All I can say is, I can't wait for the late archery season to kick back in…My 2 weeks of rifle hunting Pennsylvania was by far the worst in seeing deer. With only missing 3 days, and not seeing any deer until the final day of the season, it ended on a good note.
After making my way to the top of the mountain just after 10:30am, and 2 miles from my vehicle. I had a seat on a wonderful view of a timbered off piece of ground that rested on top of the mountain, with the wind blowing and a cold 20 degrees, I patiently waited for movement. At about 11:30 am my sit was suddenly focused on two deer bolting out of the timber and moving into the cutoff I was in, The first deer I saw I could see it had antlers, but what caught my eye was the 2nd deer following a few yards behind, a really nice, wide rack buck with what looked to be a solid 8 pt or possibly 10 pt. I shouldered my rifle and peering into the scope I could see him running away from me, I looked away from the scope to get a visual on how far he was and got my eye back onto the scope, he stopped briefly and I aimed just alittle high on his shoulder, thinking he was about 150 yards away, and fired the rifle. Seeing him continue to run further up the hill I watched him and the other buck run till they reached the top, and dissappearing into the timber.
I sat there for a few minutes and thought about the situation, and figured I should check for blood. I walked up to where he stopped and could see the ground kicked up and followed his tracks for about 50 yrds and knew my bullet had missed its mark. I went back down to where I was sitting and finished off the rest of the afternoons hunt with only seeing a quick glimpse of a doe making her way into the cutoff about 500 yrds down below me.
I often thought about weather I would ever have the opportunity to harvest a buck on the last day of rifle season, and this day certainly almost made it happen. The what ifs, and could've beens were all put aside, as I knew I couldn't have done it any different. Atleast I know there are two bucks left in the woods to hunt the late archery season, or, two bucks to live another year, either way, I was content knowing that even a miss is better than a wounded deer not being recovered, to later die.
My hike back to the vehicle was one that I will do again another day, possibly this season or next, time will tell…Stay connected here on GoHUNTn.com for future updates, reports, videos, and photos…Happy Hunting!
My last day of the Pa rifle season 2011
