I went on a 3 day camping and hunting trip in the big woods of northern PA 11/1-11/4 and wanted to share a great hunt and a tough lesson I learned. It’s beautiful country with endless areas to park and mountains to hike. I’ve Turkey hunted it a little bit but did not scout for deer other then OnX and CalTopo.
There were tons of acorns but little fresh sign of deer being on them. My game plan was to hit areas of interest I found e-scouting and find does since the bucks should be close by. I hunted and scouted a lot of different areas but never came across really hot sign. That being said I still saw 3 bucks and 6 does over the three days. The first morning I hiked way back in and set up on a bench so I could shoot the top and see the next one down. As I climbed I realized I was 20 yards from someone else’s stand. I ended up seeing two does on the bottom bench around 10:00 and an 8 pt shortly behind them. As I was hiking out I bumped three more does close by. Not bad for going in completely blind. It was cold and windy and I needed to go warm up for an evening hunt.
For the evening I went to a point that I had Turkey hunted. I had no other reason to hunt it other then I had been there before and thought it might hold deer and had a good wind. There was buck sign up top, but nothing as I dropped down in. I climbed up a tree and had zero confidence in the spot but I could see a long way so maybe I would learn something. At 4:30 I heard a deer and saw it was a buck with my binoculars in a thicket about 60yds away. I had done some calling and I think he came to check it out. He looked behind him, turned around and absolutely trashed a small tree. Then he walked back the way he came and disappeared. He didn’t wind me and just casually walked away but I wasn’t sure if something wasn’t right and caused him to leave. 6:00 I heard deer again and out comes a doe where I saw the buck. Right behind her was the buck and he was going to pass 20 yds broadside. I’ve never heard a buck grunt like he did before, he grunted one long continuous grunt which got louder and louder and then finally ended with a buck roar. I’ve heard of the term buck roar before but I thought it was nonsense, I feel silly calling it that but that’s the only term to describe how loud and mean he grunted. He stopped broadside at 20 and I let an arrow fly. The shot felt perfect but I watched my lighted nock dip down sharply and go way low and hit his hoof. I think it caught a small branch and caused it to dip.
He took a couple hops and stopped, still about 25 yds for a follow up shot. There was no blood on him but he picked his foot up a few times. Other then that he looked completely fine. I reached for another arrow but remembered I dropped my quiver on the way up. I didn’t go and get it because I thought to myself, there’s no way I’ll even see anything and if I do I’m not getting a follow up shot. Laziness got the best of me. He stayed for an excruciating 2-3 minutes giving multiple shot opportunities but there was nothing I could do but cuss at myself. He and his doe eventually moved off. I was mad at first but then thought about how much fun the whole encounter was that evening and how great of a day I had. I packed up and found my arrow and went back to camp.
The next two days were not as exciting. I went back to the other spot early and dropped down to the next bench. I overshot it in the dark and went too far. A buck came out in the same spot as before but it was way above me and he winded me. The wind switched for the rest of the trip and I could not hunt that area anymore. I didn’t see another deer the rest of the trip but I did get to watch a young bear for about 20 minutes.
It was an awesome time and I had some great hunts but you bet your ass I’m climbing back down for my arrows next time.
There were tons of acorns but little fresh sign of deer being on them. My game plan was to hit areas of interest I found e-scouting and find does since the bucks should be close by. I hunted and scouted a lot of different areas but never came across really hot sign. That being said I still saw 3 bucks and 6 does over the three days. The first morning I hiked way back in and set up on a bench so I could shoot the top and see the next one down. As I climbed I realized I was 20 yards from someone else’s stand. I ended up seeing two does on the bottom bench around 10:00 and an 8 pt shortly behind them. As I was hiking out I bumped three more does close by. Not bad for going in completely blind. It was cold and windy and I needed to go warm up for an evening hunt.
For the evening I went to a point that I had Turkey hunted. I had no other reason to hunt it other then I had been there before and thought it might hold deer and had a good wind. There was buck sign up top, but nothing as I dropped down in. I climbed up a tree and had zero confidence in the spot but I could see a long way so maybe I would learn something. At 4:30 I heard a deer and saw it was a buck with my binoculars in a thicket about 60yds away. I had done some calling and I think he came to check it out. He looked behind him, turned around and absolutely trashed a small tree. Then he walked back the way he came and disappeared. He didn’t wind me and just casually walked away but I wasn’t sure if something wasn’t right and caused him to leave. 6:00 I heard deer again and out comes a doe where I saw the buck. Right behind her was the buck and he was going to pass 20 yds broadside. I’ve never heard a buck grunt like he did before, he grunted one long continuous grunt which got louder and louder and then finally ended with a buck roar. I’ve heard of the term buck roar before but I thought it was nonsense, I feel silly calling it that but that’s the only term to describe how loud and mean he grunted. He stopped broadside at 20 and I let an arrow fly. The shot felt perfect but I watched my lighted nock dip down sharply and go way low and hit his hoof. I think it caught a small branch and caused it to dip.
He took a couple hops and stopped, still about 25 yds for a follow up shot. There was no blood on him but he picked his foot up a few times. Other then that he looked completely fine. I reached for another arrow but remembered I dropped my quiver on the way up. I didn’t go and get it because I thought to myself, there’s no way I’ll even see anything and if I do I’m not getting a follow up shot. Laziness got the best of me. He stayed for an excruciating 2-3 minutes giving multiple shot opportunities but there was nothing I could do but cuss at myself. He and his doe eventually moved off. I was mad at first but then thought about how much fun the whole encounter was that evening and how great of a day I had. I packed up and found my arrow and went back to camp.
The next two days were not as exciting. I went back to the other spot early and dropped down to the next bench. I overshot it in the dark and went too far. A buck came out in the same spot as before but it was way above me and he winded me. The wind switched for the rest of the trip and I could not hunt that area anymore. I didn’t see another deer the rest of the trip but I did get to watch a young bear for about 20 minutes.
It was an awesome time and I had some great hunts but you bet your ass I’m climbing back down for my arrows next time.
