I returned home on Tuesday from my trip to northern Pennsylvania this past weekend. It was by far not what I expected. My buddy and I left Saturday afternoon and arrived 3 1/2 hrs later in Driftwood, Pa, a little town outside of Bennezette, Pa, home of the Pennsylvania elk herd. We setup camp at a local campground and were soon driving to locate some of the elk that were feeding in and around the camp yards. We came across 6 bull elk together, and of the six, 2 were really nice bulls. This was my buddies first time seeing a wild elk. I wasn't able to get any photos, but, my amazement was seeing all the whitetail deer everywhere. The last couple of years visiting up there, the deer herd seemed to have all most vanished. I guess with the doe licence allocations in this wildlife management unit, they are slowly making a comeback.
We returned to camp just after dark and were soon making a campfire and planning our trek for Sunday scouting to areas I've hunted before for deer and bear.
The alarm sounded off at 7:00 and we were soon on our way to get breakfast at the Sinnamahoning Sportsmans Club. After eating we headed to our first spot to scout. We rode our mountain bikes back a gated off road and and ditched them about a mile back and walked into the area I hunted 2 years prior. We found some really nice buck rubs, and a few scrapes, but, I wanted to keep this area on the board after heading to check out some other locations.
We spent the rest of the day at other areas but the deer sign wasn't worth getting excited about. We turned in for the night and set the alarm for 4:00am.
The alarm went off and we were geared to go, Monday morning, temps in the 20's and a blue bird sky was in store for the day. We set up my Ameristep ground blind along a pine grove that butted up next to a timber line, with a meadow of huckleberry and peatbog. The deer sign was everywhere, scrapes, tree rubs and deer droppings galore. We put out doe estrus, and did some calling sequences, but by 10:00 am no deer were seen, I decided to do some scouting back in the timber, where a small ridge of mountain laurel spread out along the hill. While walking a deer trail we came across some fresh scrapes that may have been made that morning, so we decided to go back to the truck to get the treestands for the evening hunt. On our way back to the logging road we walked back on, I got a glance of white out of the corner of my eye, and did a double take on what my mind was telling me that, Hey, you better take a closer look…I turned and there layed a shed of a elk antler that was dropped sometime in the early spring, I couldn't believe it, I have been going up there all these years looking for sheds and never could ever find one until this day. It had 7 points, a mature bull I would guess, I really wanted to look for the other side, which I knew was somewhere close by, but, we had to get back to get our stands and bring back in for the afternoon hunt.
By 1:30 pm, we were back in and hanging our stands, as I was climbing my tree, I could see my buddy dispearsing scent on the ground, and then out of nowhere, a really good rack buck about 30 yards from him ran up through the laurel, My buddy was hunting a deer trail that had a few scrapes along it, and it lead into the meadow. About an hour later, I heard a deer snort, and got a text from my buddy that a 6 point came into him down wind and spooked. I told him he may circle around and return to check scrapes. About 15 minutes before dark, he used his can call, and I used my grunt call, I could hear a buck grunting down in front of me, but couldn't see it, he did it a few more times but by then it was pretty much dark. We decided to pull our stands and pack up the next morning to head back for home.
Once I got home, and after unpacking, I went to check my trail camera. When I got home to view the photos, I had a nice 8 point trailing a doe at 9:30 am Tuesday. Go figure! The last set of photos of this buck on my trail camera was in the early morning hours the week before. With the does comming into estrus, the bucks are traveling at anytime, and, anytime is day or night. So, get out there in the stands and plan on sitting all day, he just might show up when you least expect him too. Check back for more frequent updates here on GoHUNTn.com
The Ruts in full swing, Lock down is on its way!
