third wanted to hunt and kill game and eat it, some wanted to relax and enjoy the outdoors, and others wanted to spend time with friends and family,” Lau says. “Among certain demographics, the motivation to spend time with friends and family was the highest.” The book is divided by decades, presenting deer hunting stories from each, starting with 1940. “I was struck that the common themes that were in so many stories had nothing to do with killing an animal,” Lau says. “They talked about breakfast and sitting down at the camp table before going out. To spend time with family in those conditions. It doesn’t compare to other things.” “It’s a ritual. It’s in our blood,” Todd Sebastian adds.
Freeman Gaffney, his wife Gabby’s grandfather, bought the camp to be known as Fort Schmidt’s in the 1960s. Family members have gathered there for deer season and New Year’s since. An experience Todd offered his 68-year-old father-in-law, Don Gaffney, in 2001 stays with them all. It was to be a gentleman’s hunt on New Year’s Day and a drive for Don Gaffney to take his first deer using a blackpowder rifle. They made plans after breakfast. “There were benches up the mountain, and I told Don to go up the mountain an hour before and sit above the thick stuff where a clear-cut used to be. I’d wait down below and start walking up, and maybe push something to that bench,” Todd say. There was 2 or 3 inches of snow on the ground, perfect conditions, as Todd crept up the mountain. Then, he heard, “Ka-boom!” “I get up there, and there was a doe,” Todd says. He said it happened just like we talked. “Out of this thick stuff two does came out, and I got on one because they were moving and it went right down,” Don said. “It made the whole day and the new year start perfectly.” Don Gaffney died about five years later. Todd and his father-inlaw were back in camp in an hour or so after they’d left, to the amazement of the wives there. “The ladies couldn’t believe it,” Todd says. “Then they started talking.” “‘You went up there for two hours and shot a deer’,” Todd remembers the wives saying. “‘In the season, you go up for five days! Why do you need to go up so many days’?” “I’m thinking,” Todd says, “Oh my God, we are busted.”
Hunting Guide
E8 • The Sentinel
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Inline muzzleloaders are here to stay By Dave Wolf For The Sentinel The darkness lifts ever so slowly. The curtain call of another deer season slowly emerges from the inky black to reveal stark, naked trees. Below, the last of their leaves pile onto the forest floor. You know you’re not alone. Earlier, there were beams of lights and rustling leaves, and then a cough or two. Some hunters carry on conversations that often end with: “I’ll meet you ... ” I crack open the Thompson Center and slip a single primer into the small hole designed for it. Earlier, I had loaded the rifle with powder, a sabot and a bullet and seated them with my ramrod. Without the primer, the rifle is considered legally unloaded. Legal shooting hours had arrived, and the most popular of all hunting seasons in Pennsylvania, the rifle deer season, had begun. Ten years ago, I set aside all my rifles and started picking up my inline each and every time I decided to go hunting. There are exceptions, of course, for not all seasons allow an inline. My inline is something I use for groundhogs, deer and some predators. It has
Dave Wolf/For The Sentinel
Sentinel outdoors columnist Dave Wolf shot this deer with his inline muzzleloader gun. become my rifle of choice, and at times it’s hard put to explain why. There is no doubt that I often gather strange looks from other hunters when using it during rifle season for deer. “That’s a black powder rifle?” they often ask. The ramrod jutting out beneath the barrel is a dead giveaway.
They’re often in too much of a hurry to get into the deer woods to carry on the conversation. But some have added, “Why would you use a single shot?” The answer could be as simple as the answer given by almost any hunter when they hear shots during rifle season; “One shot probably,
two maybe, and three, never.” As we all know, there are exceptions to every rule. Reloading isn’t as simple as sticking another cartridge in the chamber. No, it requires pouring premeasured black powder or synthetic black powder down the throat of the barrel, placing a bullet on top of that, using a ball
starter to push the bullet into the barrel, and finally inserting a ramrod to make sure the bullet is firmly seated. After all of that, you need to replace the primer. The fastest I’ve ever done all of these steps in the field was just under two minutes. I do hunt buck with my inline during the regular rifle
season. In October, during the week-long muzzleloader season, I’m allowed an antlerless deer only. Like any muzzleloader hunter, a muzzleloader license is required. I try my best to restrict my harvest of antlerless deer to areas where crop damage is a problem, or to state forest lands where the Bureau of Forestry wants to minimize the deer herd. Those who have not tried an inline often compare them to 30-30 rifles. But, I have found that it takes a lot of time to get an inline tuned in. That means time at the range and more time experimenting with how much powder to use, what kind of bullets shoot best out of your rifle, and what primers add to the performance. You’ll most likely find out that inlines can be cranky, and seem to shoot differently when the temperatures change. When hunting groundhogs during the summer months, I often have to visit the range to make adjustments to my scope. This year, I missed three groundhogs before I finally decided it was the gun, not me. After spending more time than usual at the range, I was able to take a groundhog as far away as 150 yards. See Inline, E11
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Sunday, November 23, 2014
Hunting Guide
The Sentinel • E9
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Hunting Guide
E10 • The Sentinel
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Taxidermy Continued from E4 He and the other taxidermists appeared in two episodes each and faced challengers during the eight-week series. The show was not picked up for a second season. Houser said AMC was not the right cable network for that kind of program. The taxidermy business on big-game cervids, like deer and elk, proved more lucrative before the deadly chronic wasting disease surfaced in Colorado in the late 1960s, and in 2012 was found in captive deer in Pennsylvania. “I used to get elk, mule deer and antelope, but none since CWD,” Houser says. “The animals are staying out there to be mounted and shipped back in to Pennsylvania.” Houser is one of about 1,400 licenses taxidermists in Pennsylvania. Most of them run one-person operations, just like Truetolife Taxidermy. Importing high-risk deer parts, like the brain and spinal column, into the state is prohibited. Likewise, hunters in the commonwealth are urged to keep deer killed within a disease management area where CWD is being managed. That’s where many are processed and mounted. Houser offers advice for hunters who bag a “trophy” deer they intend to entrust to a taxidermist.
Proper care of a quality mount begins even before the shot is taken. Houser, a former president of the state taxidermy association, says hunters need to think ahead. “You always have two or three deer come in every year and they were shot in the neck. That doesn’t work. You disturb hair patterns,” he says. “I know you want to kill the deer and fast, but wait ’til it clears and shoot it where you should, in the heart and lung area.” A flash of horns can fog a hunter’s focus. “When you mount a deer you find skin and hair issues that the hunter doesn’t see because they are so fixated on the antlers,” Houser said. “I had two deer in here and they had bright orange foreheads. The hunter questioned it and I told him to get his photos out and look at them. Hunters are so transfixed on the antlers, they aren’t paying attention to other characteristics.” Hunters also should avoid cutting the deer’s throat to finish it off, and then putting a drag rope around its neck. Regulations require that the harvest tag be affixed to the animal’s ear. Houser suggests using a safety pin to attach the tag to the ear, instead of slicing into it. “When you mount a deer, you have to turn that ear inside out and you’ll have a slice
in the finished product,” he said. “I have yet to have a game warden fine someone for attaching the tag to the antlers,” Houser said. “Depends on where you are. Some wardens are by the book. Wardens in Perry County are absolutely great.” Hunters should respect and protect the integrity of their trophies from the time they are shot until they get to the taxidermist, Houser added. He said that when skinning a deer, a hunters should not use a knife any higher than the armpits of the deer, and the less neck flesh that is included, the better. He says the neck skin can be tubed, or rolled, all the way up to the skull without the use of a knife. Lack of haste can also make Michael Bupp/The Sentinel waste on a mount that will Dave Houser of Truetolife Taxidermy works at his shop in Marysville. cost hundreds of dollars. “Once the deer is shot and cleaned out real good, don’t be driving around to everybody’s house, especially if the weather is warm,” Houser said. “Get it cooled, get it caped out and to the butcher and taxidermist as soon as possible.” Delay and neglect can open the door to more subtle prob• ALUMINIUM lems. • Copper “Bacteria sets in,” Houser said. “Soon as you get bac• BrASS teria, you are going to have a • STAINLeSS STeeL hair problem.”
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Hunting Guide
Sunday, November 23, 2014
The Sentinel • E11
Inline Continued from E8 Taking a deer during this season includes the problem of where to hunt. Unless you have a friend with private land or belong to a group that leases property, your chances decrease dramatically. If you started practicing now, you could become proficient enough to hunt with an inline in rifle season. There are a lot of choices out there, although most dealers refuse to sell used inlines because of liability reasons. I have hunted with my current
inline for close to seven years, taking more than 100 groundhogs and six deer with my Thompson Center Triumph. Mine is a nice-fitting .50 caliber, and after a lot of experimenting, I settled on T/C Shock Wave bullets. I propel the 250-grain bullet with 100 grains of Blackhorn 209 powder. For ignition, I use a CCI 209M primer. Please note that the M stands for magnum. I have had problems with the CCI’s 209 primers, not noted as magnum primers, and they included misfires.
I top my rifle with a Nikon Omega scope. I still will not take a shot more than 100 yards away from a deer ... 75 yards is my preferred range. I’m sure you have read about hunters taking shots at 200 yards and beyond with an inline, but why chance it? Few deer in the state are taken from a distance of 50 yards or greater. The inline is a mix of the new and the old; a modern version of the flintlock rifle, and a far step below the modern day centerfire. Perhaps, it is that single shot that makes me take my time to be abso-
lutely positive that I will take the deer quickly, and humanely. I always have in the past, and most of my 65-plus deer have fallen on the spot when I used my .308. But the lucid smell of burnt powder and the plume of smoke is another reason I’ve hunted exclusively with the inline. There is that moment of waiting for the smoke to clear before being able to tell if the animal is lying there. Inline hunting is not for everyone, and you will see far more pumps, bolt and lever action rifles out there
than any other. But in recent years, I’ve seen more inlines than I had in the past. It may be a growing trend spawned by an early muzzleloader season in October. Two years ago, my wife, Karen, carried my first inline, a CVA .45 caliber, and took a nice buck. That same year, I harvested a small 6-point. Inlines are here to stay, and they’re a great rifle that — in the proper hands — gets the job done. Dave Wolf lives in York County and may be reached by email at wolfang418@msn.com.
Harvest Continued from E6 “The population seems about the same as last year, with a good bit of deer,” Anderson said. Antler restrictions requiring minimum points have produced nicer bucks, Anderson agrees. “When I first started hunting, it wasn’t too long after that that antler restrictions came into play,” Anderson said. “I’m not sure what it would have looked like before. But I’m seeing rack bucks around now, and it seems like a decent mixture.” Fetchkan said he saw some extremely nice bucks in August and that a couple other WCOs estimated some of those deer to be 125-135 class deer when considering their racks.
“I’ve never heard anyone complain about the antler restrictions as far as the size of bucks they’ve seen,” said Wildlife Conservation Officer Cory Ammerman, who watches over the southern portion of WMU 5A in Adams County. “I do hear they think they should be able to shoot spikes (bucks with just one point) to get them out of the herd.” Antler restrictions are also producing an older herd. The Game Commission says that 53 percent of the harvested bucks in 2013-14 were 2 1/2 years or older. That figure was 51 percent the seasons before. Comparing the WMU 4B and 5A sections of Cumberland County, Fetchkan said the northern section as more woodland and mountainous against the farmland of the
more southern 5A. But he estimated that WMU 4B holds more deer than 5A. This is shown in the larger harvest in WMU 4B. Wildlife Conservation Officer Darren David, who patrols the northern Adams County portion of WMU 5A, says, “There’s lot of deer here.” Farmers and fruitgrowers agree. “This is the worst year for deer damage in the 10 1/2 years I’ve been here,” David says. “I got more reports of crop damage than ever before. It’s obvious.” Fetchkan agreed that the upcoming harvest could mimic that of 2013-14. “Weather is a huge factor in the rifle season,” he said. Cold and rain influence deer movement and hunter participation.
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Fetchkan said that butcher shops in recent weeks have reported a harvest similar to that of last year, by bowhunters in the region. “Hunters will find good numbers and quality,” Fetchkan says. “A lot of it will vary on how much pressure they’ve had and what ground you are on. I had guys last year say they saw 50 deer the first day and two miles down the road, a guy says he saw two or three.” David expects success in his neck of Penn’s Woods. “Compared to previous years the season would probably be a little above average,” he said. “It’s always good in Adams County because of the agriculture and variety of foods.” “From driving around at night, I’ve seen more deer and large bucks. It’s astronomical,”
Ammerman said. “This year I’ve seen at least 15 bucks that are wall-hangers.” Fetchkan reminds hunters that public game lands do hold deer. “It seems they get really smart on the game-lands side of the fence. They seem to know where they are at. They know where to lay and hide,” Fetchkan said. “We do get a fair amount of deer shot on the game lands.” Fetchkan said Cumberland County has about 4,500 to 5,000 acres of public game lands and state forest, with Michaux as a vast expanse of opportunity. “If you are going to hunt the state forest, DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) has some great maps and I would
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look for where the least access point would be. Use your compass or GPS and get to that spot, mark it and get there during deer season,” Fetchkan said. Deer enjoyed a solid mast crop in October and November and could still be looking for acorns when the season opens. “I wouldn’t call the acorns the best I’ve ever seen, but it’s pretty good,” Fetchkan says. “There are plenty of areas where you are rolling down the hills on them.” Ammerman said he was worried about the deer herd at one point. “I was worried because of the hard winter we had and I was picking up a lot of fawns that had died from malnutrition,” he says. “But the population seems to be doing very well.”
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