FLINTLOCK SEASON IN PA.WMU2G
12-29-2008, 08:38 PM
#12
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: PA.
Posts: 5,195
RE: FLINTLOCK SEASON IN PA.WMU2G
ORIGINAL: DougE
Cry me a river Sproul.It's funny that you claim all the deer are near roads,yet you didn't see any.Very poor advise telling people to hunt near roads.I didn't hunt near any roads and Ishot multiple deer this year on public land in 2G and could have killed a buck each day I hunted in rifle season.
Cry me a river Sproul.It's funny that you claim all the deer are near roads,yet you didn't see any.Very poor advise telling people to hunt near roads.I didn't hunt near any roads and Ishot multiple deer this year on public land in 2G and could have killed a buck each day I hunted in rifle season.
douge, deer that are left are NOT WAYBACK, thats a lie.
the food is near roads do to us getting the dcnr to clear the areas along roads so sunlight can dry roads out.
this makes nice food.
without any acorns, deer are near the browse,which is near roads.
this is why i stated that 75% of road hunters if they killed deer got it near road,hunters in woods, got 25% on ones that killed a doe.
i did not see any, i am not ROAD HUNTER.
not bad advise, would you rather i tell them to go WAYBACK where there is no deer,DCNR/PGC used thatone for years
nothing wrong with hunting near a road as long as its not ROAD HUNTING.
in muzz season, i ride roads,if i see a set of tracks in snow, i figure where the deer went,next day, i come out ,get in my spot and try to catch deer doing the same thing.
i killed some nice buck this way in muzzleloader season,i look for single tracks only.
12-29-2008, 08:42 PM
#13
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: PA.
Posts: 5,195
RE: FLINTLOCK SEASON IN PA.WMU2G
ORIGINAL: germain
sproul,maybe those are the stocked deer transported from the philly area.I heard they're kinda tame.
sproul,maybe those are the stocked deer transported from the philly area.I heard they're kinda tame.
12-31-2008, 06:37 PM
#14
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Dover, PA USA
Posts: 5,497
RE: FLINTLOCK SEASON IN PA.WMU2G
Sproul,
Sorry I got your PM today after I got back from our trip to the Sproul State Forest.
Here's my recap of the trip, no embellishments no exaggerations.
Friday
We arrived in camp Friday, roads were BAD with a capital BAD. We lucked out on one stretch of road where the gas well trucks were chaining up and cindering the hills so we waited for them to finish and followed them down leading the way.
Friday evening we had 4 guys in camp and we headed out in separate directions on a "Scouting" evening sit to a couple known hotspots back in.
That night 2 of the guys killed deer, one a nice doe and the other probably a 2.5yr old buck that had shed it's horns days before.
The guy that shot the doe missed one other and saw a total of 14 deer in 2hrs.
The guy that shot the buck saw 9.
I saw 3 and my buddy who hiked into the area I hunted with me shot at and missed a nice 8pt shooting a small sapling in 1/2.We also almost had a tree fall on us in the dark. [:-]
We located several areas where we could tell deer were yarding up. The snow and iced up ground made walking treacherous. Fresh sign was abundant.
Saturday.
We picked up 3 more guys in camp and decided to put on a couple pushes away from the concentrated areas we wanted to sit in the evening. First small push with only 3 guys we had 7 deer out, I almost shot a mature doe at 15 yards but couldn't get the stupid "calve's knee" off my lock in time. LOL and another guy shot a nice doe on that drive.
Put on a second drive in a different spot and had deer out all over, conflicting reports but best we could guess was 6-8 more
So that's 3 deer down in very little time.
Because we got a late start on the AM (big breakfast) and everyone wanted to sit their favorite spots we took the deer back to camp and everyone split up. The snow was wicked deep on that push and I wasn't feeling good so I stayed behind and dried out.
That night there were more deer sighted in the evening sits (pop up blinds) and 2 button bucks passed up, I can't remember how many deer the guys said they saw but a few of them paired up as we had 2 kids in the group and we were trying to get them on deer.
Sunday.
Weather warmed up and brought rain, We hiked back into one of my favorite spots to look around and found the deer feeding very hard in one area with the highest concentration of deer sign I think I have ever seen. Everywhere we went were fresh tracks, poop, diggings and DEER.
We jumped close to 20 deer out of one area they were digging up. Deer scatered like starlings off a powerline..
Also saw 3 sets of fresh coyote tracks in the snow that day and lots of grouse.
Monday
we have the deer figured out and everyone is dialing in their evening sit spots but we're still going to do some pushes here and there to fill the day as we picked up 2 new guys and lost 2 of the original ones to work committments.
Unfortunately I was now out of the picture laid up sick in the cabin.
First 2 drives brought 2 deer, one another shed antlered buck shot in mistake for a doe.(one side still bleeding and we looked for his antler but couldn't find it) and a nice big doe with a little piebald in her. gorgeous hide. 2 passed yearlings and a miss also.
One more drive brought another passed button buck at 5 yards for one member, just couldn't get on the doe.
That make 5 deer in 2 days of pretty casual hunting so far.
That evening walking in to set up their blind my buddy and his little brother stumbled on a group of 2 does and a fawn. After a successful 75 yard wind aided stalk his little brother dropped the hammer on his first ever deer!
That makes 6 total.
That evening everyone who was hunting paired up in 4 blinds because the deer were concentrated nicely in these spots and the possibility of doubles was good.
Everyone spotted deer but all out of shooting range. One member decided against 'Flock shooting" a group of 7 that were tightly feeding together at 75 yards as light faded. They also heard what they described as roughly 5-6 coyotes nearby sounding off at the fading light.
The 2 oldest members had a great time seeing 19 total deer and possibly the large 140" 10pt I saw back in the summer. They described him perfectly and it was the same exact spot I saw him. HUGE body, very gray with almost black legs. Unfortunately his antlers too were shed. [&o]
Tuesday,
the wind was kicking everyone's butts and the AM pushes had deer out but some confusion of stander positions and driver navigation had them slip through unscathed. (I have to say also every single push we/they did moved deer and none were repeated, these were all fresh pushes)
Tuesday night before most of leave for home today spirits were high for the evening sit and it didn't disappoint. The pairings that hunted saw a bunch of deer but as the woods and open areas melted the deer started to spread out but more of them showed up.
One group was trying to get a kill on film and had several shot opportunities at nice does but the shooter couldn't get on the deer when the camera could and vice versa so they didn't shoot. The footage is nice though!. LOL
The 3 that went to that spot (where I hunted on evening one) jumped by their estimate 25-30 deer out feeding in 2 big groups at 1:00PM!!
The capper to the evening was my buddy's dad and his uncle in the same blind as the night before where they saw the big buck........one nice doe was miraculously missed at 40 yards. Reports off the miss conflict between "She was trotting" and "She was standing still" depending on who you asked.
Then the grand finale was a final group of 4 does to walk in range only to have MY gun misfire that he was borrowing spooking the deer into the next county. Next time try some priming powder in the pan uncle Jim!
They kept track of the number of deer (different deer) to file out and through the area at 23 deer in one evening sit.
So all in all not a bad camp even though I did little more than drink Nyquil for 3 days.[:'(]
6 deer down, a kid got his first and LOTS and lots of deer were sighted.
Driving around there were some areas where deer sign was not evident, but even if you stayed in the vehicle it didn't take long or being a brain surgeon to figure out where to start looking because some areas were absolutely torn up with sign.
No deer were shot within sight of a driveable road, the one area with a high concentration of deer is a 40 minute hike from one camp and a 1/2hr from another after a 20 minute drive to get there so take your pick.
The highest concentration of deer came from a spot where you'd have to be just about an idiot not to find them (So I'll leave it at that) but if someone misses the deer sign telling you where to hunt you might want to take up miniature golf instead.
A little shoe leather express and spreading out and scouting showed us where the deer were in very short order and there were LOTS of them.
We tried to put a final tally on total deer sightings in 3 1/2 full days of hunting for roughly 8 total guys each daybut it was well over 100 deer.
If we had scoped rifles and tags they would all be full.
But this is "Our" time and we love camp and the challenge of the flintlocks.
Even in spite of the poor weather we had another good camp and had we stayed the entire week given what we know of the deer patterns after only a few days I'm sure more would be hanging. Heck I didn't even get to crack the hammer back. To busy stoking the fire and blowing my nose.
Sorry I got your PM today after I got back from our trip to the Sproul State Forest.
Here's my recap of the trip, no embellishments no exaggerations.
Friday
We arrived in camp Friday, roads were BAD with a capital BAD. We lucked out on one stretch of road where the gas well trucks were chaining up and cindering the hills so we waited for them to finish and followed them down leading the way.
Friday evening we had 4 guys in camp and we headed out in separate directions on a "Scouting" evening sit to a couple known hotspots back in.
That night 2 of the guys killed deer, one a nice doe and the other probably a 2.5yr old buck that had shed it's horns days before.
The guy that shot the doe missed one other and saw a total of 14 deer in 2hrs.
The guy that shot the buck saw 9.
I saw 3 and my buddy who hiked into the area I hunted with me shot at and missed a nice 8pt shooting a small sapling in 1/2.
We also almost had a tree fall on us in the dark. [:-]We located several areas where we could tell deer were yarding up. The snow and iced up ground made walking treacherous. Fresh sign was abundant.
Saturday.
We picked up 3 more guys in camp and decided to put on a couple pushes away from the concentrated areas we wanted to sit in the evening. First small push with only 3 guys we had 7 deer out, I almost shot a mature doe at 15 yards but couldn't get the stupid "calve's knee" off my lock in time. LOL and another guy shot a nice doe on that drive.
Put on a second drive in a different spot and had deer out all over, conflicting reports but best we could guess was 6-8 more
So that's 3 deer down in very little time.
Because we got a late start on the AM (big breakfast) and everyone wanted to sit their favorite spots we took the deer back to camp and everyone split up. The snow was wicked deep on that push and I wasn't feeling good so I stayed behind and dried out.
That night there were more deer sighted in the evening sits (pop up blinds) and 2 button bucks passed up, I can't remember how many deer the guys said they saw but a few of them paired up as we had 2 kids in the group and we were trying to get them on deer.
Sunday.
Weather warmed up and brought rain, We hiked back into one of my favorite spots to look around and found the deer feeding very hard in one area with the highest concentration of deer sign I think I have ever seen. Everywhere we went were fresh tracks, poop, diggings and DEER.
We jumped close to 20 deer out of one area they were digging up. Deer scatered like starlings off a powerline..
Also saw 3 sets of fresh coyote tracks in the snow that day and lots of grouse.
Monday
we have the deer figured out and everyone is dialing in their evening sit spots but we're still going to do some pushes here and there to fill the day as we picked up 2 new guys and lost 2 of the original ones to work committments.
Unfortunately I was now out of the picture laid up sick in the cabin.
First 2 drives brought 2 deer, one another shed antlered buck shot in mistake for a doe.(one side still bleeding and we looked for his antler but couldn't find it) and a nice big doe with a little piebald in her. gorgeous hide. 2 passed yearlings and a miss also.
One more drive brought another passed button buck at 5 yards for one member, just couldn't get on the doe.
That make 5 deer in 2 days of pretty casual hunting so far.
That evening walking in to set up their blind my buddy and his little brother stumbled on a group of 2 does and a fawn. After a successful 75 yard wind aided stalk his little brother dropped the hammer on his first ever deer!
That makes 6 total.
That evening everyone who was hunting paired up in 4 blinds because the deer were concentrated nicely in these spots and the possibility of doubles was good.
Everyone spotted deer but all out of shooting range. One member decided against 'Flock shooting" a group of 7 that were tightly feeding together at 75 yards as light faded. They also heard what they described as roughly 5-6 coyotes nearby sounding off at the fading light.
The 2 oldest members had a great time seeing 19 total deer and possibly the large 140" 10pt I saw back in the summer. They described him perfectly and it was the same exact spot I saw him. HUGE body, very gray with almost black legs. Unfortunately his antlers too were shed. [&o]
Tuesday,
the wind was kicking everyone's butts and the AM pushes had deer out but some confusion of stander positions and driver navigation had them slip through unscathed. (I have to say also every single push we/they did moved deer and none were repeated, these were all fresh pushes)
Tuesday night before most of leave for home today spirits were high for the evening sit and it didn't disappoint. The pairings that hunted saw a bunch of deer but as the woods and open areas melted the deer started to spread out but more of them showed up.
One group was trying to get a kill on film and had several shot opportunities at nice does but the shooter couldn't get on the deer when the camera could and vice versa so they didn't shoot. The footage is nice though!. LOL
The 3 that went to that spot (where I hunted on evening one) jumped by their estimate 25-30 deer out feeding in 2 big groups at 1:00PM!!
The capper to the evening was my buddy's dad and his uncle in the same blind as the night before where they saw the big buck........one nice doe was miraculously missed at 40 yards. Reports off the miss conflict between "She was trotting" and "She was standing still" depending on who you asked.
Then the grand finale was a final group of 4 does to walk in range only to have MY gun misfire that he was borrowing spooking the deer into the next county. Next time try some priming powder in the pan uncle Jim!
They kept track of the number of deer (different deer) to file out and through the area at 23 deer in one evening sit.
So all in all not a bad camp even though I did little more than drink Nyquil for 3 days.[:'(]
6 deer down, a kid got his first and LOTS and lots of deer were sighted.
Driving around there were some areas where deer sign was not evident, but even if you stayed in the vehicle it didn't take long or being a brain surgeon to figure out where to start looking because some areas were absolutely torn up with sign.
No deer were shot within sight of a driveable road, the one area with a high concentration of deer is a 40 minute hike from one camp and a 1/2hr from another after a 20 minute drive to get there so take your pick.
The highest concentration of deer came from a spot where you'd have to be just about an idiot not to find them (So I'll leave it at that) but if someone misses the deer sign telling you where to hunt you might want to take up miniature golf instead.
A little shoe leather express and spreading out and scouting showed us where the deer were in very short order and there were LOTS of them.
We tried to put a final tally on total deer sightings in 3 1/2 full days of hunting for roughly 8 total guys each daybut it was well over 100 deer.
If we had scoped rifles and tags they would all be full.
But this is "Our" time and we love camp and the challenge of the flintlocks.
Even in spite of the poor weather we had another good camp and had we stayed the entire week given what we know of the deer patterns after only a few days I'm sure more would be hanging. Heck I didn't even get to crack the hammer back. To busy stoking the fire and blowing my nose.
12-31-2008, 07:02 PM
#15
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 3,879
RE: FLINTLOCK SEASON IN PA.WMU2G
No deer were shot within sight of a driveable road, the one area with a high concentration of deer is a 40 minute hike from one camp and a 1/2hr from another after a 20 minute drive to get there so take your pick.
The highest concentration of deer came from a spot where you'd have to be just about an idition not to find them (So I'll leave it at that) but if someone misses the deer sign telling you where to hunt you might want to take up miniature golf instead.
The highest concentration of deer came from a spot where you'd have to be just about an idition not to find them (So I'll leave it at that) but if someone misses the deer sign telling you where to hunt you might want to take up miniature golf instead.
about an idition not to find them
12-31-2008, 07:18 PM
#17
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Dover, PA USA
Posts: 5,497
RE: FLINTLOCK SEASON IN PA.WMU2G
ORIGINAL: bluebird2
RSB and Doug have been telling us that the habitat has been controlling the herd in remote areas. Now you ae telling us that is where you found the deer. so should we believe you or Doug and RSB,
Just what is an idition? Do you have to be one to know one?
No deer were shot within sight of a driveable road, the one area with a high concentration of deer is a 40 minute hike from one camp and a 1/2hr from another after a 20 minute drive to get there so take your pick.
The highest concentration of deer came from a spot where you'd have to be just about an idition not to find them (So I'll leave it at that) but if someone misses the deer sign telling you where to hunt you might want to take up miniature golf instead.
The highest concentration of deer came from a spot where you'd have to be just about an idition not to find them (So I'll leave it at that) but if someone misses the deer sign telling you where to hunt you might want to take up miniature golf instead.
about an idition not to find them
I also didn't say what type of habitat I and the others were hunting.
Just becausesome of it is"way back" in doesn't mean it's not suitable for deer. Not all locations are the same or provide the same thing just because they are remote. Just look around a little bit and you'll find the deer. I'm certainly not drawing a map for every lead slinger in Renovo. Let them do the same homework we do and they wouldn't have much trouble killing deer.........sadly most just want to hunt where they've always hunted and expect the PGC to put a deer behind every tree for them.
We know these spots because we find them, if someone chooses to hunt the same 10 acre barren patch of woods behind THEIR camp that they've hunted for 30 years "Just because" and expect to kill deer?.......more power to them..We'd rathergoTO the deer and there are deer in 2G despite what the horror stories claim.
12-31-2008, 09:55 PM
#18
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: PA.
Posts: 5,195
RE: FLINTLOCK SEASON IN PA.WMU2G
ORIGINAL: Matt / PA
Sproul,
Sorry I got your PM today after I got back from our trip to the Sproul State Forest.
Here's my recap of the trip, no embellishments no exaggerations.
Friday
We arrived in camp Friday, roads were BAD with a capital BAD. We lucked out on one stretch of road where the gas well trucks were chaining up and cindering the hills so we waited for them to finish and followed them down leading the way.
Friday evening we had 4 guys in camp and we headed out in separate directions on a "Scouting" evening sit to a couple known hotspots back in.
That night 2 of the guys killed deer, one a nice doe and the other probably a 2.5yr old buck that had shed it's horns days before.
The guy that shot the doe missed one other and saw a total of 14 deer in 2hrs.
The guy that shot the buck saw 9.
I saw 3 and my buddy who hiked into the area I hunted with me shot at and missed a nice 8pt shooting a small sapling in 1/2.We also almost had a tree fall on us in the dark. [:-]
We located several areas where we could tell deer were yarding up. The snow and iced up ground made walking treacherous. Fresh sign was abundant.
Saturday.
We picked up 3 more guys in camp and decided to put on a couple pushes away from the concentrated areas we wanted to sit in the evening. First small push with only 3 guys we had 7 deer out, I almost shot a mature doe at 15 yards but couldn't get the stupid "calve's knee" off my lock in time. LOL and another guy shot a nice doe on that drive.
Put on a second drive in a different spot and had deer out all over, conflicting reports but best we could guess was 6-8 more
So that's 3 deer down in very little time.
Because we got a late start on the AM (big breakfast) and everyone wanted to sit their favorite spots we took the deer back to camp and everyone split up. The snow was wicked deep on that push and I wasn't feeling good so I stayed behind and dried out.
That night there were more deer sighted in the evening sits (pop up blinds) and 2 button bucks passed up, I can't remember how many deer the guys said they saw but a few of them paired up as we had 2 kids in the group and we were trying to get them on deer.
Sunday.
Weather warmed up and brought rain, We hiked back into one of my favorite spots to look around and found the deer feeding very hard in one area with the highest concentration of deer sign I think I have ever seen. Everywhere we went were fresh tracks, poop, diggings and DEER.
We jumped close to 20 deer out of one area they were digging up. Deer scatered like starlings off a powerline..
Also saw 3 sets of fresh coyote tracks in the snow that day and lots of grouse.
Monday
we have the deer figured out and everyone is dialing in their evening sit spots but we're still going to do some pushes here and there to fill the day as we picked up 2 new guys and lost 2 of the original ones to work committments.
Unfortunately I was now out of the picture laid up sick in the cabin.
First 2 drives brought 2 deer, one another shed antlered buck shot in mistake for a doe.(one side still bleeding and we looked for his antler but couldn't find it) and a nice big doe with a little piebald in her. gorgeous hide. 2 passed yearlings and a miss also.
One more drive brought another passed button buck at 5 yards for one member, just couldn't get on the doe.
That make 5 deer in 2 days of pretty casual hunting so far.
That evening walking in to set up their blind my buddy and his little brother stumbled on a group of 2 does and a fawn. After a successful 75 yard wind aided stalk his little brother dropped the hammer on his first ever deer!
That makes 6 total.
That evening everyone who was hunting paired up in 4 blinds because the deer were concentrated nicely in these spots and the possibility of doubles was good.
Everyone spotted deer but all out of shooting range. One member decided against 'Flock shooting" a group of 7 that were tightly feeding together at 75 yards as light faded. They also heard what they described as roughly 5-6 coyotes nearby sounding off at the fading light.
The 2 oldest members had a great time seeing 19 total deer and possibly the large 140" 10pt I saw back in the summer. They described him perfectly and it was the same exact spot I saw him. HUGE body, very gray with almost black legs. Unfortunately his antlers too were shed. [&o]
Tuesday,
the wind was kicking everyone's butts and the AM pushes had deer out but some confusion of stander positions and driver navigation had them slip through unscathed. (I have to say also every single push we/they did moved deer and none were repeated, these were all fresh pushes)
Tuesday night before most of leave for home today spirits were high for the evening sit and it didn't disappoint. The pairings that hunted saw a bunch of deer but as the woods and open areas melted the deer started to spread out but more of them showed up.
One group was trying to get a kill on film and had several shot opportunities at nice does but the shooter couldn't get on the deer when the camera could and vice versa so they didn't shoot. The footage is nice though!. LOL
The 3 that went to that spot (where I hunted on evening one) jumped by their estimate 25-30 deer out feeding in 2 big groups at 1:00PM!!
The capper to the evening was my buddy's dad and his uncle in the same blind as the night before where they saw the big buck........one nice doe was miraculously missed at 40 yards. Reports off the miss conflict between "She was trotting" and "She was standing still" depending on who you asked.
Then the grand finale was a final group of 4 does to walk in range only to have MY gun misfire that he was borrowing spooking the deer into the next county. Next time try some priming powder in the pan uncle Jim!
They kept track of the number of deer (different deer) to file out and through the area at 23 deer in one evening sit.
So all in all not a bad camp even though I did little more than drink Nyquil for 3 days.[:'(]
6 deer down, a kid got his first and LOTS and lots of deer were sighted.
Driving around there were some areas where deer sign was not evident, but even if you stayed in the vehicle it didn't take long or being a brain surgeon to figure out where to start looking because some areas were absolutely torn up with sign.
No deer were shot within sight of a driveable road, the one area with a high concentration of deer is a 40 minute hike from one camp and a 1/2hr from another after a 20 minute drive to get there so take your pick.
The highest concentration of deer came from a spot where you'd have to be just about an idiot not to find them (So I'll leave it at that) but if someone misses the deer sign telling you where to hunt you might want to take up miniature golf instead.
A little shoe leather express and spreading out and scouting showed us where the deer were in very short order and there were LOTS of them.
We tried to put a final tally on total deer sightings in 3 1/2 full days of hunting for roughly 8 total guys each daybut it was well over 100 deer.
If we had scoped rifles and tags they would all be full.
But this is "Our" time and we love camp and the challenge of the flintlocks.
Even in spite of the poor weather we had another good camp and had we stayed the entire week given what we know of the deer patterns after only a few days I'm sure more would be hanging. Heck I didn't even get to crack the hammer back. To busy stoking the fire and blowing my nose.
Sproul,
Sorry I got your PM today after I got back from our trip to the Sproul State Forest.
Here's my recap of the trip, no embellishments no exaggerations.
Friday
We arrived in camp Friday, roads were BAD with a capital BAD. We lucked out on one stretch of road where the gas well trucks were chaining up and cindering the hills so we waited for them to finish and followed them down leading the way.
Friday evening we had 4 guys in camp and we headed out in separate directions on a "Scouting" evening sit to a couple known hotspots back in.
That night 2 of the guys killed deer, one a nice doe and the other probably a 2.5yr old buck that had shed it's horns days before.
The guy that shot the doe missed one other and saw a total of 14 deer in 2hrs.
The guy that shot the buck saw 9.
I saw 3 and my buddy who hiked into the area I hunted with me shot at and missed a nice 8pt shooting a small sapling in 1/2.
We also almost had a tree fall on us in the dark. [:-]We located several areas where we could tell deer were yarding up. The snow and iced up ground made walking treacherous. Fresh sign was abundant.
Saturday.
We picked up 3 more guys in camp and decided to put on a couple pushes away from the concentrated areas we wanted to sit in the evening. First small push with only 3 guys we had 7 deer out, I almost shot a mature doe at 15 yards but couldn't get the stupid "calve's knee" off my lock in time. LOL and another guy shot a nice doe on that drive.
Put on a second drive in a different spot and had deer out all over, conflicting reports but best we could guess was 6-8 more
So that's 3 deer down in very little time.
Because we got a late start on the AM (big breakfast) and everyone wanted to sit their favorite spots we took the deer back to camp and everyone split up. The snow was wicked deep on that push and I wasn't feeling good so I stayed behind and dried out.
That night there were more deer sighted in the evening sits (pop up blinds) and 2 button bucks passed up, I can't remember how many deer the guys said they saw but a few of them paired up as we had 2 kids in the group and we were trying to get them on deer.
Sunday.
Weather warmed up and brought rain, We hiked back into one of my favorite spots to look around and found the deer feeding very hard in one area with the highest concentration of deer sign I think I have ever seen. Everywhere we went were fresh tracks, poop, diggings and DEER.
We jumped close to 20 deer out of one area they were digging up. Deer scatered like starlings off a powerline..
Also saw 3 sets of fresh coyote tracks in the snow that day and lots of grouse.
Monday
we have the deer figured out and everyone is dialing in their evening sit spots but we're still going to do some pushes here and there to fill the day as we picked up 2 new guys and lost 2 of the original ones to work committments.
Unfortunately I was now out of the picture laid up sick in the cabin.
First 2 drives brought 2 deer, one another shed antlered buck shot in mistake for a doe.(one side still bleeding and we looked for his antler but couldn't find it) and a nice big doe with a little piebald in her. gorgeous hide. 2 passed yearlings and a miss also.
One more drive brought another passed button buck at 5 yards for one member, just couldn't get on the doe.
That make 5 deer in 2 days of pretty casual hunting so far.
That evening walking in to set up their blind my buddy and his little brother stumbled on a group of 2 does and a fawn. After a successful 75 yard wind aided stalk his little brother dropped the hammer on his first ever deer!
That makes 6 total.
That evening everyone who was hunting paired up in 4 blinds because the deer were concentrated nicely in these spots and the possibility of doubles was good.
Everyone spotted deer but all out of shooting range. One member decided against 'Flock shooting" a group of 7 that were tightly feeding together at 75 yards as light faded. They also heard what they described as roughly 5-6 coyotes nearby sounding off at the fading light.
The 2 oldest members had a great time seeing 19 total deer and possibly the large 140" 10pt I saw back in the summer. They described him perfectly and it was the same exact spot I saw him. HUGE body, very gray with almost black legs. Unfortunately his antlers too were shed. [&o]
Tuesday,
the wind was kicking everyone's butts and the AM pushes had deer out but some confusion of stander positions and driver navigation had them slip through unscathed. (I have to say also every single push we/they did moved deer and none were repeated, these were all fresh pushes)
Tuesday night before most of leave for home today spirits were high for the evening sit and it didn't disappoint. The pairings that hunted saw a bunch of deer but as the woods and open areas melted the deer started to spread out but more of them showed up.
One group was trying to get a kill on film and had several shot opportunities at nice does but the shooter couldn't get on the deer when the camera could and vice versa so they didn't shoot. The footage is nice though!. LOL
The 3 that went to that spot (where I hunted on evening one) jumped by their estimate 25-30 deer out feeding in 2 big groups at 1:00PM!!
The capper to the evening was my buddy's dad and his uncle in the same blind as the night before where they saw the big buck........one nice doe was miraculously missed at 40 yards. Reports off the miss conflict between "She was trotting" and "She was standing still" depending on who you asked.
Then the grand finale was a final group of 4 does to walk in range only to have MY gun misfire that he was borrowing spooking the deer into the next county. Next time try some priming powder in the pan uncle Jim!
They kept track of the number of deer (different deer) to file out and through the area at 23 deer in one evening sit.
So all in all not a bad camp even though I did little more than drink Nyquil for 3 days.[:'(]
6 deer down, a kid got his first and LOTS and lots of deer were sighted.
Driving around there were some areas where deer sign was not evident, but even if you stayed in the vehicle it didn't take long or being a brain surgeon to figure out where to start looking because some areas were absolutely torn up with sign.
No deer were shot within sight of a driveable road, the one area with a high concentration of deer is a 40 minute hike from one camp and a 1/2hr from another after a 20 minute drive to get there so take your pick.
The highest concentration of deer came from a spot where you'd have to be just about an idiot not to find them (So I'll leave it at that) but if someone misses the deer sign telling you where to hunt you might want to take up miniature golf instead.
A little shoe leather express and spreading out and scouting showed us where the deer were in very short order and there were LOTS of them.
We tried to put a final tally on total deer sightings in 3 1/2 full days of hunting for roughly 8 total guys each daybut it was well over 100 deer.
If we had scoped rifles and tags they would all be full.
But this is "Our" time and we love camp and the challenge of the flintlocks.
Even in spite of the poor weather we had another good camp and had we stayed the entire week given what we know of the deer patterns after only a few days I'm sure more would be hanging. Heck I didn't even get to crack the hammer back. To busy stoking the fire and blowing my nose.
i have friends that hunt in your area for 50 years.
they hunt the KELLEY ESTATE AREA of keating.
i will be contacting them next week,
they are DOE KILLERS TOO aand shoot as many as they have tags in your area.
I WILL GET A REPORT OF THEIR HUNTING AND WHAT THEY SAW.
this should give a good idea of 2 different groups of hunters in same area.
12-31-2008, 10:10 PM
#19
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: PA.
Posts: 5,195
RE: FLINTLOCK SEASON IN PA.WMU2G
ORIGINAL: bluebird2
RSB and Doug have been telling us that the habitat has been controlling the herd in remote areas. Now you ae telling us that is where you found the deer. so should we believe you or Doug and RSB,
Just what is an idition? Do you have to be one to know one?
No deer were shot within sight of a driveable road, the one area with a high concentration of deer is a 40 minute hike from one camp and a 1/2hr from another after a 20 minute drive to get there so take your pick.
The highest concentration of deer came from a spot where you'd have to be just about an idition not to find them (So I'll leave it at that) but if someone misses the deer sign telling you where to hunt you might want to take up miniature golf instead.
The highest concentration of deer came from a spot where you'd have to be just about an idition not to find them (So I'll leave it at that) but if someone misses the deer sign telling you where to hunt you might want to take up miniature golf instead.
about an idition not to find them
now, i amnot in matts area but have friends that are.
lets see what their report is and they DONT DRIVE 20 OR 30 MINUTES TO HUNT IN THAT AREA OF HIS CAMP, THAT WOULD BE A 30 MILE DRIVE TO ME TO GO HUNTING.
they hunt exclusively in the keating/pottersdale area and have for 50 years and they love to kill as many doe as they have tags.
01-01-2009, 07:46 AM
#20
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Dover, PA USA
Posts: 5,497
RE: FLINTLOCK SEASON IN PA.WMU2G
Just because our 2 groups are hunting "The same area" as defined by (Keating / Pottersdale) doesn't mean we're hunting anywhere near each other.
We're 8 1/2 miles one way from Keating and there is a LOT of room up there.
I can tell you this much Sproul, at the very least if they drove some of the same roads we drove to park our vehicles to hike back in they would have to be blind, or stupid not to see some of the obvious sign.
I'm not talking a single set of tracks in the snow. I'm talking 100yd stretches of road with tracks and trails streaming off it heading across the other side.
Trust me, there are some VERY good areas "Way back in". But like I said I'm not drawing a map. They're there, we absolutely saw the number of deer I mentioned and if your boys aren't seeing anything like that they are doing one of 2 things........ putting around all day in their trucks all day, or not hunting where the deer are. And like I said if they are putting around in their trucks they'll find the starting point for some of these areas without much difficulty.
We learn something every year and the areas will change sometimes year to year but we always find the deer.
Our group drives an average of about 3 1/2hrs to get there, the longest takes 5hrs and one guy usually comes from Chicago who grew up in PA......we're not fighting icy roads, tire chains, long drives, no running water or electricity, cranky wives who expect you there for the holidays, to walk around "empty woods".
We like each other but we can talk on the phone or gather at someone's house if ALL we want is each other's company.
If the hunting was that bad, don't you think we'd find something better to do with our time than gather up the effort to go THERE? I find it funny that WE are the ones who don't live right there yet we're the ones enjoying ourselves and not complaining. Quit whining about no deer next to your granddaddy's favorite stump or rock and go FIND the deer.
If you're gonna "Almost" call me a liar and base it on YOUR friend's successes.........then I'm "Almost" gonna call you and themcrappy hunters and base it on our successes.
We're 8 1/2 miles one way from Keating and there is a LOT of room up there.
I can tell you this much Sproul, at the very least if they drove some of the same roads we drove to park our vehicles to hike back in they would have to be blind, or stupid not to see some of the obvious sign.
I'm not talking a single set of tracks in the snow. I'm talking 100yd stretches of road with tracks and trails streaming off it heading across the other side.
Trust me, there are some VERY good areas "Way back in". But like I said I'm not drawing a map. They're there, we absolutely saw the number of deer I mentioned and if your boys aren't seeing anything like that they are doing one of 2 things........ putting around all day in their trucks all day, or not hunting where the deer are. And like I said if they are putting around in their trucks they'll find the starting point for some of these areas without much difficulty.
We learn something every year and the areas will change sometimes year to year but we always find the deer.
Our group drives an average of about 3 1/2hrs to get there, the longest takes 5hrs and one guy usually comes from Chicago who grew up in PA......we're not fighting icy roads, tire chains, long drives, no running water or electricity, cranky wives who expect you there for the holidays, to walk around "empty woods".
We like each other but we can talk on the phone or gather at someone's house if ALL we want is each other's company.
If the hunting was that bad, don't you think we'd find something better to do with our time than gather up the effort to go THERE? I find it funny that WE are the ones who don't live right there yet we're the ones enjoying ourselves and not complaining. Quit whining about no deer next to your granddaddy's favorite stump or rock and go FIND the deer.
If you're gonna "Almost" call me a liar and base it on YOUR friend's successes.........then I'm "Almost" gonna call you and themcrappy hunters and base it on our successes.