PA Opening Day - How'd it go?

[Mr White]

Opening day here in Central PA was a bust. It rained all night but let up at some point before 5. It started up again just after 7 and worsened as the morning went on.

It was my oldest son's first year with his junior license and I was looking forward to hunting with him and my younger son. By 8:00 the rain was coming down pretty good. There weren't a lot of other hunters around to keep the deer moving and we didn't seen anything by 8:30. The kids were cold and wet so we packed up and headed for the car.

It continued to rain all day so we didn't go back out. I'd have gone back out but I didn't want to go w/o the ids and I knew they didn't want to go back out, so we hung out in the warm and dry house.

They have off school tomorrow too and its supposed to be nicer so I guess we'll try it again in the morning.

 

[Legionnaire]

I was out with my sixteen-year-old daughter. Slight drizzle when we got on stand. We were hunting from ladder stands about 100 yards apart. We both sat under umbrellas designed for hunting use; they strap to the tree. Without those, we would have been soaked.

Heard some early shots, but nothing like New York's opener where the shotgun slugs were flying fast and furious. I didn't apply for a PA doe permit this year, as I had three for NY (and managed to fill one of them). Three does walked down the fence line behind my stand around 9:00 am. My daughter, who did have a doe tag, saw them, but they were too far from her to get a good shot. About 20 minutes later, as I was thinking we ought to trade stands, I heard a shot from her position, followed up by her voice on our radios, "Dad, I think I got one!"

Sure enough, another doe walked within 20 yards of her stand, moving at a good pace. My daughter whistled and the doe stopped briefly ... long enough for my daughter to get her sights on target. One shot (100 grain .243 Core-Lokt), went through both lungs, and the deer piled up after another 20 yards.

After we dressed out the doe, we got back on stand until about 1:00pm, then decided to call it a day. But I'm a proud Dad, as this was my daughter's first deer.

 

[Mr White]

Good to hear it, Legionnaire. Glad you got to share that with your daughter. I hope my son can shoot one tomorrow. I don't have that many years left that I'll be able to hunt and my biggest hope is that I can share each of my boys' first deer kills with them.

 

[Legionnaire]

I wish you well! I missed my eldest son's first deer; he was hunting with his Grandfather while I was on a business trip. But we've shared other successful hunts together. They really are priceless! So good luck, and be safe!

 

[Orr89rocz]

Drizzled all day for the most part. kinda miserable but i had a roof on my tree stand this year so once i got in, i remained abit dry.

didnt see much all day till noon when a nice 9 pointer and 2-3 doe came up to my stand 60 yards out. SLug gun took him out clean after the sabot went thru a small sappling. Love this shotgun hunting

 

[Legionnaire]

Nice buck, Orr89rocz; congrats! I hunt with a shotgun in NY, but prefer my Rem Model Seven in .308 for the PA woods. Looks like you have yours set up nicely, though.

 

[Orr89rocz]

Thanks! It works well I usually rifle hunt, this is my 4th time out with a shotgun in about 3 years and second deer i've harvested with this gun. I love my rifles but something about that sluggun gets me going. Plus my stand where i hunt, the longest shots will be no greater than 100 yards where this gun performs very well