Pennsylvania Game News - November 2014 - 15

shooting range for more than 10 minutes. I never did see a doe that first
morning, but it didn't matter. I spent
the rest of the morning trying to imagine how this great buck with a dark
rack would look on a wall of my home.
I waited until the following
Wednesday to head into the woods
again. My hopes were to harvest a doe
that morning, but there is no doubt I
was anticipating another visit from the
8-point from the previous Saturday. At
7:45 a.m., I caught movement along
the same trail used by the big boy four
days earlier. I was able to pick out the
rack more easily this time, and as I
watched the buck feeding within 10
yards of my stand, I tried to figure out
what it was that looked different this
time. The rack seemed lighter in color,
and it somehow looked to be shaped
differently. I dismissed those initial
thoughts until I heard movement again
from the same trail.
It was quickly apparent why the
feeding 8-point didn't look the same,
because the second deer moving in on
me was the beauty I had seen four days
earlier. The dark, slightly more narrow
spread of his rack contrasted with the
lighter, wider version feeding in front
of him. Without having to think about
shot placement, my thoughts turned
to trying to decide which deer would
make the more impressive mount for
my great room wall. I was confident
that I would have that decision made
by the time the two of them walked
in on me when archery buck season
started. The doe that I harvested two
hours later ensured that I wouldn't
make another appearance in that spot
until the opening of buck season.
Ten days later, as I used my
climbing tree stand to get into
NOVEMBER 2014

position for a chance at one
of the two bucks, I still had not made
up my mind which one I would choose
if the opportunity actually presented
itself. I kept reminding myself that
either would be the trophy for which I
had hoped, so it would come down to
being a "game-time decision," depending mostly on which buck presented
the best shot opportunity.
No decision was necessary that
morning, as I spent quiet time enjoying being on stand - minus the sight
of any deer. Thinking the bucks had
been bumped off their normal routine, I
hoped for better luck the next time out.
To be completely accurate, I hoped for
better luck the next seven times out.
Without any explanation that I
could verify, I never saw either of the
bucks again. To make matters worse,
I didn't even see a single doe during
those hunts. My original high hopes
had plummeted, and now I was forced
to make a decision that was very different from the one I had been anticipating. I knew that I couldn't continue
to pin my hopes of getting a buck at
my usual spot that for some reason
had gone completely cold. It was time
to move on to another property I had
permission to hunt, but had only relied
on previously for late-season hunts in
the past.
I felt that failing to change something was going to produce the same
unsatisfying results.
Having never archery hunted the
alternate property in the past, I was
forced to make an in-season stand
choice. The trail that I could easily
watch from my new spot produced
three bucks over the next two weeks,
but none of them sported legal racks.
It appeared that it was time to move
15

Pennsylvania Game News - November 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - November 2014